Philadelphia

Our trip to Philadelphia was totally amazing. The drive was not too bad, and once we got there we started at the Information Center, where we learned it was pretty much too late in the day to do much except see the liberty bell. So that's what we did. It was the first time B had ever seen it and his excitement was contagious, although the fact that E wouldn't smile for a stranger holding our camera doesn't really demonstrate it all too well. We stopped into a restaurant for some sandwiches, then at a candy store, supposedly, according to the sign out front, the country's first.
E and R got a gummy snake and worms, respectively, and we took a picture of them enjoying their snacks so we could send it off to Grandma and gross her out. E especially loves "upsetting" Grandma with snakes, since she is terrified of them.

We also stumbled upon the location where Franklin's home once stood, and visited the printer who currently demonstrates there. And we came across the cemetary where Franklin's body is buried. Later we found out that it is good luck to throw coins on his grave, so we had to return so E could do so. Luckily it is pretty central.

Finally we headed to my cousin Christine's, and her fiance Nate's house. They were gracious enough to allow us to crash there for the couple of nights, which we really appreciate since we saved a couple of hundred dollars. They live about 45 minutes west of the city, depending on the time of day we drove it. It was really wonderful to stay there. Christine is such a super person and B and I have always enjoyed her and Nate's company. I probably wouldn't have invited myself if I didn't like them both so much.

The old country house they rent is totally charming, and their pets are loved as much as any babies could be. Christine was an excellent hostess and made us some yummy broccoli calzones for dinner one evening. I brought the recipe home. Nate is a veterinarian and works long hours, so R and E actually never had the chance to visit with him. But B and I did. I must say visiting with Christine and Nate really added to the enjoyment of the trip for me.

On day two we went right to the visitor's center to get tickets to the Franklin Exhibit at the Constitution Center; the whole reason we journeyed to Philadelphia. We also got tickets for the tour of Independence Hall, where both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were written.

We headed over to Constitution Center and started with Signer's Hall. It had life-sized statues of all the people who signed the Declaration of Independence. We enjoyed walking around hunting for those from Connecticut, and R took a picture of one of the reps from Mass wearing his Red Sox hat. We also enjoyed having the opportunity to sign a copy of the Declaration ourselves.

We saw a little bit of the main exhibit hall before it was time for our visit to the Franklin exhibit. They let new groups of people in every half hour, but I don't know why because we were in there an hour and a half. I don't know how E managed so long, unless he was complaining to B and I didn't hear about it.

In any case, it was an excellent exhibit; lot of his personal belongings were there, and several items written in his own hand. We also enjoyed seeing the armonica; the musical instrument he invented. The curators did a great job keeping it interesting for all ages, there were lots of hands-on things to do. We really learned a lot. I so wish they would have allowed photos to be taken. There is a inkling about it on the website, but not enough to do it justice.

We headed from there to see the multimedia presentation in that building. It was designed to inspire us before heading into the main exhibit hall. The boys seemed to enjoy it, but at that point had had enough, so we skipped seeing the rest and headed out.

We headed over to Independence Hall next. They make you arrive so early for security, but this time of year and that time of day it was not at all crowded, so we hung out in the park before our tour began.Our legs were getting tired and we really needed that time to rest, so it worked out perfectly.

We enjoyed seeing the halls where the important documents of our country were written. But E finally lost patience in those rooms, and our day was over. I was really proud at how he had managed to stay attentive, and at least not disruptive throughout the whole day. I could certainly appreciate the potential for that happening, since his interest in Franklin nowhere near matches that of his brother. On the way back to the car I saw a sign for ice-cream in a dollar store so we stopped and got some. It was probably his favorite part of the day.

On our last day we headed to the Franklin Institute. We were happy to get in free with our membership card from our own Science Center here in Hartford. I have to say that this place is hands down the best science museum we have been to thus far. It was so totally amazing. We did not manage to do it all in one day, despite the five hours we spent there. It was so hands-on and incredibly done.

The section for younger children was disappointingly not well maintained, but there was still lots to do.
If my computer cooperates, I'll post a link to the rest of the photos I took on our trip. I cannot emphasize enough how phenomenal this place was. We are so looking forward to going back.

Our drive home was loooong. I had begun to catch R's cold during the day and B was kind enough to drive the entire way. It took a long time. Mostly because it was hard after a full day of activities.

Our trip was really wonderful. The only thing I would do different is the time of year. We rushed down to see the Franklin exhibit before it closed on April 30th, and I'm so glad we did. However, next time we will be heading down in the autumn when all the kids will be in school, and no field trips are planned. Every place we headed there were swarms of school students without enough supervision.

It made us so sad to see them being torn from exhibits they were really interested in because the class was moving on. We really appreciated being homeschoolers, especially during our tour of the Franklin exhibit. During the hour and a half we took to see it, we witnessed many many different school children being rushed through. We are blessed.