She and her brothers, Grant, Jacob and Quinn spent the night because Tiff and Brent were involved with taking the Explorer girls rock climbing. We had a wonderful evening all together making caramel apples and eating ice cream (after dinner, of course!). The boys had a camp-out in the back yard with Dad-Dad in our new pop-up but Cait and I retired early (9:00 p.m.) to the guest room to watch a movie, "Girl of the Limberlost", one of Cait's favorites and fall asleep. However, we were both so excited about the trip that I think it was close to midnight before we actually got to sleep.
I woke early and dressed and waked Cait and we were off at about 5:30 a.m. Caitlin was excited to see the sun come up which wasn't until after 7:00 a.m. I had hoped we could make it all the way to Williamsburg before we had breakfast but we made it to Richmond at about 9:00 a.m. and decided we were too hungry to go any farther. (I think this was because I talked with Dad-Dad on the phone about that time and he was telling me all about the pancakes he was making the boys.) We found a Perkins Restaurant and ate there--huge breakfasts for both of us. Cait got a bit of attention because she had dressed in her colonial garb when we had stopped earlier for a bathroom break.
Our first stop in Williamsburg after we had purchased our tickets and made reservations for the ball at the Capitol that night was a leisurely walk from the Governor's Palace to the Public Hospital, which houses the DeWitt museum. We browed through some paintings and clothing displays and then spent some time looking at the toys and dollhouses on display. They have some really neat exhibits and activities for kids, including a scavenger hunt for pictures of snakes and a really cool exhibit of pictures and art objects that they have arranged around a room telling a story about a dog who is visiting the country to find his cousin.
Cait was very anxious to take me to the Yankee Candle store and had been telling me all about it, so we headed there next. It turned out that our motel was located just across the street! Wow! What a place. There were all kinds of activities for kids, face painting, pumpkin decorating and what Cait was excited about doing, candle dipping. We each chose a candle and dipped it in different colors of hot wax until we had what we wanted. There was also a Christmas room where it actually snows every five minutes!
We then checked into our motel and donned our bathing suits for some time in the pool before changing for the evening ball. Caitlin had seen Carrabbas's next to Yankee Candle so we decided to dine there. We arrived at the Capitol very early and I was concerned because it was a bit chilly and the program didn't begin until 7:00 p.m. God was so good! Cait had been very nervous about the dance and although I kept assuring her that she would have a good time and didn't have to participate if she didn't want to, she was still a bit apprehensive. Well, lo and behold when we approached the Capitol there was a group of children in costume dancing. It turned out to be two homeschool families, one from Tennessee and the other from Cary, North Carolina (and I am sorry Kimberly we left without getting their names or addresses). The moms were sisters and they were doing a field trip to Williamsburg together. Even the moms were in colonial garb so at first I thought it was part of the program. Well, they invited Cait to join them and they had a wonderful time keeping warm and having fun. As more people joined they kept adding kids and it was just so cool to see these homeschool kids reaching out to others. Of course, this broke the ice for Caitlin and suddenly she had two friends! When the program began and they asked for volunteers Caitlin was grinning and waving her hand in the air with the others. She was chosen to dance at the second opportunity and just beamed the whole time. When NiNi finally was chosen for the final dance (and became the head couple, which meant that I had to choose the song--actually the lead man whispered it to me and I just had to repeat it but it was a French title and I had to call it out for the whole assembly to hear).
No pictures could be taken during the ball but afterwards the actors were on the portico and I was able to get a shot of Cait with one of the ladies. She fits right in, doesn't she? (Good work, Tiff!)
On Sunday we had devotions in our room together. I was so impressed by Cait's familiarity with God's Word--good work Brent and Tiff! We read Proverbs 31 and talked about it and she told me it was her favorite book of the Bible and that two verses were underlined three times in he Bible. Great start to being a godly woman!
We spent the whole day in Colonial Williamsburg on Sunday--our first stop was purchasing tickets for a carriage ride, which we both had been anxious to do. Cait opted to ride the stagecoach over the open carriage as it was twice as long a ride. Our driver was quite a character and kept up the conversation. We learned all kinds of little tidbits about living in Colonial Williamsburg. He even sang us a song, "O Brittania" which I was able to video as we traveled along.
For lunch we ate in Chownings Tavern which was fun--this was the one tavern I had never been to before. The only other tavern opened that day was very crowded and Cait was getting hungry but it turned out to be a good choice as it is a little more casual and she was able to get a sandwich and soup. She asked me why the waitress kept calling us, lovey. She had a British accent and I think probably was genuine. She graciously agreed to take a picture of us.
We did a little more touring, visiting just about every shop in the area, I think! At 3:00 there was a program at the museum so we headed back there. It was a fun ending to the trip. It centered on a new display they have of quilted clothing, much of it petticoats so we learned some interesting things about under garments in the 18th century. She talked a lot about ladies' pockets and we saw some beautifully embroidered ones. At the end there was an activity for kids which we brought home with us. It was a paper with the outline of a pocket that Cait could decorate and on the back was instructions for making a pocket--so now Tiff has another project to work on!
This was an absolutely wonderful experience--I had as much fun as Caitlin so it was a treat for me as well as her. Although she did have me locked up at one point--I don't have the name Meany NiNi for nothing!
1 comment:
What fun!
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