The Franklin Institute

Since I have been traveling so much lately, I wanted to do something special with Natalie and give Kristin a little time to herself to recharge. I have heard so many good things about the Philadelphia Children's Museum ever since we moved here. I thought it might be fun to take Natalie downtown to the Museum this Saturday. So I grabbed the GPS and headed downtown!

When I got downtown, the streets were packed, and I couldn't find a place to park near the Museum. I drove around the block a few times, but it didn't get any better. Plus, it was POURING outside, so I didn't want to park too far away. I finally found a parking garage for the Franklin Institute, which is another Museum in the area, but geared more towards older kids.

As I was pulling into the garage, I read the parking rates. It would cost $25 for 2 hours of parking (are you kidding me??), and of course, it was too late for me to turn around. As we were taking the elevator down to the street-level I overheard two other people in the elevator talking about how they got their parking ticket validated at the Franklin Institute. Right then, I decided we should try out the Franklin Institute today, and we can come back on another day and try the other Museum (plus I think Kristin wants to go with us to the other one too).

Natalie and I placed membership, and we are off...the first stop was the Children's exhibit, and Natalie played with some blocks. (please excuse the quality of these pics, they were taken on my camera phone)



The next stop was the cardio room. Natalie got to spin a few wheels to pump blood through the body (I think she just liked spinning the wheels).



She was also a big fan of crawling through the large veins (again, I think she just liked crawling through tubes).



We then went to the weather section, and Natalie tried to control the weather in North America (again, I think she just liked pushing the buttons and moving the joystick).



The last picture is Natalie playing on a mat that lights up and tracks your movement (by this time, I think Natalie was just enjoying running around in an open space with other kids).



Overall, we had a blast! Most of the exhibits are a little above her knowledge capability, but she did enjoy getting her hands on so many different things, even if she didn't understand it all.

Landon