Visiting the Philadelphia Temple!

In a previous life time, we lived in Indiana, had 3 kids, and went as a family every month to Chicago to go to the temple. We had it down to an art. Each of us would do 2 endowment sessions, with a quick trade in the middle so we didn't have to wait a whole hour for the next session :) We'd get pizza from Little Ceasars, about a mile away. (I remember the time I sent Lige in with a note and a credit card...he was probably 4...the babies were asleep in the car...) While one person was in the temple, we'd visit the library, mall, children's farm, playground, IKEA, Lake Michigan, Wal-Mart, you name it. We knew everything useful in the area.

So when the DC temple closed last month, leaving Philadelphia as our nearest temple 3 hours away, we weren't too phased by it. We just fell into our old routines. A lot of things are different, but a lot are the same.

One of the trickiest things is that Philadelphia has sessions every 90 minutes, which means that we have to wait an hour after one person comes out before the next session. Because we have some bigger kids, we decided to let them hang out in the car (in the temple parking garage) and watch a movie for 45 minutes while Mom and Dad both were in the temple for a little bit. It worked really well for us, everyone had fun and behaved. Woohoo!

So what did we do while we were waiting for people in the temple? First, Marriner went to the 8:30 session. Since nothing was really open yet, the rest of us did some exploring of the local area. We discovered the "arrival center" which is a small building next to the temple with bathrooms, drinking fountains, a waiting area with chairs and coffee tables and a roof-top terrace with park benches. The entire building was clearly appropriate for family use, though obviously it needs to be gentle. That was great news. Alas, no wi-fi, which means no streaming video in the event of a rainy day. We'll probably survive.

Behind the temple and across the street is Logan square. Which looks a lot like a traffic circle. Ha ha! There is a little park there with a children's garden, which has some areas to rock scramble, and a small fountain to play in. (NOT the gigantic fountain in the middle of the traffic circle!) Since it was 40*F, we skipped the fountain this trip :) Swim diapers are required for babies to play.

After that, we had to head back to the temple for Mom's turn to go in. The kids watched a movie, then when Dad came out they went to the Free Library of Philadelphia, across the street from the little park. They spent 2 hours in there happily. They have legos, magnets, and other such diversions for non-readers, plus a great book selection. "Mom. They had a display with Alcatraz and the Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place side-by-side." These guys clearly like the same books we do. But you can only use the wi-fi if you have a library card, just FYI.

Then they came back and Marriner went in with Lige to do baptisms for the dead. This time I followed the advice of the assistant temple recorder, who I'd met earlier, and walked down to the Rodin museum a block past the library. They have a free outdoor sculpture garden with actual original famous sculptures. Like, "The Thinker." Pretty awesome. Alas, I'm somewhat deficient in my art education, and had forgotten that Rodin was one of those people who thinks that clothing is optional, so we had a somewhat awkward conversation about it. I laughed that the situation was brought to us by the assistant temple recorder :) But the art and garden were very nice other than that. We walked back on a different road and saw a Target on the way - that will be nice for those days when we need to do some shopping! It was a very small one, though. We also saw a frozen yogurt shop called "Whirled Peace". Marriner is well known for saying, "I want world peace" - and someday, we'll get it for him :)

There was a lot to do in easy walking distance. Sooo much better than Chicago, where there was nothing close by!

I made a map for our family of things to do in the area. You're welcome to use it. And if you find other things I should add, pass them on:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1XL5c0JZPl8BL0C3WBgl0ar48I65V4SN2&usp=sharing

Happy Traveling! We'll see you up there some day!