The City of Brotherly Love

Last year, somewhere in the midst of our 2010 10,000 mile road trip from Boston to Southern California and back, plans for our summer 2011 began. I think that I was somewhere in Ohio when, on a scrap of paper, I began mapping out stops around the perimeter of our country to which I just couldn't wait to take my kids. Yesterday morning we awoke with the sun to begin our journey. We arrived in Philadelphia in the afternoon and headed straight to the National Constitution Center, which is a hands on museum chronologically explaining the constitution. It gave us the opportunity to understand the creation of the constitution, the branches of the government, the power of the states vs. the federal government and the major historical events involving the constitution, such as Brown vs. the Board of Education.

There was an entire room filled with life sized statues of the signers of the Constitution.

Visitors could sign the Constitution, just as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin did.

We stood under our Utah Flag that hung in order of its acceptance into the union. We wondered if we should stand on Utah, Massachusetts or Texas!

Our next stop was to see the Liberty Bell. I was so worried as I hurried down 95 that we would have to pick and choose what we could fit in in Philadelphia, after running in to traffic across the George Washington Bridge and having to make a few extra stops than planned. We didn't arrive until 4:00, but I realized that it was to our advantage to arrive late in this tourist packed city. The hours were extended at the city's famous sites and the crowds had thinned out. There was no line for the Liberty Bell, nor for Independence Hall!

This is the room where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed.

I had promised the kids Phillie's famous cheese steak sandwiches for dinner, so we found an urban sandwich shop and enjoyed dinner.

We then walked around Philadelphia's Old Town and saw Christ's Church, where George Washington and Benjamin Franklin worshipped, Elphreth's Alley, the oldest continuously lived upon street in the country, the Betsy Ross home and Benjamin Franklin's Grave.

After driving through the Society Hill neighborhood, which was where the high class colonists lived, we stopped to see the iconic LOVE sculpture.

We then made our way to the Art Museum where Rocky was filmed running the stairs for an intense workout. I was surprised to see many Philadelphians racing up and down the stairs for exercise that looked just as intense as Rocky's. My younger children joined them and surprised me at how many times they ran up and down the stairs. They were all proud that they were dripping in sweat by the end and each one of them wanted me to feel their foreheads and back of their necks to make sure that I could appreciate their hard work! The night brought me back to 4th grade with my friends Tara Cochia and Kari Peterson. We would wear 501 jeans, sing Joni Jett songs at recess, talk about our crush on Nick Sabala and watch our favorite actor, Sylvester Stallone!

These shoe prints were at the top of the stairs where Rocky stood, with his arms up, looking over Philadelphia.

Our night ended with the kids excitement over spotting fire flies that define Southern summer nights. They were so excited when then caught them and held them in their cupped hands!

We knew that we were in for a good summer!