Tall Ships Sailing

We went on a field trip through Oregon Connections Academy (Leilani's school) to Coos Bay to go on what they call "tall ships."  They are sailing brigs.  The one we went on was "The Lady Washington."  It was used as "The Interceptor" (Bristish ship) in the movie, Pirates of the Carribean. 

Waiting to board the ship.

Waiting to sail.

When we started our trip, the sails were not down and ready to go.

As soon as the trip was underway, the kids started to learn how to help hoist the sails, and how to tie knots and loop the ropes for the rigging.

The video shows one of their first lessons.

The crew was very patient with the kids, as they taught them how to sail.

 

 

 

Once the sails were up, the kids were divided into three groups to learn about sailing, trade, navigation, etc.

 In the navigation section, they learned to read charts,

 how to use a sextant to navigate by the sun and starts,

 how the compass was able to roll around and stay upright on the rolling seas,

 and how to plot how fast you are going and in which direction you are going.  They also learned that only the ship's captain or officer could navigate, because they were the only ones with education...and you use a lot of math and science to navigate a ship.

This kind of ship is steered with a tiller instead of a wheel, so they learned some of the pros and cons of that too

Robert decided to sleep during the classes, which made life a little easier.

 In the next section they learned about the life of a sailor.  This tilly bag was all a sailor had to put his personal items in for years at sea.

 They learned how to splice broken rope,

 and how to use a metal pick like tool to undo knots.

 They were not impressed with the hardtack,

 or the salt pork,

but they were impressed by the rope crafts...

 and the carvings on whale bone that the sailors did.

 They learned that the sailors were uneducated, so they didn't have numbers on the cards that they played with - they didn't know that 7 meant seven.  They would just count the pictures on the card to know how many were on it.

 They were glad to find out that the sailors did carry toothbrushes with them sometimes.

 The last section was on trade routes in the 1700's and 1800's.  They sat inside the ship for this part.

 

 

 

They learned that the sailors on this ship would trade copper, guns, jewelry and pots to the Indians on the west coast of North America for the furs of sea otters (there are no more in Oregon...they were all trapped out), beaver, etc. and then take them to China.  In China they would trade for tea.  Then they would sail back to the east coast (most often Boston) and sell the tea to the people living there.

 

This is what the tea looked like.  It was pressed into an embossed brick, and then broken apart when they sold it.  I had no idea that was what it looked like.

When the lessons were over, we returned to the top of the ship to prepare the sails for the end of the trip and docking.

 The sailors climbed the rigging to take in the top sails.

 The kids worked down below.  By this time, they knew what they were doing, and didn't need the help of the crew.

It was a great day!  Very fun and very educational.  It was well worth the drive down to Coos Bay, and I hope we get to do it again sometime.  I would recommend it to anyone!

 

The Cure Just Might Be Worse Than the Injury!

I try not to whine a lot, really I do, but I am REALLY not enjoying my feet right now!  My right foot has hurt since I was pregnant with Robert.  I do not know how I injured it - I don't even remember exactly when it started to hurt - it has just hurt for a long time.   It hurts the worst in the morning when I first get up, or after I have been sitting and then stand up on it, but it always hurts. I limp around like an old lady sometimes.  I just figured it was part of the pregnancy aches and pains and would eventually go away. Then, I sprained my right ankle before Christmas, and it has never healed up completely either.  I want to start exercising and losing the baby weight, and my foot has been getting worse instead of better, so I finally broke down and went to the doctor.

He diagnosed me with Plantar Fasciitis.  He told me that I had injured the bottom of my foot, and a tendon was torn right where it met up with the bone in my arch.  He said because I had let it go so long without treatment, I had lots of scar tissue built up and lots of swelling.  He also said that was the reason my ankle hadn't healed up - because my foot couldn't support it, and I was rolling my foot when I walked to compensate for the pain.  I was excited!  I knew what was wrong now, so let's treat it and be done with it!  Well, it turns out that it isn't that easy.  And my lifestyle is not meant to heal this foot injury.  :(

You might be wondering what I mean by that.  Well, apparently the WORST thing you can do with this injury is go barefoot.  The next worst thing is to wear flip flops, sandals or flats.  If you don't know me that well, you might not realize that I HATE shoes.  I wear them when I have to, but they come off the minute I enter the house.  I walk outside barefoot (I hiked the narrows in Zion barefoot - and yes, the bruises were worth it!), I ride in the car barefoot, I just do not like to have my feet confined to shoes.  So if I do wear shoes, it is usually something I can slip on and off quickly.

Well, no more.  The first thing my doctor said was "buy new shoes."  The he looked at the flats I had slipped on to go to the doctor, told me they were pointless, and said, "buy good shoes that support your feet."  I explained my problem with shoes, and he asked if I wanted to be in pain the rest of my life.  I didn't, so he told me to go get some good running shoes (and lectured me on getting good ones - I quote him, "Don't get $30 running shoes, or they will be $30 running shoes.  I want you to spend $80-$100 and get some good shoes that will support your arch and hold your feet in the right position."  Since I am often a Target/Walmart clearance shoe shopper, and have never spent that much on shoes in my life, he blew my mind.  :)  Then he told me that I had to buy Orthotic inserts to wear in the shoes and further support my feet.  And I needed a brace to wear on my foot at night.  Oh the $$$$ that was flashing in my mind.  The exercises and the ice bottle to roll my foot on were free, though.  I asked how long this foot was going to take to heal?  Of course that depends on how diligently I follow the treatment plan...but anywhere from 2 months to 2 years.  WHAT?!!!!!

