Williamsburg with the Thornocks

Since our move to the DC area we have had the pleasure of hosting many guests.  This time we had the pleasure of welcoming Shane's sister and her family "The Thornock's" to DC!!  They came for a 2 week tour of the east coast sights! 

For Memorial Day weekend we decided to head down to Williamsburg with the Thornocks for some good ol' colonial fun!  We visited Jamestown, Yorktown, & Williamsburg in 3 days.  We had a great time.  It was very hot but the kids did good trailing from site to site.  It was fun for Alli and Andrew because this year in school they learned a lot about the early settlers of Virginia.  We started off the 3 day tour at Jamestown Settlement.
 

We saw a Powhatan Indian village. 

We also saw the early colonist's fort.  We found some of the early settlers sporting some pretty heavy armor!

Next stop Colonial Williamsburg.  This was quite the place.  We stepped back in time when we entered.  There was lots to do.  We toured the Governor's Mansion.  (Not sure if the picture below is the the mansion. I just thought it was a great picture!)

We were able to see a mock trial.

Then out in the public square we found this!

Don't worry it is all pretend.  Ty isn't crying, just has a case of sun in the eyes!

These kids however deserved to have one foot locked up!!! 

Too much walking.

We found some colonial divas!

We got to see the colonist put on a "play" I guess, about their lives leading up to the beginning of the Revolutionary War.

On to Historic Jamestown.  This was probably one of our most favorite spots.  We had a very dynamic tour guide who made the stories and info of the early settlers come alive!! 

Captain John Smith the most famous but was not the Captain of the ship when coming to Jamestown.  Christopher Newport was the Captain but doesn't get the same notoriety as Smith.  Christopher Newport was one of the people Alli and Andrew studied at school. 

The kids loved the Jr. Ranger books! 

Pocahontas statue.  Contrary to Disney she didn't marry John Smith.  She married John Rolfe and move to England.

And for those who were wondering if Lyla was having fun...She was!  She did really great getting hauled around from place to place in the heat!

Next, Yorktown...

 We found some cannons as we took a driving tour around the battlefield at Yorktown.

We found some soldiers from the Revolutionary War.  The kids even got to try out their shooting skills.

 We got to see a replica of a war camp.  This was really neat.  It was also really hot on this day.  Those tents were steamy!!

 We were able to hear about what it was like to be a physician during the war.  Here are the kids checking out the doctor's tools.

 At the end of our tour we found some facinating folks.  The kids had fun wearing colonial cloths.

 Kenzie actually found a crazy colonist!! 

  

As you can see above...We had a great time with the Thornock's!!   

Cherry Blossoms

One evening the kids and I decided to go check out the cherry blossom trees downtown. Well, it took some convincing the kids but eventually we made it out the door.

After finding parking we walked...and walked...and walked along the river.

It was really pretty and the kids enjoyed running thru the weeping willows.

Andrew fell thru one of the gigantic holes in the sidewalk. Ty found a stick to swing around. Alli was bouncing from one tree to another. Lyla was fast asleep in her pack. Me...I was counting kids making sure no one took an unexpected swim in the Potomac!

After our walk we caught a bus (a short bus ride) that took us to the Jefferson Memorial.

I found 3 blind mice hiding on the steps of the monument!

The view from the Jefferson Memorial.

It was beautiful. The kids had fun running around and I had fun sitting on the steps soaking up the evening sunshine. We even managed to catch a bus ride all the way back to our car!! I think everyone was glad we made it to see the beautiful cherry blossoms!

See! Don't they look happy!