Vacation update:
We have had wonderful weather, so far. I give the Shenondoahs National Park high marks for beauty of scenery, knowledgeable Forest Rangers, excellent campsites, clean bathing facilities, polite camp hostess at the bathing center. Michael enjoyed the camping trip, too. The kids were extremely complimentary of everything and asked a few times when we would be returning.
Ranger Laurie gave an excellent talk about the effects of light pollution on the feeding habits of animals and appealed for all of us to turn off superflous lights. We also learned some of the eye colors to look for at night to recognize specific creatures at night. Pink shining spots are spider eyes...this one stuck out in my mind. Before her talk she showed Rachel the beetle that hangs out on the Milkweed and a large species of earwig that like to hide inside the flower of the Milkweed. The scent from these flowers are simply lovely.
We saw a few bucks and we had a couple of sets of does run in front of the truck as we were driving down the road. This breed of deer is larger than ones we see in Georgia.
On Monday we got to Colonial Williamsburg. We checked in to our hotel, dropped our belongings in the room and went and immediately checked in our vouchers. The vouchers were exchanged for badges that would allow us into all of the exhibits. We grabbed a shuttle and were able to spend a couple of hours walking around until the open exhibits closed at 5:00pm.
The kids really enjoyed watching the blacksmith work on a rolling pin. It was a requested item by the Governor's kitchen because they wanted to experiment with making cocoa from cocoa beans.
We all liked our stop by the wigmakers where the girls were told their "wigs" were not very attractive. When we mentioned that Rachel wanted to donate her hair to Locks of Love the wigmaker informed her that hair from white girls or black in the colonies would be used to stuff the wigs, but only hair imported from European women was considered the proper quality for wigs. Men and women would have their heads shaved in preparation for their wigs. Michael even checked out the 18th century version of a rat tail.
Rachel, especially, liked the public gaol. The kids got to see the type of house used by the jailer and the types of manacles used in the time period.
The junior fife and drum corp were fabulous and fun to march behind.
Tuesday: Day began with a stop by the kids' costume rental place. The girls chose white muslin dresses with sashes and laced trimmed bonnets. Rachel chose a muted spring sash and Eve chose a soft yellow. Noah and Aaron chose white muslin shirts, haversacks, wooden muskets and black felt hats. They were all supplied a letter of introduction that would allow them to perform tasks in the community. While, the kids were being fitted I picked up tickets for a stage coach ride for 10:00am.
We grabbed the shuttle for this day, too. We were able to check out the Governor's kitchen. Then the kids saw some games being played on the palace green. Noah really got into the game, which had a wooden mechanism that when hit with the wooden bat launched a leather ball in the air, which was then supposed to be hit into the field. Whomever caught the ball got the next turn. If you didn't catch the ball, but you were able to grab it as it rolled, you could try to roll it and try to hit the wooden mechanism. Aaron got in a few great hits, too. The girls and Michael played with the stick and hoop. While we were playing these games a video crew from the Colonial Williamsburn hotels was there filming us and another family. We had to sign model releases. From what the guy said if we were to come next year we would be able to see the footage on their hotel channel as encouragement for the fun times families can have here.
The stage coach ride fabulous. Ours happens to be the longest of the available rides, but the same price as the more expensive looking carriages. Our driver, Dan, was very knowledgable, personable and funny. The kids, especially, Eve, loved the horses, "Lightfoot" and "Paul". Paul was constantly forgetting to do his job, but Lightfoot was a consummate professional and would remind Paul what to do.
After the stage coach the kids began there tasks. They learned how to get water from the well and water the plants in the garden. They liked using the thumb jars. They did some watercolors and stopped by the Geddy house to learn "Courtesies". They went by the Colonial garden and had to get more water from the well because the garderner was running low in his large garden bucket.
The kids went to the Printing Office to pick up a letter to be printed in the local paper. The boys drilled with the Sargeant at Arms for the Virginia Militia. It was a riot watching them turn the wrong way. We stayed at the Magazine for a demonstration on the use of the Fife and Drum. The young men that did this demonstration were very talented. The young man who played the fife would get a bit flustered, but he was really great.
The kids loved the stop at the Brickyard. They took off their shoes and got to step in the tan clay to their hearts content, or until Aaron was done and he told the others they had to get out. When Eve found out I didn't mind if they played longer she was really angry at Aaron. I got in and squished in the clay for a bit, too. The young man in charge of the brickyard was really knowledgeable and answered all of my questions.
At the Cabinet Makers shop Aaron got to play on the harpsichord. We also stopped by the Cooper's, the Apothecary's and the Bakery.
We marched behind the Military Review. The Fife and Drum Corp played superbly. Their was musket and canon fire, which the kids thought was pretty cool.
We walked back via the path that lead across the footbridge.
We took a lot of photos, but by accident, Michael deleted them. After much apologizing and crying (on Michael's part) we went to dinner. Nothing could be done, but we did get the video footage saved of a few of the things like Eve playing with the hoop and the boys playing the Cricket like game, and the boys learning about drilling with the militia. Michael has ironed the costumes for use tomorrow and we hope for some good photos.
Tomorrow is another day!
Smiles!
