because i said so

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Friday--Day 6

Friday morning started off kinda slow. We had already packed a lot in and we were all getting kind of tired by this point. My plan was to go to Williamsburg because I knew we wouldn't be able to pack in everything we wanted to see there in 1 day. However nobody else agreed with me. After some internet research Andy and I decided to surprise the kids with something we thought they would like.

But first we needed to get some breakfast. There were some very neat shops and restaurants close to our hotel that we wanted to try and we decided that now would be a great time for that. This was a very upscale neighborhood. Hip and trendy for sure. There was a Belgian Chocolatier who's cheapest goodies were sold at 35 dollars a pound!! Anyways we picked a much more moderate cafe being broke er I mean the frugal family that we are:) Yeah frugal that's what we are!! Not broke...frugal.

This is where things start to go downhill. We were all getting out of the car and trying to orientate ourselves when a car slows down beside us and a woman starts yelling out her window!! It took us a second or two to realize that this lady is telling Isaac off!! I walked towards her car to try and figure out what is going on but she is wholly focused on my son. Isaac was saying "no I didn't" but I couldn't figure out what exactly he didn't do. Then I realize this woman is accusing him of doing who knows what and screaming "oh yes you did" at him. None of us know exactly what it is she thought he did because she was talking all ghetto and we were having a hard time understanding her. It was very upsetting!! Andy made his way around to the back of the car to try and get this whole thing straightened out and when the lady saw him she sped away. I think she was crazy!! I wish she would've stopped because then all the people eating outside, who were witnesses, could've told her she was crazy:) They were right beside us and they didn't see Isaac do 1 single thing wrong. The only thing we could figure was that Isaac stretched when he got out of the car and she thought he made a gesture at her or even she possibly thought he threw something at her car? Who knows! She was wack-a-doodle-do though. She rattled all of us!!

Breakfast turned out to be not so great. I'm not sure if it was because the food was really bad or because we had all lost our appetite after our encounter with crazy woman. All I know for sure is that we couldn't wait to get out of there!!

We ended up taking the kids to Norfolk Botanical Gardens. We figured they had something for all of us there. Asher had been wanting to take a boat ride and they had that. The kids were in love with the water and they had a splash park there. Andy and knew we would enjoy the walks through all the flowers and plants.

Maia and me in the rose garden.

Andy and kids on the bridge.

Asher was looking for the boat.

They had an enclosed butterfly garden. It was advertised that the butterflies would land on you and you could touch them. The truth is the butterflies did not land on anybody and they didn't want us to touch them. Butterflies wings are very fragile and touching them could break them...thus killing them! This tree was in the butterfly enclosure and I LOVE it. I mean L.O.V.E. it!! I want one:)

Entrance to the splash park. World of Wonders Garden.

A view from the bridge.

Rainbow Tunnel.

Asher loved this pump. He would've stayed in this spot all day if we let him.

The garden was sectioned out into different regions. This was the Southwest area.

Looking for frogs.

Poor Asher this is the closest he came to boat ride. By the time we got to the park the boat rides were all booked up:(

Climbing the rocks.

He made it!

And so did he:)

We took a tram ride through the grounds and a guide explained lots of wonderful details to us. Isaac and I sat next to each other and I have to say this was probably my fave part of the day. It is not often that I get one on one time with just him and we really had fun. I know my face is cut off but I don't care. I'm just thankful for capturing a moment I hope to never forget:) Look he even let me put my arm around him. He was super tired and snuggled in all nice and tight. I was very aware that before too long he won't want to cuddle with me anymore so I took full advantage!

I love these. They had them in ALL different colors. Just beautiful. I had no idea that the color of the blooms is entirely dependant on the PH levels in the soil.

Part of the Japanese Gardens. We stayed for a long time and watched the koi in the pond.

There was an airport overlook on the way out so we sat and watched the planes for awhile.

Maia was wiped out and she let anyone who would listen to her know!! :) Poor girl...it WAS a lot of walking that day.

We were all starved so we left in search of dinner. Unforunately we ended up in THE WORST neighborhood I have EVER been in!! And that's saying a lot ya'll because I've lived in El Paso Texas before:) We definitely did not belong in this neighborhood:) Andy told the kids to duck down and be quiet until we found our way out. I will say for as run down and filthy and downright scary as this section of town was...they did have one of the most beautiful churches I've ever seen. I think the kids got a new appreciation for exactly how incredibley blessed we truly are.

After we made our back to safer ground we found a local chain for dinner. It was very good and it was fun to try something new. We were all exhausted and headed back to our hotel for some swimming and bed. We knew the next day would be a long one....It was gonna be the 4th of July and we were spending it in Williamsburg!

One last picture. These are the mysterious plants we had growing up our trellis in Dover. Nobody could ever put a name to them for us. Well they are growing ALL OVER Virginia...turns out they're called Trumpet Vines!!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

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!