A little taste of my Philly roots

In West Philadelphia, born and raised
On the playground was where I spent most of my days
Chillin out, maxin, relaxin all cool
And all shooting some b-ball outside of the school

Truth be told I was really raised in a suburb a good 26 miles outside of Philly, but we all know it's easier to just say the largest "big city".  Now that I have Fresh Prince playing in your head, join me as I reminisce about my Philly childhood.

In 2008 Mama elephant’s family reunion was back in her hometown in New Jersey, and Mr. E came along for his first meeting of my crazy, awesome extended family. We all flew out a couple days early so we could experience Philly before heading to Jersey. We saw Independence Hall….

…We toured the liberty bell center…



…checked out Betsy Ross’ house…


…traveled down Elfain’s Alley…



….and enjoyed lunch at Pat’s… we love our cheesesteaks!


After our family barbeque in Lawnside, NJ, we spent the weekend down the shore at Atlantic City.


Before returning to the airport, we hit up Pathmark and loaded our carry on suitcases with treats you can only find on the East coast including scrapple, pork roll and tastykakes. Mr. E and I bought home 6 boxes each and those things were gone in no time!

(Source)

While reading Mrs. Cupcake’s recaps on Weddingbee I became a little jealous of her late night reception snack of tastykakes and milk.

Mrs. Cupcakes Tastykakes (source)

I showed Mr. E the pictures and he was all for the idea of getting some for our reception. The difficult part is, of course they don’t sell them in Texas. :(

But there may be hope! BM Philly still lives on the east coast as does her mom (who will be a reader at our wedding) and some of my mom's family members. We’re planning on asking them to buy out a couple of stores worth of tastycakes the week of the wedding and then ship them to my mom. If the plan works, our Texas friends and families would be able to enjoy a little piece of my home.

Was there anything that you brought in to your reception that reminded you of home?