Pennsylvania: Day 3

Since we had done most everything we wanted to do on Day 2, we took it slow on Day 3. We stopped by Benjamin Franklin's grave and Clark threw a penny on it for good luck. We also stopped by a portrait museum and Tanner took a quick tour of the U.S. Mint while Clark and I waited outside since they don't allow cameras inside and they have no place to keep your stuff. I had been to the mint in Denver, so Clark and I practiced walking up and down stairs together for 20 minutes. We couldn't find his pacie and I decided we had lost it on the way to the Mint. Tanner and I were discussing this as we were walking away from the Mint and there lying in the middle of the sidewalk was Clark's red pacie. I guess Clark had decided to dump it on the way, but it was safely recovered! Clark is such a good traveler and we had a great time!

Pennsylvania: Day 2

The next day, we drove into Philadelphia. We decided to stop by Valley Forge National Park since it was on the way into the city. There were a lot of locals running and exercising in the park. It was a lot of fun, and we toured Washington's residence. The tour guide in the house said to make sure we have Clark touch the banister because it is the original banister that General Washington used. Clark thought it was cool!

After Valley Forge, we made our way into the city the scenic way. We drove along the river through Fairmount Park and we parked and walked up to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. We didn't actually spend any time in the museum, but we thought it was a cool building. I am not really a Rocky fan, but apparently there is a famous scene in Rocky that was filmed on the steps of the Museum. They even have a statue of him outside, and there was a line to get pictures taken in front of it! I thought it a little ridiculous, but we decided we needed to get a picture of my boys in front of it. Someone standing in line behind us said, as Tanner and Clark were walking up, "Which one is Rocky?" motioning to Clark versus the statue. I thought that was funny...after all, my child is quite the rock!

We were pleasantly surprised at how clean the city is and we loved the differences in the architecture of the buildings. We made our way over to Constitution Hall and the Liberty Bell and stopped on the way to grab Philly Cheesesteaks from a street vendor. They were yummy, but all Clark wanted to do was feed the birds.

Pennsylvania: Day 1

You may or may not recall that last year, my very first blog posts were from our Spring Break trip to Boston. I cannot believe it has been a year, but all I have to do is look at those pictures and see how small Clark used to be to know that a lot of time has passed.

This year, we decided to go up to Pennsylvania. We had visited Pittsburgh on our way to Virginia when we moved here, but had not seen the eastern half of the state. Our first day, we visited Hershey and then drove around Amish country near Lancaster. It was a beautiful day, and while our stop in Hershey was short, we breathed in the chocolate air as much as we could! We were so glad it was such a nice day because it meant the Amish were out and about town. I could not get enough of seeing the Amish children. They were adorable, especially the little Amish boys in their overalls and hats. I would seriously think about dressing Clark up like that except that I know he would hate me for it later. The little girls were out in the yard playing stick ball and giggling. We tried not to stare, but it was such beautiful countryside and beautiful people. They don't like their picture taken, so we respected that and only took a picture of the back of a buggy we saw on the road. My personal favorite was seeing a woman driving her buggy with her new baby sitting next to her in a brand new Graco carseat. They have no rubber wheels on their buggies, but she has a new Graco carseat! Love it.