Our Trip to Philadelphia by Maddie and Will

Last Friday, Mama and Daddy woke us up in the middle of the night when it was still very dark outside, changed our diapers, and got us dressed in comfortable clothes.  They told us that we were going to go on an airplane and fly in the sky to a place called Philadelphia.  We didn't know anything about Philadelphia, but we did know that airplanes fly in the sky.  We play with our toy airplane all the time, and we often see and hear airplanes high above us in the clouds.

We drove to a place called the airport and watched as Daddy lifted all of the bags, our Pack and Plays, and even our car seats out of the car and onto a shopping cart.  Then, we waited.  We waited for Papa to come to the airport, and then we waited while Mama, Daddy, and Papa talked to the ladies that were all wearing the same clothes.  A stranger took the shopping cart away from Daddy, and then we went through what Mama and Daddy called "security".  We had to get out of our stroller and walk through a little tunnel with Mama and Daddy.  George and Baby had to lay in a box and go into a dark cave.  We were so happy to see them come out the other side!

Mama pushed us to a place called the terminal.  It wasn't a long time before we got in line to go on the airplane.  When we reached the airplane, Mama and Daddy took us out of our stroller and took our stroller apart.  They left it in the hallway, and we got on the plane.  We weren't able to sit together as a family, but Mama and Will were able to sit together in one row while Daddy, Maddie, and Papa got to sit together in another row.  A lot of other people were on the airplane with us, too.  They smiled at us.
We waited a little while on the airplane before it started to move.  It went slowly at first, but then it started to go really fast!  And then, all of a sudden, we were in the sky and we could see the houses and cars on the ground below us!  We liked looking out the windows at the city as we flew higher and higher!

Riding on the airplane was a lot like riding in the car, but only lots better!  We got to sit on Mama and Daddy's laps, we got to eat snacks, and we got to color and play games!  Will even caught a short cat nap on Mama's lap!

Before we knew it, the airplane was flying down to the ground and the little houses and trees were getting bigger and bigger.  When we got really close to the ground, we heard a loud noise before the airplane starting driving on the ground like a car again.  It was driving really fast at first, but then it slowed down more and more until we stopped and everyone started getting out of their seats and walking out of the airplane.  We walked out, too, and got into our stroller again.  Mama, Daddy, and Papa told us that we were in Philadelphia.

Philadelphia was lots of fun.  We met our great grandparents, our great aunt and uncle, and our second cousins.  We played with toys and ate yummy food at our great grandparents' apartment and at our great aunt and uncle's house, we went to a great museum and drove cars and rode on a carousel and played in water, and we went to a zoo and saw animals and went on another carousel!  After a long time in Philadelphia, we got on another airplane and flew back to that place called the airport before getting in our car and going to our house.

Mama took lots of pictures wherever we went (she always does!), and helped us to upload them here to show you all of the fun that we had!  You can see them under all these words.

Now that have our first airplane ride under our belts, we think we are ready for more trips!  Mama and Daddy say that we are going to go to some place called The Netherlands next.  We wonder if there will be Philly Cheese Steaks there.

♥ Maddie and Will

We knew that we would like Philadelphia as soon as we saw our furry red pal Elmo in our hotel.  We stopped and shouted up at Elmo every time we saw him.

We met our Great Grandpa and Great Grandma for the very first time in Philadelphia.  Great Grandpop helped Will to figure out some of the toys that were in the apartment.

We made ourselves comfortable on Great Grandpa and Great Grandma's couch.

Mama wanted to be sure to take a picture of Will, Daddy, Papa, and Great Grandpa while we were in Philadelphia.  She said it was a special picture.

We grew more and more comfortable with our great grandparents and other family members the more that we spent time with them.

Will watched Curious George while holding Curious George at Great Grandpa and Great Grandma's apartment.

Great Grandma gave Will the pickle that came her with sandwich.  Will ate the whole thing all by himself!

We went to the Please Touch Museum with Mama and Daddy and our cousins on Saturday.  We had fun playing in the water in the River Adventures exhibit.

Maddie was in heaven while playing with so many rubber ducks!

Daddy had fun playing with the baby ducks, too!

We stopped to play in the play area in the River Adventures exhibit.  Will went down the slide!

Maddie went down the slide, too, but she really like the stuffed ducks that she found in a corner of the play area.

Will jumped on the lily pads...

and pretended to be a frog!

We found a little piano not far from the River Adventures exhibit and stopped to play it!

We took turns sitting at the piano all by ourselves.

We played the piano together, too!

After playing the piano, it was time to hit the gym!  We exercised on the different pieces of gym equipment.  Mama says that it looks like Will worked up a real sweat!

Maddie was too tired to walk on the treadmill.

One of our favorite exhibits was the Roadside Attractions exhibit.  Will drove a red truck for a long time!

Maddie had fun with magnetic letters.

We drove in a cool race car!

Will loved riding in the driver's seat!

Our last stop was in the Flight Fantasy Exhibit.  We had fun pretending to be scientists.

Will took a turn at working in Mission Control...

and as Commander.

On Sunday, Mama, Daddy, and Papa took us to a fun park.  Maddie liked the swings.

Will liked going down the slide over...

and over again!

Maddie took a turn at going down the slide.

Will just couldn't get enough!

Maddie liked the park!

Daddy had fun playing with us at the park!

Will didn't want to leave!

On Monday, Daddy drove us to the Philadelphia Zoo.  

It took a long time to get there, but we were able to see where Papa lived when he was a little boy when we drove through his old neighborhood.

Mama said the Philadelphia Zoo was the country's first zoo.

Mama said that the zoo has been there for a very long time.

We liked looking at all of the animals at the zoo.  Papa showed Will the flamingos.

We stopped to eat a snack in front of the giraffes.

We watched the otters swim back and forth.

We got to ride on another carousel!  It was awesome!

Maddie had so much fun on it that she didn't want to get off when it was done going round and round.

Papa stood next to Will on the carousel so Mama could take pictures.

We had so much fun at the zoo and on our trip to Philadelphia that we passed out in the minivan on the way to our great grandparents' apartment.

We slept for the entire ride back to the apartment!

Will did not take another nap on Monday afternoon.  He was so tired that night that he fell asleep as soon as the plane lifted off into the sky, and didn't wake up until we arrived in Milwaukee again!