field trip!

Yesterday we took a field trip with a local homeschool group to the Old Coast Guard Station in Virginia Beach. Despite the 4 traffic jams endured getting there and back, it was a great experience. The museum staff spent over an hour with our group, teaching them about all the surfmen and their lifesaving apparatus, showing them the equipment, and telling stories of shipwrecks and daring rescues. They even have a video cam of the view out to the sea at their website.

I read recently a new children's book out about the experiences of a young boy, who wants to be a surfman on Pea Island in NC called Storm Warriors. Here is a bit of a review of the book:

From Publishers Weekly

Elisa Carbone bases her inspiring and little-known tale on actual rescues during the late 1800s on Pea Island, on the Outer Banks of N.C. The island acted as the base for a division of the United States Life-Saving Service (precursor to the Coast Guard). Twelve-year-old narrator Nathan lives close to the station with his grandfather and widower father, both fishermen who often assist in the rescues. From the outset, Nathan outlines the cause of racial tension between the Pea Island crewmen and the nearby Oregon Inlet crewmen and sets the stage for several incidents that discourage the boy's dream of someday joining Pea Island's Life-Saving crew, the only such crew manned by African-Americans. Yet the determined boy pores over books he finds in the station's library, learning about rescue procedures and first aid, proves himself a competent helper in sea rescues and eventually finds his own calling. Ages 10-up.

Afterwards we went to Mt Trashmore for a picnic and time on the playground. The older kids had to run up to the top of the "mountain" at least one time and several rolled down. The only hill in the city of Va Beach used to be the dump, designed to become a park. The kids were facinated that under the grass and dirt was years worth of garbage. Having run up and down that hill several times in high school cross country meets, let me tell you, it is a lot higher and steeper than it looks.

I'm glad we went on the trip, but one large group activity every month or so is enough for me. It's exhausting trying to keep the little ones quiet, the baby fed, and everyone in a good humor for that many hours. It is easier to go to museums on our own, but I appreciated the presentation and playtime offered by being part of a group.