Presidents Park, Williamsburg.

There are lots of things to associate with Eastern Virginia. Jamestown…Yorktown…Busch Gardens…Presidents Park?

We arrived here on a whim, after peeking at it through some trees while driving on 119 to get somewhere else. And after we dropped my Dad off at the hotel, because he hadn’t really grasped the vision of how cool 20 foot Presidential busts are. I bet once he sees these pictures, he’ll be kicking himself that he didn’t come with us. Or not. I was happy he stayed behind, because it made it very convenient to leave the Sassy Princess with him, as I’m not sure she had the vision of how cool 20 foot Presidential busts are, either.

First up is El Presidente Numero Uno: George Washington.

It’s hard to feel like you know a person until you can stand underneath them and peer up their giant schnoz.

Right next to Washington was Thomas Jefferson…a happy chap with a smart looking ribbon tying his hair up in back.

Many of our founding fathers had impressive schnoz’s, now that I think about it.

But the hit of our visit was finding Teddy Roosevelt amoungst all the other Presidential heads. He has become the kid’s favorite president in so many ways that I can’t begin to describe. It’s kinda like how Benjamin Franklin worked his way into our family. I think it all started when we read “Night At The Museum” in anticipation of the movie last year, and snowballed from there.
Anyways…here’s the money shot.

I got into some trouble over this picture. You see how you can’t see the kids feet under the sign? It’s because they are propped up on the concrete stand, to get closer to Roosevelt. A woman walking by was immediately offended and told me to get my kids off of there, they weren’t supposed to be on there!!!!! GET THEM OFF THERE OR THIS WHOLE PARK IS GOING TO BE RUINED! (OK, the last part was my interpretation of her attitude). I smiled sweetly at her and said, “Thanks for the heads up!” and we continued on with our picture. She glared at us the rest of our stay, and was probably bothered by how much fun my rebellious kids were having. While I respect rules, and realize that these concrete blocks of Presidential heads need to be cared after…there is a greater call than just looking at them. It was meaningful to touch Roosevelt (not chip a part of him off…just touch him!) and I think he appreciated it in a way the woman didn’t.

Anyways…the kids ran around finding presidents they knew or had heard of. They found the two Bushes hanging out with this guy…Hello, Clinton! We didn’t touch him…I didn’t know where he’d been.

After spending about an hour outside, we went into the gift shop to look around. Behind the shop, they have a recreated Oval Office. To get into the roped off office, you have to pay $4 extra! per person!!! For something we could already look at!!! I thought that was crazy, so we just looked over the velvet rope. The nice shop lady realized how silly an extra charge was, and slipped us in for free. “But no pictures!” she admonished. So what you are NOT seing in the next picture is The Golfer sitting behind the Presidential desk. You don’t even see a picture, do you? Because even though I let my kids touch Roosevelt, I definately follow all the other arbitrary rules.