Williamsburg

After our big Jamestown/Yorktown day, we had a much more relaxing Sunday. That morning we went to church at the ward where, incidentally, the "O" family of Mormon blogging fame attends. I didn't really have time to talk with them, and they don't know me at all, but it was funny to meet people in real life that I've been reading anecdotally about for awhile. They seemed like lovely people and Heather O. taught a terrific Sunday school lesson. That afternoon we took a possibly ill-advised walk around Williamsburg in the still-sweltering heat to scope things out for the next day, then headed over to Richmond for a visit with my good high school friend Trevor and his family. I hadn't seen him in well over a decade, and it was wonderful to see him again and meet his kids and great wife.

Monday was the big Colonial Williamsburg day, and we were overjoyed that the weather finally broke. It was 80 degrees and clear, and an absolute joy to be outside walking around in, which is what you do a lot of at Williamsburg. We took a longish tour of the Peyton Randolph house in the morning. Our tour guide was a very serious fellow and seemed to be very nervous about our kids (who we watched very closely and who behaved very well the whole time). He never seemed to fully recover from Joseph commenting on how much fun the banisters looked to slide down.

The brickyard was a fun stop. The boys got to help mix the clay and water together with their feet.


Our favorite shops were where craftsmen were making things - the blacksmith, silversmith, cabinetmaker, etc. My mom treated us to a delicious lunch, which included some amazing peanut soup. Thanks, mom! We ended the day by attending the Revolutionary City outdoor theater, which for the most part was astonishingly bad and perplexing. If the weather hadn't been so lovely I would have felt downright hostile about it. As Nephi and I were talking about it later, we realized that overall we weren't especially impressed with the workers and guides, especially compared to those at Jamestown. They didn't seem very keen on being in character and didn't generally put forth much effort to engage the kids. But overall we really enjoyed the day, and I think the boys did too.