So, I went shopping.  The Eugene Running Company fit me into a nice, expensive pair of Brooks running shoes, and helped me get some nice orthotic insoles.  I got my night brace, froze my water bottle, and started treating my foot.

And now I CAN"T STAND IT!!!!   I cannot wear shoes all day.  It is killing me!  I just want to rip them off.  It has been two weeks, and it is not getting any better (well my foot was getting better - I say was because I reinjured it the other day when I wore boots for a few hours instead of my running shoes...which was apparently stupid, and now I am starting all over again - but getting used to having shoes on all the time is not getting better).  I really am not sure I can do this.  It is going to come down to mind over matter I guess.  I just want my feet to be free again.  Summer is almost here, and I am going to be clunking around in these monstrous shoes the whole time, instead of feeling the grass and sand between my toes.  I just hope and pray that it doesn't take too long to heal.  I am totally committed to the treatment, so I can get these stupid shoes off my feet!  I guess I'll just take one day at a time.  Sigh.........  And now that I have ranted about this and got it off my chest, I will just suck it up and make the best of it!  Here's to a future of pain free feet!  :)

I made It !

 I found this carseat blanket on Pinterest that I wanted to make for Robert's carseat.  He always kicks his blanket off when we are carrying him around, and there have been times that Alan hasn't even noticed (found a wet blanket lying in the driveway by the car one morning!).  So, I ran off the lady's instructions, and went to my Mom's house for help.  She had some flannel I could use, and helped me make a pattern (and then my sister, Kim, improved my pattern).  I wanted to make it big enough that he could use it when he goes into a front facing carseat also - that way he wouldn't be able to kick it onto the floor then either.
                                              
It turned out really nice.  We measured and sewed openings for the straps.  I measured the bigger seats, and they actually measure a little smaller, so the blanket will fit there too.  The original blanket instructions had a hood, but I decided to leave that off.

 Robert likes it.  I was worried about whether or not to use it in warmer weather, but my mom pointed out that it would be nice to have when you are running the air conditioner in the car.

 It took me a while to make, but I am very happy with the results!  It fits his stroller straps too, so we have been able to use it on walks in the cooler spring weather.  We made it big enough, that Robert ought to be able to use it for a while, and he loves to snuggle in it.  Hurray!

Evergreen Air & Space Museum

Leilani's school had a field trip to the Evergreen Air and Space Museum in McMinville.  We had never been there before, because it is very expensive (at least in my opinion - $25 for adults and $23 for kids).  Since her school got a group rate of $8 each, we decided to take the other kids out of school and go as a family (families are welcome to go on almost all of the field trips).  We were missing Emily, because she is still on her trip with Grandma and Grandpa Bevans, but the rest of us really enjoyed it!

 While we waited for the tour to start, we played in the kids' room.  They had planes to sit in,

 and planes to ride on.  (The kids had fun pushing Robert around, but then they all decided to ride.  In the picture below you can see Alan pushing Leilani on a plane down the runway- she is holding Robert - and Elisabeth riding one behind them. Clicking on any picture will bring it up bigger.)
                                    
They also had flight simulators.  None of us were very good at flying.  We crashed over and over!
                                                                         

 We started out the tour at a replica of the plane the Wright brothers flew.

The tour guide told us many cool facts and fun stories.  He claimed that they often used castor oil on these prop planes, which would blow back on the pilots and cause them to have to go to the bathroom really bad.  So, when they landed, they would run from the planes to the porta potties on the edge of the field immediately.  He said that is where the term "hit the ground running" came from.  I can't find verification of this on google, but it is a good story anyway.

 As part of the tour, the kids made gliders out of styrofoam plates and a penny.  They had a competition to see whose plane could go the furthest.  Leilani came in 2nd the first race, but none of my kids placed the 2nd time. Benjamin kept having his penny come out and go flying, and his plane crash by his feet.

 The Spruce Goose is the plane that the museum is famous for.  It is a plane made from wood, as the model above shows.
                                     
It was hard to get the whole plane in a picture, because it is so big.  It is behind us in this picture. We got to go inside the hold, but it costs $50 to go up in the cockpit.
                                      
This picture is inside the hold looking back through the plane to the tail.  The beach balls are original, still blown up from the original flight (he says they are much better quality than the ones we have now).  Apparently they were supposed to help the boat float.

 I was finally able to get a picture from the 2nd story walk way.  It is quite the plane.  Apparently it still holds the record for the longest wingspan (I couldn't get the wings all in the picture).  I couldn't believe that it was only flown once for about 45 seconds.  A lot of time and money went into that plane!
                                           
                                           
                                          

We saw many other planes, and then we walked over to the space museum, which is in a different building.  They had many neat things.

 We walked down several flights of stairs under the building to get to the bottom of this rocket.

 This is looking up the rocket from the bottom.  They had a room you could go in that had the equipment used for launching it, and then you watched a five minute simulation of the actual launch.  The kids loved it!

They also had replicas of the equipment used for the first men to get to the moon.

 My kids really wanted to ride on the buggy!

 After we looked at both museums, the kids wanted to play on the playground.  It was of course air and space themed, and really fun!

We all really enjoyed the trip, and I'm glad we were able to go.  All of us learned something, and it was neat to see so many historical items close up.