Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Vacation picture deluge - part one. Travel and Philadelphia

We are just crazy enough to think that traveling with our kids will be fun and make plans to see family, friends, and new parts of the country whenever we can. Our latest trip includes 9 nights away from home in 2 different states.

Let me start at the beginning... We flew from Oklahoma to Philadelphia (via Dallas) last Wednesday. We had a three hour layover, but it was all worth it because we ended up in downtown Philly that night!

We spent lots of time at the play centers at the Airport and the kids burnt off some energy!

Sleepy boy just before boarding our second flight.
 
We caught a taxi to our hotel after we landed and were all tucked into bed in the heart of downtown Philadelphia by 10:30 that night. Nearly 12 hours since we had left home! We slept in just a bit, especially due to the time change to EST, and headed off to the Please Touch Museum. It was a fabulous hit with the kids!

We could have spent several more hours at the museum, but we headed out so we could see the historical district of the city. We chose not to wait in line to see the Liberty Bell, much to Olivia's dismay. She really really wanted to see it because she thought it was Princess Belle, rather than a large metal bell with a crack in it!

Independence Hall
Regrouping and feeding kids lunch.
We then walked 18 city blocks, thanks to a miscommunication with my dear friend, for a reunion that was worth every step! Olivia was very tired by this point so I carried her in the Ergo (vs. Carter) and let me just say that 18 city blocks with a 40 pound toddler on your back is a bit of a work out.

Oh and we may or may not have had to back-track a few blocks to find one of Carter's missing shoes! Ha. That story causes a bit of stress in our marriage, so I won't relive it here ;)

However, seeing my friend Kim was fabulous! I've missed her smiling face so much!! We met for snacks/late lunch in the Comcast building.

Kim meets Carter for the first time!
The next adventure came when we hauled two suitcases (50 pounds each), a car seat and booster seat, two backpacks, a diaper bag, a stroller with an exhausted/pouting toddler, and a 13 month old baby from the hotel to the subway so we could catch a train out to the suburbs, where we'd be staying for the weekend! Andy and I were a sweaty and stressed out mess!

There was not an elevator down into the subway and I'm convinced we had to walk a mile once we got underground just to get our tickets and find the right train. We looked like pack mules and I'm not sure we could have carried another single item! People were in two distinct courts that afternoon: they either felt sorry for us or hated us for being such a disruption to their quiet commute.

Andy taking a breather as we finally made it to our train stop!
Sleepy boy, yet again.
Olivia loved riding the train!
And that brings us to my uncle's wedding weekend! Many more pictures to follow :)

 

2 comments:

Jill said...

good call on skipping the line for the liberty bell. We did wait in and weren't that impressed. Now that it is enclosed in that building its not as neat to see...at least that is what some of the locals were telling us. I loved Philly. We stayed up by the college and it was super nice. Glad you had a good time.

Cay said...

I love reading the "re-cap"!!