Virginia Vacation Summer 2015--Part I

June 12-20, 2015:  Virginia Vacation

I have so many pictures to share and narrative that I am splitting this post in half!  Part I will be days #1-#5 and part II will be days #6-#9.  My parents graciously let us use their condo for the week.  We thought the kids would have a blast doing a trip with Grandpa & Grandma so we invited them to come to.  I was planning for us all to be sharing the 2 bedroom condo but they surprised us when we got there by letting us have the condo to ourselves.  They had rented a hotel room for the week.  They took each of the 3 big kids one at a time to spend a night in the hotel with them which the kids absolutely adored! 

Day 1:  Travel Day... We left at 4 AM and got in several hours of driving before stopping at a Cracker Barrel in Indiana.  After that it was back on the road.  We were excited to drive through the Smoky Mountains...Sadie loved taking pictures out the window in Kentucky.  We stopped at a rest stop in West Virginia for lunch then back on the road.  We made it to our condo that evening around 9PM.  It was a long day but we were so excited to start a vacation!  The girls shared a bedroom, Kinnick bunked on the sofa bed, and we put Carver's pack and play in our bedroom. 

Rest Area Selfie!

Home Sweet "Away from Home"!

Day 2:  Colonial Williamsburg...  The reason we planned this Virginia trip was to take our kids to Colonial Willaimsburg.  It was one of the vacations I remember most growing up and really loved.  Our kids (especially Sadie and Kinnick) are really getting into history. Also, we knew that there would be plenty here to entertain us for multiple days.  To get the best deal we bought our passes on line ahead of time and opted for season passes (our only option to be able to go multiple days but giving us access for an entire year).

We slept in on Saturday then headed over to do some exploring.  Check in & parking is at an off-site visitor center.  From there you can get on a shuttle bus with many different stops or you can walk (about 1/2 mile scenic path).  Each day has a different printed program because the activities vary day-by-day.  We were able to pick up each day's program at the beginning of the week.  This was very helpful (and a little overwhelming) in helping us plan our week.  I'm the kinda person that likes to do it all (in an organized way) and we just couldn't (or didn't really want to) do EVERYTHING, so we had to choose.  There are a lot of activities that are specifically targeted toward children so we focused on those.  We also knew that our kids would like to visit a lot of the trade shops so we planned time for that.  The guided tours (Governor's Palace & Capital) were not as fun for the kids but us adults really enjoyed them so we made sure to spread them out on different days.   One nice thing about having a different map/schedule each day is that the buildings that are open are colored so you can easily plan out where to go.  A week's activities looks like this and a map of the revolutionary city looks like this:

Just to give you an idea the Duke of Gloucester Street (the main street through the center of the map) is a mile long.  On our first day we decided to tour the Bassett House and Great Hopes Plantation because of these buildings were open only 2 days per week.  Colonial Williamsburg depicts the town of Williamsburg as it was during the early-mid 1700's.  Bassett Hall, though it was built in the mid-1700's was depicted as it was during the early 1900's when Mr. & Mrs. John D. Rockefeller utilized as a vacation home twice yearly.  I won't go into a long history (because I found this quite fascinating!) but the Rockefellers were quite remarkable and very generous people.  They were in fact instrumental in the restoration of Historic Williamsburg.
       

 

After leaving Basset Hall we were able to watch a fife and drum march and then we made our way to the bakery for some refreshments.  We purchased refillable cups to use all week.  They could be filled with hot or cold drinks at several different places including the visitor center.  Our favorite was the cold apple cider.  We made our money back on that cup within a few hours!  

 Our last stop of the day was the "Great Hopes Plantation".  We had to take the walking path back to the visitor center because the plantation was located between the city and the center.  The kids had so much fun stopping here.  We got to visit animals, watch how they stored and prepared food on a plantation, see the living quarters for the workers, explore the different crops they planted both in fields and smaller gardens, and even help with chores!

 

Finally it was back home to the condo to relax and have dinner.  We got ready to head to the pool but because of a thunder storm (which we quickly learned happened about every afternoon) the pool was closed.  We checked out the game room for a bit (two game rooms--totally free!) and then had some fun jumping in puddles. 

Day 3:  Colonial Williamsburg...

Rise and Shine!

We started our Sunday morning with breakfast at the condo and a family church service.  After that it was back to Colonial Williamsburg for a FULL day!  

We started our day by attending a reenactment called "Storming of the Palace".  I was really surprised how much the kids enjoyed watching the reenactments--especially Kinnick and Macey.  After that we got in line to tour the Governor's Palace.  This building was a lavish establishment built in the early 1700's for England's Governor to the colony of Virginia to live in.  In 1775 the palace was overtaken by the continental army and became army headquarters, hospital, and home to US governors Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson before it was destroyed by a fire.  The current palace was rebuilt in the early 1900's on the original site.  The kids did well on this 45 minute tour... unfortunately our tour guide was very hard to understand!  Afterwards we were able to tour the gardens and outbuildings (including the kitchen) on our own.

