On our way to Williamsburg!

Three last scenes that we enjoyed
as we drove through Lancaster County...


On Monday afternoon, we arrived at our lovely 3-bdrm condo
(Governor's Green) in Williamsburg, where we met up with Dave & Willy. They had the next unit over, which was lots of fun!

Our kids spent quite a bit of their indoor vacation time playing a horse game that I found at a garage sale in Lancaster... it helped to keep them fairly quiet at this fancy place, thankfully :)
...and these four enjoyed a couple evening games of Settlers.
And now I have to tell you about the shoemaker and his family! Brett & Wendy and their 5 homeschooled children live right in the middle of colonial Williamsburg, where he has been working for a couple years now.
We heard about them from the friendly people in the URC church we went to in Lancaster, where Brett & Wendy had attended for about a year. They gave us their phone number & they were right about this hospitable family being willing to welcome us in, though we were total strangers! They invited us all to tea at 8:30 Tuesday morning, and explained the best places to see & things to do, etc. The 17 kids had a wonderful time playing together in the meantime. :) Their home is in the background below:
What a blessing this family was to us! We then went back to the condos for lunch (and a quick game of minigolf for those who didn't need to rest!).
Afterward, we spent the rest of the afternoon back in colonial Williamsburg, first visiting an interesting plantation...
Emma hoeing corn
tobacco, Virginia's famous "cash crop"I just found an interesting quote online about the plantation owners:

Except for manufactured goods and luxuries, which
were imported from England, the planter became
largely self-suflicient. The wealthy planter was master
of a small village. The plantation house, with its
numerous dependent buildings, was an expression
of this remarkable community. At an appropriate
distance from the mansion were the kitchen, smoke-
house, dairy, storehouse, washhouse, coach house,
and stable. There might even be a schoolhouse. Near
the tobacco fields were the rude slave quarters.

friends!