Part 1-Philadelphia, Plymouth Rock, Plimoth Plantation & Cape Cod

This past week we took the kids on a trip to the northeast. I say the northeast because we drove through Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. Over 1200 miles later, and what seemed to be $1000 in gas and toll fees, we had an awesome vacation! It all started Thursday morning at 3:30 am. Rob was in Florida for a golf tournament and so he planned on meeting us in Philadelphia. I wasn't too worried to fly alone with all 4 of my kids because we make 10 hour drives to Utah all the time and they do fine. I had definitely said my share of prayers that all would go well, and for the most part, it did. We left for the airport at 4:00 am without incident. We were all excited and happy to be going on the trip that we had planned for weeks. Rob had told me that we were flying Continental which was a relief because they fly out of the smallest terminal at Sky Harbor Airport. We got the car parked and I was feeling so happy and relaxed that I decided to also take Hunter and Ashley's car seats to save myself $100 for car seat rentals. I loaded up the double stroller and each kid had a backpack and suitcase in tow. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 6:00 am where we would have a layover in Salt Lake City. When I got up to the Continental desk to check in, they asked me what my destination was. I told them Philadelphia through Salt Lake. The attendant looked perplexed and said, "You mean Houston, right?" I said,"No, Salt Lake." She then informed me that they don't go to Salt Lake so I must actually be flying Delta. (Makes sense since we were using our Delta miles, but that is not like Rob to be so unorganized.) To make a long story short, we then had to go back outside with all of our luggage and wait at the curb to ride a shuttle to a different terminal. Lucky for me everyone felt sorry for me and they were all very helpful. We barely made it to the gate in time to board. The kids were fabulous! I have never had such an easy time traveling with my kids! The flight home was not so pretty!!!

The beauty of having 4 kids is having to rent a minivan when you travel. Some people are minivan people, Rob and I aren't! (Nothing against minivans:) They are a very nice ride and very easy to get the kids in and out!) When they first told us we were going to have a black minivan, Rob and I both looked at each other and said,"Do they even make black minivans?" I couldn't think of a time that I had ever seen one. Rob was so sure that we had the only minivan, that he even tried to get into a few cars that weren't ours. He just automatically went to the nearest black minivan.

The girls think these are the greatest cars ever!

Unfortunately Alyssa and Brooklyn's braids didn't stay in very well this year. I had to take both of their braids out the first night at the hotel:(

I have been to Philadelphia 4 times and for some reason I never get tired of seeing the Liberty Bell. Since we took all of the kids there last year, we only spent half of a day there. Good thing we had seen everything already because it rained so hard! We were all dripping wet by the time we got back to the car.


This is a picture of Independence Hall. You have to have tickets to actually go in this building so this was the first time we got to go in. The only thing in this building that is original is the chair that George Washington sat in with the rising sun on the back. I still enjoy seeing replicas, but Rob loses interest the second he hears that it is a re-creation.


The kids inside Congress Hall.

This is all of us drenched as we are going back to the car.

Saturday we went to Plymouth Rock and Plimoth Plantation. Apparently there weren't any rules for spelling back in those days:)


The Mayflower

This is a tiny boat that had about 140 people on it for 2 months. It was so dark and smelly!


This is the cabin below the ship where all of the people slept and spent most of the day.

Plimoth Plantation is a little village a few miles from the Mayflower where they have an Indian Village and a village for the colonists. The colonists there act like they live in the 1600s. The Indians will talk about their people then and now.

A hut like one the Indians would have lived in.

Isn't that a great view! At least the colonists settled in one of the most beautiful parts of the country! Massachusetts is incredible!

Brooklyn using an old broom to sweep the dirt floor. I don't know what they would have been sweeping, I would be trying to get rid of the dirt:)


The girls feeding goats in the garden of the colonist village.

An Indian making a boat.

Hunter playing on a beach in Cape Cod. We never actually got into any of the little cities on the Cape (we got a little lost:) Too bad because this was the day all of the Kennedy's were at their compound on Hyannisport:(



Kids can find a way to entertain themselves anywhere. Brooklyn spun the kids around on this chair in our hotel room for about 10 minutes. Hunter thought it was hilarious until he got down to walk and fell over. Then it wasn't so funny:)

I will try and do another post tonight with the rest of our trip.