It begins!
EARLY morning flight to Philadelphia. It was uneventful (in a good way).
We arrived in Philly at 12:30, picked up the rental and made our way to our hotel. Let me say before I really begin recounting the trip. Three cheers for Abe and his MASTER planning of the whole thing. He worked so hard on it and it paid off big time for us. Hip, Hip, HUZZAH!
First stop-- Philly Cheesesteaks at Sonny's. I will be honest and say I could probably live my whole life and never eat another cheesesteak and be perfectly happy. But Cannon and Abe were thrilled with the whole experience and I love that for them.
Not surprisingly, and very much in Fox family style, we took an OBNOXIOUS amount of family photos in front of significant landmarks. Thanks to year of consistent training, the children are quick to comply, knowing that resistance is futile and cooperation is the fastest way to make it stop. What kind of life lessons does this teach? Certainly not those so beautifully illustrated in the founding of this great nation. But alas, it does make for some really great photos.
Here we are in Congress Hall-- the room where George Washington and John Adams were inaugurated as President. It is where the U.S. Congress first met (not Continental Congress-- for all you history buffs out there)
There were mixed reviews of Dave the Historic Park Ranger's tour. I was a fan.
Congresswoman Faith
Congressman Cannon
Congressman George
Congressman Peter
Congresswoman Faith
In one of the museums we had a good laugh when Faith reenacted one of her favorite childhood games. She resumed her character of "Elizabeth Airfeather"-- a revolutionary girl she made up (based off a character in the kids' cartoon Liberty's Kids) whose mother still lives in England. And with a quill pen (that Bethany and Elinor got in Nauvoo when they were quite young), Faith would speak aloud in a terrible British accent while scribbling a letter home to her mother. HERE is the return of Elizabeth Airfeather.
Outside of Independence Hall. This day was really the only one of the nine-day trip that was uncomfortably hot and muggy. The rest of the time we
seriously lucked out with the weather. I think Abe must have somehow planned that as well.
Our George with George Washington. As you can imagine, there were lots of photo-ops for George with George.
You might ask, "What is happening here? What is the meaning of this?"
And I would have to answer, "I'm not really sure". But it happened over and over and became a thing for the kids to do at the sites. They called this their "skeeter" picture. It is my understanding that they are mischievous mosquitos. I didn't completely understand it, but it was funny to us and it was a running theme through the trip and I was happy they were getting along and amusing themselves. Stay tuned for more Skeeters.
Likewise, when on a U.S. History trip, Abe found many photo-ops with Abraham Lincoln.
The Liberty Bell, with it's original home, Independence Hall, behind.
To be honest, by this point in the day we were feeling rather silly from being hot and tired(the 3 am wake up call was brutal). We really tried to be on good behavior for most parts of the trip, but this was a lower point. Perhaps you can sense that.
Skeeter at the Liberty Bell
Independence Hall is just really impressive. To quote Hamilton (which was pretty much the overall soundtrack of the trip), we were in the "room where it happened".
This is where both the "Declaration of Independence" and the "Constitution" were debated and signed.
There is a large room upstairs in Independence Hall and this piano-forte kicked off my taking pictures of all the musical instruments we saw.
Don't worry, we snapped Skeeter photos as discreetly and quickly as possible.
Abe and the kids loved the rooftop pool at the hotel.
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