Battleship Cove

We took a family field trip to Battleship Cove yesterday. This year D studied world history from 1849 to the fall of the Berlin Wall, so this trip tied in nicely to our study of WWII. The girls enjoyed the trip too, though they didn't ask too many questions about the nature of the ships we visited, which is probably a good thing. As a parent, I really struggle with the idea of teaching my children about war, or about glamorizing it in any way. War is terrible and violent, but war is also an unavoidable part of our human history. On our trip I tried to downplay the act of war itself, and instead bring to mind the courage of the men and women who have sacrificed so much to defend our country and our lives. We imagined what it might be like to live in such a small space, to go without privacy or a room of your own for months or even years, to go without seeing your family and friends, and to have the knowledge to operate all those buttons and switches on the sub - so many buttons and switches!

On board the USS Massachusetts

And onboard the USS Lionfish

Yikes, talk about close quarters! Not sure I could live on a sub without losing my mind due to extreme claustrophobia.

Checking out a ... shark boat?

Field trips are exhausting...