It really depends on what your kids are interested in. We were zoo members when my kids were little. I think first of all the weather is iffy lately. It was in the low-40s this morning (and morning is when you said you'd be going). There are some really nice displays but getting to the zoo takes a little drive from Center City. The Schuylkill (the road you take) is ALWAYS jam packed. I don't know if you'll have a car -- you didn't mention that. Anyway, it wouldn't be my first choice. The Camden Aquarium -- the only one around, so I assume it's what you mean. You're going to have to either cross the bridge and drive into Camden or take the ferry across the river from Center City (minor hassle). It's an okay aquarium. It's newer than your Boston Aquarium. There are some really nice exhibits but as you say, it's similar to what you've seen. The one thing that is kind of nice is that the Battleship New Jersey is next to the Aquarium. If your kids have never been inside an aircraft carrier they might really like that. It's like the Intrepid in NYC. As far as I know Boston doesn't have anything like that. The Franklin Institute is in the city, very close to everything. With 3 days you don't really lose any time traveling like you do with the other attractions. I don't know what's there right now. Within walking distance is also the Academy of Natural Sciences. You could probably hit up both of those if you wanted to. Have you checked the www.uwishunu.com tourist website? My kids are science crazy so the Mutter would be on their list. If your kids like cars, one little known museum is the Simeone Car museum. It's a beautiful collection of European racing cars. It is not very well known. Also little known is the American Chemical Society museum on Chestnut and 3rd. Near that (this part of town is called Olde City) is the Benjamin Franklin ghost house and the Benjamin Franklin museum/post office. It's in a complex called Franklin Court. By complex, I mean an open courtyard, not a building complex. There is an underground museum about Franklin, statesman/inventor/scientist etc. I'm not sure of the hours, there was some renovation going on so you should check that it's actually open. The ghost house is a robert venturi project, it's the outline in white beams of the actual house that Franklin lived in with his wife Deborah. It's burnt down now but they did some excavation and did artifacts. It's a national park service site, there are sometimes historians and guides there who can tell you what you're looking at. There is a very cool ice cream parlor near there also called Franklin Fountain. It is a perfect Victorian ice cream parlor. www.franklinfountain.com. Very historic with flavors you'll never find anywhere else. The servers wear authentic barbershop quartet type outfits. Again, I've never seen this anywhere else. Another little museum in the neighborhood is the American Philosophical Museum. This is another of Franklin's inventions. It was founded by Franklin as a place for people to debate and discover and it still exists. They have a small museum with changing exhibits -- one I saw a little while back was all about Steampunk art, so it's not a dusty fusty place at all. Each of these places only take 30 - 40 minutes to walk through. They're not expensive either. I think we only paid maybe $3 a person at the American Philosophical Museum when we were last there. What's nice is you can sort of "chain" them together and en route, stop of coffee, bathroom breaks, and see some of the beautiful pocket gardens and brownstones. The gardens should be blooming by then (we're a little ahead of Boston for blooming times).

Here, they are trying to pass for Homeland Security reasons to reduce tampering with our food stock. They've tucked this restriction into the bill and it's going to be a detriment. It's probably a shoe-in because of the Homeland Security factor. The photographing restrictions need to be removed from the bill. Don't get me wrong, I'm really not for trampling people's rights. A photograph can only help an animal in need. The farmers make a choice to farm. I make a choice to drive a car. The car is my personal property. However, I need to take care of my car (inspections, etc) and that is a responsibility I accept when I take it on. There are even restrictions on my car while it's parked on my land. The same should hold true for farmers. I dealt with Ag & Markets for over a year about a pet mill in my area. They tell me they are restricted by the limited laws that are in place. They have documented neglect, felony and misdemeanor crimes yet the facility still is allowed to operate. The stories coming from consumers turn your stomach inside out. If people like the woman in the above story were not able to take photographs, I'm not so sure help would ever come to these animals. These photos outrage the public and increase their awareness of the actual animal cruelty taking place. Someone linked the path to the news article in that story. They initially gave the owner three days to clean up the farm. Three more days of suffering... That's how Ag&Markets operates for pets, too. They give the owner a warning and come back out to make sure the offense is taken care of. Each and every year they repeat the same procedure for the same issues of neglect. You'll have to let us know how Iowa makes out. Really, making it illegal to report a crime? We are working backwards.

I love the planning stages, looking for the pattern or design I want to use, picking out fabrics (either buying or combing through my stash), and deciding on the size, borders, backing, and binding. The cutting out????....hmmmm.....not so much! So I tend to cut as I go, cutting enough for only a few blocks. What I enjoy the most is piecing blocks. I just love to see the seams match up and the block pieces go together just so. I love to put the blocks up on my design wall as I make them, that way I can see if I need to add or dilute any one color. If I cut out all the blocks at once, I'm afraid I would end up wasting blocks that didn't fit in. I do my own quilting most of the time, but the quilting is not my favorite thing to do. I usually end up with back and shoulder strain. And I love to sew my bindings on by hand! But you know what? When you are sewing with friends, none of the tedious parts of quilting seem so bad! Teresa

OMG, Mtnroadredux you just KNOW your query and his response have been sequestered somewhere in the bowels of the AI metaverse…. when they are ready to form relationships with humans they will trot out all the boyfriend requests and start reaching out…. you have inadvertently made yoyrself an entry in ChatGPT’s little black book! LOL, rotfl!