philedelphia (liberty bell, independence hall, reading market, elfreth's alley)

We spent my last day of the trip (Friday) in Philly!

Our first stop was independence hall and the Liberty bell.

I definitely gained a deeper appreciation for this symbol of liberty and the importance of liberty and how far we have come and how far we still need to go to ensure liberty for all Americans.

We grabbed tickets for the tour of independence hall.

Such important work and discussion happened in these rooms.

We walked through part of Philly and passed the Jefferson house.

We ended up at Reading Market.

It reminded us of our dear Pike Place market only smaller and more food options. And with lots of Amish food and gifts to buy instead of fish.

We for sure got us some Philly Cheesesteaks.

And these delicious donuts.

Our favorite ended up being the fruity pebble one.

We went through the self guided tour of the US Mint. So interesting!

We just did a walk by of the Betsy Ross house.

We spent a few minutes in Elfreths Alley—theoldest residential street in America. 

We walked back to our hotel to get warm and eat a snack before B and I had to head to the airport.

My week back east came to an end. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to travel!

I was nervous about the five and half hour flight with B, but she did great. She slept most of the time so besides my sore arms we came out champions.

DC: national gallery of art and more monuments

The problem with waiting almost two months to record the adventure of a vacation is that you can't remember the details and what you actually did when you did it. I always vow that I will be better at getting things down quickly so I can actually remember the things we learned and the conversations we had and the things we felt verses just a travelogue. It's something I will keep trying to improve on. But when you can't do perfect, something here is better than nothing. So even if I mixed up the details of when the boys and Eric went to the House of Representatives and I can't remember what they actually did while I was running back to the hotel room with B, I carry on.

After lunch at the Shake Shack (seriously three times in one week! that could only happen because we were walking so much each day), I took the boys and baby to the National Gallery of Art while Eric ran back to the hotel to get something we forgot.

There was so much to see there!

We imitated a few of the sculptures we saw.

How absolutely lovely is this spot.

We went to see the Leonardo De Vinci painting first.

This put is in the area of which Kacin referred to as “the paintings of a bunch of people in their birthday suits.” We tried to find some pretty ones with people clothed.

This one was stunning!

I know nothing about art, but I do know what I like to look at it. And that there are some talented people in this world.

Baby loves surrounded by beauty!

That was a big kiss from the baby.

How real is that! Impressive.

Eric made it back in time to see a few pieces of art.

The boys left and I went in search of the perfect place to sit and feed baby.

We found the perfect place amongst the Monet’s.

I really love these paintings the best.

 

These were some great ones, too.

I was so grateful to get to spend some time in the national Gallery of Art. It was spectacular! I wish I could’ve seen more of it. But we were off to see more of the monuments!

Always Arizona.

Forever Washington.

After World War II, we went to visit my new favorite monument, Martin Luther King Jr.

I love the snippets of wisdom engraved on the walls.

“ make a career of humanity“

My favorite quote right here:

We walked through the FDR monument.

The last monument of the evening was the Jefferson.

We saw so much beauty in DC that day.

Love these boys!

We then drove two hours to check into our hotel in Philadelphia!