In the airplane. We actually had trouble landing in DC because of a big storm. We were really wobbly all the way in and fishtailed some once we hit the ground. Then we had to just stop right there on the runway and wait 30 minutes for the storm to go by before they would let us taxi in. Out the window we saw some of those luggage cars being rolled by the wind down the runway.
On the first day we went to the Liberty Bell. Ethan was most excited about this since we had talked about the Liberty Bell a lot before we went. Then we did a ton of walking. We walked first to the U.S. Mint. Although we hadn't planned on this one much, Ethan really enjoyed it. It was fun seeing them actually make the coins and too see how many coins they actually had in the building. Then we walked to the Betsy Ross House and Eifith's Alley (the oldest inhabited street in America). Then Christ's Church to see the spots where George Washington and Benjamin Franklin sat when they would go to church. It is still used as a functional church today and so I asked if people would try to get to church early to sit in George Washington's seat. The guide said that usually when someone is new they will do that, but after a while the excitement of the site wears off. While we were walking there was a point where Ethan started going really slow and was saying he just wanted to go back to the hotel to go swimming. Then a homeless guy on the street saw him wearing a Captain America t-shirt and hollered at him "Hey Captain America, your the boss!" Ethan really liked that so I called him the boss the rest of the trip and let him make as many decisions as possible to keep him motivated. We got Philly Cheesesteaks for lunch and they were really good - Ethan didn't like them though. Then we had our tour of Independence Hall. It was fun to talk about how some of the documents that I got to see with Julia were actually written and signed in that building that Ethan got to tour. Ethan got to pick dinner that night since he was "the boss" and he picked IHOP. Then back to the hotel for swimming. Similar to Julia, Ethan said that the swimming pool was his favorite part of the whole trip.
Betsy Ross house
The oldest inhabited street in America
This was George Washington's pew.
Ethan wasn't a fan of this cheesesteak place, but I thought it was really good.
This was the first congress room for our nation.
Ethan is standing where the vice president used to stand. The president would be up in the seat behind him.
Maybe the original senate room
Where they signed the Declaration of Independence.
On June 25th we had one of my conference presentations to go to first. Ethan loved playing the iPad (his favorite games were Temple Run and TMNTs and he became a master at both of them). We then walked three miles to the Philadelphia Zoo. It was another nice zoo. Our favorites were again the monkeys, but also the snakes. They also had a rhino and pandas which were cool. But over all, I didn't think it was as great as the DC zoo. It may have been because the DC zoo was free, but the Philadelphia one cost us $30. Then we walked another 3 miles back to the hotel. I guess we should have taken a taxi, but I just hate doing them. I did let Ethan ride on my shoulders most of the way, so that was helpful for him at least. On the way home we stopped by the Rocky statue and ran up the stairs. When we were at the Rocky statue there was a guy that asked us if he could take our picture. I saw him doing it for a lot of people in front of us and so I wasn't worried about him running. He said they just like to do it as a service for tourists. So we went for it. After he took the pictures he asked for some money. Luckily I got the iPad back from him first. I often feel okay helping people on the street and Rebecca and I try to carry around gift cards to give out when we can. But, I felt like he tried to deceive us so I didn't want to give him anything. I got to pick dinner this night, so we went to Chinatown. We were checking a few of them out and a couple walked out of one and said it is their favorite and every time they come to Philadelphia they eat there. The food was great - at least I thought so. Then back to the hotel for swimming again.
They told us that this rhino is the heaviest animal that they have in the zoo, but it is really afraid of everything. It will even run away from birds.
Ethan liked seeing that the lions had the same play toy that we had in Alaska.
The snakes were Ethan's favorite.
The next morning we started with breakfast at the Reading Terminal Market. I couldn't believe how cheap fruit was there. I got a cheesesteak stuffed pretzel and Ethan got a muffin. We both got some peaches and nectarines. Then I had another presentation and then we walked another 3 miles to the Please Touch Museum. Ethan barely made it there, he said the walk was so long even with me carrying him for lots of it. The museum was expensive (about $30 for the two of us) and I wasn't very impressed. There wasn't much museum to it, just mainly lots of things to play with. Ethan loved it though. There was an Alice in Wonderland maze, a play train station, play kitchen, grocery store, hospital, construction site, and things like that. Ethan seemed to have a second reserve of energy for play. Although he was dead on the walk to the museum, once we got in the doors he was running all over the place for the 4+ hours we were there. I had one more presentation that evening and then Ethan picked pizza for dinner after swimming at the hotel.
On our last day we went back to the Reading Terminal Market for breakfast and then to the Franklin Institute. This one was expensive too (about $30), but well worth it. This museum was great. If we were doing home school in Philadelphia I think we could probably take the kids to this museum at least once a week and just concentrate on one section and maybe still not make it through in a school year. This one to em had the right balance of play with learning. We first learned all about the heart and things that are healthy or not so healthy for it. Then we explored geology some and principles of flight. Then we went to the brain area, which I thought was awesome. First you could dance in front of a screen and it would display your nervous system on a screen as you did it. Then they had a giant climbing network that was supposed to be like the neuron networks in the brain. The lights were dim and flashing and there were hundreds of kids screaming in there. Even though I tried to keep my eye on him always, it was impossible to keep track of where he was with all the other kids running around. Luckily he was old enough to always come back to me, but I would be really worried about bringing younger kids in there. After that they had a lot of optical illusions, including a theater room that makes it feel like you are getting flipped upside down. Last we got to explore the space area. I wish we would have had more time there, but we stayed until closing time. Then we had a little bit of time before my last presentation so we decided to walk. Unfortunately, about a mile into the two mile walk it started pouring on us. We were drenched by the time we got there. Luckily we had about another hour before the presentation to dry off. That night we went to Chinatown for dinner one more time and then a last swim at the hotel.
Ethan loved climbing around in this giant heart. Below is a picture of him inside it.
This is the brain climbing gym. It was huge and there was music playing and strobe lights going. There were probably 100 kids climbing on it with their parents all on the floor below. I was kind of freaking out because I lost sight of Ethan several times - I can't imagine what some of the parents with younger kids or with multiple kids there were going through.
The next day we flew to Salt Lake where we were meeting up with Rebecca and the rest of the children for a Meibos family reunion. Our flight actually took us all the way to Seattle by about 10 pm. Then we had a flight out of Seattle to Salt Lake at 6 am. I didn't tell any of my family about the layover because I didn't want to make anyone pick us up that late and then have to bring us back to the airport at about 4 am.
It was a great trip and I am so glad that we have started this new tradition. I felt like I got to build my relationship with Ethan a lot during this trip, which was good given all the transitions our family has been going through.
