Historic District

This was the last weekend the African American Historical Museum was showing its Negro Leagues exhibit, and Jada kept bugging me about bean buns; so I decided to take the kids to the Historic District. I was excited to use the newly renovated subway stop in our neighborhood, but found out en route that all the stops were shuttling this weekend for repair work. So I had to hoof it to the next nearest stop: 8 blocks instead of 4 1/2. Within minutes, we were downtown.

We hit Chinatown first, and got bean buns for Jada, as well as some bean sprouts and fatty sausage. Then we headed down the street to Franklin Square, a recently improved park that is really kid-friendly, with a carousel, fountain, and huge fenced in playground area. The kids enjoyed the see-saw and the equipment, and I was able to take some footage since there were no escape routes for the kids to flee to.

From there, we headed to the African American Historical Museum. Because of a huge African festival they were taking part in, not only did we get in free, but there was a nice spread of juices and fruits for the kids to partake in, plus a raucous band outside.

Everything was going so smoothly that we had time to tool around in the Independence Mall area. Friendly as they are, my two kids went right up to a tourist couple from Holland and welcomed them to Philadelphia. They were then enlisted into a big game of Twister; some group was having a huge scavenger hunt where they got points for playing Twister with strangers.

The lunch hour loomed, so we made a beeline for the nearest subway station, and within minutes, were back in West Philadelphia. From door to door, we were out a tick over two hours. Not a bad morning for two city kids.