We were early for our tour, but decided to go through security and then hang out in the beautiful historic square behind the Hall. It was really relaxing and so pretty. Finally it was our turn to go in. We were so fortunate and had an AWESOME tour guide who really helped all of us really understand and picture the events leading up to the Declaration of Independence. He was so good. We then moved into the historic chambers of the Hall where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were written and signed. Historic events in both US and world history.

The kids were excited to be seeing the places where the movie National Treasure was filmed. That movie has been a great catalyst to our kids wanting to see historic places in the US. Michael has the attenton span of a gnat, but that's ok. He is getting better :)

After the Hall, we walked to Jim's Steaks - a famous Philly Cheesesteak restaurant. It was pretty cool to be eating the yummy cheesesteaks in Philly in a very traditional restaurant. Billy Joel, Jim Belushi, Bruce Willis have all eaten there...so that was cool too!

Another must see stop on our tour of Philly was the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art where the Rocky movie was filmed. Sylvester Stallone's character, Rocky, ran up the steps and jumped in victory at the top. In the third movie a statue of Rocky is unveiled. That statue now stands at the base of the steps. We had to get a pic and we had to run up the steps too!

We headed back to the car and decided to find another mid-Atlantic treat place - Rita's Water Ice. Sir Daniel, our GPS (we've changed to a guy) took us through some beautiful countryside. The homes were gorgeous. The only problem was that Rachael wasn't sure where we were in relation to the area we were staying in. It was fun exploring though and the water ice was delicious!! One opened up on Waterford Lakes Parkway opposite Firkin if you are interested and live in Orlando!

After that yummy treat, we headed out to see the Abbotts new home in Downingtown. It was so nice to see where they will be living and have a context for them for the future. I was excited about that. They have a great house in a gorgeous semi-rural area and we are looking foward to visiting them in the future.

We headed home to rest for a bit and then we went to have dinner with Shelby & Rachael at Rachael's parents house. It was wonderful to have a homecooked meal after almost 2 weeks of eating out. The company was awesome too! It was fun just chilling out and chatting with them and really sad to say goodbye for awhile until we see them again sometime it the future.