Our Virginia Trip

We arrived home from our Outer Banks trip on a Saturday evening, rested Sunday, and then the kids and I took off on Monday morning with Dave and Jackie to visit the beautiful state of Virginia. We headed to Charlottesville, which is where Jackie was born and raised.

Our first stop on the trip, besides the above rest stop, was Montpelier, the home of our 4th president, James Madison. The home was really beautiful but they are in the process of restoring the home to what it would have been like during his time...thus, the house was completely empty. Absolutely no furniture other than a few pieces here and there. It was an incredible feeling, though, to stand in the room where most of our Constitution came into being; there are even ink stains still on the floor where his desk once was.


The grounds were beautiful and there were even a few little hands-on activities for the kids.


Tuesday we paid a visit to the home of our 3rd president, Thomas Jefferson - Monticello. Unlike Montpelier, Monticello has most of the original furniture and decorations in it. The home is truly beautiful and I wished that I could have gone through the whole house. It was a beautiful day and after touring the house, the kids and I wandered around the grounds, visiting Jefferson's grave as well as checking out the fish pond and his gardens.






After wandering around for awhile, we spent about an hour at the interactive museum for kids. Here is where the kids got to touch replicas of some of the items at Monticello. Savannah got to lay on Jefferson's bed which seemed pretty small for a man of his great stature. The boys enjoyed cooking just like Jefferson's slaves and Savannah did some weaving on a loom. She also got to use Jefferson's copy machine! Both Savannah and Xander enjoyed getting on the computer, though, and putting their architectual skills to work by designing their own homes just like Jefferson did.





Of course what trip isn't complete without swimming in the hotel pool. I was impressed the kids stayed in for an hour...the water was absolutely FREEZING!!!

We visited Jackie's old home (although the color has been changed from the original red brick), we saw the hospital where she was born, her grandmother's house, and her old elementary school.


On our drive home Wednesday we went through the Shenandoah National Park...it was gorgeous! We stopped at the Visitor's Center and saw some deer pretty close up.



They were pretty comfortable with us and didn't run away until Noah decided it was a petting zoo and tried to run up and give them a hug.