Ah-cation highlights, part 1

For the past month, Jackson has been talking about our upcoming "ah-cation" and how we were going to go in Mommy's car, Daddy was going to drive, and he was going to take his Elmo "pack-pack" (back pack).   Despite being excited in the beginning, Jackson was pretty restless once we got on the road.  We tried to make more stops than usual so Jackson could get out and stretch his legs a bit.  His favorite stop on the way up was at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.  Since that day, he has talked about tunnels EVERY day.

Jackson reading about the bay bridge-tunnel.

Our last leg-stretching stop on the way up was at a Pennsylvania welcome center.  The building was large and had a nice loud echo to it.  Just so you know, whenever Jackson hears someone's stomach growling, he thinks they have gas.  We arrived at the welcome center around dinner time.  While I was in the restroom, Jeremy's stomach started growling, which prompted Jackson to say VERY loud in front of everyone "Daddy got gas!  Daddy POOPING!".  Daddy was not amused. 

We went to Philadelphia the next morning.  Jackson was most excited about all of the big buses.  He did really well most of the day except for the tour of Independence Hall.  We had an awesome tour guide who was really trying to get the group pumped up for the tour.  (You know, because Independence Hall is non-stop excitement for most people.)  Anyway, he got the crowd cheering really loud and then I see Jackson's bottom lip starting to stick out (not good), followed by the crinkled brow (uh-oh, here it comes), followed by a long wail.  I could feel all eyes on us.  I could calm him for about three seconds before he would start all over again.  Then he said in his quivery cry voice "OH NO!!" *big gasp* "BUSES ARE GONE!!!!" Then a stern-looking Asian tourist peeked around Jeremy and started to get Jackson's attention to cheer him up.  The tourist didn't really cheer him up, but he definitely confused Jackson which in turn caused him to stop crying. 

Pre-Independence Hall meltdown.  Jackson is probably distracted by a big bus in this picture.

We couldn't leave Philly without an awesome cheesesteak!  Jeremy's a Cheez Whiz kind of guy, while I'm a provolone kind of girl.  Jackson is a PB&J kind of toddler.

Yum!

Jackson did not care for the cheesesteak, but he did like the fresh pretzels and cookies we bought at Reading Terminal Market.  That place was really overwhelming.  In fact, most of Philly was overwhelming.  We are happy we only did one day in the city.  We made it to all of the historical sites we wanted to see and then we were ready to leave.  The food is great there, there are lots of neat things to see but parts of it is smelly, the drivers are insane, the bums are crazier than the ones we're used to, and we heard lots of "colorful" language.  We were happy to leave.

Jackson's thinking "Can you believe these crazy city people?  Let's get out of here!"