Expedition Monday

(Thanks for the idea, Asa!)

Because this winter's been horrible, weather-wise, w/snow just about every other day (or at least it feels like it!), we took advantage of temps in the balmy 40s today, and took a long walk to the Central Library.  And, in an effort to make this outing more fun to the kids, I tried to make it feel like they weren't just sat in the stroller for 45-minutes or so each way (which they definitely were) by taking pictures of them at various "famous" spots, stopping for pretzels along the way, and throwing in a run around Rittenhouse Square.  Fun!

Turned into a way longer, three-hour adventure, but it was totally worth it- they've been napping for nearly three hours now! ;)

The route:

I just entered our address and destination into GoogleMaps right now, and it's weird, but this is pretty much the same route we took today- we rarely walk this route, but usually wind around on the less busy streets, like Spruce or Locust, until we're at about 20th street and head north.

Anyway, our first shot:  the alley.  Well, this picture is on Camac, the street that connects to our alley.  Little happy wide-awake faces...

In the outdoor rotunda at City Hall- I have no idea what's going on in there, but there's loads of construction at the moment.  Totally ruined all the good shots we could have had in there, bc it's normally really pretty!

Love Park- in the background!

The weird Ben Franklin sculpture on Vine Street:

At handicapped/stroller entrance for the library, way in the back...not nearly as grand as going through the main entrance!

The Children's library!

Logan Square- not actually a square as it's a circle, but still a pretty spot.  There's the library, the Franklin Institute, the Museum of Natural Sciences...loads more potential "expedition" sites for the future, I'm sure!

Next up- visiting Daddy at work.  And, running around the lobby of his office- bc who doesn't like to do that when they see a ramp?

(Nearly nap time...)

Rittenhouse!  The point of this stop was really to cap-off the tiring-out-the-kids agenda:

Stopping for refreshments at the Rittenhouse Market- nothing is more fun to them, apparently, than the very rare juice-box:

And with that, we headed home.  Oh, I took this shot of Tenth (our church) bc it's always funny to me when the kids see the building bc they always shout out "baby church!"  Bc that's what we call their, well, Judah's "class" anyway- it's just baby church, all playing, no real "lesson," it's nursery.  Anyway, always makes me laugh!

Hope you enjoyed the tour of the city- I'm going back to enjoying the silence that is my house right now...*sniff* so rare! ;)