Colonial Williamsburg

Day three of our trip found us in Colonial Williamsburg. It is an 18th Century working town in Colonial Virginia. It was so fascinating to watch how they made shingles, house paint, and shaped silver in the 1700s. We walked through many of the shops and homes that existed in 1770s Williamsburg, including the governor's palace.

This was really the best part for both Andy and I. Andy was like a little boy in a candy shop. No expense was spared by the Brittish government when building this palace. The original structure was burned to the ground likely by arsen by Virginians after Patrick Henry and one other American governor of Virginia occupied the place. It was rebuilt and restored to the condition and design it was in 1775. The wood work was just amazing. As he walked by, he noticed details like the shape of the nails used and the type of joint. He spent much of his time admiring the wood work and one of the guides commented that he must be a builder because of how he noticed and carressed the wood.

This was a window treatment in Lady Dunmore's dressing room. She was the wife of the last Brittish governor in Virginia. As a carpenter's wife, I suppose that I have developed an eye for beautiful and very skilled craftmanship. I was amazed by the beauty of the palace, mostly done without painting the wood, which was a symbol of status then since paint was so expensive and difficult to make.

My favorite part was the kitchen. I was truly fascinated by the amazing meals they created with out any of the modern conveniences I have. They used only the freshest ingredients, grown in the gardens right behind the kitchens or hunted on the grounds. Cooking was a skill handed down through generations, learned from an early age. To this I would say I think I was born in the wrong century. And I think I would say the same for Andy and the wood working. He watched the shingle maker for a good 25 minutes.

You really get a feel for what life was like then walking through town, as the horse drawn carriage takes people down the brick paved street, as the ox cart walks through the center of town, as you watch the book binder at work. We did enjoy our walk through this piece of American history in a way no text book ever could demonstrate.

Hatteras Island to Virginia

Hello! Our second destination on our east coast road trip is Virginia. I have become the desginated navigator, which is a frightening thought because I get so turned around easily I can't tell north from east. In an interesting turn of events, Andy could not get his sense of direction fixed and I had it all figured out!

Andy kiteboarded for a bit today but the wind was pretty weak and he had trouble keeping up his 16 meter kite. After an hour or so he finally gave up and we headed south to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. It was a lot of fun. The lighthouse was built in 1870. They moved the lighthouse 2,900 feet to a safer locatation back from the eroding shoreline. A feat that took 23 days! For a litle perspective, do you notice Andy just to the right of the lighthouse base? We walked the 248 steps to the top of the lighthouse, the equivalent of climbing the stairs of a 12 story building! It was a climb, but it was worth it!

(the view from the top looking north east)

(The view from the top looking straight down)

I wanted to introduce you to Yaris, our little rental car. It is tiny, and we pack it to the gills! We went 350 miles on one tank, which we didn't think too much about because my Tahoe can go that far on a tank of gas as well. Then we filled up the gas tank tonight and discovered Yaris only has a 10 gallon tank! I will have to find the picture of Andy driving it. I think it's on my other camera. The other day when we drove up to the beach where Andy was kiting, a few of the guys around were laughing at the car, then did a double take when a guy as big as Andy got out. It was hilarious!

After the lighthouse we headed north to Virginia. This is driving over the bridge from the Outer Banks back over to the mainland. It's the mainland in the distance and the Outer Banks in the mirror behind us. I really wanted to take a picture of the guys fishing on the bridge underneath the sign that said, "no fishing on bridge" but we couldn't turn around for miles.

Andy and I have not been on a road trip without kids and this is really fun! It has been a long, long time that it has just been the two of like this! We headed through southern Virginia to Chesapeake where Andy's brother lives and we got to visit and see their house. It was great to visit with their family.This was taken on a bridge in Chesapeake though I don't actually know the name of it!

After dinner we drove north to Williamsburg. That is where our adventures begin tomorrow! Oh and Andy's brother let us borrow his wireless internet card, so I can keep you updated. Thanks, Steve!

Welcome to our Vacation!

Back in May Andy and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary. We decided to celebrate a few months later with a trip. We flew into Virginia last night and drove down to Hatteras Island, North Carolina, part of the Outer Banks. It is this strip of land about 30 miles east of the mainland, and the true kiteboarding Mecca of the United States. At one point today, I counted over 35 kites in the air! The winds were blowing at 30-35 mph this morning, a little strong for Andy's liking. But slowed to about 25-28 mph. He loved it! I love the architecture here. The houses have interesting rooflines and they use interesting materials. I love the bright colors and white trim as well as the naturally weathered wood shingles.

This afternoon the wind died down to something around 10 mph or so and it was absolutely beautiful! Hey look, it's the Atlantic Ocean!

Oh and this was my little shower buddy this afternoon. He is about 2 inches long. I thought he was fake until he moved!

We hope you enjoyed Hatteras Island as much as we are! Tomorrow evening should find us in Virginia. Hopefully we have free WiFi there too and we can keep you posted!

