{Great Wolf Lodge}

Our final day was spent here at the Great Wolf Lodge!  We had surprised the kids with it on the last day because we knew if we started the week with the lodge we would have never left.  On Friday morning we had gone back to Colonial Williamsburg to see a few more things that we hadn't gotten to see on Tuesday and then we came and checked into our new hotel.  We got to the pool area at about 3:00ish and we didn't leave until around 7pm that night.  And we only left because we were famished for lack of food.  It was so much fun!!  The older kids were big enough to ride all the slides and they could do it with or without us adults (which was nice).  There were plenty of places for the little ones to play and there were a few of the slides that they could go on with us adults if they wanted to.  Wyatt is a thrill junkie, he LOVED the slides and would laugh all the way down them.  Lauryn refused to go on any slides at all.  She hung out at the wave pool and the hot tub and we couldn't convince her that the slides were anything she would cared to try.  In her defense she was catching what Wyatt had had earlier in the week and so wasn't her usual self.  But man when that girl makes up her mind, she won't change it for anything.  Which is a good thing and something I love about her, but man I wanted her to go on a slide just once!  So Ryan and I would ride the slides with the older two and sometimes Wyatt and the other parent would hang out with Lauryn pool side.  She was happy as a clam and so were we!!  Our favorite slide was the Howlin' Tornado!!  I may or may not have screamed like a little girl on the first ride down!!  But in my defense I was the one going down completely backwards and didn't know where the heck I was going.  Ayden and Meysa love to remind me that I screamed right along with them.  After such a fun and taxing day the kids pretty much passed out that night after dinner.  I mean who wouldn't, we had swam for four straight hours after walking all morning around Williamsburg.  As soon as the sun rose though the kids were ready to hit it again.  Check out time is 11am but you can still swim for the day, so we got dressed, headed down and gobbled up a wonderful breakfast, checked out of our room and then hit the pool once again.  This time we made it there by 10am and didn't leave until 2pm, and we had to pull teeth to leave when we did.  We had to make the three hour drive home and we didn't want to be pulling in too late since Easter was the next day and we did have a few things to get done.  The kids we were so sad to be leaving, but we reminded them how lucky they were to have gotten to come at all!!  It was the icing on the top of a really wonderful trip.  The kids are really at a great age, they were so good (other than a few squabbles) and really hung in there with all the places we drug them too.  So for the record books Spring Break 2012 was a success!!  Thanks for hanging in there with all the many pictures, I promise the posts will be much shorter in length.

{Spring Break - Jamestown}

With our week winding down we made a stop at the last of our Historic Triangle.  Jamestown Settlement and Historic Jamestown.  Jamestown Settlement is a large living history museum, with a large visitor's center with thousands of square feet of pictures, histories, ect.  It chronicles the changes that occur for the English settlers that landed at Jamestown, the Native Americans already living here, and the Africans that came as slaves.  Pretty interesting and informative.  

Lucky for us we had come on a day when every other elementary school chose to come for a field trip.  It was a tad busy!!  I wasn't able to get as many pictures of the Powhatan Indian village or the Fort because there were always someone stepping in front of me or some mass group chomping at the bit to get to be where I was.  There is something about large groups that think they are of a greater importance than the average family.  I don't know what it is but I paid the same money (if not more) to be there.  I was really disappointed in that aspect.  So I got what I got and I just hope my brain doesn't forget what I only got with my own two eyes.  The kids really enjoyed walking through the village and fort and seeing everything.  There really is a ton of things to take in, it can be a little overwhelming.  And lucky for us Wyatt didn't find anything to dump out or destroy.  We also got to board a recreated ship like those that brought the English men here.  All I can say is that I don't know how they did it on that ship for two months at a time without going bananas.  Tight sleeping quarters, an itty bitty kitchen, not even much deck room and that was on the biggest ship.  Wow, is all I can say.  

Ayden's favorite thing again was the guns.  This time we went back in time with the matchlock rifle.  He honestly could have stayed there and watched this guy shoot every 15 minutes.  

