Veteran's Day Trip

We were so blessed by our wonderful trip up to Baltimore, MD & Williamsburg, VA. We had been trying to find a good time to go neighborhood hunting in Baltimore before moving next spring. We were able to use our timeshare in Williamsburg VA- a few hours drive from Baltimore but we thought we could at least spend a long weekend. Then we found out that James had to go TDY near Williamsburg that week so we stayed the whole week. We had a wonderful trip. We didn't take any pics from our 2 days in Baltimore but it was very good to just to drive around and see different areas. It was so pretty with the leaves changing colors. North of Baltimore was really pretty but super hilly- definitely would make bike riding and running harder. Thursday night we went to Bass Pro shop- the kids all loved the Christmas wonderland- they made an ornament and got to see Santa. One of James' good friends from high school invited us over for lunch Friday. The boys were so excited to meet their first Baltimore friends- 2 sweet little girls about T & KG's ages. After lunch we drove through a few more neighborhoods and then headed to Williamsburg. We learned a good lesson about checking the GPS directions before following them as we took the slow way straight through DC traffic.

We were very happy to find out that Colonial Williamsburg was thanking the military Veteran's Day weekend by giving free 2 day passes. We'd planned to just walk around and see the sights from outside but it was so much for fun to go inside. We started out the day with a neat movie about early Williamsburg and then headed out on the children's walk- K & C really liked it. T & KG liked riding in the stroller. Then we used the kid's passport to go see lots of the tradesmen- blacksmith, furniture maker, brick maker, tailor, hatmaker, ... The kids got stamps on their passports and we all enjoyed seeing how things were done back in that time. We had lunch at one of the taverns and stayed at Williamsburg until about 5. KG & T's nap let us stay to see the afternoon reenactment. We went back the next morning and got some great pics of the beautiful fall. We did the maze behind the governor's house and saw some more.

the kids had a great time Monday morning in the kid's barn- they were the only ones there and got to play all the games.

Tuesday we went to Jamestown Settlement. K was so excited that it was about his middle name. We knew it was supposed to be child friendly but didn't expect it to be as nice as it was. We were also blessed with good weather- predictions were for rain but we had a beautiful day. The only bummer was that we forgot our camera. All of us loved the Powhatan Indian village- great reenactors, lots of stuff to touch- every different kind of animal skin, pinecone fire starters, turtle shell bowls. You could even lie down on their beds. They also had lots to do. We scraped bear hides with oyster shells, grinded corn, watched Powhatan cooking, and played an Indian game. Then we went to the ships- replicas of the 3 ships that sailed from England in 1606. We learned the beginning of phrase- go potty- chamber pots. We have one here (we don't use in the same way now:) but never thought of that. The next section was showing how the colonists and Indians used the rivers- their tools for fishing, boating, farming, ... They got to scrape out part of a burntout canoe and climb in another.

Then the James Fort was really neat. K &C went with James to learn about muskets while KG & T looked around. KG was fascinated by the chickens walking around and T went to a 30 minute baking class with a group of 4th graders. The teachers were amazed by the little guy's concentration. He even got to help make corn rolls. The kids all dressed up in colonial armor and looked at the different buildings. Really neat that they're building the settlement just like the original one. We rushed through the building bc kids were all getting tired but it was really neat. We'll definitely go back sometime.

Wednesday James went to work and I took the kids to Norfolk to meet Erin. We went to Nauticus museum. We saw a cool movie- Living Seas- learned about 500 pound clams, jellyfish that don't sting, and a place in Canada where high tide & low tide change by up to 4o feet each day. The kids loved using the sub arms & the stingray tank. then we went to the U.S.S.Wisconsin- a retired battleship that was in WW II, Korea, and Desert Storm. The men working on the boat all served on the ship when it was active. Really neat- even if it was pretty hard getting up & down the stair/ ladders with T & KG. We met Erin at a park & then enjoyed a yummy dinner together at Applebee's. Brownie bites rock!! It was great to hang out again with a good friend- get to see her & hang out with her sweet baby girl.

We were also blessed with a wonderful park really close to our timeshare. We'd been there 4 years before when K was almost 2 and C a baby. We had picnic lunches there almost every day. We also spent lots of time in the pool- K & C are getting better at swimming. We played lots of games too- Jr. Monopoly and Racko were two of our favorites. It was so nice to get away and to have no internet interfering! unplugging is so good.