Philly

Spring break!  Yippee!  We met our good friends, the Peos, in Philadelphia for a little weekend getaway.  It went by too fast, but we tried to have as much fun as we could in two days.

It is an eight hour drive to Philly.  I thought it was a great idea to leave Thursday after Andrew got off work.  I figured the kids would be sleeping most of the drive and we'd be ready to start seeing the sights bright and early on Friday.  I just didn't realize just how late we would get there.  The kids finally crashed between 10 and 10:30.  Andrew and I had fun conversation about retirement, LOST, and college memories.  We also scanned through the AM radio stations several times to track the March Madness games.  Fun stuff.  We finally rolled into our hotel around TWO A.M.  And did our kids sleep in?  Of course not.  Thankfully I'm not too old yet and managed the sleep deprivation just fine.

On Friday, we headed downtown.

We checked out the Liberty Bell.

and Independence Hall

History buffs (or fans of the movie National Treasure)

will remember that this is where the
Declaration of Independence was signed.

This is the room where our founding fathers stood.

Andrew and I LOVE stuff like this.

Our kids are a bit young to appreciate it, but they hung in there.

And entertained themselves with the heat vent on the floor

while the tour guide spouted off historical facts.

They were as happy as could be running around

outside in the brisk early spring air, too.

We sometimes hear that Andrew and Christian

look like brothers.  I could see that.

Andrew had to get an authentic Philly Cheesesteak.

The kids and I ate pizza.

After swimming at the hotel pool for a while,

we headed to the mall for dinner.

They had a great little amusement center.

The kids loved the ball pit.

B and W rock climbed.

Whit talked her daddy into riding a super fun but stomach-churning ride.

Then I got ride it with her, too.  Such a rush.  Loved it.

Friday night we stayed up late watching basketball and chatting.

On Saturday morning, we went for another swim before checking

out of our hotel.  Then we got stuck in parade route traffic

on our way back to downtown.  And we didn't even get to see the parade.

We eventually made it the The Franklin Institute.

Philadelphia has beautiful architecture.

This was a fantastic museum.

We got in free with our science center membership--

one of the best purchases we've made.

The lobby is a memorial to Ben Franklin.
I can't believe how many commonly-heard
phrases are attributed to him.
That was an influential man.

We toured a giant heart,

relaxed on a humongous femur,

climbed through enlarged blood vessels,

and built paper whirlygigs.

(Caroline's favorite part.  

We had to eventually pry her off the table.)

We said our good-byes to the Peos and drove down to

Virginia to stay with the Buongiovannis, also good college friends.

We drove through DC and LOVED our view

of the temple along the way.

We stayed up way too late laughing and visiting with Rick and Amy.  After church this morning, we headed home.  Phew.  I'm exhausted just recapping the adventure.  I'm off to catch up on my zzzz's.  Maybe the kids will sleep in tomorrow...but probably not.