We are leaving our hotel and the site of the convention today so time for one last goodbye to the Foster family
Jeff saying goodbye to Laheri
As we drove to Philadelphia we passed Baltimore which is where our nephew Josh served his mission and then passed through Delaware which is where Jeff's brother Dale served his mission.
Finally we got to Philadelphia
We were here a couple of hours ahead of the rest of my family so we explored some. We found the love statue and...
walked through the city admiring the architecture....
like their magnificent City Hall...
Then made it to the Reading Terminal Market
We were on a quest to get a good Philly cheesesteak sandwich. We saw this market on the Food channel but the fist place we found were already sold out of the cheesesteaks and it was only 2:30. We found another place that had a good size line (always a good sign of being a good place).
Our Sandwiches were worth the wait. Who would've known that Cheese Whiz is the secret to a good philly cheesesteak!
Back at the hotel we met up with my parents and Michelle and Reese. Taylor and Jacob serenading whoever was in the lobby any chance they could get.
By the time we were hooking up most of the sightseeing places were closing soon. We let the kids stay in the room and Jeff and I walked with my family to a close-by cheesesteak place so they could get a sandwich too.
We came back, grabbed the kids, took a subway to the closest movie theater and we all watched a movie together. We watched the Lone Ranger. We all loved it so we were puzzled why it didn't get good reviews.
The next day we went to the historic part of town.
There was a long line to see the Liberty Bell.
We had most of the group sit down and relax while a few of us stood in the sun. It was a very hot day that day!
Finally it was out turn to see the bell. This bell wasn't used much. It cracked right at the beginning but it was symbolic and important to our history and special for the fact that it predates the American Revolution.
The crack was pretty big and I guess when they repaired it, it cracked even more, so now here it sits in safety.
We still had some time before we were due for our appointment at Independence Hall so we went into the Visitor's Center. They had performers and demonstrators dressed up in period costume. We caught the end of one of their movies.
Then we headed to Independence Hall and went through security.
While we were waiting for our tour Jeff and I headed over to look at to look at our nations first capital building.
In the 10 years that Washington DC was being build this was the site of the House and the Senate.
Finally it was time for our tour of Independence Hall.
Our guide remembered coming here when he was a child learning about history. He then eventually became a citizen. He was originally from Scotland, isn't that what America is made of though. A lot of people that originated from somewhere else at one point.
He is showing us a colonial courthouse. This is where the accused would "stand trial" they would have to stand in this box of bars while the trial was happening.
This is the room where the declaration of Independence was drafted and signed. Each table represented a colony.
Highlighted was this chair that was original to the room. It was called the sun chair. There is 1/2 of a sun on the back of it. There is a quote from one of the founding fathers that mentioned that he never knew if that sun on the chair was rising or setting. After signing the declaration of independence he said that he felt that is was a rising sun as our nation was being born. (Of course I'm paraphrasing)
In another building we saw one of the first printed copies of the Declaration of Independence.
Also the inkwell that was used by the signers.
I loved learning about all the history but after our tour was done we were hot and tired and ready for lunch. After walking to a Burger King and eating we were both ready to get started on our 3 hour drive back.
The day wore the kids out!
Coming back into DC we had a great view of the temple.
We booked a hotel across the street from the airport since we were flying out at 6:30 in the morning.
We thought we were done with our trip but Jacob had other plans. Since we were getting to our hotel about 6 he came up with the idea of meeting the Foster family somewhere between our two hotels for dinner.
Well somehow he got us to coordinate it all and we found a cute outdoor mall to meet them and eat dinner. Here is Laheri sitting on top of Ashley, sitting on top of Kayla.
On last goodbye!
The next day started bright and early at 4:00 when we got up and ready to catch our flight home.
We flew on a Sunday and then I had to do wash and pack Jacob to go to EFY the next morning!
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