Entrance Hall--Governor's Palace

Gardens at the Governor's Palace

After our tour of the Capital we were ready for a snack.  We sat down at an outdoor theater to listen to George Washington (the very young pre-President version) speak.  I was impressed to see the same actor playing George Washington at a different event later in the week.

Next we visited the coffee shop.  It was so fun to learn about different parts of the culture as we visited different shops.  At the coffee shop we got a tour and got to try our choice of tea, coffee, or hot chocolate.  The kids and I all tried the hot chocolate.  It was super thick and spicy. 

We spent some time walking on main street and exploring different shops.  The kids got to try out some children's games.  We visited the apothecary, the milliner, the printer/binder, the silversmith, the blacksmith, and the wigmaker.

We enjoyed eating lunch at the historic Shields Tavern.

After lunch it started to rain and another tourist suggested that our kids would enjoy visiting the brick maker and there was a covered tent where we could get out of the rain.  We decided to check it out and got there just before a huge downpour.  The kids had a blast making bricks and churning clay (barefoot) while we waited for the rain to past.

They absolutely adored this young man--Ben

After the brick maker we went to watch another reenactment called "Revolution in the Streets".  Carver had fun playing in the puddles while we waited and watched...

And we ended our day with a tour of the capital building.  The kids were getting pretty tired by this point but they were definitely troopers!

On our way home we stopped to let the kids do some shopping.  We went to a general store and trading outpost.  The kids had a blast looking at toys, candy, and all kinds of fun souvenirs.  My parents had given them each spending money which made shopping one of their favorite parts of our trip! 

Day 4:  Monday was our beach day.  I have been wanting to take the kids to the ocean for years but we have settled for Lake Michigan each summer.  I was so excited to take them to a real ocean!  We drove just over an hour to Virginia Beach.  I had really wanted to be next to the board walk and take them on the giant Ferris wheel but that didn't happen.  We did have a really great time.  It was a super hot day so my parents rented an umbrella with a couple chairs--that was a big help!  We packed our lunch and lots of snacks.  The kids had a blast!  We ended our night with pizza back at the condo.   

 

I LOVE this picture!

 

 

Tired after a day of Fun in the Sun!

Day #5:  We stayed at Wyndham's Kingsgate Resort and it was really great!  They had so much to do we just weren't there enough...  They had 2 outdoor pools (one adults only), a hot tub, an indoor pool, two (free) game rooms, putt putt, a movie theater (free--playing movies just out of the theater), a playground, kids & family activities, and more.  On Tuesday we decided to spend our morning being lazy and hanging out at the resort.  We slept in and made a big breakfast.  We took the kids to the pool for most of the morning.

 After a quick lunch at the condo we headed back to Colonial Williamsburg for the afternoon.  We visited the courthouse for "Order in the Court", an interactive court preceding.  We also visited the magazine (that housed all the weapons and gun powder).     

Courthouse Steps

Next we took the shuttle over to the Museum.  We toured the historic hospital (America's first mental hospital... which interestingly enough was a setting in The Kitchen House, a book I read later in the summer!).  The hospital building was used from the late 1700's through most of the 1800's before it burned in 1885.  It was rebuilt in the original location along with most of Colonial Williamsburg in the 1980's.  From the hospital we took an underground connection to the decorative arts museum.  The kids attended a cute program where we got to look at different types of art from different time periods (furniture, dishes, painting, textiles, etc.) and make sketches of their favorite pieces in a little sketch book.  Kinnick and Macey really enjoyed this!

My Mom's Street!

The kids really enjoyed riding the shuttle around.

Before we left, Marc wanted to watch a reenactment called "On to Yorktown and Victory"--we thought Kinnick would really enjoy this because it included lots of rifle firing and a cannon salute.  The kids were getting restless so my parents took the girls and Carver back to the visitor center to shop and get a drink while Marc, Kinnick and I watched. 

 

It was pretty cool seeing them load and fire their muskets and rifles and watching them fire the cannon!

Two-on-one time! (Something we don't get often!)

Group Picture at the Visitor Center

That evening my parents watched the kids so we could have a date night!  They gifted us when of their meal vouchers too!  We used it to try a yummy barbeque place.  After wards we did a little shopping and ended our date with ice cream.  Grandma & Grandpa took the kids out for dinner and let them play games in the arcade.  They finished with a movie night and popcorn. 

 

 

 

Stay tuned for Part II...