On our last morning in San Diego, Lance went to the San Diego Temple with his brother Lane and sister Laurel. Cindy (Lane's wife) and I took our kids for a short walk to see the ships docked in the harbor. The oldest 5 wanted to tour the ships, boats and Russian submarine, so we paid the steep admission and the rest of us (Cindy, 11-year-old Noah, 7-year-old Makenzie and I) waited on the sidewalk while the 5 toured the boats.
A cleverly-costumed and lovely female docent approached our small "captive" audience and began a conversation with us. Actually, docent Anne conversed mostly with Noah. Noah knew nearly every answer to every question Anne asked him. Not only did Noah know the correct answers, he expounded on his knowledge. Anne was impressed. Heck, I was impressed! Anne complimented him and said that most 8th-graders don't know the information 5th-grade Noah knows. This only increased Noah's confidence and he became even more engaged in the conversation.
About an hour into the docent-Noah interaction, a male docent showed up and joined the fun. Docent Al, too, was impressed. He presented Noah with a gold-plated coin replica. Then Anne asked Cindy if she could borrow Noah, and she took him aboard the Star of India (the oldest active sailing vessel in the world). Soon Anne collected Cindy and Makenzie to board the ship. Then it was my turn.
Cindy, Noah and Makenzie (along with a few others) helped hoist the main sail while I snapped away with my trusty digital camera. Somehow, our other 5 kids showed up along with Lane and Lance, and all but Lance boarded the Star of India with us. (Lance had to keep our van running because the battery had just been jump-started. That, of course, is another story. Plus he had to rent a projector for the night's slide show.)
Al and Anne spent the next hour and a half with just us giving us a private informational tour and a history of the boat. In the bilge, the kids even got to slide into the belly of the boat on a board attached to a track. Mark and Noah took turns sword-fighting with Al. Turns out, Al was an extra and a production assistant on the movie Master and Commander. He let the kids hold Russell Crowe's "real" sword. All the kids got the special coins. We were treated like celebrities. Both docents were quick to point out that the reason for our special treatment was that Noah knew history.
This is a story for our family history book.
A cleverly-costumed and lovely female docent approached our small "captive" audience and began a conversation with us. Actually, docent Anne conversed mostly with Noah. Noah knew nearly every answer to every question Anne asked him. Not only did Noah know the correct answers, he expounded on his knowledge. Anne was impressed. Heck, I was impressed! Anne complimented him and said that most 8th-graders don't know the information 5th-grade Noah knows. This only increased Noah's confidence and he became even more engaged in the conversation.
About an hour into the docent-Noah interaction, a male docent showed up and joined the fun. Docent Al, too, was impressed. He presented Noah with a gold-plated coin replica. Then Anne asked Cindy if she could borrow Noah, and she took him aboard the Star of India (the oldest active sailing vessel in the world). Soon Anne collected Cindy and Makenzie to board the ship. Then it was my turn.
Cindy, Noah and Makenzie (along with a few others) helped hoist the main sail while I snapped away with my trusty digital camera. Somehow, our other 5 kids showed up along with Lane and Lance, and all but Lance boarded the Star of India with us. (Lance had to keep our van running because the battery had just been jump-started. That, of course, is another story. Plus he had to rent a projector for the night's slide show.)
Al and Anne spent the next hour and a half with just us giving us a private informational tour and a history of the boat. In the bilge, the kids even got to slide into the belly of the boat on a board attached to a track. Mark and Noah took turns sword-fighting with Al. Turns out, Al was an extra and a production assistant on the movie Master and Commander. He let the kids hold Russell Crowe's "real" sword. All the kids got the special coins. We were treated like celebrities. Both docents were quick to point out that the reason for our special treatment was that Noah knew history.
This is a story for our family history book.
4 comments:
It's a good answer to the question,"When am I ever going to need to know this?"
You did awesome natalie. Noah and I read it together. How do I print this post.
Did you find any treasure? Great pic of quite a motley bunch.
What a bunch of swashbucklers!
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