I took my kids on a field trip to Philadelphia today. It was a bit spur of the moment, and lots of fun. I bet if I had planned it out better, it wouldn't have been so perfect. It was warm in the sun, but cool enough to use the furry blanket on the handsome cab ride around Independence Square. (I was relieved the driver had not recently come into a large quantity of Beefarino.) As we passed Independence Hall, the birthplace of our nation, my kids said, “Wow, Mom. I can't believe that right here they filmed National Treasure.” Oh well. I try.



We pitched two pennies on Ben Franklin's grave for good luck. I heard two pennies were the luckiest since he said “A penny saved is a penny earned.” He set up a library in Philadelphia. It cost 2 pennies to take out a book and you got one back upon its return. The grave had a lot of pennies on it. Probably overdue fines.

In Constitution Hall, I couldn't keep those frisky Declaration signers to leave me alone. I didn't realize how many of them were about my age in 1776. They were a very do-able group ;-) Fortunately someone had the good idea of bronzing them.

We ended at the City Tavern, built and frequented by our founding fathers in 1773. There was rabbit, duck, and venison on the menu among other delicious options. I wasn't in the spirit to try rabbit. Besides, I was still full from my lunch of a Philly cheese steak.

I was thinking I'd double duty and use this restaurant for my other blog. Who ever heard of a restaurant critic with three kids? When my youngest was running her finger through the candle flame, she crashed my iced tea to the floor. Later she picked the crispy sugar off her crème brulee and put patches of it on the back of her hand and pretended they were scabs. My son used the cinnamon stick in his hot cider like a kazoo. It's not always easy to pull off professional in my life.