Vacation 2010: Philadelphia!

We're back! We spent a great week on vacation...it was tiring, but loads of fun! We left Sunday the 27th and drove to Indianapolis as our first stop. On Sunday evening we met an old coworker of Dad B's (and his family) for supper. I'd never met them before, so it was alot of fun. Unfortunately, keeping Max and Nora semi-happy at the restaurant took all my attention, so no pictures from that.

Max's favorite part of hotels: riding on the luggage carts


Max was a fantastic traveler...the whole trip!


Nora keeping up on the news

On Monday morning we got up and driving, as we had to get all the way to Hershey, PA...another eight hours of driving, I think. (I can't remember the time for sure)

On Tuesday morning we got up and drove about twenty minutes to....(drumroll, please)...CHOCOLATE WORLD!!!


We tried to get Max to take a picture, but he wasn't too keen on the idea.

Max loved the ride through the 'factory' and the 4D movie that Greg and Katy watched with him. We figured he was too young to appreciate the roller coaster park, so we skipped that. Besides, at Chocolate World he got to meet...


A Hershey kiss! It was so cute...Max had gotten a bunch of chocolate after the 4D movie, so he was trying to give a piece to the kiss! I bet that guy doesn't meet too many kids trying to GIVE him candy! :)


Hugs!

After spending a couple of hours at Chocolate World, we drove the rest of the way to Philadelphia...it was a couple hours. Our hotel, the Omni, was right next to Indpendence Park (which has Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell). It felt so good to settle in knowing we'd be at the same place the whole week! Max and Nora wasted no time in feeling right at home...


Lesson learned: Keep the bathroom door closed at all times!

I don't have pictures of it, but we walked down to the Philadelphia Convention Center that evening to watch Tim's group After Hours compete in the International Barbershop Collegiate Competition. They sounded fabulous!!! We found out that they got 6th (out of 29th)...much better than they expected to do, and their score was the highest they've ever gotten! So all in all, that was a pretty sweet day. :)

On Wednesday, after waking up late and going to a cafe for breakfast, Greg and I decided to take the kids and do some historic sightseeing. We started out by buying tickets for Independence Hall for 12:15 and then buying tickets to ride the Ducks for 2:30. In the meantime, we went to the U.S. Mint!


Of course, no cameras allowed inside, so this is the only picture...pretty exciting, huh? :) The tour was neat, but it didn't look like they were actually making any coins while we were there...a bit disappointing. Supposedly the only coin they make every single day is the dime. I guess we just weren't there at the right time!

After the Mint, we walked back to Independence Square area and on the way saw Benjamin Franklin's grave. I'm not sure why people throw money on it, but we did get a picture.

After a quick lunch we went to get in line for our tour of Independence Hall. I have a decent amount of pictures of the inside of it, but for the sake of space I didn't put many up.


See that chair in the middle of the picture that's raised a bit? George Washington used THAT chair. I think that's very cool. All the other pieces are true to period, but only that one is original. I wish I could have gotten a better picture of it!


Unfortunately, the kids were both super tired, so I wasn't able to enjoy the tour to the fullest; it was still neat to be in the building, though, and imagine all that took place there.

After Independence Hall, it was time for...the Ducks! Max LOVED his 'Wacky Quacker.' I wish I had a picture of his face the first time he blew in it and made it quack. Pure delight!



The Duck took us on a tour of Philly, including...

...the birthplace of Larry Fine! (Larry of the 3 Stooges)

The tour was really great, taking us by places that we thought were neat to see, but maybe wouldn't have walked to: Betsy Ross's house, Washington Square, Elfreth's Alley, South Street (although we did end up going there later in the week to eat), Christ Church, and Society Hill just to name a few. It was funny, though...the minute we got in the River, Greg and I just looked at eachother thinking, "Is this thing safe?" It felt very low to the water and the motor was incredibly loud and (to me) old-sounding. But, obviously, we didn't sink, so it was fine. :) An interesting thing on the ducks: As we enter the water, the wheels just keep on rolling. All the captain has to do is flip the switch to start the propellers. Anyway, it was fun!

We met Dad, Mom, Sheila, and Katy for supper that night and went to the Rose Tatoo. I thought I'd spare you all the pictures of our food, even though it was all delicious! I love this picture, though.


Nora was antsy, so I was thankful for everyone who took turns holding her!

The kids slept surprisingly well all week for all four of us being in one hotel room. Nora was in the pack n play in a corner and Max was in the opposite corner on a bed we borrowed from Mom R. (Thanks, Mom!)


Cuties!

On Thursday morning we decided to go to the Adventure Aquarium which required a ferry ride across the Delaware River.

We got there and had to wait for half an hour for the next ferry...so we took pictures and let Max run off some energy.


Max with a Philly Phanatic statue...I got him to give a cheesy grin by telling him to say, "Philly!"

Both Max and Nora loved the ferry (you just can't tell from the pictures).
Note the upside-down sunglasses.


