

{sitting on the duck boat near independence hall, waiting for the tour to start.}

{you can kind of see our duck boat’s reflection here.}




{driving into the delaware river.}











{after our duck tour, we walked around the city to listen to stories with ‘once upon a nation’ and get the remaining 7 stickers on the kids’ flags. jack’s wearing his duck noisemaker which, of course, they don’t give you until the tour is over…smart people.}

{the story we heard at independence hall was about commodore barry, the first american commissioned naval officer.}

{a very large tiffany glass mural.}



{the fam were actually active participants in the telling of this story of president andrew jackson’s attempts to abolish the second bank of the united states (the building behind them).}



{we headed down to south street for lunch to go to jim’s steaks. most of the locals we asked said jim’s was their favorite because you get real cheese (no “whiz”). i snapped this one photo before jonathan practically knocked the camera out of my hand—apparently i was embarrassing him…which i did even further inside, having to be corrected on my order (it’s a cheesesteak with peppers, not a peppersteak with cheese, who knew?), but then jonathan had to be corrected, too. ha! it’s all part of the experience.}


{this is jonathan’s “put your camera away, woman, before we get kicked out” look.}



{at the location of benjamin franklin’s homestead (franklin court), the most interesting part of which for the kids was seeing ben franklin’s, well, privy pits…}






{getting the last star for their flags at franklin square—now for the free carousel ride.}









{an incredible dinner on an upstairs patio at the corner restaurant.}


{(on left) if you haven’t noticed, we let jack grow his hair out over the summer. he didn’t get an actual haircut to style the longer hair until the week before school started. (on right) this is not jack’s drink. ;) but, it was brewed in pottstown, PA where jonathan’s grandparents live—and where we were earlier in the week—so it was worth noting.}

{and this was the ride home the next day. i’d say we wore them out.}