Are we there yet?

These were the words we heard over and over again yesterday as we drove to Philadelphia. Then after we told Matt that we had to go through a couple states to get to Pennsylvania, he kept asking, "what state are we in now?" We eventually made it there in about 3 hours. Finally, the "Star Wars Museum"! Actually we went to the Franklin Institute ( http://www2.fi.edu/) and there was a special Star Wars exibit. After $11 of tolls and $15 to park, we got in with our $70 tickets to eat lunch (thankfully free because I packed it from home). Then we went straight to see Star Wars stuff.

It was soooo cool. Doug was like a giddy happy boy, and the boys thought it was cool too (although most of the stuff was behind glass). There were quite a few hands on activities associated with Star Wars science and technology, but it was a little over the boy's heads. They enjoyed watching the different clips from Star Wars (as if they haven't seen them 10 million times-well, except Episode III). Anyway, here are some cool pictures.

This was the land speeder they actually used in Star Wars Episode IV when Luke and Obi Wan traveled to Mos Eisley. Looks like they crashed it a few times!

These are the actual lightsabers the actors used. Top left you have Darth Maul's double lightsaber. Under that is Chancellor Palpatine's.

Next is Obi Wan's lightsaber is on the top, and I'm sure you can recognize the unique lightsaber of Count Dooku under that.

Lastly you see Mace Windu's on the top and then Shaak Ti's on the bottom.

This was the actual Yoda puppet that Frank Oz used in Episode V and VI.

After Star Wars there were many other things to see. It's such a good hands on museum for kids. There was a giant heart that the kids could go in. There was a real steam engine that had levers and dials for the kids to move and it actually moved about 10 feet forward and back. They got to sit in an Air Force plane cockpit. We went to a show in the planetarium that was about Star Wars worlds and whether or not worlds like that could actually exisit. (when you're in one of those planetarium rooms where they show a movie all around you and on the ceiling, WHY oh WHY do they not have reclining chairs. ?! I was so close to laying down on the floor so I wouldn't pull a neck muscle)

Then around 5 the boys were ready to leave and Thomas was really tired and was sore seeing as how he fell off of a stool and smacked his face into a counter. I'm really surprised that he doesn't have a black eye today. Upon leaving the Institute we got a bit turned around (Philadelphia has circle intersections with no warning as to what street is coming up next) and then we didn't even know what street we were on cause there are limited street signs. Thankfully it was daytime and a nice part of town. We finally got on the road we wanted only to discover that if we were to continue our present route we would cross over into New Jersey and we didn't want to do that. Finally we saw a sign for the highway heading south and we were all happy. Thomas had fallen asleep and Matt was watching a Star Wars movie.

After Thomas woke up we stopped to eat at KFC after which Thomas threw up. We got back into the car and I handed Thomas a plastic bag telling him to use it if he felt yucky. About 1/2 hour on the road (of course in a contruction area where you can't pull off) Thomas grabbed the bag. I turned around and helped him aim into the bag. After tying it up, I found another bag only to discover that this bag had a hole in it. So I emptied the box of Ritz crackers, stuffed the clean bag into it, and put the pukey bag in there. I continued to hold the Ritz box-o-puke for the next hour and half never knowing if he was going to get sick again. He was comotose watching a show and we kept the window rolled down for the rest of the trip. The boys went to bed as soon as we got home. All in all it was a fun trip, and we had a good time.