{Spring Break - Williamsburg}

So this has been a long time coming.  I know, I know, I promised to be better at blogging on time.  After getting back from Spring Break it was like the laundry gods decided I had had a week off and that I needed to wash everything in the house.  Geesh, can't a gal get a real break?!!  Anyways, I'll have you know that this is the second time I have upload these pictures.  Earlier this week, I sat down, edited and culled a few hundred pictures to start blogging about our fun Spring Break.  I got the pictures I wanted uploaded and in order and then didn't have time to type right at that moment so I saved thinking I would come back when the kids were in bed.  I mentioned to my dear Hubby (who also complains about my lack of blogging) that he would be proud, I actually started a post and had the hardest part done, the pictures.  He went to look at what I had accomplished and the blasted thing didn't save anything!!  So here I am again this morning putting in order all the pictures I wanted to post.

For Spring Break this year we really wanted to go somewhere and knock off something on our Bucket List. Williamsburg was the place of choice this year.  We had a great time!!  We had bought tickets for the Historic Triangle, which is Williamsburg, Yorktown and Jamestown.  There was a lot to see so we took each place one day at a time.  Our week started off at Colonial Williamsburg.  

Once we checked in and started to make our way to Colonial Williamsburg, we stopped to check out the New Hope Farm.  It is a recreation of an 18th century farm.  The kids enjoyed walking around checking out the outbuildings.  Meysa was bummed that she didn't get to see the horses on the property.  

This was the kitchen.  I noticed that in many of the places we visited the kitchens were completely separate from the homes where the people ate and slept.  So you would prepare your meal and then haul the food over to the table in a different building.  Talk about making it hard on yourself.  But I guess in the summer, you weren't heating your home up all day when it was already unbearable in there.  

These gentlemen were making siding for the foundry project in downtown Colonial Williamsburg.  One of the neat things I learned about Colonial Williamsburg is that most of the tradesman/women actually made their living doing what we saw them doing when we visited.  One place in particular was the wheel makers.  They make all the wheels for Colonial Williamsburg and have orders to make more for outside contracts with a waiting list of three years.  They make the wheels the way they did in the 1700's.  They started their apprenticeship right out of high school and it is how they make their living.  I had no idea that is was for real, and not just for show.  Also most of the homes in downtown Colonial Williamsburg are privately owned homes.  I dreamt of living in my own little place downtown!!

Meysa was in heaven with all the animals that abounded.  She really was born in the wrong century.  One of her favorite American girl stories is of Felicity.  She was living during the revolution and loved horses too.  Meysa loved imagining Felicity walking down the street.  

One really fun thing we got to do while in Williamsburg was the RevQuest.  The kids had so much fun doing this and really Ryan and I enjoyed ourselves too.  What RevQuest is, is a scavenger hunt that is played around Colonial Williamsburg to solve a mystery concerning the cause of the Revolution.  We had a clue book, a cypher book with important information and our cell phone.  We had to wear the blue bandannas to show that we were playing the game and we were to start it off by meeting a secret member of the revolution who was helping the cause of freedom.  Once we were given our instructions we were to correspond with our secret ally by text and he would give us our next clues.  We were also supposed to be playing with the living history people around town. Our secret friend instructed the kids on how to behave for the gentry, who to trust and how to tell who they were (they wore blue and white ribbons), and how to use money to get the answers we would need, if the need arouse.  There was a conspiracy to kill an important member of the cause for Revolution.  Our job was to find out who, where and how it was going to be attempted.  It was so much fun, the kids really got into it and boy we walked a lot.  It took us from one end of town to the next and we figured the mystery out.  The "Who" was George Washington, the "Where" was New York City and the "How" was with poisoned peas. It was an actual thing that was attempted on the life of George Washington but he obviously caught wind of it before he ate his peas (which were his favorite vegetable).  He threw them out the window and the chickens on the street ate them and died.  Those who were at the head of the attempted assassination were the first people on the American side to be hanged for treason.  It was a beautiful day and ended up being really fun. We didn't get to see everything that day because we were so focused on saving General Washington's life, so on our last day of the week we went back to see some of the things we missed.  

Two of the places we didn't get to tour while we were in town earlier in the week was the capitol and the Governor's palace.  Ryan and the older kids got to go through the capitol (above-Wyatt had fallen asleep in the stroller) and we all got to go through the palace.  

The Palace was probably my favorite.  The grounds were amazing and I love the palace itself.  

All over the entryway there were all these weapons.  Like every wall, floor to ceiling.  I loved how they were displayed, very artistic!! :)  The tour guide was leading the tour as if the household was getting ready for a great ball that night.  So she talked to us as if it were in the 1700's and the home was bustling with activity getting ready for one of the last balls that the home ever had.  

I asked if the colors were really what they would have been back in the day (the whole palace was a recreation of the original home).  The guide said that yes in fact those colors would have been in homes of the wealthy gentry.  Yikes!!  They were pretty advanced with the fireplaces though, they had one on each wall of the ballroom.  

Again outside of the main home there was a separate building for the kitchen with it's own garden right outside.  We missed the chocolate making demonstration that was shown in the palace kitchen.  I was bummed about that one.  Around on the palace grounds there were other ornamental gardens, mazes made out of hedges, and lots of places to sit and enjoy the beauty.

We also got to see Patrick Henry and of course Meysa had to say hello to the horse.  That girl is too funny!!

We got to tour the cellar of the palace, the kids had to be brave to go where it was dark.  They thought it was really cool though.  

The kiddos on one of the benches in the garden.  (Below) All of the yards and walkways had shells for the gravel, Ayden thought that was cool.  

(The back door of the Palace)

(Ayden inside the jail)

I know there were a ton of pictures (bear with me) but it is hard to cull just that many out of hundreds that were taken.  Up next our day in Yorktown!!