valley forge

Our time spent in Philadelphia was split between town and country. It was the perfect mix between the busy, loud, culture-shocking, greasy and thrilling and the quiet, grassy, peaceful, awe-inspiring and plentiful.

Today I will share the country portion of our trip!


We visited Valley Forge on the last day of our trip. We arrived with a brown-bag of apples and several bottles of water. My boys quickly found sticks. Sophia settled into her lady-like persona and spent the day smiling, posing and strolling around this most-historic site.

We let our baby roam free. He found a flagpole and his brother's toy pistol and made merry on the lawn in front of George Washington's headquarters as visitors from near and far passed by.

It was quiet at Valley Forge. We knew the story well as we had spent our fall, winter and spring reading about the Revolutionary War and all who had a part in it. Visiting the very site where the Continental Army spent that long, cold, hard winter made a lot of things come into light for us.

The older three chose to become Junior Rangers and earned their badges in half a day's time eagerly figuring out clues and answering questions about the site of the 1777-78 winter encampment of the Washington's army.

It seemed that my children seemed be grateful for our visit to this quiet place. It really drew out something different in all of us and even the littlest of the littles seemed to be at peace, taking it all in.