…ok, so we’re catching up with posts here.

Here’s a picture recap of day 2.  The highlight was being witness to a colonial court proceeding in the town’s courthouse.  We learned that the jurors (or Justices of the Peace) were 12 townspeople who had to fit the following criteria: 1. caucasian 2.  land-owners 3. Protestant 4. male.  So…if you were to be tried and judged by your peers, your peers were wealthy slave owners who owned land.  It helped your cause tremendously if you were a wealthy slave and land owner yourself.

After this, we visited the Magazine.  That’s a fancy name for where all the weapons and gunpowder are stored.  Here we learned all about the weapons of the day. We also learned that the day someone turned 16 years of age, they were required to own a gun, a knife, 4 pounds of lead shot and gunpowder.  Why? Because it was a requirement for all men aged 16 to 60 to be a member of the colony’s militia.  Failure to have these items resulted in penalty – corporal punishment!

Notice the pick blur in front? N-o-n-s-t-o-p movement from the girl…

…No matter where she was.

After this, we made our way to the art museum where we all could try our hand at colonial canvas painting – with markers!

After this we checked out some grazing horses at the farm.

And if that wasn’t enough – how about a round of mini-golf? The course is free for hotel guests and we made the most of it during Ruthie’s nap.  The teams were Mom-Jake-Jeremy vs. Dad-Derek-Peter.

This is Derek’s yellow ball in the cup on his first shot. He tallied 3 holes in one!

Jeremy used his hockey shot putt style to his advantage. (It worked too!)

The Victors! By one stroke.  (The losers’ picture was taken, but we are barred from showing it by a certain 5 year old who was not at all happy.)

So here we are in Colonial Virginia – the year is 1774. Because the entire area has been restored to what it was like over 225 years ago, it’s not too difficult to envision yourself in the midst of early Americana.

We’re really having a blast here. First of all, it’s great family time.  We had to remind ourselves that we don’t have to schlep the kids around to see every exhibit or demonstration. It’s been a God-given blessing to just be away from the routines of home.

On the first day, we checked in to the hotel after over 13 hours of driving from Chicago. Ruthie, the wildcard on the trip, was an absolute gem.  As long as we fed movies into the truck’s DVD player, she was fine. When the movie she was watching was ending, she was already making her request for the next one.

After check-in, we took the shuttle bus to the historical town area to catch the “Retreat”.  This was performed at the end of every day by the British regulars and the Virginia militia to signify a day’s end for a soldier.  It started with a fife and drum march to the barracks and closed with an inspection of the militia –  ragged farm boys (aged 16 and up) and men called to be soldiers to protect the colony. Eventually these boys would turn allegiance from England to form the Continental Army under George Washington. For now, they are loyal subjects of the King.

Here’s the boys waiting for the march:

Here’s the march!

And the Capital building – when Williamsburg was the capital of Virginia.