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6.17.2013

the GIANT ship

Every time we've gone to the beach, either for our yearly trip to Sunset with family or for a quick day trip, Caleb and Daniel notice the GIANT ship as we come over the bridge headed to Hwy 17.

Every. time.



 And every time they would comment on how cool it was and how much they wanted to visit it.

Every. Single. Time.

yes, i'm aware it's out of focus...he was so excited that it was impossible to catch a clear shot

So you can likely imagine the noise that went with this ecstatic expressions when they realized this time we weren't just passing by on our way somewhere.

and the glare on his glasses is awful, but by the time i could get a shot with no glare, the moment was over
This time we were headed in...


...to explore the U.S.S North Carolina and all it had to offer, from the Kingfisher plane on deck,


to the GIANT kitchen aid mixer in the galley below,


to a solution on how to bunk all our kids in minimal space.


There were guns galore,

maybe my girl has a future as a navy gunner?

ENORMOUS soup pots,

he kept looking over his shoulder as if he was afraid he'd end up in one
historical bells, 

taken from the second U.S. Navy ship ~ an armored cruiser ~ named after our state
and...did we mention...guns?


The engineer in Ian marveled both at how the ship was constructed and how the operating systems worked.

it takes a GIANT propeller to move a GIANT ship!
The history buff in me enjoyed learning more about the ship's past...after all the last time I had visited, I was about Kylie's age.  I had no idea that while it was a U.S. Navy ship that it also housed some Marines.  I felt a connection to my grandfather who served in the Pacific theatre of WWII as this ship had while we were walking the decks.


And it had lots of, "Wow!  Wow!  Look at this!" cool stuff for the kids to check out and admire at every turn.

shells for the 16 inch guns

"you mean a wheel that small drives this boat?"
It was an enjoyable afternoon learning about the men who served aboard this boat to help protect our freedoms.  I feel that the future holds another visit to the U.S.S. North Carolina for us to pay our respects...


8 comments:

Emily said...

What a fun trip!

Gotta love that large family friendly mixer, xtra large soup pots and the efficient way to sleep many!

I'm thinkin' a visit there will be in our family's future. :)

Pam

Anonymous said...

How cute are they!! Looks like such a fun trip!!

Kathy said...

What a fun way to spend the day. The kids obviously had a great time!!

Grandma Shultz said...

Great excursion. Can see the excitement on their faces. Looks like they examined all of the ship.

Traci said...

How fun! We'll have to do that sometime!

Laurie said...

GREAT pictures! What a fun experience for the kids. The boys' excited faces cracked me up. They really WERE ready for this, weren't they? :)

kyjetplane11 said...

How fun! I loved this ship when me and my family visited it last summer.

Anonymous said...

Love to see your kiddos excited about our US ships!! Kylie might have a future being an officer of the deck somewhere...hehe. Not much has changed on US ships you know, the galley looks exactly like they still do.
FYI - planes have propellers- ships have screws.
Love cuz,
Ann