I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...
Yes! We finally made it over the hill, and the AC is back on. Well, let’s get back to the the original purpose of this blog post, and start our recap of the events of the past few weeks. Let’s go back to three weeks ago, and the beginning of Vision Forum’s Faith and Freedom Tour. The tour started on the evening of June 28, with an opening banquet. Thursday morning we headed out for Jamestown Island…
Here’s part of our group at the first stop on the Tour. We are all sitting in front of the tricentennial monument at Jamestown Island.
From there we went to the John Smith statue which is also on Jamestown Island.
Throughout the week, Joshua ran the sound/recording equipment.
From the John Smith statue we went to the first church in Jamestown. The tower on the front of this church is the original brick and mortar structure, which is still standing to this day. Here we are inside the church.
Lunch time! Joseph is pulling some of the lunches to the lawn where everyone is going to eat.
After lunch we headed to Jamestown Settlement. Here, a few of the group stayed behind in the A/C. Of which were a number of our family, Anna Sofia Botkin, Mrs. Phillips, and Providence Phillips.
While we were talking inside the visitor center, Providence Phillips fell asleep, so I got to carry him around for about an hour before he woke up. Here he is on my shoulder in a very deep sleep.
Someone brought their Lego Sponge Bob along with them, and they were getting their picture taken everywhere together.
That evening we went to the Glass House. Wow! I had never seen glass made before. That was neat.
The next morning we went to Williamsburg. Here we are on the green in front of the Governors Palace hearing about the Great Awakening.
Jessica and Joanna enjoying the gardens behind the Governor's Palace.
Joseph and Josiah behind the Governor's Palace near the “Canal”, looking at the fish.
That night we met an incredible Patrick Henry impersonator. He was GREAT!
In this picture Jubilee Phillips is on her way forward in the bus, after teasing me about having taken her seat on the bus earlier in the day.
Here we are at Scotchtown (Patrick Henry’s home) listening to Mr. Phillips.
While waiting outside of St. John’s church for the doors to open so that we can all go in and see a reenactment of the 2nd Virginia Convention, we enjoyed a number of laughs with our good friend Brian Howell from Vision Forum.
Here I am with George Washington.
After the re-enactment at St. John’s church, we went to the Yorktown Battlefield where the Colonial Army finally pushed Cornwallis to surrender during the Revolutionary War.
Here is our group at Redoubts 9 and 10, where the Colonial assault was made against the British fortifications.
In this picture a couple of fifers from Colonial Williamsburg led our group in the singing of Chester.
Next we did a reenactment of the battle. In this picture, Mr. Potter waits for his British recruits.
CHARGE!
One of the Colonial soldiers was hit by a British bullet, and it took the nurses about 15 minutes to bring him back to consciousness. :-)
Sunday afternoon we went to Sherwood Forest (home of the Tylers), where we were able to meet Harrison Tyler, who is the grandson of John Tyler, 10th president of the United States. This is actually the real life grandson, not an impersonator. One somewhat odd sounding fact about him, is that he had a 2nd cousin who died in Pickets Charge during the Civil War!
Anna Sofia and Elizabeth Botkin brought their harps, which they played for Harrison Tyler in front of his house.
The next day we went to Mount Vernon, where we saw a Long Fence. Entirely inconsequential I might add.
On the lawn between Mount Vernon and the Potomac we listened to Mr. Phillips and Mr. Potter.
In the book store I walked up to this painting of George Washington just as the fire alarm went off (notice the bell and light right above the picture). Needless to say, I jumped more than a few feet.
After our time at Mount Vernon we visited Arlington Cemetery. Here we saw the graves of many heroic people, including Audi Murphy who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his brave deeds during World War II. The movie “To Hell and Back” is about Audi Murphy. The actor that plays Audi Murphy in the movie, is Audi Murphy himself!
At the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, we saw the changing of the guard. That was amazing.
Here is a picture of our family in front of the Marine’s Memorial where we went after Arlington Cemetery.
After the Marine’s Memorial we dropped by the Jefferson Memorial, and then headed to Union Station where I had an excellent burger.
At Monticello on Independence Day.
Joseph and Josiah climbing a tree in the gardens of Monticello.
Here’s our group under that same tree a little while later, listening to Mr. Phillips.
That night we went to Williamsburg where we watched the fireworks. Here’s the fife and drum corps that played just before the fireworks started.
Oooo…
Ahhh…
Actually there was no "Oooing" and "Ahhing." It was more like “WOW”! It was a great fireworks show.
The last day of the tour touched on the War Between the States. Here we are at Pamplin Park, observing a canon demonstration.
Boom!
Some of us were enlisted into the army, and got some practice loading and firing muzzle loading rifles. Here they are loading the paper cartridges into the barrel.
Here they are ramming the charge down the barrel.
And here they are practicing firing one row at a time, while the other row loads.
That evening came the closing banquet.
This picture is at the closing banquet where Mr. Phillips is handing out awards to certain people who answered trivia questions correctly.
Joshua was also asked to present Patrick Henry’s “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech, which he memorized for a reenactment of the 2nd Virginia Convention that we do every spring during our Liberty Day Celebration.
After the closing banquet, the hours ran late. Everyone enjoyed the last evening of conversation and fellowship before the tour was over.Overall, it was an excellent tour.
That weekend, after the tour, we went to the Brown’s house in North Carolina where we had an excellent weekend of fun, fellowship, and relaxation. Unfortunately I only have a couple extremely boring pictures from the Browns with me right now (I accidentally left almost all of the pictures from the Browns, on the memory card at home). Anyway, I guess you’ll just have to be content with pictures of us doing things like looking at wave audio editors on the computer, checking email, and lounging around playing with digital cameras.
Thank you Browns so much for opening your home to us! We all had a great time.
After the weekend with the Browns, we went to Vision Forum’s “History of the World Mega-Conference”. That was excellent! Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures from that conference, but it was an excellent event!
We got home from the History of the World conference Monday morning (a few days ago) at around 1:00 am, and then we left for Arizona around 2:00pm that afternoon.
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We are now in our hotel room at the Double Tree Inn and Suites in Phoenix, AZ. The trip down here to Arizona went great! We enjoyed listening to a number of CD’s from the History of the World conference, including “The Vikings; Their Laws, Culture, and Conquests” by Col. John Eidsmoe, “The History of Libraries and Books” by William Potter, “The Crusades” by Dr. George Grant, “Islam and the Modern World” by Dr. George Grant, and “The Puzzle of Ancient Man” by Doug Phillips.
Well, that’s all for now! Be sure to check back for pictures and an update from this trip later.
