We had a family bar mitzvah in Philadelphia, so after much negotiation, we left David home with John and gave ourselves only one day to actually play in Philadelphia. As you know from a previous entry, I've been trying to prep Rose on historic Philadelphia and gotten completely bogged down. We tried to read one book about red coats being bivouacked in a young girl's house, but after three pages of needing to define every other word, I gave up.

However, some of it seems to have sunk in. As we toured Betsy Ross' house, we saw the very room where enemy soldiers stayed. I said, "Just like that book!" and Rose's face lit up.

If you are ever thinking of doing historic Philadelphia with six year olds, I give it a big thumbs up. All the sites are within walking distance of each other, are mostly free, and have good to fantastic interpretive guides (with one horrible exception), and they are near a great park.

We started with the Liberty Bell. (And when I say we I mean my daughter, mother, sister, brother-in-law, two nieces, a cousin, and my best friend from college, phew!) The guide did a great job focusing on the concrete: here's the crack, here's the other crack, here's why they can't fix the second crack; the clapper weighs as much as you; the bell called the people together to make the laws. I like how this object is both physical and symbolic. Reading a placard about George Washington's slaves was fascinating but won't stay with the kids like a great big bell.

Our next stop, Independence Hall. My cousin and college friend raved about the tour. (My friend had gone through several times as she prepared to do civil disobedience during it. As a side note, my mom gave us a wonderful tour of her old neighborhood. I wanted Nancy to give us a tour of all the places she did actions.) Well, either the tour has gone through a major change or we got the worst guide in the world, but it was dreadful. The audience was children and tourists. He treated us like first year graduate students who needed to be taken down a peg or two. He spoke in jargon and did his best to trash every story, myth, or beloved belief one might have about the founding of our country. Yes, I know the Declaration of Independence was actually signed on July 2nd. I wanted to immerse myself in the spirit of the place, imagine George Washington on the sun chair. I didn't want to be belittled. And, of course, the children understood not a word.

Ben Franklin's printing press was much much better because the equipment was right there in front of us. The guide showed us how it worked and then we bought our very own Declaration printed on linen.

My favorite place was Betsy Ross' house because instead of national park guides, they had actors being the characters. Betsy Ross herself explained that George Washington had wanted her to make six pointed stars for the flag, but she showed him how she could make a five pointed star with careful folding and one snip of her scissors. As she talked, she folded paper and made each girl a star. That made an impression.

We ended up at a park with great play equipment and a carousel. We didn't get to the mint and Constitution center was too advanced for the kids, so we are already planning our itinerary for the next bar mitzvah.