Thursday, March 12, 2009

Battleship Park in Mobile


This was a fun outing. When we arrived and saw the school buses full of kids we were just a bit worried. It is definately no fun "touring" with unruly children, but we managed to avoid them. We did the battleship first, when we saw they were starting with the submarine (yeah). It was cool to wander all over this ship and explore. Thanks to a helpful worker who was cleaning on the ship, we found out how to climb up under and into one of the big guns on the deck....this was great. All 5 of us climbed up in the "control room" behind the big guns to look at the instruments, sit in the firing seats, and imagine the tremendous noise they must have experienced when the guns fired. (see the picture to the left of the 3 guns) We climbed and climbed many stairs to the different levels of the decks....narrow, shallow, steep stairs. And once you get up there...you have to climb back down. Funny, the doorways and stairs don't look that small and steep when you watch NCIS or JAG on tv.

When we saw the school group approaching the battleship, we quickly decided to go to the submarine. Greg opted not to go into the submarine, but the kids and I went anyway. Talk about tiny doorways and getting over the thresholds between each section. I had to have some kid help getting my leg over the threshold a couple of times. My goodness what close quarters, there was definately no place for a sailor to go if he needed to be alone and collect his thoughts. Everthing was compact and close together, you didn't have to worry about packing too much...there is no place to put it. They did try out a bunk and declared they weren't too uncomfortable. I cannot imagine being in the sub and knowing I was fathoms under the sea, especially if someone was firing torpedoes at us and trying to destroy us. Did they "standard issue" valium for these guys?

It was a fun field trip for all of us!

3 comments:

  1. Being in a submarine would absolutely put me over the edge. No way could I handle being under water in cramped quarters. Going through a tunnel in the car is nerve-racking for me. But over all your field trip sounds educational, fun and exciting. Keep them up, cause I feel like I am learning too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Donna, Looks like you all are having fun! Saw this alarming blurp that happened in NC. Very scary that judges can order kids out of home school. We are a free country but for how long??? I get so angry when I see these things happen! I have sent your Adrian Rogers quote to so many people!

    http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/4727161/

    I enjoy your posts and love that you and the kids have so much fun at learning. Robin

    ReplyDelete
  3. Robin, I saw it too. The judge had decided that the Mom did a good job but the kids needed more. I guess I would wonder more of what-granted they weren't subjected to peer pressure, bullying, etc. The article said the dad agreed with the judge! I've got a blog in my head about public schools in Ms and maybe I can get it out this weekend...its on the heels of hearing an interview by the state school superintendent.

    Donna

    ReplyDelete