Off to a great start!

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Our first day has been great! We knew it was going to be a bit cooler and wet so we did some activities to accommodate (need to keep warm/sunny days for the beach!!). We headed to the USS Nautilus Sub and Museum. It's free and it's neat. We spent the beginning of the time reading items and looking through artifacts. Then all of a sudden we saw a bunch of men in dress whites. Hmm?? We got kicked out of an area that had a podium set up. Not sure what ceremony was going on, but...

We then headed to the actual sub. Jacob complains about his room being small and after touring the sub has decided it's not sooooo bad. I'm definitely not made to be a navy gal. An added bonus -- none of us slammed our heads when going through the "doors." All happy to make it up the steps and into the fresh air again. We were even greeted by a tug boat.

Just some info about the Nautilus. It is the first nuclear powered submarine. It was started on June 14, 1952 at the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corp in Groton, Connecticut and launched on January 21, 1954. 318 feet in length and 27 feet across it had a max speed of 24 knots and max depth of 700 feet. It had 6 torpedo tubes. On July 23, 1958 it started on a Top Secret mission "Operation Sunshine" -- the first crossing of the North Pole. This crossing happened on August 3, 1958.

Hmm...It's noon and our stomach's are growling! We decided to eat at Village Pizza and all agreed it was good, but a LOT of food. Guess what's for supper tonight???!!!

Next stop...nice houses. Nana took us through a private area that had some really nice waterfront properties. She showed us the house she always wanted to live in when she struck it rich and grew up (needless to say, that didn't happen). On to the next on the agenda...Southeastern Connecticut Children's Museum. Emma LOVED it! She got to make it rain, made a weather vane, stood inside a kaleidoscope, did an archeological dig in Egypt, played basketball with a ping pong ball and hair dryer and lots of other things. Well worth the $7 per person admission fee. Michael and Jacob chose to stay in the car and read.

Then we located Lollipops and Gumdrops. YUM! ('nuff said)

After supper, we headed to see 'Nutter Nana and Aunt Jo. A little back story. When Jacob was two, Nana and Grandpa Leo and Aunt Jo were coming for Angie's wedding. When we were telling him about it, he got confused and said "Nana is coming?" We explained to him that it wasn't his Nana, but another nana...he couldn't say "another" and it came out "Nutter" and it's stuck ever since. Lots of visiting, Farkle and laughter. I'm proud of my two kids -- they were just fun, polite and overall great.

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Photos

MMM Ice Cream
After we bought ice cream, we couldn't get into Nana's car, so we walked to the beach. This is while we were waiting for Nana to get her beach pass from her car.

Toes in the Atlantic
Emma was at the ocean (same beach in fact) when she was one but of course has no memory of that. So, this was her "first time" at the ocean.

Snuggle Time
Doesn't happen often, but I try to enjoy it when it does.

The crew
FARKLE!!!

Partners
They had the magic touch and won the game.