Third Week of May

Monday was the much anticipated annual Footsteps Field Day, with all the typical field day competitions:  broad jump, 50 yd dash, wheel barrow races, three legged race, sack race, and kick ball game.

Tuesday was Music Day.  First as performers at the DaySpring Talent show:
Amber at Piano (See Video)
Titus at Piano (See Video) and he displayed some of his art
Lance at Cello (See Video)
Jared's at Guitar (See Video)
Then as an audience for our friends Homeschool Choir concert.

Thursday, was our big day of ships in Wilmington, NC.  This was our first time going to the city or anywhere near the beach since moving to North Carolina. We were pleased to find the trip, though long (two hours), very manageable.  For our day long adventure we met up with 7 other families, making up about 30 people total.

First stop, touring floating replicas of Columbus' Nina and Pinta.  The Nina is a full scale replica built in Brazil of Iron wood.  The Pinta is sized up because if was real size it would be too small to tour.  Our guide gave us a thorough history of the ships under Columbus and after.  Nathan got dubbed, "Juan", our cabin boy, who we learned was the only person who could fit below deck.  Apparently, the crew spent 100% of their time out on deck exposed to the elements.  We also learned the misunderstanding of the term "Poop Deck", it has nothing to do with No. 2 but actually a reference to rope idols the sailors would make and put on the front of the ship for good luck "Poupe Dolls"; the more dolls the more worried the sailors.  We learned a lot from our tour guide.  They do take summer hires to sail these ships around the United States for tours, however, none of our crew was interested; might have something to do with the 5'4" head room below deck.  Next stop the USS North Carolina.

After a quick picnic lunch in the parking lot we headed in for our tours.  I say plural because we had to breakup into three groups.  The first group was limited on time, they could only tour the boat for 90 minutes.  

The second group was full of the younger children and weren't sure how long their attention span would last.I took charge of this group.  Our tour guide was perfect for our age group, like an adoptive doting grandfather.  The kids loved his stories and his encouragement to touch, he even helped me lift them up onto and into different various parts of the battleship.

The final group was the kids ready for the full two hour tour.  Chris went on this tour with Lance and Jared.  This tour guide was a retired Navy Commander, with a love for the navy and history the boys were all absolutely bubbling with all the information the gathered on the tour.  It's hard to explain how truly thankful and in awe we all were after our tours.  Jared in particular can't wait to go again.

Friday, was the year end party for Titus' Spring Baseball team, The Raptors.  The celebrated by attending a NC State Baseball game.  Coach Tyson, was a great coach with a real talent and passion for the game.  Titus really liked all the time he spent playing First Base.  It was good season of playing and instruction.  As luck would have it, Titus even got a game ball at the NC State game.

Saturday, was another busy day.  Lance had the start of a Mustang Tournament, the rest of us stayed home to run our stop on the "Tour d' Coop".  The "Tour d' Coop" is an annual festival of houses around the Raleigh area that people can tour to learn more about having urban chickens.  This is our second year as a show house on the tour.  Jared is a huge help giving tours.  Amber and Titus did a great job selling lemonade and managing the sign-in table.  Then in the evening we went to watch a play our friend, Nathan, was staring in called "Daniel".  It was a really long day, but the day wasn't over, our friends were arriving a day early.  More on that in the next post.