Colonial Fest

Two years ago we attended the Colonial Fest at a nearby park on the Fourth of July.  Last year, I was disappointed at the timing of our exodus from Utah because we missed the Colonial Fest by a week.  Silly as it sounds, one of the small consolations of living in Utah again was that we would be able to attend Colonial Fest again.  Which we did.  And it did not disappoint.  The first time we went, we spent about 2 hours there.  This time it was 5.  There were more exhibits, and everyone was excited about something, and though we didn't see everything, we saw and did a lot.

Jamestown & Plymouth Exhibits

Looking at a model of the Mayflower while standing in a model of the Mayflower.

They had this cool chart of all of the passengers of the Mayflower
and all of those who survived until the First Thanksgiving in 1621.
We were able to find some family members on the chart, which is always cool.

Ready to fight for God and Country.

So, neither of the girls were interested in trying on armor.  Shrug.

  

After the Jamestown & Plymouth area, we found ourselves in Boston

in the early 1770's.  The first stop was the section called

Children's Chores.

Cat, Eliza, and I made rope together.
By the way, this is the only picture of me from the entire day.
You do see my hand, right?

More rope!  We must have more rope!

Carrying water.

You know, I'm not one to judge, but this really seems
more like a punishment than a chore, even if Cat is smiling.
(Of course, her buckets were empty.)

  

The girls carded wool, then their instructor spun the wool enough to
make little bracelets for them.

Parade Field

We watched the Continental Army do some drills on the Parade Field in town.

The canon might not have fired any real ammo, but the sound sure was real.

Of course, witnessing the military maneuvers made Cat and Jack want to fight
each other.  With the ropes they'd just made.

Commercial Area

Cat tried out the mortar and pestle.

The cooper's apprentice taught us that an experienced cooper needs
6-8 hours to make one bucket.  Whoa.

 

Eliza loved trying on dresses and hats, and holding a parasol
Sometimes I wonder if she wasn't born in the wrong era.

School

The kids were really excited to go to the school.
It's one of the few things they remembered from two years ago.

While the big kids were in school, Luke and I shared
a loaf of fresh, brick oven baked sourdough bread.

Class is in session.

Making an H.

We attended a meeting at the South Church, where we debated whether

the ships in Boston Harbor should be allowed to dock and unload their tea.

We were assigned to be Loyalists, and Cat got a speaking part as Samuel Quincy.

We (the entire audience) enjoyed shouting "Huzzah!" when our side supported someone's

argument and "Fie!" when we heard things we disagreed with.

The debate was passionate enough that the kids had switched sides by the time the

meeting adjourned and the Patriots requested volunteers for the militia.  Cat and Jack

scrambled out of their seats so they could march for the cause while holding wooden rifles.

They only had a few minutes to train before the Red Coats appeared.

They fired on them!

Cat and Jack were both injured, but managed to recover from their wounds.

The British advanced!

And the Colonists retreated!  And seemed to turn on each other.

The next area was the Children's Games.
These are always a hit with the kids.  How come
we can't buy these things at Target??

Cries of Freedom

Next we went to a different part of the park where 3/4 of the kids and I watched

a 90-minute show performed by a community theater, called " Cries of Freedom."

Meanwhile...

Cat spent about 2 hours learning about Ellis Island and what it means
to be an American Citizen.  Then she took a citizenship test.

She passed the test on her first try, then took an oath of citizenship.

As a prize for going through everything she did to attain citizenship she received
a package of prints of historically significant American paintings and documents.

We loved it!  There were enough people there to feel like it was well-attended, but not so many that it was annoyingly crowded.  The weather was hot but not uncomfortable.  And everyone enjoyed themselves and learned something in the process.  Such a perfect way to spend Independence Day.