Jamestown

**August 1, 2012

We headed out to visit Jamestown with all the cousins.  

In order to get from place to place in Virginia, you either have to cross a bridge or drive  through a tunnel that is under the water....SCARY!!  We are just about to enter the underground tunnel here...

The architecture of the visitor center for Jamestown was so beautiful.

We had the opportunity to walk through the Powhatan Indian village. 

It was pretty amazing to see how they lived.  How they built their homes, made their own tools and made their own clothing out of deer hide.

This lady here was showing the kids how to smooth the deer hide by scraping the leather with a seashell.  She said it has taken her two years to get eleven pieces of hide ready to make clothing out of.

The kids got a chance to scrape the hide.

These are their tools made out of deer bone.  A few of the bones we got to see and touch were the fishing hook and the sewing needle.

Then we got to walk aboard some of the ships from that era.

The kids were fascinated by all the cool things they used on the boat, like the different kinds of compasses and the hour glass for telling time and the really cool maps.

Papa loves history, so this was a very educating visit for him.

We even gave Sydney a timeout with the hour glass.

No matter where we are or what we are doing, Braden is always on the lookout for a bug to catch!  This time the dragonfly either pinched him or bit him, but he was not too happy about it.

The kids got to try on some of the armor that was worn in those days.  That stuff was super heavy and the hat was most definitely not comfortable.  I asked Braden to show me his muscles and this is what I got!!

I loved seeing the workers all dressed up to play the part.  This gal here was showing us how they made bread and the oven in which it was cooked.

This young man here was by far my favorite.  He played the role of a blacksmith.  It was awesome to see him pull on the chain which made the billow blow air into the fire.  I can only imagine how hot he must get standing next to that hot fire all day on top of the outside heat and humidity.

Most of the cousin gang!

This poor girl was exhausted, but still had a grip on her balloon!

Major milestones for me this vacation!  We crossed bridges over massive amounts of water many times, we drove through a tunnel under massive amounts of water and we rode across massive amounts of water on a ferry!

That is Braden up in the observation deck with Papa.

Tiring day for Sydney as well..

As we were driving back to Aunt Laurel's house, this semi came up next to us and the driver kept trying to get my attention.  I couldn't understand what he was trying to say or communicate, so I rolled the window down.  My first thought was maybe he noticed our Utah connections on our plates or stickers on the van since the semi he was driving was from Salt Lake City, but no, he asked me to take his picture!  I said, "What?"  He said, "Take my picture!"  So I did!  At the next light  I asked him if he was from Salt Lake and he said, "No mam. I saw that camera of yours and then I saw the lens and I wanted you to take my picture!"

Funny story!