365Project.2015 | Week 32a ... Exploring Richmond

Daddy, Nanny, and Poppy had a work conference in Richmond, VA the first week of August. Maybe your opinion is different, but four kids in a hotel room is not exactly my idea of relaxing. Especially when one of those four has enough energy for about six. By himself. However ... Richmond is only an hour from Colonial Williamsburg ... and that would probably make it more than worth the effort. :)

So, the mental gears started spinning and I started researching ... and discovered a hotel package that included tickets to Williamsburg, breakfast for all, and dinner for the kids with the price of the room. So, once Williamsburg became feasible, we decided to join Daddy on his work trip. :)  This homeschool Mommy also raided the library and spent most of July reading about colonial history and the Revolutionary War with the kiddos. :)

Day 214. And we're off! :) 

Day 215. The view certainly differed from the norm. :) The kids all spent quite a bit of time perusing the busy streets below. They even had front row seats on a fender bender!

And even in 300 sq. ft. Abby managed to find mischief ... oy vey! Thankfully her siblings were glad to help out with keeping her entertained. ♥

How many field trips can Mommy & crew fit into a three day window? :) The Lord blessed with good health and good weather (albeit HOT), and we were able to do all three that Mommy planned! :)

(Note to those who will be horrified by everything we missed in Richmond: Because we had been studying the Revolutionary War and we have not yet studied the Civil War, I decided to bypass all of the Civil War destinations in Richmond. We'll hopefully return someday, ready to appreciate that piece of our history. Till then, the destinations I chose were much more in line with my kiddos' current knowledge base.) :)

On Monday, we visited Shirley Plantation ... the oldest plantation in Virginia, having been owned by the same family for over 300 years. Thanks for the suggestion, Aunt Judy! :)

Along with the standard house tour, the kids had the opportunity to play some old-fashioned games and learn what a day of school would have been like in the 1700's.

 

 Abby wasn't sure it was really as exciting as her siblings seemed to think it was. ;)

 Writing on slate tiles is a bit more challenging than you might suspect.

 But writing with a quill pen is very cool!

 

 

And then in the evening, we enjoyed hanging out at the pool with Daddy, Nanny, and Poppy. :) Abby actually had a blast with Nanny and Mommy in the water ... but since Mommy was in the water at that point, she wasn't taking pictures. Ah well. ♥

 

 

 

Day 216. Tuesday dawned even hotter than Monday. Glad our blood is still on the thin side. ;) Daddy's schedule allowed him to join us for our morning adventure at Meadow Farm, built in the late 1800's.

 

 

 

A side trip to the nearby park helped use up some of the extra energy accumulated while standing quietly for a house tour ... ;)

 

 

Tuesday evening, we enjoyed a very nice dinner as part of the conference. The kids enjoyed interacting with the costumed actors, even though the Civil War references went completely over their heads. :)

 

 

Day 217. Ah yes. Continental breakfast. "Nice" hotels don't have those. Hmmmm. Me thinks I might prefer not to stay at such "nice" hotels. Seriously. I never realized how much of a blessing it is to have a continental breakfast available when you're staying at a hotel. Till it wasn't available. Ah well. We worked with it. But Wednesday morning definitely got a little bit dicey for Mommy and crew.

We had a tour scheduled for 11:00 a.m. No problem. It was about a 15-minute drive, and I left the hotel just shortly after 10:00, planning to catch a quick bite at the McDonald's that I anticipated we would pass on the way to our destination. Because McDonald's are everywhere. Right?

Wrong. We reached our destination, and I had not passed a single McDonald's. Or Burger King. Or anything else with a drive-thru window and sustenance for my hungry crew. So I searched my GPS for the nearest McD's. 2.3 miles. Not bad. I selected it. 7 minute drive. Seriously?!? Okay. It's 10:20. 7 minutes there, 7 minutes back, few minutes for ordering ... we should be back by 10:40ish. Cutting it a little close, but still doing fine for our appointment.

Except that there was no McD's at that location. GPS Fail!!! And I had not passed any. other. options. Not one. Seriously. I was not being picky. I just wanted food for my kiddos. And me. Something. Anything.

So I started praying. I had no idea what to do. I was in a strange city with four kids and an abundance of one-way streets and some rather suspicious looking neighborhoods. I didn't have time to plug in another destination on my GPS and still make it back for the tour we had scheduled. Especially considering the success of my last attempt. So, I decided to just head back. All the while trying to figure out what to do about food.

And that's when I see Dixie Donuts. Or was it manna from Heaven? The kids certainly thought so when they realized that Mommy actually intended to feed them donuts, and nothing but donuts, for breakfast. :) (This is not normal fare at our house.) ;) We all trooped in, and this Mommy unashamedly took advantage of the dozen for $10 deal, and we each ate 3 donuts for breakfast. Those were some really good donuts. :) Thank You, Lord, for donuts. ♥

 

We all really enjoyed the tour of Maymont Mansion, another late-1800's home, but significantly more upscale than Meadow Farm. ;) The kids really enjoyed seeing the difference in the lives of those who lived "upstairs" vs. those who lived "downstairs."

 

And then the conference was over. :) We were blessed to be able to visit King's Dominion for a few hours Wednesday evening with half-price tickets.

The kids had a blast on the roller coasters. :)

It'll be nice some day when they're all tall enough so that we can stick together and enjoy the same rides ... but for now we split up and each one was able to enjoy rides appropriate to their height. Note to self, however ... always, always, always make sure every adult has a a cell phone if your group is going to split up. Sigh. Hard lesson learned. Never to be forgotten again. 'Nuff said. ♥

And the next morning, we were off to Williamsburg ... Yay! :)