Vacation: National Museum of Naval Aviation

On Monday, after playing at the beach in the morning we decided to visit the National Museum of Naval Aviation.  It is a free museum located on the Naval Air Station Pensacola.  We opted to take the guided tour and learned a lot about history of naval aviation.
The kids were fascinated by the whole museum.

These were symbols used on the planes during world war 2.  The bullseye was used by all allied planes at one point.  The guide said that the British marked their planes with a bullseye with a red center, the French had a blue center, and the Americans had a white center.

Carrier Pigeons were used during world war 1!

This plane uses a rotating engine!

This picture only shows a quarter or less of the entire plane!  It was designed to sink submarines.

I really liked the yellow planes!  They were used for training pilots.

My dad in front of Bob's Flying Machines.

I love the colors!

Good advise!

We learned a little about the Blue Angels and were excited at the thought of seeing them, but that is a story for another day.

The museum has a couple of demo planes that you can climb in.

We really had a great time learning more about the different air planes and their role in the navy.

Project 365: Week 38 Vacation Edition

Taking pictures is never hard on vacation!  There is always something interesting to see and capture, and not much else to distract or require attention.  Between Adrian and I, we took over 2,000 pictures for the week!  I pruned them down to just over 800, but that is still a lot of pictures!  This is for the week of September 13.

Sunday: The view from our condo.

Monday: Underneath the pier

And since I couldn't pick just on for Monday, this is from the National Naval Aviation Museum.

Tuesday: The Blue Angels!

Wednesday: The water tower during sun rise

 
Thursday: The eastern sky during sunset

Friday: We went to Culver's for a lunch of ice cream!  They had a bicycle shaped bike rack. (Again I had trouble choosing just one picture!)

Saturday: Cotton!  I hadn't seen cotton growing since I was little, so when we saw a cotton field, we stopped to show the kids what cotton looks like before it becomes fabric.

Vacation: In the Sand

The kids had a great time playing in the sand.  They dug and molded the soft white sand.

 

Avalyn and PaigeEE built a tunnel in the sand.  They were really excited that it didn't collapse before I was able to get a picture!

Mamaws are great for beach snuggles!

One morning, most of the kids woke up exceptionally early, so we walked to the beach and took pictures.

I love the way her hair flies and her Rita ( her stuffed gray cat) is tucked under her arm.

Vacation: In the Ocean

Almost every year, we visit Hilton Head for a family vacation.  My parents and our family LOVE Hilton Head, and specifically Sea Pines, because of how tranquil it is and all the bike trails through the live oaks and spanish moss.  But this year, Megan and her family invited us to come to Florida with her family.  So we all gathered in Navarre Beach for a week of fun on the gulf.
We stayed in a condo on the 11th floor!  I was more than a little bit nervous with all the little kids and the balcony and inner atrium.  Thankfully all the kids listened well and were careful around the railings.
On Saturday, we only had time to unpack and eat dinner before the sunset.  We visited an OPC church in Pensacola on Sunday.  Then after lunch, we headed to the beach.  The green flag was waving, and the ocean looked as clear and as calm as a swimming pool!  All the kids, including Mercy, loved being in the water.

Monday, we walked down the beach to the pier.  We took some pictures of the bottom of the pier and of the kids under the pier.

The yellow flag was out, but all the kids wanted to play in the water again.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were Red Flag days.  The difference in the waves for each day was interesting, and some of the time didn't seem like they were that rough.  We kept the kids out of the ocean unless they went in with an adult.

Bow and Arrow

In 1998, I went to Papua New Guinea.  I brought home two bows and a bunch of arrows.  Originally, I had them hung on the wall in my bedroom.   After I got married, and moved several times, they have been bundled up and out of the way.  Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago.  Avalyn asked if she could make a bow and arrow.  She couldn't find any sticks that worked well, so I pulled out my bows.  The strings understandably were dried out and broke the first time it was used.  So we bought paracord and used that instead.  It seemed to work!  Avalyn had fun using the bow!

Sophia is Reading!!!

Sophia has been working hard at reading.  So when we had some time to spare, Sophia climbed up on Adrian's lap to read to him.  She gets very excited about reading!