Mystic Seaport

I remember enjoying a visit to Mystic Seaport (CT) when I was a child, and it was easy to stop there on our way from our home to Cape Cod today. Paul had never been there. We left the house at 6:10. It was one of those very rare times when I actually woke my children up in the morning. That only happens a couple of times a year. I woke them up at 5:55 and had them go to the bathroom, put on their shoes, and get in the van. The drive went very smoothly. We arrived in Mystic around 11:15. We had made one stop on the way for gas and to use the bathroom. Part of the time we listened to books on cd's (part of The Long Winter by Laura Wilder and part of The Mysterious Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo) and Paul also read a couple chapters of Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics to us). They also watched half of the movie Frozen, played on the iPad, looked for different states on license plates, ate the lunch I had packed, and listened to music on the radio.

Paul's parents were going to meet us there, but they decided to head straight to Cape Cod and meet us there in the evening. We spent 4 1/2 hours at Mystic Seaport. The kids really enjoyed the buildings that were very hands-on (Discovery Barn, Children's Museum, and Home Port). The art building was closed since the high season is over. We also participated in a man overboard drill on a wooden whaling ship. Nadia blew the horn five times, and Ian threw the life preserver over for the pool noodle man that went overboard. Nadia set her name upside down and backwards at the print shop. We all participated in a navigation quest, and because we completed it successfully, each child received a compass. Our final stop was to listen to a roleplaying presentation (that involved a doll) of life in 1876. After we left we drove two hours to our resort in Cape Cod. We stopped at a Wendy's on the way. Oliver napped for about an hour and then had a lengthy temper tantrum. While he napped we listened to more of The Long Winter, and after he woke up they watched the rest of Frozen.

After we checked in to the resort we put on our swimming suits and swam for about an hour in the heated indoor pool. Something was messed up with Paul's parents' reservation at the resort so they are spending their first night with us in our unit (using our sofa bed and we made a make shift bed out of cushions for Oliver on the floor of our room). The next five nights Nadia will use one of their bedrooms (they also have a two bedroom unit), Paul and I will stay in our master bedroom, and the boys will each have a twin sized bed in the second bedroom in our unit. Tomorrow we plan to head into Boston! Today was the first time the kids were ever in New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, or Massachusetts. Nadia really wants to go to New York City (to see the Statue of Liberty, etc.). Maybe we'll make a short trip up there next year. We do plan to spend a day in Corning, New York this fall.