We had a busy day today, starting with a visit to historic Jamestown, the original site of the first successful European settlement in the New World. We saw some archeological digs where there were real archeologists excavating a site and sifting dirt looking for artifacts. There was a good museum telling the history of the settlement and about the first settlers, including John Smith, John Rolfe, and Pocahontas.
The State of Virginia has also opened a new museum called the Jamestown Settlement. There were people dressed in period costume and a recreation of the village with houses, a church, replicas of the ships the settlers came on and the government building.
We had lunch before we went on to Yorktown. Yorktown is where the final decisive battle of the Revolutionary War was fought. The French Fleet cut Cornwallis (for the English) off from supplies that were arriving by sea. Eventually he had to surrender because he was out of ammunition and food.
At Yorktown there was a good introductory film and then we went into the encampment to see how the soldiers lived and worked. There were small pup tents for the ordinary soldiers, 6 men to a tent. It was a very tight squeeze and if one got sick all 6 got sick. The captain or general had a larger tent with a small table, cot and a place for his little portable "desk".
The soldiers on duty demonstrated the firing of a cannon and also how to fire a musket. We learned the difference between a musket and a rifle. As the cannon demonstration progressed there began to be thunder and lightening and we all had to go into the museum building for our safety. While we were in the museum we watched a demonstration of some of the medical techniques used in the day and we got to examine some of the medical tools that were used--pliers and foreceps to remove shot from legs and arms, or to pull out a rotten tooth, saws and rods to cut off limbs and cauterize them. None of it looked like something we would like to experience. There were also some samples of the herbs and bark that were used for medicine.
Once we were able to go outside again we saw the wash woman's area with her price list for washing the soldiers clothes--2cents for socks and 5 cents for a shirt and a kitchen with an example of the soldiers rations--a pound of salted meat and a cup of beans and some hardtack. There was a big mound next to the kitchen tent and several small holes dug into the mound. This is where the soldiers would put some logs and then they would put their pot on top of the dirt over the burning logs and cook up their communal pot of bean and meat stew. Each tent had a space to cook their rations and they usually chose one man to be the cook because after the group experienced the cooking of each member they chose the best cook.
There was also an example of a farm with a small one-room farm house where a family of 6 or 7 would live, and an extensive garden with all kinds of vegetables and berries and fruits. Tobacco was a very important crop for early settlers, so there was a field of tobacco growing and a curing shed with real tobacco hanging from the rafters. After all of this exploring it was back to the condo for a swim and dinner and off to bed early because we have to get up at 4am tomorrow.
First thing in the morning GG and Grandpa went to the car rental office to rent a minivan for the drive to Williamsburg. The boys were all happy that they didn't have to cram 4 in the back seat of the Accord.
The drive from Alexandria to Williamsburg. It should have taken about two hours, but there was a lot of road work and we had several delays. We finally got through the road work and it was pretty smooth sailing from there. The highways here are surrounded by lush green forests, so different from the dry, brown hills of San Jose. So, the scenery is pretty along the way.
We stopped at a Wendy's for lunch and then finished the drive to Greensprings Vacation Resort. Our unit is pretty nice, with two bedrooms and a pull out sofa bed in the living room. There is a good kitchen, well-equipped. There is an outdoor pool and an indoor pool, a mini-golf course, a game room and an exercise room. We had a good time playing while GG and Grandpa went to the grocery store for food.
We stopped for a short time at Colonial Williamsburg and picked up our 3-day passes and we went to the visitor center theater to watch the introductory films which gave us some background about what was happening in Williamsburg at the time. The period that forms the setting of Colonial Williamsburg is just before Thomas Jefferson writes the Declaration of Independence and while King George was imposing many taxes upon the colonists. (He had to pay for his war with France somehow, didn't he?) The colonists were very unhappy about being treated unfairly, but they still considered themselves loyal British subjects. Although the people were complaining about the taxes the talk of revolting was a very radical thing, and many were unwilling to join the protests until finally the Governor took the extreme action of removing the gunpowder from the public armory. Then the people had had enough and more joined in the protests.
The next day we were up and at-em, making our lunches and off to Colonial Williamsburg. GG had planned out the whole day with events. Grandpa went in the back way and found a good parking space, close to the village. We walked into the village and right away we got a tour of the Capitol building. This was not on GG's plan, so we missed the orientation tour and the storming of the Governor's Mansion, which were at the other end of Duke of Gloucester Street.
