Philadelphia, Days 3 & 4

For our third day, we decided to check out Valley Forge and the second largest mall in the country, which happen to be just minutes apart. The forecast called for rain in the morning and clear skies in the afternoon. Everyone was up around the same time and again, we had our free hotel breakfast.

We loaded up the car and had a sense of deja vu when Anna's watch started beeping and Thomas turned to tell her to turn it off. We were at the exact same point on the road as the day before! It was our own little Groundhog Day moment.

We got to the mall just as it was opening. It was enormous. From what I could tell, they joined together two malls to make a supermall. The joining walkway was full of high end stores (Hermes, Tiffany's, Jimmy Choo, DVF, etc). It was fun to walk through and see all the stuff we will never buy ;)

The kids had a great time walking around and going up and down the many escalators. Some parts of the mall were three stories, others were two. It was an odd layout. We had lunch at Cheesecake Factory, which the kids love. We got 3 cheesecakes to share for dessert and everyone was stuffed for the rest of the day. We spent about 3 hours there, including our lunch. I think we saw most, if not all, of the mall. 

Unfortunately, the forecast had changed and it was now rain for the remainder of the day. We still went to Valley Forge, but limited our time to the visitor's center, including the movie. Jack was happy to see some of it, but sad that we weren't able to walk around where his hero lived and breathed. He definitely takes after his dad and his love of history. While on the trip, he made it his mission to memorize all the Presidents in order. I think he is up to 39 (Jimmy Carter). It is so awesome to live so close to so much American History.

Cut out at Valley Forge

Our last day was Sunday. Our plan was to visit the Museum of the American Revolution. Jack and Thomas were really excited about it. But, Luke isn't really great at places like that. So, we decided I would take him to a kid's museum and Thomas would take the interested kids to the MAR. The girls decided to stay with me. My first plan was to take them to the Please Touch Museum, but they were having a member's only event. So, we decided to just walk around the city. We went back to the Liberty Bell, then headed to Reading Terminal Market. We walked the whole market and picked out some treats. 

Carpenter's Hall, where delegates to the Continental Congress met to resolve grievances with Britain.

Nice shot of Independence Hall

A picture with the crack visible!

Then, we headed to the park at Franklin Square. The park wasn't great, especially because the playground surface was really wet and the kids kept falling. We saw a story telling bench and decided to sit for a story. The story was awesome! It was about Ben Franklin and his pet squirrel, Mungo. We were all mesmerized. The storyteller was super engaging. He gave the kids a flag and told them there were 13 different benches throughout the city and they could get a sticker at each one to put on their flag. I had seen the benches in a few places, but we hadn't stopped. I told the girls we would do one more on our way back to meet Thomas and Jack. We stopped at a bench and the woman was kind enough to tell us three more. We heard about our nation's first bank robbery, the early celebrations for 4th of July in Philadelphia, and the history of the carousel. They were all great stories. I wish we had stopped sooner and been able to hear all 13. But, everyone was content with 4. 

Our second story teller. So entertaining!

In the meantime, Jack and Thomas were having an awesome time at the MAR. They got to sit in a replica chair of George Washington's Rising sun chair. They watched some good movies and saw interesting artifacts from the war. I'll let Thomas add in more here if he wants.

With the uniforms worn by the actors in Turn (we love that show!)

Battle Flag from the Battle of Monmouth, carried by the Regiment from Philadelphia

Sad and poignant quote

Jack sitting in the Rising Sun replica chair.

Thomas is the same height and probably a similar build to George Washington.

We met up about 3 hours after we split and everyone was very pleased with their choice for the day. We really lucked out that we couldn't do another kid's museum, because it was such a fun way to spend the morning. Next time, we will have to budget in time to just walk the city and sit at all the storytelling benches.