Virginia in August

For Kevin's final class of the summer we headed to Fredericksburg, Virginia for two weeks. There is a lot a things to see and do, but not all are geared toward toddlers. We visited a couple of Civil War battlefield, the library, and a handful of other historic places.

One of our favorites was the site of George Washington's boyhood home, Ferry Farm. The property was large and green, and open to explore. We walked down to the river and were devoured by what I assume were mosquitoes. It was probably only 90 degrees, but these I.E. girls were not used to the humidity. Lily doesn't actually sweat yet, and felt clammy most of the time. But she loves to explore and has recently found her love of climbing. She has never been much of a daredevil, but if there are stairs, she is going to climb them.

Here she is on the stones added to show where the archaeologists believe the main house once stood. They are still doing digs on the property and the archeologists were very friendly, coming up to the visitors to talk about the current dig.

We packed a lunch every day we went out and at Ferry Farm we ate in the garden among the watermelons and the grape vines. To our surprise, a little turtle crawled out from underneath the bench we were sitting on. I may have shrieked a little. If you ask Lily what the turtle says, she replies with "snap, snap, snap."

We also visited Chatham. Originally a plantation on the north side of the river, and used as a hospital for the Union, the gardens have been restored to how it looked in the 1920's.

The property was beautiful and although we loved exploring, it was probably the hottest day we were there.

We had snack but didn't stay for lunch; it was just too hot and humid.

We had a great two weeks exploring and playing. We went to 2 of the 4 battlefield sites, but neglected to take any pictures. There is so much more we would like to see in Virginia, but agreed we should come back in the fall or spring.