{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!!

{Don't Mess Around}

 I know what you are thinking, didn't we already read a blog post about little Lauryn losing a tooth.  Well yes you did, but we had to post about how she lost another tooth.  When she lost her first tooth, she actually had her four front teeth all loose but at all varying degrees of wobbly.  She lost her first tooth, then the second tooth her Dad just popped out while she wasn't looking and this last tooth she knocked out herself.  Yup, you read that right.  She was horsing around last night and punched herself in the face and out popped her tooth.  We were face timing with Grandparents and one minute Lauryn was bouncing around and the next minute she was holding her mouth and there was her tooth in her hand.  Before we know it she won't have any teeth at all at the rate she is going and we will have to blend up all her food.  

She thinks it is pretty cool that she can get her tongue almost all the way out now though.  Silly girl!!  Don't mess with her!!  She may be small but she packs a real good punch!!

{Getting the Shot}

 So if you can remember this picture from the last post.  I had mentioned that there was a funny story to go along with how I got this shot.  Well, ya know when you see a shot and you are like oh, that is perfect.  I thought that when I had looked out across the tidal basin and saw the Washington Monument framed by a cherry tree in full bloom.  Margaret, my mother-in-law, had seen the same photo-op as well and had snapped a picture before I could squeeze in behind her to get one on my camera.  To say there were a few people out looking at the cherry blossoms that day would be like saying that there are a "few" bees in a beehive.  The place was swarming with people and so in order to get any shots we had to be patient and understanding of all those other people that were trying to get their shots too.  Well most people are aware  of the fact that they aren't the only ones around taking pictures.  They would look around themselves before taking a shot and move quickly afterward.  That is to say until we met a dear couple who we'll call Fred and Wilma.  

 There they are, aren't they just adorable?  I love how Fred has his hat backwards and Wilma is striking that pose.  They walked into the shot just seconds after Margaret got her shot, in fact when I went back to look at her pictures, Wilma is in one just off to the left side.  So you would think since they have got their shot they would move on. For heavens sakes they even swapped and she even took some pictures of Fred too.  I was in position (squatting down, trying to keep out of other people's way) just waiting for the instant that they walked out of the frame so I could get my shot and move on.    

 Unfortunately, that was easier said than done.  She apparently got a phone call and decided to chat, which I can't say I blame her.  She has no idea that 25 feet behind her some poor woman's feet are going to sleep from lack of blood due to poor positioning.  

 The phone call ends and Wilma decides to start doing something else.  My guess is that she is texting, but I'm not sure of that and Fred decides that since they aren't going anywhere anytime soon that he will start snapping some more pictures.

 Yup, still texting-snapping pictures.  Oh, yeah and my feet are officially dead, in case you were wondering.  

I wanted to end it all right there, but I really wanted the picture of the pretty blossoms and the wonderful monument.  I could have just taken the picture and done some photoshop trick later and cut Fred and Wilma out of my photo but I didn't want to.  I wanted the real thing minus Fred and Wilma.  I know how picky can I get.  

Margaret was by this point laughing so hard at my determination to get the picture and at Wilma's determination to make me work for it.  So she snuck down to see what was taking Wilma and Fred so long.    I was right in my earlier assumption.  Wilma was texting away to who knows who.  I know how long it takes me to text (I am still a novice at it) so I can imagine it may be taking poor Wilma longer than normal.  Or I could be completely wrong and she could be one savvy grandma, but for heaven sakes get a move on honey!!

 Margaret got a  humdinger of an idea and saved the day.  She went down and offered to take Fred and Wilma's picture for them.  Of course by this time Wilma was done with her 500 word text, but Margaret took them off to the side anyway stating that there was a great picture to be taken out of my frame.  Ten seconds later I had my shot and I was done.  A lot of waiting around but so worth it.  I didn't have to come home and photoshop Fred and Wilma out and I have a pretty picture to remind me of the wonderful day down with the Cherry blossoms.  What I will do for a pretty picture!!