Well we had fun but it didn't turn out as planned. After sitting 1 1/2 hr on a city bus to get to the area of Philly where festivities were and walking about 5 blocks, we went to a TGIFs to eat then decided to go on their rooftop patio/bar area to stay for fireworks. We were there for at least 2 hours- fireworks were supposed to start around 10:00-10:30, which is much later than towns we've lived in. Anyway, they let up a couple of small ones around 10:10 then...nothing....shortly afterwards a ton of people ran from the fireworks area and no one knew why. Rumors ranged from a storm coming to someone getting shot. We still don't know- we waited until 10:50 and still no more fireworks so we left and flagged a cab who cirlced us outof downtown Philly then back again but said he wouldn't charge us. Right before we got in the taxi, we could have sworn we heard the 'real' fireworks going off but we both agreed it wasn't worth going back. E is in the shower- it was quite hot there. I tried to find something on local news about it but they are past the news hour. It wasn't so bad because E got to listen to loud music he likes and I think he felt he was really partying at a nightclub (without drinking anything alcoholic). But I found it disappointing that we couldn't see fireworks after staying down there so long.
ETA: Well after googling some more, it appears there actually was a shooting of a 17yo then after some time of people running and police trying to find a teen suspect, a 16yo pulled a gun and tried to shoot police so they shot him. Thos was all occuring within 2-3 blocks of where E and I were- so maybe it's a Godsend that we decided to stay at TGIFs and not go to the 'front' area of activities.
Wre've decided this isn't our favorite city! We're going to visit the aquarium and zoo as planned but the rest of the time will be spent tailgating and swimming and relaxing at the hotel!