Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Happy 8th...month!

Bridget is now 8 months old. Wow, how the time has flown. I can't believe how big she is getting. She isn't crawling yet but I'm convinced it's only because she doesn't want to. She can easily pull herself into my lap when she wants something I have. She makes us laugh on a daily basis. Bridget attended a birthday party for the first time this past weekend. It was a cowboy theme and my friend Tamara went all out. It was great! Jason went for the "Hells Angels" look rather than the traditional cowboy bandana. We made brownies yesterday and Jason wanted to let B lick the frosting off the beaters. I don't want her to be one of those kids that doesn't know what to do with her cake on her 1st b-day so I agreed. She totally loved it. She is definitely our child. I feel like we don't have any "framable" pics of her so we're making more of an effort to have photo shoots where she's actually looking at the camera and there isn't a big mess in the background.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Give me Williamsburg or give me death!

We spent a day exploring Colonial Williamsburg, the largest living history museum in North America. That means there were a whole bunch of people acting as though it were the mid 1700s. Luckily, they "weren't annoying" (as Jason put it) and would talk to you normally if you had questions rather than feign confusion over anything you mentioned that wasn't from that period. It was a lot of fun to tour the city and talk to the local blacksmith, weaver, printer etc. about what life was like then. It made me daydream about going back in time and living in that era (of course I would have been extremely wealthy and educated, otherwise life would have been way too hard).


The Governor's Palace (obviously where I would have lived)



The front entrance to the Palace was a large round room covered in the Governor's sword and gun collection.



You could even tour the cellar of the Palace, which was actually really neat, and a little creepy.


A very small portion of the Palace gardens.


I just love this pic of Jason examining the wheelsmith's handiwork. It's such a guy thing to do. I guess it is a wheel for a cannon, which is pretty cool. I really liked that all the tradespeople were actually working on real things, not just hitting their hammer on the same thing all day. The Blacksmith was making nails for the carpenter who was building a shed. The printer was printing newspapers that were being sold in local stores. It was great.

We went to observe a "trial" at the courthouse and I got to act as a local seamstress taking on an apprentice. Jason wishes he had volunteered to be on the panel of judges and taken Bridget with him. She has started yelling randomly in such a way that it would have sounded like she was voicing her objections.








I absolutely HAD to buy her this little mob hat. Soooo cute! Even Jason didn't object to this one.



The best part of the day were the re-enactments in Revolutionary City. The audience was ushered around so they were part of the show and the actors scattered themselves among us. It really helped you appreciate what it was like to be there. I actually got a little teary eyed over their reading of the Declaration of Independence.


Benedict Arnold giving a speech and interacting with the crowd.



My absolute favourite thing was listening to the band. Everyone who had gathered at the Capitol marched with the band to the courthouse to hear the Marquis de Lafeyette give a speech and send off the troops to battle.








Bridget did NOT like the cannons! After they fired she startled, looked around for a second in confusion and then started howling. Unfortunately we cut off the filming right before the howl.



Such a long, hot day for such a little girl. Time to hit the pool.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

On The Water



After Charleston we hit the road and headed towards Colonial Williamsburg. Bridget has gotten used to hanging out in her car seat for hours on end and is actually a really good road trip companion. Jason calls the car her "kryponite" as she usually falls asleep the instant we start the engine.

We really tried not to drive the same road twice so we opted to drive on a small single lane highway and catch a ferry to reach Williamsburg. It was B's first ferry and she loved it.




It was a little windy but B was just so happy not to be in her carseat that she didn't seem to mind.


One of the perks of taking the ferry is that we got to see a little of Jamestown. Founded in 1607, it was the first permanent English settlement in the US.
We really grew to love the Hampton Inn on this trip. They were really nice rooms with yummy hot breakfasts. Mmmm...turkey sausages, make your own waffles, home fries. Plus we could always get a really good deal on expedia. By the end of our trip I would scroll down the list of hotels in the AAA book and pick out the Hampton Inn. So I was really excited to see a Hampton in the Williamsburg historic district. As a rule, we would never book a hotel for 2 nights in a row just to keep our plans flexible and just in case it was a total dive. In Williamsburg, we walked into our room and immediately got on to expedia to book a 2nd night. Then we went to dinner at the Jamestown Pie Company because "Round Food is Good Food". We had chicken pot pies, cherry pie and key lime pie. Yum!
That night we took Bridget swimming for the very first time and she loved it!! The water was pretty cold but she didn't even care. She loves the water!




The only person who had more fun than B was Jason. He was so excited to have someone to play with, which worked for me. I got to relax in the hot tub and watch Bridget laugh while he played in the cold water.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Doing the Charleston



I woke up early this morning and took Bridget on a run on the beach. With the recent change in time thanks to daylight savings we weren't up all that early and we still caught the sun rise over the ocean. I'm so accustomed to the sunset over the ocean on the west coast that this new to me. The tide was out and left the sand on the beach smooth and hard which made pushing Bridget's stroller easier.






We then went to the oldest continually operating plantation, Boone-Hall plantation. It was established in 1600's and started by producing indigo (for the blue dye) and cotton and over time has grown pecans and produced bricks all with the use of slaves. Now they still grow produce for local markets (no slaves though).

Another oak lined drive


Another chance for a family picture... (Bridget pulling Kate's hair)

...or two


Picking cotton

Boone-Hall from the drive. You might recognise this as Allie's home in the Notebook.


Looking from Boone-Hall down the drive




The original slave quarters at Boone-Hall. It had over 300 slaves in it's hay day.


We took a tour of the plantation (that now looks a lot like a farm but I guess if you have historic slave quarters on your farm you can call it a planation) and we saw a 6 foot alligator and it's 2 foot baby. Awesome.


Once we were done at the plantation, we drove into Charleston and walked around it's historic district. Charleston had a much different feeling than Savannah. Where in Savannah all of the historic buildings felt like they were museums and they took steps to recreate and preserve them in that era, Charleston had a more modern feel to their history.



Huge house that looks like no one is living in it and is falling apart

Kate says we can move to Charleston if we can live in this house.

Charleston had more wood railings whereas Savannah had iron. This is largely due to the fact that the railings were torn down and made into cannon balls during the civil war while Savannah was protected by a naval blockade.


This house and many in the area were built in 1670. People still live in it.

Back to the beach behind our hotel once again to finish off the day.






I did want to make one comment about the food we've been having. I've been trying to get as much seafood and BBQ that I can down here and it has all been delicious!

March to the Sea


We started the day at the Wormsloe Plantation in Savannah. It has the most beautiful oak lined entryway and no, it is not the one from Forrest Gump. I think I'm going to make this a black and white pic and frame it for my house.

Wormsloe was built by one of the first settlers to the Savannah area (1733). The house is no longer standing but there are still some tabby ruins. Tabby is what they used to build stuff like walls and was a mix of lime, water, sand, oyster shells and ash. There are actually a lot of shells used in construction all over Savannah including some old streets.


Slave quarters

Jason in the slave cabin sleeping loft

Entrance to Wormsloe

After Savannah, we decided to head to Charleston. We hadn't planned on stopping there originally but we figured we'd driven all that way so might as well spend more time in the area. It was a 2.5 hour drive north of Savannah and we opted to pass through the city and spend the night on one of the surrounding beaches. It was a little nicer than Tybee Island and we got a room right on the beach.




Eating dinner at the restaurant next to our hotel. Jason had the blackened Mahi-Mahi that was so good even I enjoyed it (and I generally hate seafood).


Bridget also enjoyed dinner.


Well...most of it.





We had such a good time we decided to stay another day so stay tuned for more Charleston...