3 times in 3 weeks

So before I go into my post I must explain my little town that I grew up in.The population is 1500. It does not have a stop light and there is only one one-way street. It is about 15 mins. from a freeway entrance. I hardly remember ever parallel parking. Now forward to now. I live where people park on both sides of the road and I get nervous just trying to drive down the street. There are one-way streets everywhere and if you make a wrong turn it may take a while to correct your mistake. I cannot believe I have actually driven in NYC (yes if you know me you know I was bad at it). I have also had to parallel park in Philly and not only is that scary enough but it was on the left hand side, that is down-right confusing for this small town girl. OK now you have sone background as to why this is such a task for me.


So I have ventured in to Philly 3 times in the last 3 weeks. First we went to the zoo with our friends. Last fall I bought a zoo pass so I was trying to go one last time before it expired. It is a really great zoo. Did you know it was America's first zoo?

Since about July they have had a great lego display. This has been such a highlight for us. I was glad we were able to go back to see all the ones we missed the first time. The fliers said they used a gazillion legos. So now I guess I can kind of envision what a gazillion is. This polar bear was my favorite one.

A close second is this cool frog.

The next week just the kids and I went in to go to the Franklin Institute and the Natural History Museum. We loved the butterflies in the NHM. They even had a spot where they had cocoons hanging. We saw a butterfly that had just made its way out. Butterflies are so beautiful. I have to say I am very glad they were put on the Earth.

The FI was by far more impressive for me. They had a real huge train inside that the kids could go for a ride on. It moved very slowly, but my kids still thought is was so cool. We also had a chance to make recycled paper. There was so much more to see but I just ran out of time. I was sad.

When the train was brought to the museum it was painted purple. They should have left it like that. It would have really been a sight. They told us that they only paid $1 when they bought it. So now my kids are quite confused about what $1 can really get you in this world. Forget that cheap dollar store toy they think they should be able to get a car.

The last trip we went down by the historical sights. They have 13 booths set up and you can listen to a story at each one. You get a sticker for each story and when your flag is full you can go the the park and get a free carousel ride and ice-cream cone. Each story is less than 5 mins. and situated next to all of the main sights. It is a bit of a walk to get to all 13, but completely worth it because you can see most everything you want to see along the way.

I think this could have been Spencer and Devons first carousel ride. They had such trendy park equipment as well. My kids were unsure how to even play on it. I am not sure how practical it was but it sure looked cool.

So I think I am officially done with Philly. Unless those legos pull me back one more time. I will leave you with this cute picture of the two little ones.