OUR DAYS IN PHILLY

In East Philadelphia our country was born & raised. At Independence Hall is where we spent most of our days. Chillin’ out maxin’ and learning for school and all walkin’ around actin’ all cool.

There was a couple of guides that were really good, showin’ us around the Elfreth neighborhood. We learned about one BIG fight and how Washington got scared and said, “We’re movin’ to Valley Forge where our troops can prepare.”

Listened for a bell and when it rang near, we saw the big crack in it and said, “Oh dear!” If anything I could say that I was apalled, but I thought nah forget it, march on to Congress Hall.

I walked into the room where in 1776 we yelled to the Britts, yo homes, smell ya later. Looked at the docs that were signed with care, and then voted George to sit in the rising sun chair.

-4Js

Jett’s Wild Flight: Independence!

By: Jett Lillie

9/3/22: WE THE PEOPLE, should go to Philadelphia, see the Liberty Bell, and the… special Independence Hall, just like we did!

It’s true, the first day we arrived at the Liberty Bell museum and saw the original bell and learned about it’s history. Did you know that the famous crack was formed by trying to fix a smaller crack? Pretty crazy, right? (I thought it fell on some guy’s head from the movie coco, but I quickly realized that I was wrong.)

The next thing we did was go to the Independence Visitor Center. My sister and I quickly got our Jr. Ranger booklets and zipped right through them to earn our 35th Jr. Ranger badge!

We ate lunch at a small café. I got a cookie and a Pretzel like my sister. It was then time for our tour and we met people from Ohio. Our tour guide’s name was David and I’ve noticed that David’s are nice people like my awesome Uncle David. On our tour we learned that Philadelphia served as our Country’s capitol for 10 years. We also learned that the Declaration of Independence was agreed upon, written (took Thomas Jefferson 2 days to write the final copy) and signed here. The U.S. Constitution was also signed here later on. I also learned that Philly was the home of the first bank suggested by Alexander Hamilton and was home of the first ever bank heist!

We also visited George Washington’s, Benjamin Franklin’s, and William Penn’s church: Christ’s Church. (And I sat in all of their pews!)

Here I am sitting in George Washington's booth:

Our tour was over and it was time to head home. When we got home, I sat on the couch and watched the first OU game of the season as we secured a VICTORY! Gooooooo….OU! (Booooo…Orange!)

9/4/22: The next day we went to the American Helicopter Museum.

We saw a lot of different types of helicopters. I think my dad wants to be a helicopter pilot now! He’s always dreamed of having one some day.

Jule’s Journal: Scavenger Hunt Day

By: Julianne Lillie

9/5/22: We ended up cancelling our plans to Atlantic City so we could go back to Philly to tour more of the inside of the historic buildings and finish the Lego Minifigure scavenger hunt. To make it more fun for the kiddos (and young at heart adults!) the National Park system created a scavenger hunt of little Lego minifigures, 8 total, that were scattered throughout the inside of many of the historical buildings. We had only found 1 the first day and set out to find the other 7 today. We started with a 9:20am tour of Independence Hall.

We actually got to stand in the room where the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation AND the U.S. Constitution were signed! It was such a super cool feeling!

Here's the room where it all happened - the Assembly Room!

The closest table has Thomas Jefferson's original cane on it - that was Virginia's table. And then table on top of the stage was George Washington's table with his original "Rising Sun" chair as Benjamin Franklin called it..

From there, we headed over to the “West Wing” to view an exhibit they called the “Great Essentials.” It consisted of the 3 documents that were signed but were not the originals as those are housed in D.C. which we’ll be seeing in a couple of weeks! However, the U.S. Constitution on display was in fact the working copy of George Washington… so that was pretty cool!

It also had the ink stand on display that was used to sign the U.S. Constitution.

We then headed over to tour Congress Hall and sat in the first U.S. House of Representatives room… where George Washington was inaugurated for his 2nd term as President AND where the transfer of power happened when John Adams was inaugurated as our 2nd President.

Took our seats as "US House Representatives":

Jett is standing right where both inaugurations happened:

We also got to explore the U.S. Senate Chamber on the 2nd floor.

We then toured the Old City Hall and continued over to the Franklin Court. The Franklin Court consisted of Benjamin Franklin’s homesite, courtyard, and Printing Press. On top of Ben Franklin’s homesite they have built a very neat Museum honoring him and all of his many accomplishments both in the birth of our country and in the field of science and technology.

Park Rangers told us that this was the original arch that Franklin walked under everyday to go to town.

We also stepped into the Printing Press and saw a demonstration of how printing was done back in their days. Very tedious for sure!

We ended up finding all 8 Lego minifigures & the kids earned their Liberty Bell pins! The Historical Park also has trading cards and kids were able to earn trading cards if they answered trivia questions asked by Park Rangers. The kids loved doing this and they actually earned about a dozen each! I was very impressed by how the National Park system is encouraging participation by the younger generations and making learning about history fun!

We then headed to the Reading Terminal for lunch, however we were very disappointed to find they were closed for the holiday. So instead, we settled for a quick bite to each from Wawa (it’s basically a 7-11 on steroids!) Then we headed to the New City Hall building which is the largest active municipal building in the U.S. However, we were also disappointed to find out they were also closed for the holiday. But Jett and I made the most of it and explored the grounds and gorgeous exterior of the building nonetheless!

We also walked over to get better views of the church and other statues as well.

Ben Franklin's statue honoring him as a printer.

Ben Franklin & George Washington:

At this point we were all pretty worn out so we headed back to the RV where Jason did some work and I started laundry. Then Jaycie and I started on my Grandma’s Christmas shopping/ordering. (A little background info….My Grandma LOVES BIG Christmases full of LOTS of presents and has 10 great grandchildren. A few years ago shopping became too much for her I volunteered to help. And since I do most online shopping, I handle the purchasing for her and have it shipped to her apartment in Bartlesville where she then categorizes it and wraps it! It’s a great system we’ve worked out that still allows her the opportunity to GIVE in a big way and not have to deal with computers! LOL!)

We ended up having an early dinner followed by showers. Then HAD to watch an episode of Fresh Prince because…. When in Philly, right?

Jaycie’s Bunny Hoppin’ News:

By: Jaycie Lillie

9/6/22: On day 4 in Philly we went to the Franklin Institute.

First, we went to the Brain exhibit and then we went to the Harry Potter Exhibition. It was definitely not what I expected. It was different scenes set up (like in the movies) so you could take pictures. In the classrooms, a few had interactive tasks where you could tap your wristband and do a task or something. One was to conjure a Patronus curse. You would tap your wristband and then draw a circle spiral then say the spell to earn points for your house. We then moved on to more exhibits like Changing Earth and electricity. In Changing Earth, you could practice being a weather person. Here’s me trying:

After that we visited the planetarium and then saw the Train, technology, Sports and Newton’s Loft exhibits. Newton’s Loft was cool. I like it! My favorite exhibit was Changing Earth, though.

9/7/22: We ate brunch in the middle of almost nowhere and headed to a magic garden. The magic garden wasn’t really a plant garden! It was a maze of recycled materials. Bikes, glass, bottles, tile, anything!

Here are my pictures of the magic garden:

It was like a maze!

We then drove through the rain to Valley Forge. Valley Forge is HU-WAGE!! Too bad it was raining, and we couldn’t do everything. We did go to a Church, George Washington’s house, and a train station.

The rain made me sleepy. We earned our junior ranger badges then drove home in the rain!