Our grandson Christopher has spent summer vacations with us since he was two. He is now nine. This summer his six year old sister, Jacqueline, joined us. We weren't sure how successful this adventure would be since we would be on board for four weeks. Many friends thought this was more daring than our travels through the Caribbean!
We left St Louis on a two day road trip to Carolina Beach, NC. Stopping every 100 miles gave everyone plenty of opportunities to walk, drink, eat and go to the bathroom! Our first three nights onboard were in Carolina Beach. We needed to provision and reward the kids with time at the beach and swimming in the marina's pool.
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| Brian is so happy to have someone that enjoys touring BIG ships with him. The USS North Carolina in Wilmington. |
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| There had been 7 shark attacks recently in the area. We were all content to walk the beach and play in the sand. |
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| Pool time! |
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| Not one but two nights of fireworks right off the bow of our boat. |
While traveling north we tried to maintain a schedule of anchoring two nights followed by one night in a marina. After ten days of travel we arrived at Solomon's Island in the Chesapeake, where we stayed for two days. More swim time and a visit to their wonderful maritime museum. On the 15th of July we picked up a mooring ball in Annapolis near Ego Alley (the heart of downtown). The dingy was splashed and we were off to see one of our favorite cities.
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| A stop in New Bern, the birthplace of Pepsi, (of course, I would have preferred Coke) allows time to see Tryon Palace and sit in a real dug out canoe. |
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| Beautiful scenery along the way. |
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| Walking to the Dairy Queen in Chesapeake, VG. |
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| Feeding turtles |
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| Norfolk, where the BIG BOYS hang out! One huge Navy ship after another. |
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| Solomon's Island Maritime Museum. A megalodon, prehistoric shark, shows off his big teeth. |
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| Thomas Point Lighthouse. We are almost to Annapolis! |
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| On the mooring ball |
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| Dingy in the water -- heading for town! |
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| Noon formation at the Naval Academy. All midshipmen assemble to march into lunch. |
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| Drum and Bugle Corps plays at the noon formation. It's a treat to see such a show of patriotism. |
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| Inside the academy chapel |
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| John Paul Jones' crypt. The father of the US Navy. |
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| Resting during a shopping trip. Only one missing in the picture must be the one shopping. |
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| Nap time in the dingy. |
Our daughter, Jennifer, finished her recurrent G550 training in Savannah earlier than expected. We had left a car in Carolina Beach so she drove a rental there and then drove our car to Annapolis for an unexpected ten day visit. We all were so glad to see her. She always adds another layer of fun.
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| The three J's together again! |
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| Time to introduce Jennifer to the Academy |
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| Mahan Hall -- one of my favorite buildings at the academy. |
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| The Maryland State House was the first national capital. It was also where General Washington resigned his commission in 1783. |
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| Tripoli Monument (the oldest military monument) commemorates the war against the Barberry Pirates. It was in Italy until 1806 when it was brought to the US on the USS Constitution.  town for you! There are cannons everywhere all sizes, shapes and nationalities. 
The Goddard Space Center is the NASA facility that
monitors the Hubble Space Telescope. The kids in a space capsule. |
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| Some of the displays at Goddard. This facility has the largest concentration of scientist in the world. |
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| Tuesday nights Naval bands play at the Annapolis City Docks. This group played great rock and roll. Yes, that is a bagpipe center stage playing an amazing rendition of an AC/DC hit. |
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| A day trip to Baltimore. |
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| Touring the submarine Torsk in Baltimore's inner harbor. |
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| The kids were getting a bit rowdy as we drove back from Baltimore. Jennifer had a stroke of genius when she convinced them to pretend they were asleep. |
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| The entire purchase of a Costco run and five people fit in the dingy. Not one foot touched the floor |
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| No swimming in this water -- jellyfish everywhere. |
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| Striking a pose in her new outfit. |
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| You really need to be a BBC Top Gear fan to understand this. Jennifer suggested a race fashioned after the show. Jen and I walked from downtown and Brian took the kids in the dingy to our car/dingy rendezvous point. I was James May, Captain Slow, going directly to the dingy dock. Jen was Richard Hammond walking to the car and then doubling back to the dock in the car. All the time Brian and the kids went as fast as possible to the dock as Jeremy would have done. I was first, Brian came in second and Jen a respectable third. The kids thought it was hysterical -- one of the highlights of their trip! |
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| Sadly, it is time to say good-bye. |
Gotta smile -- we're lovin the ride!
What we did to keep Jacqueline and Christopher busy.
Every morning they woke up before us, went to the pilot house and did four pages of school work.
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| Learned about the engine room |
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| Made jewelry |
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| Played with Legos |
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| Exhausted after having hair and nails done. |
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| Crafts |
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| Baked and cooked. Ate new foods (lobster roll and oysters on the half shell). |
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| Found fossils at the maritime museum and cleaned them onboard. |
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| Learned to drive the dingy. |
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| Lots of posing for pictures! |
