Happy Easter in Philly- Sunday, April 8, 2007

The Easter bunny found us, somehow, and the girls woke up to look for their Easter baskets. We then started again down at Independence Hall, but this time we went prepared. Scott stood in line from about 7:30 to 8:30, so we were the first ones in to get tickets. We left the stroller in the car so it wouldn't have to go through security. And we put pull-ups on Emma. We were ready to go on the first tour at 9:00.

When we got into the Signing Room, it was just about like Scott had pictured it. It's hard to think of a single more important room in American history. Both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed there.

From there, since we had left all our baggage behind to get through security faster, we also went to the Liberty Bell. Anna liked taking pictures there. We then went to the Independence Visitors Center for the gift shop and the movie that is shown there. After seeing that the National Constitution Center was not open until noon, and charged an admission anyway, we decided we were about ready to leave the old part of Philadelphia. We paid our respects at Ben Franklin's grave, and we left.

We then went to Delaware because we wanted to be able to say we had been to Delaware. We had lunch at a McDonald's near Wilmington, and returned to Pennsylvania.

We spent the large part of the afternoon at Valley Forge. After our manditory visit to the visitor's center to pick up a copy of the audio tour (and some souveniers too) we drove around the site of the encampment. The three girls were amazed at the deer that we saw. Without exaggeration, we must have seen fifty in a small area of the park. Of course, Scott had to get out his Revolutionary War uniform again, and took lots of pictures. He could have gone to the Sabres-Flyers game, but decided against it in order to spend time with the family instead. Of course, it was a beautiful day to be out. Although it was cool, the sun was shining.

We then returned to the hotel, ordered pizza, and let Anna swim in what was becoming a very cold pool.

We'll be going to Gettysburg tomorrow, via Lancaster and Amish country. We don't know if it will be as easy to blog there, but we'll try. If we don't check in for a day or two, that's why.

Not what we expected...- Saturday, April 7, 2007

We got up early this Saturday morning to get a lot done. We had tickets to tour Independence Hall at 9:00 when it opened which we had set up a few weeks ago, and Julie certainly got us there in plenty of time. It was about 7:30 when we parked the car. We found the visitor's center where we were to pick up our tickets. They didn't open until 8:30. We strolled around the outside of Independence Hall, taking pictures, getting our bearings, and even getting a peek at the Liberty Bell. Once we had our tickets, we had to go through metal detectors to get through security. The stoller wouldn't fit, and it was then that Emma started to say that she had to go to the bathroom. There was no bathroom in the secure area, so we tried to get through the tour first. We got into the first part of Independence Hall, but Emma's complaining was getting worse. We had to leave the tour group before we got to see the most important part- the room where everything happened. Scott was disappointed, and truth be told, was a little grumpy because of it.

Instead of sticking to the historic area in Philadelphia, we decided to start the day over and make the best of it. We went to Adventure Aquarium in Camden, New Jersey. We ended up having fun there. The best part was the big ocean tank. The fish, rays, turtles that were swimming in there were huge, and there was a large theatre section to just sit and watch the schools swim across the wall of glass and water while soothing music played. I have no idea how big the tank actually was, but it was enormous. The shark tank was cool too, where you can walk through a tunnel and the sharks swim right over you. The hippos were a little disappointing because they were asleep, but that's hippos for you. The biggest disappointment here was the part that the girls were looking forward to the most- the SpongeBob SquarePants "4-D" movie. It cost $6 more a piece to see, but it ended up being only about 5 minutes long. The effects were OK, but not great, and we all thought it was over too soon. Anna did enjoy getting her face painted. She had a fish face for the rest of the day.

We left the aquarium and drove north to the spot where Washington crossed the Delaware River. He did it on Christmas, but we have to see it on Easter weekend. That was a peaceful little area. By that time, Emma was napping and Julie stayed in the car with her. Scott looked around in the visitor's center on the Pennsylvania side and even took out his Revolutionary War coat to get his picture taken there. We crossed the river on a narrow bridge (so narrow, that it was hard to keep from scraping the side when cars came by us going the other way). On the Jersey side was another visitor's center that Scott peeked in. Some re-enactors were drilling on the green outside.

We returned to the historic area of Philadelphia and went to City Tavern. We ate an expensive dinner there, and Anna and Emma were both on their best behavior. (It was Julie who spilled the cider!) Scott got to sample an ale that was supposed to be Thomas Jefferson's recipe and another with spruce in it that was supposed to be Ben Franklin's own concoction.

After dinner we strolled around the historic area again and did a little shopping. We returned to the hotel and we all went swimming, of course.