After we left the bustling Jamestown Settlement we headed over to the actual site of the original Jamestown.  This was Historic Jamestown and also the National Park.  This was so cool and not just because there was about 1/4 of the people to compete with.  Jamestown was actually abandoned in1699 and the capital was moved to nearby Williamsburg.  There had been a fire that destroyed much of the city and the rest was left in ruins.  Well fast forward a few hundred years or so and the need to unearth the city that once was Jamestown became important to many.  So excavation began and the things that they found were amazing.  They found a church, several wells (with a treasure trove of items buried in them), the foundations of homes, graves, ect.  It was really neat to walk around Jamestown and see the original footings, or the wells or the artifacts that have been found and just gaze in awe.  Maybe I am a dork and a sucker for history but it really was cool.  The kids learned a lot and thought it was pretty cool to.  They also learned that sometimes the stories that Disney movies portrays aren't always factual.  One of their favorite Disney movies is Pocahontas.  Well the way that good ole Walt Disney told it isn't really how it played out, but Meysa was excited to get to take a picture with Pocahontas anyways.  We had a great time in Jamestown and it is a hard choice between which place is my favorite.  I loved them all for different reasons.  The kids all loved getting to see historical stuff and I am glad that they enjoy it too!!  It was well worth the trip!!

{Spring Break - Yorktown}

Our second day traipsing around the countryside brought us to Yorktown.  I was not very well informed at the importance of Yorktown before we came.  I was surprised to find out how pivotal Yorktown had been in the Revolutionary War.  The above picture is of the battle ground where part of the siege of Yorktown played out (from the British side looking out).  You can still see the earthen works that were built by the British, American and French (the French were on our side) armies.  There are two parts to see at Yorktown.  The Yorktown Victory Center where you see how the Armies and civilians lived during the Revolutionary war and the Yorktown Battlefield, which is a National Park.  There is a visitor center there and you can walk (on specific walkways) out and around the battlefield.  We were able to see both the battle field and the Victory Center.

Young boys would build these and then fill them with dirt to make the walls of the embankments.  I had the idea that Ayden should make some for our backyard as ornamental yard art.  He didn't think that was such a great idea.  

The British side of the battle field was along the York river (in the background).  At the visitor center book store we bought a CD that was an audio tour of the entire battle field including where the American and French troops were.  

In September of 1781 Washington realized that with General Cornwallis sitting on the York River at the mouth of the Chesapeake it was pivotal that America act.  He sent a group of soldiers with Lafayette to surround Cornwallis on land and had the French Navy block Cornwallis on water, basically surrounding him.  Then the Americans and French started bombing the British headquarters.  After three weeks of non stop bombardment Cornwallis surrendered to Washington.  What I found really interesting was that Cornwallis had at an earlier time in the war, won a battle in North Carolina and had not granted the Americans full honors in surrender.  Full honors were allowing the surrendering army to still display their flag and play their national song as they left the battle field.  Yet when he surrendered at Yorktown he wanted nothing less than full honors.  I am glad to say that he was not granted that request.  He did not attend the surrender meeting, he was interestingly enough ill!!  The siege was over when the French and American armies were able to take over the British redoubts #9 and #10 (#9 is below).  

This is the monument that stands as a tribute to the soldiers that fought at Yorktown.

This is the Moore home, where the meeting of capitulation occurred.  

That brings us the Yorktown Victory Center.  This place was wonderful.  Lots of hands on stuff and several demonstrations.  We learned about the flint lock musket and how advanced it was for it's time.  We also got the finer points of operating a cannon and the different types used in the war.  

This was the homestead that was a working homestead.  They grew crops, made soap, butchered pigs, made and dyed clothing, preserved food.  You name it they do it here.  

The kids had a great time trying out everything.  And we left a permanent mark on Yorktown.  Wyatt found a bottle of ink and dumped it all over a bench inside the house.  He got his hand, shirt as well as Meysa's shorts (she was standing beside him at the time) splattered with black ink.  It was a good thing we were at the end of the day.  We made our exit and will always think fondly of Yorktown.