Colonial Life

This past weekend we took off on a mini-vacation (or, extended field trip) in Virginia. Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown were offering steep discounts for homeschoolers. We chose to visit Williamsburg and Jamestown over two days.

While Williamsburg is lovely, and large, I don't think I would suggest anyone pay full price for admission. There are countless other re-enactment sites throughout the nation that are just as educational, even if they don't have a wigmaker on staff. That said, we did have a nice time visiting. This year they instituted a new program, RevQuest: Sign of the Rhinoceros. We were given a bandana to identify ourselves and a packet containing a puzzle book, code book, and "colonial money." We spent about 2 hours to tour the town and figure out the who, what, and where of the puzzle. In the afternoon ceremony we were given a brass coin to celebrate solving the mystery.

At Jamestown we were signed up for a 2-hour tour. Again, the site is nice, but we wouldn't have gone at full price. Jamie was the most engaged on the tour (it was geared toward his age level), but we enjoyed seeing the sites as well. My take-away? Those ships were tiny! I can't imagine the trip across the ocean!

Overall, the kids thought the trip was fun, if sneakily educational. The best part, of course, was the hotel: pool, cable tv, and bacon for breakfast!

See Pictures HERE.

Rain, rain, go away

Last week Hurricane Irene came and left her mark in our basement. Now we have an mostly empty basement ready for fixing up a bit, and a garage full of stuff with no room for a car.
This week Tropical Storm Lee has come to visit while Jim is in California. We tried out the new generator, and it keeps the sump pump going. That's all we ask of it, really. Keep our basement as dry as possible.
We could use a dry autumn now, as our ground is like a sopping wet sponge. A day of sun, with a nice breeze to dry things up a bit, now that would be nice.
Pictures from Irene, HERE.