Back to the Franklin Institute

Naturally when Bill came to Philadelphia we took him to our favorite museum - The Franklin Institute - this time in the machine display -

How many wheels can they get to turn at once?

 Gears, gears, and more gears

 Working the crane

 My three sweet girls :)

Colonial kids

Once Upon a Nation was great!  They supplied the storytelling benches and storytellers around town, organized the Colonial muster and reading of the Constitution (by costumed actors,) and provided a Colonial Kids experience around town.  Keegan, Kelsey, and I went on a Colonial Kids Adventure.  They felt almost too old for it, but it was fun anyway!  And I enjoyed it, so how could they be too old?

This was the guide who introduced the storyline - the newly printed copy of the Declaration of Independence was missing and it was our job to find it.  All the kids received hats.

During the adventure, Keegan found the bag which had held the Declaration, and Kelsey found a clue in a flower bed!

Kelsey had to keep her hat low on her head because she had just gotten her glue on her forehead a few days before, and wasn't supposed to let a hat sit right on it.

Being sworn in as Patriots

At the end, with the cast.  A fun filled morning :).

Breakfast with Ben!

In Philadelphia, we had the opportunity to eat breakfast with Ben Franklin.  Well, a very accurate impersonator, anyway :).Initially, we were planning for Kelsey and Keegan to go with Bill or me the weekend Bill was there visiting.  Then The Rock cancelled Saturday morning classes for that day, so we all went!

This man has done this for years and knows a lot about Ben Franklin, his sayings, and his life.

He told stories while we ate, then had a Q&A session at the end.

 A shot from the upstairs balcony, where the breakfast was held, at the Visitors' Center.

Some Colonial music

All of this and bacon, too :)!

Wordless Wednesday - Adventure Aquarium

Beau Monde

Aaaah - a food post :).  Most of the time we were in Philadelphia, we ate at the apartment and packed meals in lunchboxes.  That was a large part of the reason we wanted an apartment was to have a kitchen and prepare meals "at home."  So when we ate out, I wanted it to count!  I read and planned, and when Bill came to visit for a weekend, not only did I have activities planned, I had our eating out planned, too! 
The main place I wanted to eat -for me - was the Cafe Beau Monde, a French restaurant that makes crepes - dessert crepes, entree crepes, build your own crepes - they have it all. Everyone else was not so excited, but in the end, they were converted.  Mmmmmm, it was so worth it!  All my days of looking forward to it weren't as good as the reality (isn't it great when that's the case?)

Nutella and strawberries - definitely a winning combination!

My recommendation?  If you are ever in Philadelphia, forget the cheesesteak and go for the crepes!  

The Free Library of Philadelphia

One of Mr. Franklin's more brilliant ideas, imho.  We sure make use of libraries A LOT!  While in Philadelphia, we also visited the library in Chinatown, watched a magic act, and the girls joined the summer reading program.  The only thing I have against this particular library is that we got so involved inside that I let my parking meter expire and (very promptly, I might say) got a ticket.  There should have been a warning ;).

 Beautiful entryway

Keegan and Kelsey playing checkers.  This table could do a lot of different things.  It is where Kelsey first started learning to play chess (her current favorite.) 

Our books stacked there are The High Rise Private Eyes and Dear Americas.

We <3 our libraries.  Thanks, Ben Franklin!

Dinosaurs at the Academy of Natural Science

A few more pictures from The Academy of Natural Science.  It was another museum in the downtown area.  We loved being near so many cool places and took Caitlyn back with us one afternoon!

Kelsey looking for fossils

Comparing a human's movement with a dinosaur's

Ready to dig - they're so cute :)

The Franklin Institute

We spent quite a bit of time at the Franklin Institute.  First of all, it was cool.  And large.  And we have a membership to another museum that allowed us to enter for free.  Then add in the fact that it stayed open until 5:00 (most places closed at 4:00) and was relatively close to our apartment, so we could go for an hour after Caitlyn finished dancing and it became one of our favorite places in town!

Once again, Philadelphia loves Ben Franklin.  And this was, after all, the Franklin Institute.

Keegan is causing her chair to rotate by tipping the spinning wheel in different directions.

Kelsey, seeing what a difference a level can make when it comes to lifting.  Here she is trying to lift 75 pounds.

Here Kelsey sees if she is brave enough to keep her face to the hole as the bowling ball comes toward her.

 She was :).

Experimenting with centrifugal force

 Caitlyn and Keegan working hard on a domino track.

The finished product -->

I love these perpetual motion machines.  Very cool.

Everybody loved trying the moving surf board.

And yes, it was easier to balance with your feet spread widely apart :).

Keegan and Kelsey test their reflexes by seeing how quickly they can hit the gas pedal after the light turns green.  They got pretty fast!  I'm not sure that bodes well for when they turn sixteen.....

A very brave Keegan tries the sky bike.  I was awfully proud of her for giving it a shot!

This thing is much more difficult than it appears -

you try to release the ball so it rolls down the hill without hitting any of the paddles,

which raise and lower in a pattern. 

Kelsey releases the ball!

Kelsey and Keegan got pretty good at it.  They never reached their goal of doing it succesfully every time, but they each had a much higher rate of success than either Caitlyn or I did!

This is the end of today's tour of the Franklin Institute.  Please return soon to see more interesting exhibits :).

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday - Colonial Kids in Philadelphia

At the Mann Center

for the performing arts, we (and a few hundred other folks) got to see some really cool stuff!  They had a summer kids' series.  Keegan, Kelsey, and I got to go twice and WE LOVED IT!  Caitlyn actually got to go once because The Rock School performed, but the rest of us missed that one :(.

These pictures are from a triple performance of Chinese opera (which is a combination of gymnastics and martial arts,) flamenco dancing, and African dancing.

The Chinese opera had incredible costumes!

 One of my clues that I needed to take Kelse to get her eyes checked :(.

 I loved the guy on stilts.  Keegan was crazy about the tiny kid dancers, who were awfully adorable.

One great thing about being in Philadelphia for such a long time was the opportunity to see things like these performances.  If we had only been there a week, we could have hit all the main attractions, but as it was, we had the opportunity to also seek out some less common experiences.  Once again, very cool :).