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Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Visit from the Fam - September 2010 (Part 1)

My parents and younger brother Joseph came out for a wonderful visit, and we packed our days with lots of activities. One of the first days, we went for a walk at a nearby park. 



Annika got tired and persuaded Uncle Joseph to give her a little ride. 



We had to make a trip to the beach and were blessed with incredible weather.



My mom feeding Ellia grapes.



Corban had a soccer game - he's in the center with the ball.  He played well, but they lost.



We filled the visit with history, first taking a trip to Jamestown.  Annika still mooching rides off of people, Granddaddy this time. 

Jamestown has four main features: a museum, which we spend a little time in, an Indian village with lots of hand-on activities, 3 ships anchored on the James River that you can climb on and explore, and the English Fort built exactly like the one the original settlers built by hand.  



In the Indian village, we got to see how to make arrows.



The kids got to try scraping hides - one of the first steps to preparing the skin for making clothing.
It's hard work! 



We all enjoyed seeing the ships, replicas of the vessels upon which the first settlers arrived at Jamestown in 1607.  It was remarkable how many people traveled on the small ships - and the living conditions they endured.



Grant and I on one of the three ships.


The girls got a little tired.  Granddaddy made a good pillow.



Hollowed out logs made good boats.



Corban trying on armor like the settlers wore.



Wow, now I could make some serious batches of soup in that pot!



Yeah, they were pretty wiped out by the end of the day.



The next day we made a trip to Colonial Williamsburg, our second visit but my parents' first. 
Here, Annika was peeking through the keyhole in the Governor's Palace.



We had to stop by the kids' favorite tree for some climbing.  Is that a cool tree, or what?



We got to see something really special - they were firing bricks, which is something they only typically do for 5 days once a year (in October), but this year were doing in September.  The brick-making process is just amazing.



They're loading the firewood to make it as hot as possible.



We finished the first day at Colonial Williamsburg by putting the kids in the stocks.  :)

More to come later.  I figured this was enough pictures for one day!

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