We strolled down the street, checking out the costumed "citizens" of Colonial Williamsburg and then we went to Charlton's Coffee House to hear Thomas Jefferson speak. There was a lot of discussion about the Boston Tea Party, although they did not refer to this event with that name. And there was also discussion about the Governor, who had arranged for all of the powder to be removed from the citizen's armory. The citizens were very unhappy about this and that is why they had stormed the Governor's Mansion.
There were many people on the street discussing how to deal with the problems of taxation without representation and the removal of the gun powder. Some people felt we should join Massachusetts and revolt against the unfair taxes. Some people felt that we should accept the King's decisions about the Colonies. We watched a sword fight in the street.
As we strolled down the street we stopped in at the apothecary where the guide told us all about the different herbs kept there and what some of them were used for, and then we went to the printer's shop to see how the political tracts were printed and then we visited the blacksmith shop to see how a rifle was crafted.
Next we went on a tour of the Governor's Mansion, and our guide was a very good actress, playing the role of the upstairs maid, and explaining that normally we would only be allowed into the entry hall. The entry hall was quite impressive as the walls are lined with hundreds of crossed swords and many long-barreled rifles.
Our guide explained that since the housekeeper had not come along, maybe she could sneak us into the Governor's parlor and we also peeked into the housekeepers office. Then we got to see a fancy bedroom where the Governor's daughters slept, and a guest bedroom and the Governor's bedroom.
The Governor had taken his family away because of the unrest amongst the citizens of the town. We visited the dining room and the ball room too.
After this tour GG and Grandpa said we could have an hour of free time to explore and to meet them at the car by 2pm because they had to go to a timeshare presentation at 2:30. So, GG and Grandpa got lost and couldn't find the car and had to get the security guy to drive them around to find it, but Brendan, Chayton, Aidan and Bryce knew right where the car was and found their way with no problem.
In the afternoon the boys played at the pool and game room until it was time for dinner.
We went to The Grecian Plate for dinner because Chayton was pining for gyros. Our hosts were George and Roula Komianos and they were very happy to see us,. Business was very slow. George had a big hooked nose and a chin to match. Roula was very friendly and happy. Grandpa showed her some pictures of his trip to Nea Makri, Greece, and the Easter Dinner he had there and also a short film of him Greek dancing.
Roula was very happy to see these pictures and told us how important Easter is in Greece. She and George have a big celebration every year at their house in Williamsburg with a lamb on a spit over the barbeque, the traditional Easter meal. She also showed us a red egg that is wooden and is the special egg to find on Easter to bring good luck for the year.
Bryce and Brendan tried their first gyros and pronounced them good. They are a little like a taco, but they have a white sauce (tatziki) on them that some of the boys were skeptical about. Chayton got his gyro and fries and Aidan go a good-looking hamburger. Roula comped us a Greek dessert for the finish. Our meal covered their overhead for the day, I am sure.
It was back to the condo for showers, telephone calls home and bed. GG tries to get us to bed by 9pm, but somehow we are always talking to mom and dad at 9 and she lets us stay up later because she feels bad about interrupting our home calls. But, eventually she has to tell us to wrap it up and go to sleep. We are so busy every day we fall asleep pretty fast once the lights go out. So--nite, nite.
With GiGi, Grandpa Don, Chayton, Bryce, Aidan and
Brendan
Washington D.C. – Day
1
I am really excited for the D.C. Trip. I am in the house
that we are going to stay in for 3 days. I want to go to the Smithsonian.
Particularly the art museum. It has been good so far. The plane ride was long,
but worth it. I also really want to see the White House and Jamestown. The back
yard is very nice and has a river flowing through it. That is what they have
instead of a fence. The river marks the boundary. It is nice to go with
Chayton, Bryce, and Brendan instead of just me and Brendan. Dinner is bound to
be good because Grandpa and Gigi are such good cooks. The house that we are
staying in right now is very old and has kind of a less strong smell of the new
car smells. Well, this is me logging off. Bye
Washington D.C. – Day
2
Yesterday was a very fun day at D.C. Me, Bryce, and Chayton
made a dam in the creek, and it was actually knee deep. Then we made 2 more
dams so we each had our own dams. When we were going inside to be done for the
day, we saw a rope swing in our yard. We put on our shoes, and tried it out. We
went so far. We got Brendan to come and Bryce accidentally got it stuck up on a
branch, so Brendan came and saved the day. He climbed up the tree and lifted
the rope above the branch. He got it down, and we swung on it until we left.
What did we leave for? The National Air and Space museum. It was very
interesting there. There was what looked like a bath tub, but was a hovercraft
that military people used. Not to mention the space capsule that Felix
Baumgartner jumped out of who was sponsored by Red Bull and GoPro was there.
