Williamsburg

Everyone is ready for a fun day! Williamsburg is awesome - and smart - for choosing to reach out to homeschoolers like they do. The tickets were heavily discounted, and the place was PACKED. It's smart financially, because they get tons of kids to come to the park when they would normally have slower weeks. It works out for me, too, which I really appreciate of them. :)
Everyone gets to meet one of the horses upon arriving.
This was probably the highlight of Adah's whole day. She is SUCH a girly girl, and she studied these ladies with intensity. She later told me all about the bows and various items of clothing they had on. When we would see them around the streets later, she wanted to follow them. Basically, we stalked them until she could get another picture. They were very gracious.
The stalking worked! The girls were able to chat with them and actually touch their dresses. Jackson rolled his eyes and tried to pretend he wasn't there.

I made the mistake of letting Shiloh have the camera at one point. When I downloaded the pictures, there were no fewer than FIFTEEN pictures of horses pulling carriages. :)
Here are my lovely girls in the governor's palace garden.
This is just a side view of the governor's palace. I didn't get great pictures of the buildings, which is a bummer. On the plus side, we got to see the inside of the bathrooms at the governor's palace twice since Nathaniel had to use the bathroom SIX times while at Williamsburg. We did a lot of backtracking throughout the day. We definitely need to go back next year to see more and to take Daniel with us.
The girls waited to see who would come out of this carriage. They thought it would be royalty, I guess. :)
Shiloh loved this cloak. "It could be Felicity's cloak, Mommy!"
Ahh, yes. The stocks. The boys are making "sad" faces because they are being punished for their crimes.
Abigail doesn't seem repentant. :)

Adah is repentant - or just mad, maybe.

Now she's happy!

Jackson could barely reach and kept saying, "These things must have hurt their necks!" Um, yeah. That was sort of the point.

Cora was a good sport and stuck her head in, too. Shiloh wouldn't do it - stinker.

Adah's great sense of humor comes through.
The Parish Church at Bruton Street. It's still an active congregation. The kids thought it was pretty fancy, and Jackson wondered if our congregation could find a church like this to meet in. :)
Adah was thrilled to discover this placard on one of the pews. She was telling everyone around us.
The only thing I absolutely had on the agenda for the day was seeing the Fife and Drum Corps march to the Governor's Palace Lawn. Here are the kids getting the first sounds of the corps coming down the street.

They were impressive. Adah couldn't believe some of them were really small kids.

Nathaniel liked the scepter and said he wanted one. :)

I didn't get a part of the playing that I thought I did, but this gives you an idea of how they sounded. We marched behind them all the way to the lawn, and that was the highlight of the day for me. We had such a fun time, and I'm eager to go back next year. It was such fun on this trip to see them connecting what we had been studying with real history. When some kids were playing with toys on the lawn, Cora said, "Those are bilbo catchers! We made those!" (it was a colonial craft at home) They were able to listen with better understanding to the interpreters as they explained what they were doing, and the whole experience was so much fun with bigger kids. I'm enjoying this stage in life with all of them. What blessings they are, and what joy they bring to my heart!