21 Aug 2008
Today we went to Corpus Christi after Jared got off work (at 11:00 a.m.!) It was qutie a drive - 250 miles - but we really had a good time. We went to see the USS Lexington. They have parked it in the bay and turned it into a really neat museum. If you didn't know, this is a VERY FAMOUS ship. It was built in the 1920's and participated in nearly every major operation in the pacific during WWII. It's planes destroyed 372 enemy aircraft in the air and 475 more on the ground. It was nicknamed the "Blue Ghost" because it was painted blue (instead of camo) and the Japanese reported sinking it 4 different times. It is was the oldest ship in service when it was decommissioned in 1991. The tour was really neat - we spent almost 2 1/2 hours there. 
This is us walking up to the ship.
This is Tyler holding the nose of an F-14 on the flight deck.
Here we are next to the F-14. I didn't know this but the wings on almost all the navy planes fold up so that they can put them on giant elevators and move them down to the hanger area underneath the flight deck.
Here are the boys next to a helicopter. It's probably a famous kind.
Jared was really excited to move the gun up and down and aim it at the bridge over to the city.
This is us walking up to the ship.
This is Tyler holding the nose of an F-14 on the flight deck.
Here we are next to the F-14. I didn't know this but the wings on almost all the navy planes fold up so that they can put them on giant elevators and move them down to the hanger area underneath the flight deck.
Here are the boys next to a helicopter. It's probably a famous kind.
Jared was really excited to move the gun up and down and aim it at the bridge over to the city.
I have no explanation. Don't forget to read the latin on the sign.
Here is Tyler at the controls of some kind of awesome Navy thing - probably a plane.
Here is Tyler at the controls of the entire carrier.
This is the naughty boy farm.
These are the actual sleeping quarters for the sailors. The kids barely fit.
Here is Kevin ordering lunch from the ghost ship's mess crew.Afterward we went to the beach. It was getting dark and I didn't want to get sand in my camera so I don't have any pictures. But we all had a lot of fun playing in the waves for an hour or so (it was still 90 degrees even though it was nighttime). As we were leaving we noticed that the sand seemed to be wiggling. We eventually realized that at night the entire beach is absolutely COVERED with sand crabs (that by the way are exactly the same color as the sand - which doesn't matter when it's dark). Everyone had shoes but Jared - luckily he didn't get bitten - by a crab anyway.
Here is the mosquito bite count:
Jared - many more than 20
Sue - 17
Tyler - 25
Derek - many more than 50
Kevin - 1 or possibly 2
Kevin must have yucky diabetic blood.
2 comments:
I've heard about writing your journal in advance, but you are really going out on a limb, writing down in such detail about what is going to happen next week!
Glad you all had a happy birthday and fun outing to Corpus Christi. At Rebecca's reception I was talking with someone who also served in the Navy and lived in Corpus Christi for some town, so I learned for the first time that it is fairly close to where you are -- close by Texas standards, anyway.
Dad Cooper
Oh! Jas and I are laughing so hard we're crying. The picture of "non bustus" Derek is SO good. That is an ultra cool battleship. I wish I had a private jet to go get Kevin so he could come here. Lucky. You get Kevin head!
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