Dinner was Burgers, and Grandpa Don and Gigi are such good cooks. Although
their fries were a little bit hard, I still fell asleep at the dinner table.
Well, got to go. Bye.
Washington D.C.– Day 3
Yesterday was so cool. We got to see hundreds of "not"Jewish
"religous right wing" people protest about gay marriage should be I league at the Capital. Then we
walked all the way down to the Washington Monument. After that, I rolled down
the hill and started for the reflection pond. Then we went for the Lincoln
memorial. It was really cool to see him, his speech and the reflection pond.
After we headed towards the Vietnam memorial. There were so many people. Just
about 50,000 people. That is a lot. Then, we went to have lunch in a park, and
we had an intense game of water bottle volley ball. Then we went home. Had a
delicious dinner, brownies, a shower and went to bed.
Washington D.C. – Day
4
Yesterday was so cool. We went to the American History
Museum. There were lots of things to see like a 1949 mustang, or Tomas
Jefferson's desk. We also saw things like a World War II jeep and Edison's
first lightbulb. We also had a very big treasure hunt throughout the museum.
There were so many things. Almost 30. But we got them all. Grandpa was so
shocked. He thought we would only get half. Wrong! For a prize we got 1 free
simulator rides (which is now on YouTube). We chose superstition as our theme.
Then we went home. We worked on our water slide a little bit and swung on the
swing. Then we had a delicious Taco dinner, but ran out of tortillas. I wonder
why Gigi had 2, Grandpa had 2, I had 3, Brendan had 4, Bryce had 5 and Chayton
had 5. That was dinner and for dessert, we had Brownies and ice cream. that's
it. Shower and bed.
Washington D.C.– Day 5
Yesterday
was really cool. We went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. There
were lots of things to see like The hope diamond or all the minerals.
You can
also see dinosaur bone layouts of a body and a giant elephant. Then we had
lunch, went back to the museum and explored for another 2 hours. We then left
the museum and went back to the house. We went on the the swing and played in
the creek. Then we watched TV for a while. When an episode was over, I went to
go on the swing and saw a turtle.
I quickly ran up got Chayton, Bryce and
Brendan. They all ran down , decided to keep him and named him Mr.Turtle. We
put it down the water slide and bring him to a plastic container. Then we had a
dinner of frozen pizza, had Jello for desert, took showers and went to bed.
Texts Day 5 (Saturday)
between Aidan, Chayton, Mom and Dad
C: Pic and dc
texts
Washington D.C. 7 & 8 Day seven
of the Washington D.C. Trip was held out on the road. It was a long
trip, but somehow we survived. For lunch we had Wendy's. It was good. I
had a Cheeseburger with fries and a drink. Then we went back on the road
and got to the resort in about thirty minutes. Then we went swimming
and had dinner. Dinner was spaghetti served with salad. Then we had
dessert, took a shower and went to bed. The next morning we woke up and
had breakfast. That was Eggs and Bacon. Then we set off for Colonial
Williamsburg. There were lots of different things to see like like Tomas
Jefferson, or the governor's mansion. There was also a giant bush maze.
Then we went to some gift shops, and went back to the car to have lunch
and left. We went back took a swim, and played volleyball and ping
pong. By then it was time for dinner. We went out so I had a Jumbo
Cheeseburger, and the rest had Gyros. We came back, played hockey in the
basketball court and went back to our room. There we had dessert, took
our showers and went to bed.
5:10 AM
Washington D.C. 9 Yesterday was
pretty cool. We went to Jamestown and Yorktown. At Jamestown we saw the
church and the statue of John Smith. At Yorktown we saw a cannon, and a
musket fire. We also saw there camp site. There was also a 1790s farm to
show us how farming was back in the day. It was very interesting. That
is why I like Yorktown better. After those two, we had lunch and went
back to the resort. Us kids went to went to the pool. We played Ping
pong and went back. For dinner we had Hotdogs and spaghetti. Then we
took showers,and went to bed. That day we went to bed early because
there is a special event tomorrow.
5:11 AM
Washington D.C. 11 Yesterday was very interesting. We went to Mt.
Vernon.
We saw lots of things like his mansion, or his dentures. We even
saw Cherry trees in his garden. We went to his farm and saw his old
tomb and his grave. There was a museum with a 4-D movie. It shook when
cannons fired, and when they spent the winter in Valley Forge, it had
snow coming down from the ceiling. After all of that was over, we went
back to the old house and played hide and seek. Then a little after that
we had dinner of tacos( I had 5, Brendan had 5, Bryce had 5 and Chayton
had 5)and we went to bed.
