7 Quick Takes about a Bonus Day in Philadelphia, Getting Up Close and Personal with Wildlife, and Clearing Out the Sandbox

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?

—1—

Our crazy week of travel is over and everyone is home now. The oldest four kids flew to visit their grandparents in Minnesota, and Phillip and I took the youngest two to visit his family in Seattle.

We ended up getting flights that were scheduled to leave the airport within 30 minutes of each other, so we all went to the airport together and then rode the shuttle getting off at our different terminals. I'm sure people on the shuttle were very confused when the 8 of us were obviously together and then half of us got off with the 12-year-old waving and yelling "Goodbye, Mommy!"

Phillip and I have never flown with just two kids before. Our standard method to get through the airport is one parent in front, all 6 kids in a line behind them like ducklings, and a parent in back to make sure no stragglers get left behind. I started to line the kids up out of habit and then realized: there are only two of them, which means that Phillip and I are running one-on-one defense now. We can each just hold one kid's hand and not worry about crowd control. Weird.

—2—

Unfortunately, both of our family's respective flights were delayed again and again. We were there for so long that we ended up meeting up in the middle for dinner before going back to our gates.  

About 5 hours later, the older kids eventually got on their direct flight to Minnesota, but Phillip and I (and the two littles) had a decision to make. We'd already missed our connection in Philadelphia and the airline didn't have another flight from there to Seattle until 2 days later. 

Should we still even go? Or should we just give up and go home, and pretend like we'd only come to the airport for the ambiance and the $16 cheeseburgers?

—3—

In the end, we went to Philadelphia and spent an unplanned day exploring the city. A gate agent got us on a flight with another airline leaving the next night, along with a hotel voucher (unfortunately it was midnight and the customer service line stretched around the corner and into oblivion, so we cut our losses and paid for a room ourselves.)

In the morning after breakfast at the hotel, we took an Uber to the center of the city. Our driver's Cuban Spanish was hard to understand and he didn't attempt to slow down for us at all, but he gave us some good suggestions of what to see in the city. At least I think he did.

We saw the Liberty Bell, Congress Hall (the 8-year-old's commentary was "Ugh, a tour? I hope they make it quick, this place smells like dirty tissues"), Old City Hall, and the Benjamin Franklin Museum.

We also walked past Benjamin Franklin's grave, and one of the kids wanted to know why it was covered with pennies. "Benjamin Franklin was famous for saying 'A penny saved is a penny earned'," I explained, to which Phillip responded "Is a penny stolen from his grave a penny earned, too?"

No grave-robbing occurred here that I am aware of.

After stopping for Philly cheesesteaks, we visited the Philadelphia Mint to see how coins are made. The Mint was probably my favorite part of our visit, and we actually didn't even know it was there until a security guard at the Old Town Hall happened to mention it to us.

—4—

Our seats on our flight to Seattle that evening were scattered throughout the plane, all of them in random middle seats that no one else wanted. I was worried about the 8-year-old getting bored or annoying the people next to him, so I asked the people on either side of me if they would mind trading seats and they refused. Wow, I get that no one likes sitting in a middle seat, but come on. He's 8. 

I was going to leave it at that, but the lady next to me flagged down a flight attendant and asked him to figure something out. The guy on my son's right volunteered to switch with me, and it turns out that this row had TONS of legroom for some reason and now I got to sit in it. 

I guess the people next to me should have traded with my son, after all. Their 6-hour flight would have been a lot more pleasant if they had, which is think is called poetic justice.

—5—

In Seattle we stayed at my sister-in-law's house, and spent the next several days having fun with her family and the brother-in-law who lives nearby with his family. My mother-in-law also came up to join in the activities.

Definitely the most unique place we went was the Olympic Game Farm. You get to feed the wildlife up close, and I'm not talking about giving a handful of corn to some deer over a fence. 

I'm talking about driving through the middle of a truly wild animal's habitat and bison are literally sticking their heads in your window as far as they can to get the slices of bread you're holding. 

This felt like the kitchen scene in Jurassic Park where the raptors are breathing on the window... and then they come in.

It was exhilarating and a little bit scary. It was a ton of fun, in the same way as a rollercoaster. Wildlife looks different up close, and when this deranged face is coming at you and clearly thinking: "You are in the way of my bread" it definitely raises your heart rate a little.

I will never look at a llama the same way again.

I don't know how these animals sustain such enthuasiasm about plain slices of bread, all day long, day after day, but they just swarm the cars looking for it.

Just having my car casually mobbed by elk, thanks.

Afterward I couldn't help but wonder what the rental people were going to think when we brought the car back. There was literally bison slobber on the insides of the doors.

—6—

We also went to a couple of lavender farms in the same area. We took an informative tour about how lavender is grown and dried, tried lavender ice cream (weird because it was like tasting a smell), and took some photos.

Really picturesque with the mountains in the background.

One day we went to a park and there happened to be a dog show next door. I thought it was interesting seeing all the different kinds of dog breeds, and I got a laugh out of this trash can I saw on the way in:

At a dog show? Fat chance.

We also went to a few different beaches for boating, kayaking, or just walking on the shore. 

This is a dead crab stacked on top. Kids are weird.

It was so much fun to see my family, especially the ones I haven't seen for a long time!

—7—

Now that we're home, I'm doing a little decluttering and decided to finally let go of the sandbox toys my boys haven't used for a year or two. 

Donating them is a little bittersweet but that's life, I guess, and soon they will be played with again by a happy preschooler instead of sitting lifeless in our backyard. If the Toy Story franchise taught me anything, it's that being neglected makes toys sad.

And on the plus side, I found a use for the boys' old, falling-apart laundry hamper from last week's Take #2!

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