June 19th and 20th

June 19^th and 20^th (and other thoughts)

Click here for pictures.

Other thoughts first:

I have now used a P38 can opener. http://www.maddogonline.com/surplus/wholesale/18087.html

Go there for a picture of what I’m talking about. Mitchel, who was never a Boy Scout but is the quintessential Boy Scout… especially now that he is the Den leader for Stephen’s den… is always prepared. Most of the canned goods I bought at Sam’s had the pull tab top that they’re all going to. But, I bought some tuna for Mitchel. They have the “old timey” can tops that you have to use a can opener to open. Unfortunately I didn’t pack the can opener. But, wait! “Always prepared” Mitchel just happen to have a p38 can opener. I think it is standard military issue. His mom has one and uses it in lieu of a hand crank or electric can opener. As a matter of fact, she was given a hand crank one but still uses this. She is extremely good at this and can open a can faster than most electric openers. I have tried and she’s finally taken pity on and done it herself… or maybe she just wanted to eat the same day we were opening the can, who knows? Well, in any event, I will be an expert when we leave here, I believe. I still can’t believe Mitchel had one of these with him!

Another thought. I don’t know if I mentioned this in my blog or just to some of you that I spoke with… but it’s worth repeating. Mitchel had been working in the hotel room late one night while the kids and I were sleeping. He crawled in bed hugged me close and said, “If we don’t see anything while we’re here, this is worth you being here.” I think he missed us all those weeks we were apart. This put things in perspective for me. We’re here to be together as a family as much as possible, not to see the sights… that’s secondary. We’ve seen a lot already… well at least the kids and I have… and we’re having a great time. The hotel room is a little tight but we’re managing. Actually we’re not here very much and if we are we’re in the pool. Speaking of not being here:

June 19^th, 2006

Saturday we went to Goddard State Park to the beach… a little better prepared but without the camera. We had visited here on Saturday and as we were wiping our feet down at the car Stephen put his shoes on the ground, wiped his feet off and got in the car… leaving his shoes. We asked at lost and found if they were there and they were not… oh well. We still have his sandals. Anyway, today the kids played in the water, catching jelly fish, playing in the sand. This is a little beach area and we brought the boogie boards but got whistled at by the lifeguard. Apparently boogie boards are not allowed in the water, neither are Frisbees. We did see one interesting sight… this is why I wanted the camera. There was a seagull, not quite as pretty as the others, mottled, spotty, not the distinctive black, gray and white that I’m used to… I’m assuming it was another type of gull, or not. Anyway, he had a crab in his beak. He carried it with him down the shore, dropped it once and I could see the legs of the crab sticking up. I’m not sure it was still alive. Anna got too close and the gull took off with the crab in his mouth. We hadn’t been at the “beach” for 10 minutes when Mitchel called and invited us to lunch. We swam for another 45 minutes or so then went to meet Mitchel and Tony for lunch. We ate lunch at a small deli… very good deli and I don’t like sandwiches. We ate at a neat, quaint little town called Wickford… I believe I’ve mentioned this earlier… the locals pronounce it “Wickfud.” Then the kids and I walked up and down the sidewalk area. We found a neat toy store (don’t think Toys R Us). This had a lot of wooden, non-electronic toys. There were also toys from Germany. I think the owner’s husband was from Austria so they brought a lot of toys back from their travels.

We left there, came back to the hotel and swam for a while. Then we ate at Applebee’s. Stephen decided to eat Mac and Cheese back at the hotel but he sat and had fun with us and ALL the guys that are up here with EnteGreat.

June 20^th, 2006

Tuesday was a grand adventure. We went into Massachusetts to Battleship Cove. It is “conveniently located in historic Fall River (MA) on scenic Mount Hope Bay”. It was about a 45 minute drive; we packed a lunch and arrived around 11:00 am. We toured one submarine and three battleships. For more information go to www.battleshipcove.com. The exhibit I thought was pretty cool was a Japanese sub that was “captured.” These boats held one person and they were essentially suicide boats. They were used to ram into bigger ships and explode, killing the driver of the boat and many people on board the ship. There wasn’t much air flowing but the heat wasn’t so bad. We saw where the people on board slept, ate, and did laundry. There was also sickbay – including operating rooms, dentist’s chairs, everything needed to survive for days at sea. The captain’s quarters, depending on the ship were much bigger and had much more privacy than the sailors. Also, where the captain dined was much more elegant. Depending on the ship (the sub didn’t have much room for all this) there were silver serving pieces, elegantly set tables to give us an idea of what it was like for the captain. I think what really impressed Stephen were the “bullets”, bullets that were taller than he is (see photos).

Three ships were tethered together. The submarine and two others. The last ship we went on was the USS Massachusetts. Very similar to the USS Alabama in Mobile Bay. Huge! I’m not sure we saw all of it but I am pretty sure we did. And just when we thought we’d seen it all there was more to see.

Here is what Stephen liked about our trip:

I liked about the USS mass. is when we got in the triple 16 in. guns because we saw a video of how they loaded & fired the guns. It was cool & we pretended we were firing the guns. (http://www.battleshipcove.com/bb59-armament.htm Click here for a picture of the guns he’s talking about. The guns are not 16” as you can see, the holes are, I think). I learned that the USS mass. Is really named Big Mamie.

One of the things he has to do for Cub Scouts is look up information, write it up in his own words, spell check and print it. I showed him how to get to www.battleshipcove.com and he found out the nickname to the USS Massachusetts is Big Mamie. And, instead of printing it, he showed me how he would do it. We can print it at the hotel but there was no need. He’s also interested in snakes so, on his own, he wants to look up information and type up his own report.

And Anna’s ideas about our trip to Battleship Cove and the day before:

Well, I did like the ships. Because we saw the bullets, they were blue and black. The blue ones looked like the pencils and crayons. I liked, what else? Oh I liked playing at the beach. Because we saw some jelly fish that sting. I didn’t get stinged. And because I found some shells that I could, um, make a necklace and a wreath for Christmas. The beaches here are different because they have jelly fish that sting but Mama Ree’s beach doesn’t have jelly fish that sting, but she does have jelly fish. And Papa’s and Memommy’s has sand dollars and the other one doesn’t. I like playing with Stephen because we are playing with the number thing. (Piece of paper that fits on your fingers and you write numbers on all the sides that show. You move your fingers in and out to show different part of the paper… I’ll show you later, too complicated to explain). And seeing the horses (saw them several days ago at Goddard Park, where the beach is). And petting the horse and feeding the horse, we got it from the ground and it was sort of like grass but I think it was hay. And seeing the horses on the trail. Oh, and we saw a black stallion.

Well, we’re off to the mart, need paper towels and such; they keep throwing away our plastic ware even though it’s not in the garbage… I’ll have to leave a note… if it ain’t in the garbage leave it alone!! J I’ll be nice than that. Weather here today is great, sunny and cooler… we picked the wrong day to veg out at the hotel.

Until next time!