Washington D.C. 12 Yesterday was a cool day. We went to the American
Indian Museum. There were lots of things to see like a hand made Canoe,
or a pray dance thing. But my personal favorite is a answering machine.
There are three answering machines with three buttons you push for
choosing your answer, and the screen asks a question. Whoever selects
the right answer first wins. Then we had lunch in their Cafe. After
Lunch, we went to the National Air and Space Museum. There were lots of
things to see there too. I really liked the Wright brothers plane. I
think it is astonishing that a person could actually fly in that. They
probably didn't know about physics back then, so they must have been
randomly experimenting. After that Air and Space Museum, we went back
home. We played hide and seek, and watched a movie until dinner was
ready. Dinner was Barbecued Chicken with corn, and it was delicious.
Then we had dessert of ice cream and brownies, took showers, and went to
bed. Washington D.C. 13 Yesterday was a sad day. We went to the Air Force
Memorial. There were lots of names,and some medal of honors. There was
also a statue of 4 army men with an American flag. After that memorial,
we went to the Pentagon Memorial. That is there to remember the people
that died in the Pentagon, or airplane during 911. There were cement
things coming out of the ground with water underneath. Then came the EOG
memorial. And the Arlington Cemetery. There were tons of graves, and
even John Fitzgerald Kennedy's grave, and both brothers. After seeing
those, we went to the tomb of the unknown soldier, and left. We went
back home, watched a movie and came back inside for dinner. Dinner was
Steak. I had a lot. Then an annual story every night about history, and
things. We then had a dessert of Ice Cream, took showers and went to bed
Washington D.C. 14
Yesterday was really cool. We went to the National Spy Museum. There
were so many fun things to do there. You could crawl up in an air vent,
and play spy trivia. You could even detect secret codes. Then, on the
next floor, there was one of my personal favorites. It was a bar where
it lifts you off the ground, and you try to stay on for one minute. The
challenge is that a fan blows air on you. It also rotates while it
blows. My first try was 44 seconds, and my second was 1 minute. Then we
went to the gift shops and saw lots of things such as edible paper, or
glasses that also have mirrors in them. After that was over, we went to
have lunch at a park, and went to the Holocost Museum. There were many
sad, and disturbing things there. There were burnt people, or dead
bodies left behind. At the end, there were movies about the people who
survived. Most of the people cried in the middle of their speech. Some
didn't. Then we read and watched stories about a kid named Daniel who
got sent to concentration camp. He survived and was liberated with his
father. After that was over, we went back home. We listened to the
radio, talked about some experiences and ate dinner. Dinner was sloppy
joe's. I had three and a half. Dessert was jello. Lots and lots of
Jello. Then we took showers and went to bed.
I really liked this trip. We saw lots of things, and had lots of fun
experiences. I think my favorite museum was either the natural history,
or the spy museum. My favorite building was either mount Vernon, or the
White House.
My favorite dinner was either Tacos or the barbecued
Chicken. Those were my favorite experiences. I liked this trip, and I
will see you next time.
The kids asked for a day off from museums, so today we slept in and had pancakes for breakfast. Around 11 we made our sandwiches, all piled in the car and headed out to Fort Foote, a Civil War fort which was built to defend the capitol.
It was a short drive to the national monument and it was very quiet there--very few people. We hiked along the path, reading the story boards along the way. Fort Foote was built in 1864 and had two huge cannons which could shoot 15 inch cannon balls. The cannon balls weighed 434 pounds and the crew practiced until they were able to clean,load and fire the cannon in 4 minutes. We couldn't even imagine how they could load that heavy cannon ball. Fort Foote was one of 18 military forts built around the capitol.
The hike was
pretty short, and there must have been quite a wind storm recently
because at one point there was a huge tree that had fallen over and
broke down the bridge over a ravine. ABBC were able to scramble over
the tree and teeter across the other side of the bridge and then they
found a little trail that went down the embankment to the Potomac River,
so they went down there, using a rope to get down the steep part. GG
and Grandpa watched through the trees as the boys ran up and down the
shore, threw rocks into the river and did the normal boy things--except
no one got a shoe wet.
