philadelphia: please touch museum

A Children's Museum during Spring Break AND right after a huge Living Social deal for half off admission AND without Ben to wrangle Oliver is pretty much my living nightmare. But the kids LOVE the Please Touch Museum (it really is one of the best we've been to) and it seemed like a good option for a chillier day. We went in the afternoon but it was still crazy crowded. The girls didn't seem to mind and ran from activity to activity. Oliver was a little overwhelmed by the crowds (and didn't appreciate getting shoved by the bigger kids) but he had fun too. He has the attention span of a fly so I mostly just followed him around while trying to keep track of the girls. 

Can you spot Elsa and Amelia in Alice's Wonderland?

The girls spent a LONG time shopping in the grocery store.

The crowds thinned out a bit later in the day so we took advantage of the short line for the carousel. Oliver miraculously fell asleep and our admission had included 4 carousel tickets so the girls got to ride a few times while Oliver and I rested. I must have looked exhausted because someone stopped to ask me if I was okay.

feeding ducks in philadelphia

A few years ago we accompanied Ben on a work trip to Philadelphia. The hotel had a huge atrium with water and ducks and the girls got to feed the ducks. They have talked about the duck hotel ever since. Last week, just a few days before Spring Break, Ben found out he had to go to Philadelphia for a few days this week. So he booked the duck hotel and we joined him again. The girls were thrilled to not only be staying in a hotel (which is the coolest thing ever for kids) but to also get to feed the ducks again. They also loved the hotel breakfast where they could get cereal and donuts AND made-to-order pancakes and french toast.

While Ben was working, I took the kids to the Philadelphia Zoo one day. The weather turned out to be great and there weren't too many people there. We took our time wandering through the zoo and enjoying lots of animals that our zoo doesn't have (penguins, polar bears, giraffes, and flamingos to name a few).

Four hours at the zoo chasing Oliver in my condition completely wore me out. So I was happy to reunite with Ben and let the kids wear him out in the hotel pool.

Oliver was so excited to go swimming that he climbed on the table to do a dance.

an afternoon in the city.

Last Saturday Ben and I were able to enjoy an afternoon date thanks to a babysitting swap with a friend. We were especially appreciative of this time alone since it will not be so easy in the near future.

Our first stop was A. Litteri, a fantastic little Italian deli next to Union Market. We explored the aisles (my 36 weeks pregnant belly had a hard time fitting in the tight spaces) and ordered a sandwich which was delicious (it's even featured on this list which we're slowly making our way though).

 

We walked next door to Union Market to explore a bit. It was so nice not to have children or a stroller in the crowded space. We checked out all the vendors and settled on some empanadas and also tried the housemade sodas from Buffalo & Bergen (also recommended from this list). We tried pineapple and spiced blackberry. Both good but not worth the hefty price tag. Our best decision of the day was buying some dark chocolate milk from the Trickling Springs Creamery. Creamy heaven in a bottle. I shall return for more.

 

We have been wanting to check out the Phillips Collection for years but thought we would enjoy it more without the kids. They have a great collection there and we were able to see the temporary exhibit "Angels, Demons, and Savages" which featured works from Pollock, Ossorio, and Dubuffet. 

 

I had a poster of Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party hanging on my bedroom wall when I was a teenager so it was fun to see it in person.

And because we hadn't eaten enough already, we stopped at Zeke's DC Donutz which was just around the corner (one of the many new doughnut shops to be popping up around D.C.). They only had two kinds of doughnuts left but they were both delicious. A raspberry filled and a lemon curd.

Spills never escape the pregnant belly.

Raspberry filled donut. With the Ghandi statue in the background.

And we spotted our first blooming magnolia trees! My favorite.