Because it was last minute and early in the season we got an amazing deal on an on-site hotel and tickets to the historical site. Yay!
{that's not our hotel - just a lovely part of our Colonial past :-)}
Friday evening after Drew got home from work we headed south to Williamsburg. The trip was pleasantly uneventful - with DC traffic you never know what might happen. The most surprising thing was the Asher didn't sleep in the car AT ALL. He normally goes to bed at 7, so this was waaaay past his bedtime.
We made good time and got in to our hotel around 9ish. That's when the wheels came off.
I brought A's pack 'n play for him to sleep in, but he was really over tired, disoriented, and scared of the strange surroundings, so he cried, I mean, screamed, when I put him down. We gave him about 5 minutes to see if he'd settle down, but the poor guy just kept it up. I felt terrible that he was scared, so we pulled him into bed with us for the night.
We never do this at home. I have to ask how you co-sleeping mamas do it?? I slept for about 20 minutes all night. Asher insisted on laying on me. I tried to scoot him over once or twice and he'd whimper and scuttle back over to grab my neck. So sweet, but hard for me to sleep well.
Anyway, the next morning we got going early and headed over to the historical site to see everything 18th century!
Our first stop was a plantation where they are making shingles for the new roof going on the blacksmith's shop in town. Asher was invited to wield the tools and make a few shingles {kids started working young in 1751}. He declined and I was left to hold the baby and do the manual labor.
I have a feeling that isn't so far from the way things were done in 1751 either.
Asher did have fun "moo-ing" at this ox. We have to go to the zoo soon - Ash is noticing animals a lot more and really enjoyed seeing the farm animals!
At one point we realized that it was extremely hard for Asher to be put in and out of the stroller to go into the buildings, so Drew volunteered to go back to the car for the Beco. Since our car was a bit of a hike away Asher and I took a break to play in some Colonial stones.
This might have been the highlight of A's day. He had a blast moving these rocks from one place to another!
I tried to instill a sense of history in these stones while he was playing. I think my lecture had an impression because Asher decided to taste a rock to see if it was more delicious than our boring 21st century rocks at home.
An explanation on why eating gravel {from any century} isn't a good idea quickly followed.
Sorry, mommy!
Once Drew got back we walked around for awhile and let Asher stretch his legs in this beautiful garden. I swear I could sit and enjoy the peaceful gardens all day long.
Unfortunately, this guy kept trying to
Asher's hands-down favorite part of the day was when the fife and drum corp marched by. He jumped and danced and laughed to the music! We have to get him to a parade soon too.
Throughout the day Asher took 2 short naps in his stroller and did a fair bit of fussing when he wasn't free to roam. We expected some degree of this - he is 16 months old, after all.
All in all, I'm really glad we went, despite the bad night's sleep and fussing toddler. If we don't do stuff then we'll just stay home all the time and that's no fun! We'll definitely go away again, but now that Asher is older and more able to interact it will be something that we can really enjoy. A children's museum perhaps? Can't wait!
Hope you all had fun mother's day weekend adventures too!
How fun! I'm glad that you had a good time!
ReplyDeleteYeah, Cooper didn't fare well on our last trip and he ended up sleeping on my chest for 2 nights in a row. One of those nights, I was sunburned...Yeah, we're not going on another family trip until he's 2 or so!