Family Boston Trip I

 The theme of our family vacation was based on this school year's curriculum of studying the history of our United States.  So why not head to where our forefathers first set foot on this great land?  Plimouth Plantation was the highlight of our trip, but why not visit Boston as well and scoop in a bit more history?  Especially since Daddy lived in Boston for part of his college years.

But for the children, I think the highlight was the hotel pool  Here is our swim team, ready to plunge in...

 So thankful for a husband who is willing to 'get wet' with the kids and be a kid himself.  I was a bit prego-sick this week, so it was an extra blessing to have a very kid-friendly husband!

 'There were three in the bed and the little one said...'

 The Mayflower ship was not in dock due to repairs, but we did get to visit the dock-side exhibit and learn all about the Pilgrims' travel anyway...

 Beans, dried fruit, tack- what would you like to eat for months of ocean travel?

Yummm!  New England fudge!  Can I have another bite?

Plymouth Rock, gazing at history...

Master William Bradford, what words would you have to say to our Godless society today?

Running along Town creek, the Pilgrim's fresh water supply...

How many ducklings do you see?  13?

Jumping off rocks by the grist mill, first built in 1637 I think.

Gazing at the old-but-still-used grinding stone that ground the pilgrim's corn into cornmeal.  The mill is still used today, and we even had cornbread baked from its ground cornmeal just this week!

Hannah with some 'Indian' corn that the Pilgrims would have grown for cornmeal...

 Inside a longhouse at the Wampanoag homesite, listening to a Wampanoag native tell the history of his people...

Judah on the 2nd story of the fort built to guard the Plimouth plantation...

Plimouth plantation with Plymouth bay in the background...

Inside one of the homes, Duane checking out the pilgrims' reading material...

Every house had a mortar to pound corn kernels into cornmeal.  This was before the grist mill was built...

An outdoor mud oven that two 'pilgrims' were building...

Very amusing to dialog with the 'pilgrims'.  The actors interact and talk as if they lived in the year 1627.   Duane attempted several times to trip them in their role playing, but they played the dialog and opinions of their roles very professionally.  Selah kept asking for Samuel Eaton and Sarah Mortan (we have read books about these Pilgrim children), and she was disappointed that she didn't get the see them.

Sometimes young feet get tired...

Plimouth plantation made it easy to imagine the lives of the first pilgrims, their hardships and their blessings. We certainly walked away with a greater appreciation for these early pioneers...

At the visitor center was a hands-on play area for the children.  Here Goodwife Selah is serving a pilgrim meal...

And sailors Duane, Isaiah and Judah hoist the flag on the Mayflower's shallop...