Day Trip to Philly

We always talk about how nice it is to live so close to so many other large cities- and that we should take advantage of it while we are here! We traveled up the eastern seaboard quite a bit during the first 18 months after we moved here, but then it tapered off a bit.

So we decided to take a day trip to Philly last weekend. Its less than 2 hours away, and we didn't have to deal with the hassle of staying over night- which entails packing too much stuff, finding someone to watch the dog, and not getting much sleep anyway, since it takes the girls at least one night to acclimate to different surroundings. We had only 2 things on the itinerary: the "Please Touch Museum" for the kids, and then a local brewery for us!

First we traded the old car seats for new big kids ones that face forward- and even have cup holders! The girls were happy to be able to see us and the road... but truth be told, I think Dave and I were more excited about the whole change-of-seat thing in the end.

Stella and Lucy preparing for their first trip in their new seats!

We hit virtually no traffic and arrived at the "Please Touch Museum" less then 2 hours later. We spent almost 3 hours there. The museum is geared to 6 month- 6 years so in every section the girls had something to do.

There was a transit section where you could play on a train or bus and you could even be a race-car mechanic by changing tires (that were magnetized and oriented towards little ones) on mini cars. We visited the space section where you could climb in a space ship and run a whole bunch of machines that made things float. We played in the fake grocery store pushing the cart around and picking up plastic veggies while bumping into probably a few too many kids. We saw our childrens' budding science skills while at the "hospital" with their ability to take temperatures, check heart beats, and even run a MRI machine! We played in a little village that had houses and a garden where we picked potatoes. We went through Alice in Wonderland's maze and sat with the Mad Hatter for a tea party. We continued the adventure with a trip to the rain forest where we played with native instruments and then with tug boats in a 'river'. We ended the visit with sticking our heads into fun displays and then going down a log slide a good 20 times!

Lucy and Stella on the mini monorail 

The space tunnel

Race car station 

Lucy gives Mom a checkup at the 'hospital'

toddlers hanging out in the faux ER

Stella picks potatoes from the garden

Stella having fun in Alice in Wonderland's hallway of doors

Lucy and Dad bid farewell to a fun day!

Afterwards we met up with our friends Tiff and Ryan who just happened to be in Philly that weekend. We went to the Manayunk Brewery and had a couple brews and ate dinner. After 3 hours hanging out with them, we finally had to hit the road back to Baltimore.
It was a good day!