We have been going each day - this week we've been to Busch Gardens twice, Colonial Williamsburg three times and Water Country USA once. Holy Schnikes that is a lot of going! It's been great having the Bounce pass that Greg found on line when we got here last Saturday. It was a better buy than individually purchasing tickets for each place. We had 7 days to go to any of the three parks listed above. It has been very nice to not feel the pressure of super full days - we've been able to spend a little time or more each day and still have a good time!
Tuesday, after lunch we visited the Yankee Candle Flagship store - man o man did they have candles and knick knacks and Christmas knick knacks and ornaments, oh my! The kids each dipped a souvenir candle - Caleb a baseball glove, Calvin a tow-truck and Elise a Yankee Candle Jar. We also found some Leather scented air spray. . . Nice!
After the candle extravaganza we headed to Colonial Williamsburg and visited the Bindery - where they bind books. Not necessarily printed books - but books for ledgers and record keeping - like they would have in 1774. Fascinating. All the paper they work with is linen and had to (at the time) be imported from England! We learned that binding a book is a 28 step process. To apprentice as a bookbinder takes seven years. The gentleman doing the binding (or talking about the binding did his apprenticeship in the south of England and it took 6 years.
We stopped in to the printing shop - where the day's work was done and prep work for the next day's work was beginning. The gentleman there was inking the sheep skin which is then put over wool attached to a stick that is used to put the ink on the typeface. It appeared to be a tedious process when we were able to see the printing process in motion on Thursday afternoon.
The Gunsmith and foundry was also on our list of places to visit. There are apparently only two gunsmiths on staff and the backlog of work for private orders is seven years long - they charge $15,000 to 20,000 for a custom made rifle. Greg was of course immediately trying to figure how many gunsmiths you'd have to apprentice to get the backlog gone. . . Always thinking!
After the gunsmith, I believe we made our way to the Govenor's Palace - which was occupied by the man appointed by the King of England . . . agghhh. The entrance hall walls were covered and I mean covered with swords and rifles. . . up the stairs, the walls were also covered with swords and rifles. We took a peak into the pantry, the little girl's bedroom - the governor's wife's dressing room - which had been his office - she took it over when she arrived from England and booted him the the breakfast room. This dressing room had walls covered with hand tooled gilded leather. Apparently when the builidng was restored - by Mr. Rockefeller in the1930's he spared no expense! The walls were exquisite! We also saw the master suite, the ball room - blue walls - the supper room - green walls with wooden trim - that had been painted white. The wooden trim took 2 men 4 years to carve for the original palace. Mr. Rockefeller employed two men for 4 years to carve the trim for the restored supper room.
After touring the inside of the palace, we walked out in the gardens. The kids enjoyed running through the maze and tormented a few small creatures as we walked through other bits of the vast gardens. It was a beautiful afternoon!
Wonder of wonders earlier in the day we had driven around some and found a Trader Joes! I could barely contain my excitement when Greg offered to go back that way - so we could get our bread for dinner there. I haven't been in a TJ's for almost a year. I think I was able to visit one last August when we were in California for Hannah's wedding.
The kids and I had a blast - enjoying our coffee sample and finding new snacks! and some bread for dinner . . . which we ended up not using - as all of the sudden tacos sounded better than pasta!
The snacks were a hit! and still are.
Will write more later!
Caleb being Caleb onboard a replica of the "Elizabeth" trying to move a piece of rigging? 
