Colson's Day Out

Colson's Day Out (orig. published 4.12.11)


Philadelphia - Day 3!

This is such an interesting city. I'm concerned about so many things in this city, and at the same time I'm enthralled with the beauty of the architecture and the blossoming cherry trees and the remaining cobblestone streets.

The amount of teen parents, and single mothers we've seen is concerning. The amount of garbage we see everywhere we look is concerning. The fact that they charge you $4.00 a car to cross the bridge back into the city, yet it's such an unclean city, concerns me. Although the Mural Arts Program is incredibly beautiful, it distracts you from the underbelly of the city. The crime, the trash, the abandoned buildings. The security surrounding the elementary schools is astounding. I guess I don't understand why so much money is being spent on the murals when there is so much cleaning up to do in the city. This is such a quirky city as well, people literally park in the middle of the road. The divided lines area between each side - yeah, parking lots. We also found the diamond district, or rather, Jeweler's Row. Literally 3 or 4 blocks of store after store after store of diamond and jewelry dealers. It was so.... sparkly. Apparently it's the oldest jewelery district in America and dates back to 1851. Had it not been pouring out today, I would've taken better pictures. The brick buildings were beautiful, as were the diamonds in the windows ;-). Here are some images of Philly taken today:










Today we decided to let Colson have a day of fun. We gave him a list of things to do around the city, The Academy of Natural Sciences, the Adventure Aquarium, the Please Touch Museum, or the Franklin Institute. He chose the Aquarium and so off we went across the river to Camden, New Jersey!


Philly from Camden - and the Bridge between


Philly from New Jersey


We had a really great day all together, he loved the sharks, and then he was afraid of the sharks. He got to touch some real jellyfish, so did Mommy and Daddy. Did you know they actually feel like jelly? Mommy and Daddy even got to touch some real sharks and some real stingrays! I've always wanted to pet stingrays so the aquarium was pretty exciting for Mommy and Daddy too. Hah. Here are some pictures from the Aquarium:




Checking out the Shark tank


 

Hahahaha. Look at his face! Hahahaha. Awesome.






Getting scared in the "Diving with Sharks Experience"



Making a sand art project with Daddy




Before its set...





We saw Dora and Diego - 4D Movie! He loved it!







Largest shark to ever live - It could swallow us both whole!





Having a great time!



He LOVED the horseshoe crabs




Touching a jellyfish!





Touching Starfish! If you notice - that's his shoe going into the water. Oops!





Touching more Starfish





He got his face painted for the 1st time - Shark with Seaweed!





His finished sand art project!

 We took a detour on the way back and stopped at the "King of Steaks" - Pat's Cheesesteaks. Seriously. SO GOOD. They are right across the street from the flashy Geno's steaks, but having tried both before to see who was the best, Pat's wins hands down.




The AMAZING Pat's Cheesesteaks!





The Flashy Geno's - across the street from Pats





How to order your cheesesteak!




Tomorrow is surgery day. Frown. Hoping to sleep good tonight, getting up at 5:30 am, we have to leave here by 6. Surgery starts at 7:30 and is expected to last at least four hours. I'll post a new update tomorrow sometime when it's over.


Much love.

-J-

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