Williamsburg and Revolutionary War history

We took a week long trip to Williamsburg, we spent 3 days there and itw as just plain awesome.  I let my husband take the older kids to see and tour some of the stuff that the little ones just were too loud for, like the courthouse where they acted out a proceeding fort het ime and sentenced someone to the stockade for stealing a pig and attending aogan concert at the local church whichw as used then and still is in use now.  I did get to see the governor's palace and the capitol building where they made the laws for Virginia before the governor dismissed the likes of Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry ( that didn't go so well, they reconvened at a nearby tavern).  It was just super cool to be there where real history actually happened.  The kids liked it, but not nearly as much as my husband and I did.  Butt hey learned a lot especially since we have been waching the Teaching Company lecture on American history, it really made it come alive.  We also went to Monticello, and Jamestown.  They were both pretty good although the reenactments at Williamsburg really brought the whole thing to life.  We also drove by Yorktown after we  went to Jamestown, the 3 little guys were asleep and I was on my own and everybody was super tired, so we just looked att he battlefield from the car and took a pic of the monument.  There is actially a lot to do in Yorktown.  There is a state park where the battlefield is, then there is an old town complete with a beach and another hands on museum, so I really would like to go back there someday.  We also swam a lot and got to see my mom and my brother and his family.  It was a great trip.  I hope that revolutionary spirit stays with the kids, it was just good.

The following weekend, last weekend turned out to be not only Easter, but the anniversary of the battle of Lexington and Concord.  So there was a bunch of stuff going on all weekend.  Lexington is only about an hour away, so we drove down and saw some cool military stuff including a revolutionary band with fifes, drums and horns.  We also got a tour of the battleground which was awesome, and then we went and saw a reenactment of the Tower Battle which was supposed to represent a couple different battles, anyway it was mostly from the minutemen attacking the tedcoats on their retreat to Boston.  They started in a field, battled down through a wooded area and ended in another field, surrounding the british and firing their cannons.  We had awesome views of the entire thing and it lasted about an hour and looked very authentic.

Then we celebrated Easter on Sunday which was nice.  #1 accompanied the church/ward choir and the piece was beautiful, very nicely done, #2 sang with the choir, we have some very talented choir directors.  Then my husband took the 4 older kids to see thet reenactment of Paul Revere at midnight, the sound wasn't so good and they left a microphone on, so there were conversations and laughing that shouldn't have been there.  So that was kind of a heavy price.  Also, they slept in the van and then got up for the reenactment of the Battle of Lexington at 5 am, there were tons of people so the kids really couldn't see and it was unseasonably cold, so that was a very heavy price indeed, but worth it overall.

Needless to say , the kids caught up on their sleep Monday instead doing schoolwork.  But that's OK.  We  are plugging along on everything.  The girls are not enjoying their online school classes, because they are challenging, but also they have had some technical difficulties, hopefully we have them worked out now!  I hope they will feel a great sense of accomplishment when they are finally done!

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