Best Fourth of July Ever - Reason #3

So... Balloon Fest, Parade, then COLONIAL FEST.  Busy day so far!  We didn't know what we were in for, but when I read about the "free four-day event for the whole family, featuring a gathering of Colonial artisans, military exhibits, and period craftsmen and women," I just knew we had to check it out.  We were not disappointed!  It was a miniature Williamsburg, VA set up at Scera Park in the middle of Orem.  We were only there for an hour and a half and check out everything we saw/did.

It's not the Fourth of July until the kids get to perform some manual labor.
They both wanted to try this.  Really.

Jack was sad that he didn't get to make rope,
but the woman was only letting the older kids help.

Cat was really eager to get to go to school, but we didn't realize there would be a line, and she was at the end of it. So she had to sit on the boys' side of the school, and there weren't enough bonnets for the last of the girls.  :-(

Making letters (see Colonial letter chart below)

Listening to the math question.

Obediently writing the answer on her slate.

Answering the question, "Who is this a portrait of?"  (See below.)
Do you know?

Cat guessed George Washington, which is a pretty good guess from an upcoming 2nd grader I think. The right answer is King George III.  George Washington was painted to look like King George.  Tricky.

There's a bonnet!

We saw craftsmen doing demonstrations, and some who were just displaying items.
How cool is that broom?

I thought the wooden utensil maker was the coolest.
He brought several things he was selling and they were just beautiful.

Trying on Colonial dresses was a highlight for the girls... 

but Jack was absolutely beaming when he donned this armor.
The sword seemed to be his favorite item.
Look at that face!

We all had fun playing this simple marble game.
I'm thinking Ben should make us one of these for Christmas. Should be pretty easy, right? 

I thought it was cool that all of the soldiers were in different types of uniforms. And they were happy to explain to you whether they were from the frontier, the King's Army, a militia, etc.  Interesting.

After watching the soldiers drill for a few minutes Eliza insisted on talking to them.
They didnt seem to mind taking some time to dote on her.

Shortly before we left, Ben and Jack finally broke away to play on the playground for a bit.
Jack had been asking for a little while, but we were trying to keep our stay in Aubins Grove as short as possible,
so we were holding him off.  I'm glad he got a little time to play, though.

Before we left Ben offered to splurge on some little treats that were being baked in a brick oven on site.
He got a slice of  fresh sourdough bread and a few cookies for $2.  Well spent.
While Ben and Jack waited in line, Cat churned some butter. 

At this point in the day, I was on Cloud Nine.  How many cool, unique, patriotic, educational, and free activities can you fit into one day?  And it was lovely to have kids old enough to handle being out for almost 8 hours straight and all of us were still having a good time.  That's not to say we weren't tired.  But we had the perfect arrangement of a free afternoon to do this...

before the evening festivities began.  I decided to get the cupcakes and things ready for the BBQ instead of napping.  I did enjoy the quiet, though.