New York, New York

One of our biggest adventures here in Maryland was a trip we took with the kids to New York City.  A couple of years ago Kaden heard about the "Big City" on Curious George and he has been obsessed with seeing it in person ever since.

For day one we drove to Pennsylvania and took the kids to Sesame Place.  Think of a small Disneyland with water rides and Elmo.  The kids of course had a great time and Jocilyn got to dance with Elmo which was pretty cute.

But enough of that, lets move on to New York!

That night we finished the drive to Staten Island and stayed at the Navy Lodge.  The next morning we rode the Ferry into Manhattan and began the real adventure.  Our first visit was to Ground Zero.  It was really beautiful!  They built these giant fountains where the twin towers used to stand, with the names of everyone who died on 9/11 engraved around the base.  The buildings they are putting up to replace the ones that fell are GINORMOUS  and very pretty.  I'm sure once they're finished the skyline is going to be amazing.

From  there we rode the subway to the Empire State Building.  With three young kids we really needed a stroller, but riding the elevator down to the subway was by far the worst part of the whole day.  Eww! Eww! Eww!

The Empire State Building was great.  There were almost no lines, although the observation deck was pretty crowded.  Kimball and I could have stayed up there for a while, but of course the kids were done in about two minutes.  One day they will think its cool that they got to be there and see all of that, but not today.  At least they better think its cool, I rode a subway elevator so they could be there for goodness sakes!

After that we had some genuine New York Pizza for lunch.  It was so funny to see the kids trying to wrangle these giant slices of pizza.  I love those kids!

By now Savannah was seriously tired of her stroller and pretty much tired in general so we figured we should start to wrap things up starting with a walk to Times Square (no more subways for me unless it was absolutely necessary).  Times Square was very loud and crazy and absolutely what I hoped New York would be, but we didn't stay long.

After one uncomfortable incident with the "Statue of Liberty" we walked our little clan to Grand Central Station.

We went here for one reason only:  Junior's Cheesecake.  Kimball and I are not exactly in the know when it comes to New York, but during a job interview a million years ago Kimball stumbled across this little slice of heaven.  We bought the largest Cheesecake we could find and high tailed it back to the subway.  Yes, getting back to the car in time to put Junior's Cheesecake on ice for the trip home was absolutely worth the health code violations of the subway elevator.  Though I am grateful none of us have come down with hepatitis since returning home.

To sum up it was the adventure of all adventures for our little family.  While I don't doubt Kimball and I would have seen and done more on just a couples trip, aka Broadway, I am so glad we took the kids with us.  For now Jocilyn's favorite experience was dancing with Elmo the day before, but Kaden was finally able to see the "Big City" and he has the blisters to prove it!

Jamestown

One of our adventures was Jamestown, Virginia.  We had such a great time and as always it was one of our absolute favorites.  We opted to stay overnight rather than take the 3 hour drive twice in one day.  The hotel was an absolute hole in the wall  because we were trying to save a few bucks.  The beds were hopefully clean though and in the end that's all we needed.  That afternoon we went to the Yorktown Victory Center.  We should have gone to Historic Yorktown, but I read a lot of reviews saying this nearby museum was a lot more interesting for children so we headed there first intending to swing by the real place later if there was time.

In case anyone plans on taking a visit, skip the Victory Center.  It was more of a "Day in the Life" of the 18th century American than anything about the Battle at Yorktown.  There were a few games for children which our kids loved, but I don't think any of us were too impressed.  Afterwards it was too late to go to Historic Yorktown, but that's alright this trip was mostly for Jamestown so we weren't too bothered.

The next morning we headed out to Jamestown and were not disappointed.  First of all it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!  If I were trying to colonize a new country I would want to stop in Jamestown too, minus the swamp of course.

They had two museums explaining the history of Jamestown and also the archeological finds there.  Then we crossed a giant bridge taking us through the swamp land (no wonder so many early settlers died of disease) and into Jamestown.  Nearly all of the above ground structures have disappeared, but you can still see the foundations and they are excavating many of the cellars.  The only current above ground structure that dates back to the 1600's is the church tower.  I found this amazing!  The church itself dates back to the early 1800's and inside it is filled with plaques dedicated to some of the prominent figures that helped the colony succeed.

They also have a very pretty statue of Pocahontas that I made my kids pose with.  I did my fourth grade Great-Brain report on Pocahontas so we go way back, though I was surprised by a few of the details my fourth grade research overlooked:  Yes, John Smith claimed Pocahontas saved his life many times, but he got sick and was sent home to England to get better.  In his absence the relationship deteriorated with the Native Americans until a British settler kidnapped Pocahontas, who was already married to a brave from her tribe.  While being captive she converted to Christianity and married John Rolfe.  Apparently the kidnapping worked because after her marriage relationships got better.

I also have to give a quick shout out to John Smith and John Rolfe as well.  By all accounts Smith was even more amazing than Disney makes him out to be.  From mercenary, sailor, mutiny leader, captive, trades expert, prominent aristocrat, and explorer he covers just about everything.  Apparently historians used to believe his stories were too good to be true and discredited a lot of his adventurous accounts, but as time has gone by everything points to his stories being real.

As for John Rolfe, not only did he marry Pocahontas, but he was the one who started the tobacco industry in Jamestown, which basically saved the settlement.

 I know you must love it when I go into my history lessons!

Jamestown was especially cool because some of Kimball's ancestors were among the first settlers to the area.  They also helped settle a nearby island dubbed Hogs Island because they used it as a place to let the hogs live until they were needed for dinner.

Don't laugh!  Hogs island was also one of the main reasons Jamestown was settled.  The island obscures Jamestown from the Ocean.  Preventing any unwanted attention the British might get from the Spanish.  But it was mostly a place they kept the pigs.

On our way out we saw a glass blowing demonstration they do which was really neat.  That would be such a neat talent to have, but I don't think I have the patience to spend three years apprenticing the art, nor do I have a big enough oven.

We loved Jamestown.  The kids loved running around and Kimball and I loved the history.  It was a  win-win!