In September, my mom came to visit. Part of the reason for her visit was to go to a Wynne family reunion in Philadelphia, PA. Before leaving home she helped Chloe find a new way to play with her toys.
After getting to the hotel I thought that maybe one of the kids could sleep in the suitcase that we brought . . .
but as it turned out none of them fit.
After working out our sleeping arrangements, we went up and meet with the people in the group at a reception and had dinner with them.
The next day we went into Philadelphia and got to be tourist. First stop the Liberty Bell!
Then to Independence Hall. This picture is of the court part of the hall I believe. The tour guide is holding up an picture of what hung on the back of the wall before Independence was claimed from England. It was made of wood and was burned that day.
This is a close up of the picture now hanging in the back. The boat in the middle is the Welcome on which Thomas Wynne (our ancestor) came over with William Penn.
Here is a picture of the Declaration of Independence which actually took many years for everyone of sign as it had to move around during the Revolutionary War so it wouldn't be found.
This is us in the room where they met to write the document.
We then went for a walk to the Betsy Ross House seeing a few other things on our way. This is on the the first banks, I can't remember if it is the first or the second.
This is in front of the Carpenter's Meeting House where a group of men first met to talk about claiming Independence from England.
And this is the Betsy Ross House
This is a cute picture of Chloe that we took while waiting for the rest of the group to get to the house!!!
After touring the house we were left with almost two house before our next visit which was to the Wynne Estate, built by the son of Thomas Wynne. Those on the bus decided to take a driving tour of the city which the kids decided to join with grandma. Brian and I decided to tour the mint and see how they make money.
Below is a picture of the house that was built by Thomas Wynne.
They next day the group didn't have much planned during the day so we decided to go looking for some other family sites. We went to Mormon Hallow and found the place which was owned by Edward Hunter. Here is the kids by the marker that talks about him.
We really wanted to find the Semanary building at which the Mormon missionaries taught the people in the area. And we had a very hard time, even though my mom knew is should be close to the marker. But she was expecting to find this . . .
But found this instead. The building is still there but is now hidden behind this fence, where before we could go right up to it. They did have signs on the side from the LDS church and Fairview Presbyterian Church, these were the two main groups that help meeting in the building.
Then we went to find the 1704 Brinton House which belonged to one of my ancestors.
That night they had a big banquet. One of the reasons that we really wanted to go to this reunion was to see again the mayor of Caerwys, Wales which we had met before when we crashed their reunion that was held in Wales while we were living in England. When we went to the other reunion I was pregnant with Lizzie. Many of them were amazed to see that I now have three kids. I was fun to see these people again.
This is our family at the banquet with the mayor in his full robes. (Jamie has his hat on.)
And this is the Mayor with the woman who works so hard to put on these reunions every year or two.
Chloe with some new found friends.
Sunday on our way to church we stopped by the Hans Herr House, which they have turned into a museum and was closed, but we still walked over to look at the house.
It was great to get back to Philly and to show Brian what a fun place it can be. I really enjoy seeing the places where this nation was born and feeling the spirit that the founding fathers must have felt as they took the steps to make a nation that would be freed from kings and rulers. It was also great to spend some time visiting places where my family had come from and learning more about them. I sometimes wish I could return to those times.
Today, I taught my Primary class about Joseph Smith Jr.'s childhood and I was reminded of how nice it would be to have to work hard as a family for food and daily survival. What a different world that would have been then the one today.
Before my mom left she taught Chloe one more trick and a movie is the only way to see it properly!!!
