Philadelphia for Carter's Birthday

This years seems to have been a year of learning a lot about the Revolutionary War and American History. We have watched all the Liberty Kids videos (over and over going down to NC last summer), visited Concord multiple times, hiked Bunker Hill with Xavey and several other historical markers. So when Carter started asking to visit the Liberty Bell, it made sense. We decided we'd take a couple days to go to Philadelphia and be there on the day he turns 7!

Here the boys are in front of a reconstructed Valley Forge cabin. There were a couple thousand of these during that winter. The British burned everything when they made it this far....

Running in front of General Washington's headquarters (reconstructed... dang British and their burning....)

Here the troops are in front of General Washington's reconstructed Valley Forget headquarters. The rangers here were so knowledgable. (Please notice Carter is wearing a Patriots jersey here - he, he, he)

I planned a surprise for Carter. He absolutely loves his cousins, especially Xavey who is just 5 weeks younger than him. Corinne and I conspired to surprise the kids and spend one night at the same hotel and visit sites together. We didn't even tell them the surprise and let them just walk into each other in a parking lot! They had big smiles on their faces... We went to dinner together (yes, table for 10 - thank you Chili's for putting us in a back corner - and for allowing lots of other louder families to be around us!!!)

We visited Indepence Hall and the Liberty Bell twice. The second morning it was raining a bit, but we learned more that we had missed the first day. It was so neat to see the Bell and the crack. We visited Benjamin Franklin Square and learned more about him (he was seriously so amazing....).

It was a great weekend, topped off by a family dinner on Sunday (the day after his birthday). Where has the time gone? He's baptized next year! Yikes!!