It's long overdue and now, Philly is slammin'
(Everybody it's) Boyz II Men, ABC, BBD
The eastcoast family
Never skipped a beat, (Naw) while coolin' on South Street
Jet black Benz, plenty of friends
(And all the Philly steaks you can eat)

So after working right up to the last second and then packing right after the last second, we managed to get to the airport on time, with luggage underweight and everything.  I had been dreading the plane ride for some time because Evie doesn’t like to sit still for very long and I could just imagine having some grumpy old-timer trapped in our row as Evie howls for 2 straight hours.  In fact, it couldn’t have been more opposite!  The plane was less than half full for some reason so we had the row to ourselves.  Then, as soon as we took off, Evie fell asleep and stayed that way almost until decent.  It couldn’t have gone any better.

So, the first stop was Jersin’ it up with John and Melissa (and Rebecca).  Evie was pretty excited to play with all the new toys, especially Daisy (their dog).  Neither Evie nor Rebecca were super big on sharing, but I think it is good for her to be around other children and learn about things like who’s turn it is.  They have a cat named Butters and Evie kept calling him Nala until finally she reconciled it by saying, “Nala’s name is Butters.”  That seemed to settle it in her mind.

We went to the Barnes Foundation, which is something Sara had always wanted to do when we lived in Philly, but never got around to doing.  We had to hurry through a little bit because Evie started to get bored and stopped being appeased with finding the horses, doggies, etc.  She did have a favorite picture though, which is a real nice one for a 15 month old girl to like:

Scout Attacked by a Tiger, Henri Rousseau, 1904, oil on canvas

I blame it on the “cat”.  Oh, I also managed to redeem a free slice card at Peace-A-Pizza that I’ve been carrying in my wallet for 2 years.

Next up was the Camden Aquarium, which I was actually pretty impressed with.  I liked it better than Shedd.  One time at the zoo we paid extra to touch some Rays.  Here, at the aquarium, for no extra cost we were able to touch Rays, Sharks, Jelly Fish, Starfish, Sea Cucumbers and a Sea Anemone.  There were also good sharks there and a cool video about Piranhas.  Unfortunately, Evie slept in the car before we got there until we got in the car to leave!  And I had promised her sharks earlier in the day when looking at the goldfish in Petsmart, so later when we got in the car to go out to eat she was like, “Sharks! Sharks!” and I had to say, “No honey, you slept through them.”  But she did eat calamari for dinner, so it was a fishy day in general.

We went to the Please Touch Museum and I have to say, I was pretty impressed.  It blew the Chicago Children’s Museum out of the water.  Evie and Rebecca had a blast and it was a lot of fun to see them having so much fun.  We also had our first carousel ride, on a giant rabbit no less.

After that we returned our rental car and checked into our hotel.  I’d give the hotel a C+.  It was a fancy expensive hotel and that kind of worked against them.  Like, I’m usually staying at cheepie hotels where certain things aren’t even an option, but since they were an option here then I expect them to be good.  So they sort of set themselves up to fail.  It was a lot of little things.  For example, when I dropped Sara and the baby and all the luggage off the doorman who was standing right there refused to get us a luggage cart because we weren’t at the valet entrance.  Or, when Evie and I were sleeping and I put the “Do not disturb, catching some ZZZZZs” sign in the door, they elected not to knock and instead called on the phone which was vastly more disturbing.  Or, the way I called to schedule our room cleaning so it wouldn’t disrupt Evie’s nap and yet 2 out of 3 days it was outside of the 2 hour window I asked for.  Or the way our room was pretty small, especially with the crib, and we didn’t have a bath tub.  Or the way Evie got sick and we needed a humidifier but they had already given them all out and then they said they found one and brought it up, but it was really just an air purifier.

There was one thing saving them from a C, and that was the availability of toddler stuff to borrow from the front desk.  (Well, that and the coffee maker…you’ll have to ask Sara) The child bathtub was very handy (because we didn’t have a bath tub) and they had some baby soap which we forgot and Evie especially enjoyed the bounce-and-spin zebra (even if I had to assemble it myself using the file on my nail clippers in place of a screwdriver).

We had a lot of time to kill during the day and we put a lot of miles on the stroller.  Evie and I saw the Liberty Bell and the Love statue as well as City Hall, South Street, the Reading Terminal Market, the transit museum (super lame!) and a lot of other places around downtown.  I think I know that area better now than when we lived there.  We also spent a lot of time in the lobby, elevators, hallways, looking out the window, etc.  Evie couldn’t get enough “car”s, “bus”es, “taxi”es and “trolly”s and “Hi people!” from the 20th floor.  At the end of the trip I was glad because I really just had nothing else to do in that hotel or in the city around it.  Rainy days were especially problematic and really made me miss staying at John and Melissa’s!  We also hit up a few other places with mommy such as the Betsy Ross house, the Italian Market, another failed attempt at getting a tour of the Mint, and many, many delicious restaurants.  We also had time to see some friends, including Tony Vegas.

As far as the Cheesesteak Challenge, I failed miserably. 😦  My goal was to get a cheesesteak from Jim’s every day that we were in Philly.  It was like 1.3 miles from the hotel.  The first day I got Evie ready and walked all the way there, only to discover they didn’t open until 10.  Also, the entire street was under construction and nothing looked open.  So I had to walk all the way back, sans cheesesteak, and I wasn’t sure if it was open at all or not.  I was waiting for Internet confirmation that it was open so I ended up not making it there the first day.  The second day it was nice all morning until I got ready to go at 10 and then it poured rain for the rest of the day.  “We have plenty of days left,” said Sara.  “You have obviously never had the universe conspire against you,” I said sadly.  We did eventually make it there though and I had two delicious whiz mushrooms and a yoohoo.  Perfection!

The plane ride home was almost as good as the ride there.  Plane was a little more crowded, but we still managed a row to ourselves.  Evie had a little trouble falling asleep, but after a half hour or so she stayed out the rest of the time.  I have to say, it sure is good to be home!

Quotes of the trip:

Proposition 8 protester: “Two, four, six, eight, separation church and state!”
Tony: “Now that you put it that way, I have to re-think my entire position…”

Sara: “It was too loud to hear her, but I could see her signing “more”.  I guess that’s one advantage of sign language.”