Jamestown

Over the weekend of the 19th-21st of September, the kids and I made a trip to Williamsburg and Jamestown for Williamsburg's homeschool week. We also got to see dear friends from Colorado Springs, (a LONG time ago!) because they now live in Williamsburg. They took in our clan in fine style. The boys were most impressed with Lanning's grilling technique, and all of them were impressed with the way they projected a movie onto their wall for movie night. :) Here are pictures from Jamestown, and pictures from Williamsburg will follow in another post.
Abigail, Adah, and Jackson seem to handle a dugout canoe really well.
The musket firing demonstration was a must-see according to Jackson.



Jackson takes his job as a guard seriously. Nathaniel also put on his serious face. Adah and Cora try their hand (neck?) at the yoke for carrying water. This is a picture of the kids sitting in front of the Susan Constant, one of the three ships that sailed to Jamestown. We had just studied this time period in history, so this was really fun for them to connect reality with history.

They had a good time exploring the Susan Constant, but they marveled at how small (and smelly) it was. :) Shiloh tried out the captain's berth and pronounced it uncomfortable. Jackson liked his bed, though. This picture looks out on the Discovery and the Godspeed from the Susan Constant. Here are the kids exploring the Discovery (I think?). I can't remember which one came next!

After we explored the ships, we traveled up a path to see the recreation of a Powhatan village. We saw a woman there skinning a freshly killed deer. Yuck. Abigail was impressed. Cora was not impressed that all of the "interpreters" were white and not actually Indians. :) She felt ripped off, since that was the thing she most looked forward to at Jamestown.

The girls were interested in feeling all the different animal skins. You could take a bone knife and scrape away at the skin hanging up here. Shiloh took this picture, and I think she instructed Jackson to look as if he killed all those animals. Cora liked the bed of skins! We ended the day with a ferryboat ride across the Chesapeake Bay. The kids were so excited, and I was getting such a kick out of seeing their enthusiasm just for a ferry ride. It's the simple things, really. We rode across, drove off, turned around, and drove back on for the ride back. :) What wonderful weather we had for the trip, even though it was supposed to rain the whole time. We are so thankful for good friends that made this trip possible, and for living in Virginia where all this opportunity to experience the history of our country is so plentiful!