Other fun

Andy and I are headed out on vacation tomorrow and I wanted to catch up a little on what we have been doing before we leave. But I got sick this weekend and so I am cheating. I am still working on my Project 365, where I take a photo a day (sometimes many more!) and then journal about it. These are images I created from photos for my project. (And for those looking for pictures from when my family came to visit last month, those will be coming soon. There are just too many for me to pick from when I feel like someone is sitting on my head!)

Cameron came to Andy the other day and asked him to take the training wheels off his bike. He did and then they headed out front. Cameron is a natural athlete and this was no exception to his abilities. After a couple of passes on the sidewalk, Andy was able to let go of Cam's back, and off he went!

We started a new tradition last year. We take the kids out of school at lunch time and then headed to the nearby military base for the annual air show. We scored free tickets to the grandstand seats this time. We just might have to look into buying those next year! Front and center seats for some of the most spectacular flying and ground tactic demonstrations! Incredible!

Pulling Teeth

Ok, after reading this post, some of you may decide that I am a terrible mother. But this ranks as one of the funniest stories in our little family! Emma has two of her adult teeth coming in behind her little teeth. Since they are off, the big teeth can't dissolve the roots of the baby teeth. Consequently, her teeth won't loosen. Her dentist said give it some time and work on the teeth, and maybe they will come loose. So one Sunday evening, I (jokingly) suggested that we tie a string to her tooth and give the string to Logan since we don't have a dog to tie it to. She actually agreed and we were all laughing as Logan tugged on the string. Eventually she took the string and decided to try it on her own. It wasn't working so whe wanted to try something else. Andy (jokingly) suggested to tie the string to a door. She was all for it! We tried to tell her we were kidding and talk her out of it, but we did not succeed!

Andy did tie the string to the door and slammed it shut. Who knew the dental floss would just slip off her tooth? Not without a little pain though. And the silly tooth isn't any looser! Sorry Em!

Soccer Saturdays

Our Saturday mornings are dedicated to soccer these days. Cam started playing a few weeks ago, and he loves it! He jumps right is and is not afraid of getting hurt! He gets so into the game that he doesn't always stay up on his feet! His favorite place in in the goal. He defends that goal like someone is coming to take his favorite little puppy! The U5 division doesn't actually keep score, but that certainly doesn't stop him from protecting the goal! And he's fast too. He can get the ball down the field pretty quickly. I love his excitement. Sometimes he gets so excited that he lets the ball get too far ahead, then misses the goal. But he scored here!

Apple Picking

Labor Day found us up in the local mountains picking apples. Andy, sadly, had to work and he was unable to join us. We did still have fun though! The kids can only reach so high and so we ended up with a bunch of tiny, unripe apples. But in addition to the unripe apples, we came home with happy hearts and the fun experience of being together picking apples!

A Lesson in Teamwork

Remember the post a few months back about my limits? I have limits, and when those limits are reached, I can, on occasion, snap. Today, I snapped. The girls have such moments...moments when they are the best of friends...moments when they bicker and fight. They seem to bring out this selfish streak in each other. For a couple of weeks now, as we are still adjusting to being back in school and everybody is crazy exhausted, the girls have been so selfish and rude to each other. They could not be in the same room at the same time, which poses a difficult situation when you share the same room and it needs to be cleaned. So after a couple hours of relentless tattling, my limit was reached and I snapped. A lesson in teamwork followed. I taped them together to teach them to move together, to help each other. About an hour in, Emma was starting to figure things out, but Briley is a bit more stubborn (I honestly don't know where she gets that from...). Bri just sat there, angry and pouty while Em did her best to clean with this dead weight attached. About 4 hours in, Briley finally got up, though she was still speaking rudely and dragging Emma around (which Emma didn't take too well). About 6 hours into the day, they finally started working together...

and after 8 hours they finished, lessons learned and with smiles on their faces! Ahh, sweet success!

Citizen of the Month

Emma's teachers (she has two teachers for first grade) just love her. They always tell me that she is doing so well with her classwork, finishing neatly and quickly and that she is such a doll, so helpful and compassionate (I asked if they would send that kid home and they had this disbelieving look). Because of her outstanding behavior she was awarded Citizen of the Month at school this last Friday. Great Job, Emma!

Principal's office already

When I picked the kids up from school one day last week, Cam says, "Hi Mommy. Today I had to go the principal."

"Huh? It's the third week of kindergarten, Dude. Why are you in the principal's office already?"

"Umm, I peed on another kid."

"Would you care to explain that, please???"

"Not now, Mommy. I want to talk about it at home."

So we get home and the other kids get their snacks and my conversation with Cameron continued. He was embarrassed and knew he was in trouble. He was busted and he was mad so he wouldn't really tell me much. So I did most of the talking and he had that stinky look on his face the whole time. But the next morning I finally got the whole story. As it turns out, the other kid was a peeping tom in the bathroom and it made Cameron mad. So, he peed on the kid to shoo him away. Try having that conversation with your four year old without laughing! I have to give him credit for creativity in solving his own problem. Needless to say, we did talk about other solutions. But I bet that kid never peeps on Cam again!