On Tuesday, October 2, Coco took us to Philadelphia. Some of us were very tired.
We went straight for cheesesteaks since we got there at lunchtime. We ordered at Pat's, and then Coco ran over to grab one from Geno's so we could compare and opine. We unanimously voted for Pat's. It was amazing. I really, really enjoyed my first Philly cheesesteak experience.
After lunch, we went to the visitor center to try to get tickets to the room where the Constitution was signed. Coco was overwhelmed with frustration and sadness when we were told they were sold out for the day. She had to step away from the desk and let Jim and me talk to the visitor center lady. She had tried to take people there before and had the same problem. For our visit, she tried to purchase tickets online the day before but was unable. She said it's a really special experience being in that room and was super sad we couldn't go. We really didn't mind, though. There was plenty of other stuff to do, and we'll go back someday.
First historical stop was the Liberty Bell, which Ever had recently learned about at school. Coco tried to get a family photo for us, but the littles were uncooperative.
We walked over to Independence Hall.
We saw copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution, along with the silver inkstand that was supposedly used during the signing of the Declaration and Constitution.
Coco was at her wit's end with an exhausted Anson who refused to sleep, despite her best efforts at rocking and bouncing.
We took a tour of Congress Hall and saw rooms where things happened. I worried a lot about the movements and noises of the littles during the talk.
On the field across from Independence Hall, Tony took off crawling. Tiny went after him and tried desperately to convince him to go back to us.
We tried to be fun by going to a bakery and buying a ton of treats. As is generally the case at such places - even those that are highly reviewed - most of the treats were incredibly disappointing. Why can nobody make something that looks fancy and tastes great?
We made it to the Benjamin Franklin museum less than 30 minutes before it closed, and the young people had to hit the bathroom before we could start looking around. Wrenzy threw a tantrum over something as we finished in the bathroom, so I had to deal with that for a while. Needless to say, I didn't end up having enough time in the museum but enjoyed what I saw. Tiny was all over Anson, as usual.
Outside, the kids had the time of their lives putting leaves and rocks into the top of a cone. Never has there been a more entertaining game.
The last stop on the Philly tour was the Museum of Art. Jim played the theme song from Rocky as we approached. We explained the movie to Ever and promised to show her a clip later. We posed by the statue.
Then we ran up the steps to the museum and enjoyed the view of the city at dusk. I love this sequence of pictures - Jim and Ever photobombing and then joining:
We showed Ever the training montage from Rocky after we got home. Since that day, she has been totally obsessed with the movie. She talks about it all the time. She begs to watch it. She searched Pandora for "Rocky" and now plays Rocky music (and other 80's rock, mostly from movie soundtracks) all the time. She seems to have my addictive personality.
