Vacation part 3- Philadelphia

A few pictures from Philadelphia. We all watched National Treasure so we could get excited about seeing the exact places from the movie. And of course all the history was just as exciting!

We started out at the Liberty Bell.

I was so excited to see THE Liberty Bell. Can you tell everyone else was too?

Here is Independence Hall. This building served as the capitol for 10 years. 1790-1800. I was fascinated by all these buildings! I had just read the book "The Real George Washington, " and had read about all these places and events. Exciting!! Unfortunately..I was the most excited one there.

Stephen re-enacting Abe Lincoln. He is standing on a plaque that says "Abraham Lincoln stood here when he raised the flag on Independence Hall Feb. 22, 1861."


About a half hour into our day the little kids and Stephen pooped out. Stephen took them back to the hotel to swim. Max, Syd, and I spent the rest of the day walking around the Philadelphia sites. I was so glad my big kids chose to go with me! It is a pretty small area..so it took us about a half a day to see everything. There is always so much to read at every site..I wish we had a little more time and patience for that.

This is Christ Church cemetery. Where Nicolas Cage ran from the bad guys while bullets ricochet off the tomb stones.

Benjamin Franklin's grave. His wife Deborah is also buried here. Interesting reading on Benjamin Franklin and his wife. He spent half his life in England trying to get funding for the Revolutionary War. His wife barely saw him. She was left in charge of farms, businesses, the post office system.. just to name a few. She may be the real hero here!
Everyone throws pennies on the grave because Benjamin Franklin coined the phrase (get it..coined..hee hee) "A penny saved is a penny earned." Some nice man gave us pennies to throw.

We also visited Betsy Ross' house. She lived there with her husband, a lot of children, and her daughter's children. A lot of people in a small house! They also ran their upholstery business out of the front of the house.
The next day I took all the kids, except Jack, to the US mint. Pretty interesting to see how they mint the coins. We saw crates and crates filled with shiny pennies. The highlight was when Sam pulled the fire alarm. We hurriedly kept going down the corridor. That thing went off forever. I don't even think the guards heard it. I mentioned it to them on the way out.

I don't know where I got the idea that the LOVE letters were huge. I thought they were sitting on the ground and you could climb around on them. Nope..just randomly placed right in the middle of the city, a few blocks from our hotel. This was our last stop before heading out to Ohio.

We travelled about 6-7 hours to Cleveland! It was wonderful. Felt just like home. We came in on Thursday night. We stayed with our friends, the Hayes, and had a wonderful time.
While we were there we made sure we stopped at Honeyhut for ice cream. So yummy! Visited the metropark. Drove around Aurora Shores and went to the beach. Went up to the John Johnson farm in Hyrum to spend some time at the ward camp out. It was great to be able to sit and visit with old friends. They were all so welcoming! Went to church. Every time I walk into that building I feel like I'm coming home. Visited good friends. Had a great BBQ hosted by the Ellsworths.
Monday we went to Cedar Point. About a 1 1/2 hour drive. Loved all the roller coasters! It was so fun to take Syd and Max for the first time. Stephen and I learned we are way too old for the wooden roller coaster..we both about broke our backs. It was crowded and rainy...but we got some good rides in.
Tuesday morning we left! We drove back to Pittsburgh to drop off the van and catch our flight. A little crazy because we took a wrong turn..but we made it with time to spare.
Our plane was late in Atlanta so we didn't get into our airport until 2:00am. It was crazy. We got home about 3:00am. The kids were absolute troopers.. they were so exhausted.
I thought it was a great trip. 7 people, a lot of luggage, 2 weeks, squishy hotel rooms, humid weather, lots of walking..a lot could have gone wrong..but it turned out really great.