Everybody goes to the Liberty Bell, but is that enough for tiger mom? Took the kids on a 21-stop walking history tour through Old City.

Swedish flat-pack lunch date. I went in for a shower curtain, and I came out with... a shower curtain!

Waded through some 3,600 files (yeah, I do take a lot of pictures) and this is the last batch from Philly. I miss it already.

Some marketing genius set up this photo op in front of City Hall and it worked, I could not resist. There's a fun spray park just behind the sign too!

Elfreth's Alley: this tiny, historic block is the oldest occupied residential street in the U.S. People really do live here, and have since 1713!

Stopped by to see my old apartment on Spring Garden Street (third floor of the brown row house). I loved its prime location: midpoint between the Inquirer and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It had a clawfoot tub, black-and-white checkerboard in the kitchenette, arched doorways... and not enough water pressure to swish away a No. 2 (but that's part of the charm?). There used to be a charter school across the street, and I'd hear the kids recite the Pledge of Allegiance on the blacktop every morning. 

Reading Terminal Market. YUM.

The Franklin Institute and the Drexel Museum of Natural Sciences (a 5 minute walk away) are both free with ASTC membership.

After reading Maniac Magee in school, we had to try some butterscotch krimpets. East Coast specialty.

William Penn atop City Hall.

A couple more photos, literally drive-by shootings. I wish we had more time to explore these beautiful old neighborhoods!

One of Judy Blume's Fudge books is set in Princeton, so we made a point of meeting up with our dear New Jersey friends at Princeton University. Beautiful campus, with a fountain that was just right for wading and catching up on the past dozen years or so.

Day trip to visit my cousin, who just moved to this swanky Inner Harbor high-rise. Last time I saw him he was 13! The kids loved the view from his 36th floor unit, then my cousin treated us to ice cream and a electric boat ride. Can you say funcle?

I love Buy Nothing so much.

• Another mom took my four unused Pull-Ups, saving me the guilt of throwing away perfectly good pieces of plastic.

• A complete stranger who works in IT came to my house to help me sort out my modem situation. 

• The library has every book in the Magic Treehouse series EXCEPT book 19. A neighbor loaned my kids her copy.

• I use my electric balloon pump ONCE a year for my kids' birthday season. This very niche gadget has since traveled to a couple of other birthdays and showers.

• I can rarely justify buying jewelry or cute shoes (99.9 percent of my life is spent in sneakers and leggings). A neighbor gave me hand-me-down ballet flats and a pretty necklace to wear to a wedding.

I could go on and on about all the ways Buy Nothing has helped me waste less and spend less. This group, which now counts 7.5 million members worldwide, started two moms on Bainbridge Island. I talked to Buy Nothing's founders for its 10th anniversary to find out how the project started and where it's headed.

Link to my story in The Seattle Times today.

Last photo dump from Virginia, saved the best for last: Colonial Williamsburg! Everyone I asked, "Have you been to Colonial Williamsburg?" The response was invariably, "Yeah, when I was a kid."

Now I can say, "Yeah, when I was 42." There was a whole chapter in our 5th grade history textbook dedicated to Colonial Williamsburg and I finally got to see it in person.

The place was MADE for kids (and their nerdy moms). The best was wandering in and out of all the trade shops, each one was a completely different experience. The blacksmith, the weaver, the print shop, the silversmith, the cooper, the foundery, the milliner's. I think I may have been the most excited person in history to see Raleigh Tavern. Patrick Henry was hanging out on the porch in front and it was perfect.

We were there from open til close and it felt like we barely made a dent.

IN MY HAPPY PLACE! I couldn't stop smiling like a crazy person from the moment I walked in to the National Gallery of Art East wing and saw the giant Calder mobile in the atrium. My child is named for Calder, that's how big of a fan I am. His work exudes joy and playfulness and I love it so much. Upstairs, we found an entire room of Calder mobiles, sculptures, paintings, and wire line drawings.

(There is a Calder exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum opening Nov. 8. I CAN'T WAIT.)

When court's not in session, you can sit in the actual Supreme Court courtroom for a 30-minute intro to the court, the justices, and the architecture of the building. Just line up in the lobby, easy peasy.

Security is weird about photos: you can take pictures standing at the doorway of the courtroom, but not inside? And don't try to take a bottle of water or any snacks into the building. It can't be in your bag, but it can be in your belly.

Jamestown, est. 1607. First permanent English colony, home of Pocahontas... and it's now an active archeological site.

The original James Fort had been abandoned, overgrown and thought lost to erosion until archeologists found it again in 1994. They've been digging up artifacts since.

We got to watch archeologists at work, and they even let kids help sort some of the trash from inside the wells. (Fish scales, bits of brick, crab, burnt wood, copper.) Inside the museum, we saw one of the most shocking finds: the skull of a 14-year-old girl who'd been cannibalized.