Day4---Thursday

Day 4 was packed full. We got up early and headed straight to Jamestown to see all the stuff we missed the first time around.


These are the flags that greet you at the entrance. There is a flag to represent each state and also a plaque explaining how and when the state entered the Union.We loved this Powhatan lady. She was sitting under a tree handcrafting clay pots. She gave us great detail about what a typical Powhatan's day would look like. She also did a fantastic job of demonstrating her craft. I felt so sad that so many of these arts are being lost in today's world. Watching her turn a lump of clay from the riverbed, into a piece of usable art, really inspired me!Typical Powhatan's home which were all built by the women!I was most impressed with these houses. I thought they were beautiful and filled with wonderful treasures! Honestly they were more functional than the Settler's homes.Check out their cool shelves up there!Isaac thought it was funny to stand in the fire and then wonder why his feet were hot. In. Every. House!!The boys rushing off to see the ships that we saw the very first day we spent at Jamestown. I think that may have been Asher's favorite part.Trying on some armour inside the fort. I didn't realize that armour was still being used so heavily in this time period! Maia standing in a Sunflower garden in the Fort. She actually hated being in the fort because they shot muskets off every half hour in there. And worse yet they shot a cannon off as well!! My girl does NOT like loud noises at all.


In fact just about the only part inside the actual fort that Maia enjoyed were the free roaming chickens. There was one she was especially interested in that another family dubbed "bacon". No matter how hard I tried to convince her that that chicken was not really named Bacon she just did not believe me. She has been talking about "bacon" ever since we've been home! Here her and Asher are trying to get the various chickens attention.




Here is the fort's blacksmith. He showed us some great examples of some armour that was dug up in the area and showed us how the blacksmith altered the armour. Their still not sure why the armour was altered with extra pieces but he had a few theories. He was mainly commissioned to the fort to fix the residents already existing belongings. The residents never would've wanted the blacksmith to actually make their supplies because they valued specialized craftsmanship. Kinda like how we have brand loyalties today. They were almost snobbish about it!

This lady was making bread pudding in her nifty little oven!!
Close up of the super cool oven.
Then we set off for Yorktown Battlefield. I had very high hopes for this site because it is right up Isaac's alley. Now if we were normal people we would have visited Williamsburg because that is the correct order of events: Jamestown, Williamsburg then Yorktown Battlefield. But we are not normal! Inside the building is a small museum that holds a partial replica General Cornwallis' ship and some of his personal effects.


We were too late to see the movie that really gets in depth here. After the inside of the museum we went out to the back of the museum. I was expecting to see Army camps out there. With living breathing soldiers to bring history to life. Kinda like what we had experienced at Jamestown and Williamsburg. The reason I expected this is because that is what was shown on the front of the brochure. However this is what we found.

While it's beautiful (there is water in between those trees in the distance) it's not exactly what I had in mind. And certainly not what I had promised Isaac!

There was one reenactor there. And he wasn't in an Army tent or any such thing!! I was very worried that Isaac was gonna be very very disappointed. As we were listening to the only guide there tell us about gabbions and how the soldiers built trenches Isaac disappeared!! I went off in search of him and finally found him on the other side of a trench. He just wanted to be left alone on the real live battle site so that he could play his very own war games. I gave him a bit of space and let him be. When else is he going to get this opportunity? I headed back to help the other 2 with their gabbion craft.

I did learn that cannon balls are hollow. I had no idea...I thought they were solid! As the crafts were drawing to a close Andy went to round up Isaac. He came back to me with a mouth full of prickles because...well I don't know why!! It's hard to tell what he got himself into :) The rest of the tour was a self guided car tour. You just followed the marked route in your vehicle and there were rest stops along the way to explain what you were seeing.

This house was one of the stops on the tour. This is actually a picture of a picture of the house. I loved how the house was in disrepair in the photo on the plaque. And here is the house today. Isn't it pretty? This house is important because General Washington used it to sort out the terms of the British surrender. I would have loved to have gone inside but we were only allowed to gaze upon the outside. The driving tour was actually pretty fun for me because I got to show off in front of Andy and the kids. You see I read a book last year about General Washington and I was able to elaborate on a lot of the battle stuff we saw!! They were all pretty impressed with me!!

This marker is pointing out where General Washington's camp was located. The kids were in awe to be standing on the very ground that our first president had actually stood on. It seemed to be a very big deal to Maia.Our original tour guide told us about a hidden stream located down the bank behind the sign. He said it would be okay if we took a little detour and tried to find the stream and even suggested we take some water home from it for a souvenir. The kids were very excited to drink the same water that our president had drank. I explained to them that even though it was crystle clear we wouldn't be drinking any of it!Before we made it back to the car Isaac had drank half of his!! After our driving tour we found this neat little area. There were quaint shops and some yummy smelling restaurants. And of course waterfront.
We didn't eat a meal but did decide get a snack. I think Isaac is pondering why his dad just spent 24 bucks on 5 small ice cream cones from Ben and Jerry's. When they gave Andy the total he looked around for exactly who they were talking to. The sales girl confirmed that yes indeedy she was talkin to him!! The kids wanted to swim in the worst possible way but the water was swarming with jellyfish!! They couldn't understand why we wouldn't let them go in with the jellyfish!! When we got home we watched a special on animal planet and they showed a jellyfish sting--the kids thanked me and decided maybe I wasn't as dumb as they thought!
Asher cried because we couldn't get on one of the boats. All that boy wanted was a boat ride.
Andy saw this cannon and said it looked like they had drug it up from the bottom of the sea. Turns out they did. It was from a sunken British ship.
Afterwards we went home and got back in the pool!! It was busier this night though. The hotel was starting to pick up for the weekend.