SCHEDULE - Saturday, Feb 22
9:30 am - Leave our house
10:00 am - Pick up Abi in the middle
11:00 am - Arrive at Franklin Institute
12:30 pm - Lunch in Institute
2-2:30 pm - Leave Museum and head to Bakery
3:30 pm - Head home
4:30 pm - Drop off Abi
Amazingly, this is pretty much how the day went except for the drive home.
We picked up Abi in between their house and our house, pout on the mix CD and headed to Philly. There was a lot of dancing, squealing and laughing coming from the back seat. when we were almost to the Museum I pulled out my camera to take a shot of the back seat merriment and this is the moment I realized my camera had accidentally been left on and the battery was completely dead. Worst ever. So I took this really crappy iPhone shot and shook it off.
We arrived and immediately the girls were drawn to the HUGE statue of Ben Franklin. Weird because what kid loves staring at a statue? All four of these kids apparently. They wanted to stay there for, like, 20 minutes.
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| (we totally DIDN'T plan the pink/grey/black color scheme, but the scrapbooker in me really appreciated it) |
We began on the ground floor, exploring this amazing place. I haven't been there before and it was really incredible. We could have stayed inside for the entire day and not even come close to seeing/interacting with everything. There were just so many cool exhibits. I saw quite a few couples and adult there without children. I was totally enthralled. After 90 minutes we were all hungry so we headed to the Cafe inside the museum. We figured we would spring for this as part of the party expense, but paying $60 for the worst pizza ever was still painful. If you ever go there, the chicken strips are the only way to go.
During lunch I asked the girls what their favorite part was so far and had this depressing conversation...
Me: So, what has been your favorite part so far? Abi?
Abi: The gift shop.
Me: But we didn't even go to the giftshop yet.
Abi: Yeah, but I saw the outside and it's may favorite.
Me: What about you Ella?
Ella: Ummm.....I don't know.
Me: Evangeline?
Eva: The bathrooms.
Me: Okay. I give up.
The bathrooms?!! They did all have a fantastic time. Maybe my questions just caught them off guard,
On to more museum fun. I seriously loved this place. The final room we visited was the Train room, which I thought was kinda lame. Who wants to look at an old-timey train after you've just completed electrical circuits with your body and built a water system for a fake small town? Matt loved it.
We did visit the gift shop and, in Abi's defense, it WAS incredible. By far the coolest museum gift shop I have ever been in. It was separated into themes and each section had items to purchase and also child-aged books to read up on the subject. Ella got a geode rock (the kind with a rough exterior and crystals inside) and we grabbed the kids reader book that went with it for $4 that told about rocks and geodes and crystals. Genius. Evangeline bought a big, gaudy, jewel necklace. Bianca went for a dinosaur with a hinged mouth to bite others with. Classic Bonka. Abi got a huge (really HUGE) slinky and a geode rock as well. When we left I realized I totally coveted Abi's slinky. I should have bought one. Lame.
On the way out we let the kids go into the photo booth. First Ella and her guest (they choose a background with a creepy Ben Franklin in the middle) and then myself, Bianca and Eva took a turn. Matt waited outside and rolled his eyes at my Photobooth obsession (since photo booths now cost $3 +).
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