It was an absolutely gorgeous day! This is the Ben Franklin Bridge.


And here's the city itself!

At the aquarium, Max could have just stood and watched these fish swim for hours, I think!


Max and Greg trying to pet a shark.

They also had stingrays you could touch. These things were cool. They bury themselves in the sand, like so:

Now you see her...


...now you don't!


Petting a stingray.


Max wasn't very interested in this guy, but I really like the picture, so here is the crocodile!


In the African room they had many different kinds of birds...and this sign, which made me laugh.


Hippo!


One of the most interesting animals...it's hard to believe they can be dangerous, just watching them float/walk/wallow around in their pool.


Eeek! The shark got Max!

We decided to just take the ferry back to Philly after the aquarium. We could have gotten tickets to tour the battleship New Jersey that was docked there, but decided the kids probably wouldn't last.

This ship was so ENORMOUS! We sailed past it on the ferry ride back, and it just kept going and going and going! Those six guns there pack an incredible amount of punch. We were told that they are powerful enough to launch a Volkswagon Beetle from there (Camden, NJ) to I think Trenton, NJ? It's 20 or 30 miles or something like that. Pretty impressive.

Thursday evening, we went to the Convention Center again to watch the AIC (champion) show. The AIC is made up of all of the members of past International Champion Quartets. It was a good show, made even better by the existence of the Barber Tots room! It was a big conference room, with only two tables and a dozen and a half or so chairs. There was a nice size video screen, so I could watch the show, but plenty of room for Max to run and toys to play with (even animal crackers for the eating!). It was great.


Max with the tower he helped me build.


The little boy on the left is Sullivan (Sully), whose dad is in the AIC. He and Max had a great time! Sully's mom took him into the actual competition room to watch his dad sing, and she said that after one song, he turned to her and said, "Max! Play!" :)


Sheila came out to keep me company, too. Oh, and to hold Nora.


Out of all the pictures we took, only this one has Katy jealous. The man on the left is Jim Henry, a bit of a legend in the realm of barbershop. Max got his picture taken with him, a fact that we didn't let Katy forget for the rest of the trip!

These next five pictures got uploaded weird...sorry for any bizarre spacing.
On Friday morning we again got up late and ate a leisurely breakfast at the hotel. Our only goal was to see the Liberty Bell since that was the only thing left we hadn't seen that was on our list.

Friday night (since I knew of the wonderful Barber Tots room) we went back to the Convention Center for the last time. By the time we got there, both Max and Nora were sacked out in the backpacks! The picture of them sleeping shows it pretty good. They slept for probably half an hour while I just sat and watched. It was super!

Also on Friday night, as we walked back to our hotel, we discovered that there was a free orchestra concert in front of Independence Hall! We stayed and watched it until the end...very impressive!

The last picture in the above sequence is of a Philly cheesesteak (from Steaks on South)...I had two throughout the week, and Greg had three. My opinion...it wasn't anything special. The photo above is a sign at Pat's, a famous cheesesteak place.

Friday night Greg and I decided that instead of driving down to Washington, D.C. for the 4th, we'd just stay one extra night in Philly instead and watch their fireworks on the 3rd.
So on Saturday we checked out of the Omni and met up with the family. The boys (Dad, Greg, Tim) all went to Pat's for lunch (see above pic), and the girls took a walk and went shopping. Eventually Greg caught up to us, too.

We found this building that had multiple sculptures outside of it...all different boardgame pieces.


Max and Katy on a knight (chess)


Max dancing on a domino


Poor Nora was sooooo hot...Mom B. was pouring water on her head to cool her off.


Me and Sheila sitting on a King (checkers)


Max waving from a Sorry piece


Max jumping off a Bingo piece

Just across the street from this building was LOVE park, home of the LOVE statue (and a cool fountain). The mist felt fabulous on such a hot day!


Katy and Max in the fountain


Yes, it's cheesy, but I really wanted a picture with Greg in front of the LOVE statue. And I got it. :)


Katy and Nora

Saturday night, Greg and I and the kids stayed at a Hyatt right on Penn's Landing, which is very close to where they shot off the fireworks. It was great to not have to go far after they were over; so many people! Max did NOT like the fireworks at first; he was scared and crying. After a few minutes, though, he changed his mind and tolerated them, at least. :) Nora didn't make a peep the whole time! On Sunday morning we got up and were on the road by 7:45. It felt a little bit like we were torturing our kids, as we drove straight through to home, stopping only twice, and only letting the kids out of their carseats once (and that was to change their diapers in the van!). We got home between 6:30-7:00, though (I think...once again, I don't remember exactly the time), and even went to East Peoria to see their fireworks! When we got home for good, the odometer (which Greg had restarted right before we left Philly) read 901.2. Quite a haul for one day! I'm so glad to be home! I have videos from our trip, but didn't want to mess with them in this post. Probably the next one...