Colonial Williamsburg

Tuesday afternoon after Nathan's writing co-op, we packed up the van and headed down to Richmond. We got to Bob's sister's house after dinner, and our niece Christi was even there to visit for a little while too! The next morning we were up and out of there by 9:00. This may not seem like very early to you, but believe me, for us it is a very good time, LOL. We got to Williamsburg by 10:30, and we picked up our tickets at the visitors' center, which was very nice. Colonial Williamsburg is having "Homeschool Days' right now, from Sept. 12-Sept. 27, and the deal is amazing. If you preregistered, which I did, the ticket prices were $5.50 for an adult and something like $3 or $4 for kids ages 6-12. I think we paid $36 for all 11 of us to go. Normally the ticket prices are almost $40 a day per adult!! The ticket included everything too--the movie at the visitors' center, which was very well-done, and a wonderful introduction to everything, the tour of the governor's palace, riding on the bus (which we never did due to all our stuff, LOL), the special activities . . . It was truly an amazing deal.

After watching the movie in the visitors' center, we walked over to the main village part, and we ate our picnic lunch. Then we took the tour of the governor's palace, since we were right by it.

When you walk in, the entry area is quite large, with a very high ceiling. The walls on all sides have weapons up and down them--swords, muskets, pistols, more swords. You can probably imagine how impressed the boys were by this. "It's like they wall-papered the walls with SWORDS!" It really was quite impressive.

By the end of the tour, Faith was getting very tired and squawky. We were in this huge ballroom, and Bob and I were at one end, juggling her around, bouncing her up and down, trying to keep her quiet, while the tour guide was at the other end giving his spiel. He was not impressed withour efforts, and when someone asked some question, he replied rather testily that he couldn't think clearly because of all the noise. Geesh! It was only Faith who was making any noise at all! Everyone else was at the other end of the ballroom, quiet as mice! We decided he didn't have much experience with real noise, LOL.

Next we headed over to the other side of the village, to one of the museums. They were having a special thing for kids called "Cracking the Code". It was about the codes used in the Revolutionary War. The boys enjoyed this, although Nathan said he had read a book called, George Washington, Spymaster, and all their information was from there, so he already knew all the codes. While they were in there, I enjoyed looked around the building where you enter the museum. It was a public hospital for the insane, begun back in the late 1700's, and they had a fascinating exhibit about how they used to treat insane people (like prisoners, really, in cells and everything) back then, and some of the equipment and practices used over time. Very interesting.

Then we headed back to the center part of the town, where most of the shops are, and we stopped at a few of them along the way. Williamsburg does this thing starting at 3:00 called "Revolutionary City", where the tourists are sort of bystanders to the drama of the time. Actors (with mics so you can hear them) do these little vignettes on the street about the hardships of the time, trying to convince people to support unification with the other colonies, introducing Benedict Arnold, etc. They also do a reading of the Declaration of Independence from the balcony of the House of Burgess, as if it had just been printed off and received here in Virginia. It was very moving!

While they were reading the declation, there were 2 patriots on horseback that rode up right next to our stroller. I didn't think Faith would mind too much, but I fully expected Anna and Grace to be terrified. After all, they are petrified of dogs and cats, and horses are so huge, right? Wrong. They were fascinated by the horse. No tears or screams of fright at all. Just when you think you have your kids figured out . . .

After the Declaration, Bob, Faith, Ann, Wally, and Grace took a tour of the House of Burgess. The boys did not want to do any more tours, especially one that was half and hour, but it was a hot day, and Bob was lured in by the promise of air conditioning. The boys, Anna, and I laid on the grass for a few minutes, and then we meandered down the street, watching ladies make baskets, and visiting the wig maker's shop. Eventually we just sat on a bench and waited. We were surprised to see Bob and Faith come down the street, but not anyone else. It turns out that Faith got them kicked out of the tour! She was squawky again, although Bob said she was not actually as loud as she had been at the governor's palace! There was a toddler who was running around all out of control, and the tour guide told the mom not to let the boy run around, but he just kicked out Bob and Faith! We decided Williamsburg is not really the most baby-friendly place around. I think these tour guides maybe take themselves just a LITTLE bit too seriously!

After we all regathered, Nathan was so ready to go. He was quite whiney--good thing he didn't try to take the tour, LOL. Here is the obligatory picture in the stocks, where he is actually just making a face. He really didn't look like this, evn when whining about how hot and tired he was! Bob and I had heard there was going to be a military review in the green behind the courthouse at 5:00, and it was about 4:45, so we were trying to stall so we could at least see a little bit of that before we left. Some people went inside the courthouse for a few minutes, and some of us watched the shoemaker, which was quite interesting. Finally the review started. Actually, the fife and drum corps, plus the militia, marched down the street from the courthouse, with all the tourists around them and following them. We were in front of them, watching it all, and it looked like the last scene in the Music Man where the whole town is marching alongside the band. It was funny.

On the green, the militia did some moving around, and then they loaded and fired off their muskets several times! The boys were not expecting them to do that, so that perked everyone up, even Nathan. Anna was not a fan of the loud noise, so she clapped her hands over her ears and tightly screwed her eyes shut for pretty much the remainder of the time, LOL. The militia then charged the flag. They charged on "Huzzah", which the boys all got a kick out of. "That would be like charging on 'Hooray'!" Then, as a grand finale, they fired the cannon off 3 times! That was very exciting! Everyone was glad we stayed for that after all. As we were walking out, a nice lady took a group picture of us all in front of the governor's palace.

Then we all had a very delicious dinner at Cracker Barrel before driving back home. It was a fun day, and we were so glad to spend it with Ann and Wally! We got back late, and I had to stay up even later to finish preparing for Classical Conversations. We were all so tired the next day!