We returned to the car and had our picnic lunch before heading home. For their day off all ABBC wanted to do was to sit and watch cartoons on tv, but Grandpa said no and hid the controls. So then they were bored for awhile. Eventually they played cards for about 10 minutes and then began to complain about nothing to do. They started a rousing game of hide and seek and played that for awhile. While they were hiding they ran across some racquets and a tennis ball, so they went into the court and played ball for awhile. At 4:30 GG relented and told them they could watch TV for a hour while she made dinner. For dinner we had pork roast, rice-a-roni and spinach salad. Those boys love that rice-a-roni and ate it all up again.
Tonight we have to say goodbye to the turtle and put him back in the wild because tomorrow we are off to Williamsburg.
Today, June 21, we went to the Museum of Natural History. Everybody loved this museum. We started out in the Gems and Minerals section where we saw huge gold nuggets from Nevada County and Placer County.
There were hundreds of big diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls and many other semi-precious stones, some set as jewelry and some unset. We saw the famous Hope Diamond too.
GG's treasure hunt lead us to find a big lump of Cu and find out that this is the symbol on the Periodic Table for Copper. We found meteorites from Allende, Mexico, and found out that Brazilanite is green. We read about the Vesta and learned that it is one of the brightest and largest asteroids visible from Earth. We searched the big globe and found that we live on the North American Plate.
From the Gems and Minerals area we went into the special Genome exhibit where we could follow a chart that maps some traits--dimples or no dimples, attached ear lobes or not, pointed hair line and can you curl your tongue. Following the chart we found out that we are with 2% or 9% of the population, even though we all look very different.
Then grandpa took us to the coolest display where our images were shown with images of dinosaurs. In the mirror it looked like we were punching or patting the dinosaurs.and grandpa took some pictures of us.
We stopped for lunch in the park across the street and then we spun and spun and spun, making ourselves dizzy and disoriented.
After lunch we returned to the museum where we searched for the polar bear, and saw displays of all kinds of animals--rhinos, giraffes, and a model of the first mammal to walk on earth--a kind of mouse type thing. The Hall of Human Origins displayed skulls of apes, hominids, humanoids, and homo sapiens through the centuries and explained how we evolved over millions of years.
There was a lot to see at this museum and we explored on our own for a while after agreeing to meet at 2:30 to go home. We were getting tired of museum walking and went into the museum store and considered buying some stuffed animals, but changed our mind after awhile.
It was time to go home and take a break, so we got in the car and drove back to the house, dropping GG off at the grocery store.
While we were playing in the back yard we found a big turtle and tried to convince GG that we should be able to keep it , but she said no, we could just keep it through tomorrow and then we had to let it go.
We had pizza for dinner and then it was off to bed. We are having a day off tomorrow, so we will sleep in and take a hike later in the day.
We all got up feeling perky in our clean underwear today. After breakfast we headed out for one of the museums on the Capitol Mall.
At the Museum of American History we had a treasure hunt. GG told us to go find Thomas Jefferson's desk and read about what he did on it. It was on the third floor and it didn't look like a desk at all. It was a little wooden box, about the size of a big binder. He wrote the Declaration of Independence on this desk. We ran back to the central hall and told her the answer and she gave us another thing to find--what is hanging from the ceiling of the WWII room? It was a jeep.
In the Prisoner of War tunnel we found the poem a soldier wrote about his porcelain cup. Then we went to the second floor to find who's speed skates were there, why the Dave Jar is important, we saw the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star Spangled Banner, and we learned what happened at the Greensboro lunch counter. We asked for more and more questions to find the answers to and had a great time exploring the museum this way.
Time for lunch and Grandpa had to put more money in the parking meter, so we skipped, hopped, jumped, balanced on the cement fence, and jumped across the space between each pillar all the way to 7th Street where the car was parked.
We ate our picnic lunch while Grandpa told us more stories and a man came up to us and told us that his grandpa had taken him to Washington DC on a trip just like this and it is one of his favorite memories. That made grandpa feel really good.
After lunch we walked back down to the museum because our prize for finishing the treasure hunt was a simulator ride. We chose the "Superstition" Ride.. On the way out of the museum we stopped to pay homage to the 1965 baby blue Ford Mustang, similar to Grandpa's beauty. His was even better though because it was a convertible.
We got home before the traffic and played and watched some tv. GG made tacos for dinner and thank goodness she made double what she had planned to make because the gang was ravenous and ate everything again. They asked for tacos again next week, so it must have been good. I will have to double my purchases to feed these hungry boys. Tomorrow is pizza night and I am going to go to the store and buy two more pizzas to go with the two I already have because I am pretty sure that two jumbos are not enough. We have wiped out several packs of cookies and two boxes of brownies and a gallon of ice cream so far. Fruit is going more slowly. I am out of practice planning meals for 4 hungry boys.
