A Town Called James

Do you know how great my dad is? He saw that Sarah and I were all kinds of tired on Thursday morning from waking up all kinds of early with babies and such, so he got some tennis rackets and two tubes of balls, told us he would watch the babies, and made us go play. So fun to re-connect with my Pennsylvania sister over tennis!

Do you know how great Hannah is? My camera was out of commission, so she took extra pics and then uploaded them onto my blog for me. So great. On with the Virginia trip, then . . . 

Thursday we visited Jamestown. The actual place where the first European settlement in North America was.  You know, John Smith, Pocahontas . . . First of all, Pocahontas married John Rolfe, not Smith. Turns out the Disney movie is not gospel truth. (Shocking.) Notwithstanding, the best moment of the day was when I was studiously examining historical remains, and all of the sudden I heard, "Colors of the Wind" playing . . . Hahaha! My dad was walking around inconspicuously with the song playing from his phone in his shirt pocket. Inspiring. The song really sums up my feelings that day. However, I did not see a grinning bobcat while there, so I was not able to ask him why he grins.

It's a monument to the first settlers. They deserve a monument. It was ROUGH. Very few survived the first couple of years.

Brittany and Kayla completed the tasks to become official Jamestown Adventurers. It was worth it, too, sweet bags were given them.

Grandma and Grandpa with Lily and Violet

P-Fam

My dad pointed out that he would not feel confident that he wouldn't get struck by an arrow while in this fort. This was his preferred arrow-dodging position. (This was an hilarious memory, which is why I dare post a picture of myself that I hate. At least it spurs my fitness goals.)

Hannah and Violet getting their Jamestown on.

It's Captain John Smith . . . he was the leader for a while, and a pretty good one. He went back to England for health reasons, though. Who knew?

Lissy got tired on these treks. She slept sometimes, and when not sleeping was a total trooper. She loves history!

Me and the girls in front of the James River. Looking out over it inspired a lot of thoughts. Can you imagine arriving here in a tall ship so long ago? Wow.

It's the church where Pocahontas was married.

The parallels between Pocahontas and Hannah are obvious.

The adorableness of Lissy should also be obvious.

Also on the property - a Victorian era farm with this super-posh horse trough . . . and drinking fountain?

We did see a bald eagle or two . . . somewhere in these trees.

It's the bonus tour girls! We went with my dad on the extended driving tour of the island, and it was beautiful. Once again, so crazy to think about settling it. 

Not only did we see the driving tour of the island, we saw the site of America's first industry - which is interestingly, glass blowing. Despite having plenty of trees to keep the furnaces hot, the industry didn't last long, but was an important part of the establishment of the settlement. Not only did we see the site, we saw a replica glass blowing house with replica colonists blowing glass. Holy cow, you would not believe the tricks these people can do with glass. Not just some cup or bowl, but scallops, embellishments, levels . . . amazing.We watched them make this. All next to an amazingly hot furnace in the Virginia heat.

It's Sarah and Dad at the end of the day . . . aaah, history.