Whale Watch

This was our crew for the whale watch yesterday.

Uncle George, Pete, Riley, Denise, Kate, Collin, Me, Reagan, Grandma Susan, Auntie Diane, and Auntie Cyn

The boat left out of Plymouth Harbor and we drove for one hour, hung out in whale territory for two hours, and then drove back.  That means we were on the boat for four hours!  When I heard that, I was a little nervous about how Kate would do in one place for four hours, but she did great. It was a wonderful experience for all of us, and a fantastic day to share with family!

The water was a little rough out in whale territory.  Collin and Riley both had headaches, and I have to admit that my stomach would have preferred less rolling and calmer water, but no one got sick.

 I think Kate had the MOST fun!  She loved being on the boat, and the minute we boarded she told me she saw a pink whale with pink eyes and a purple whale!!!

 It got cold out there!

 Reagan loves Uncle George.  They took a little "nap" on the boat.

The whales were so close to the boat; it was amazing.  We saw mostly humpback whales, but there were a few other whales in the distance.  

Here is a video I took:

I was happy to see whales so close to the boat because Kate was not really able to see the whales that were in the distance (although she said she saw them).  When we got close to the whales, Kate asked if she could swim with them.  I held on to her SO tight because she kept squirming and telling me she was going swimming.  YIKES!  I was a bit nervous about Collin and Reagan on the boat too, but everyone made it back to land without incident!

Overall, it was a wonderful day and a great experience!!!  I am so happy we went.  A HUGE thank you to Auntie Cyn for inviting us to come along on a trip that was originally supposed to be just her, Uncle George, Pete, Denise, and Riley.  

W is for Whale

We skipped over the letter V to work on W because we are going on a whale watch tomorrow, and I just love when our letters coincide with activities or outings!  

Kate really enjoys doing "homework" now.  She asks for it regularly.  I love that there are so many online resources available.  It's so easy to just print something for her to do!

She is especially fond of using glue.

The printable humpback whale craft that Kate finger painted is great.  I always look for printable crafts on the Learn Create Love site.

Charles W. Morgan Whaling Ship

 The Charles W. Morgan (America's last surviving whaleship) returned to New Bedford (the city of its "birth" in 1841) for a short visit June 28 through July 6.  Collin, Reagan, Kate and I met Papa and Grandma there this morning to go on board and check it out.

One interesting fact I read about the Morgan is that it took nine months and $52,000 for the ship to be built in 1841, but more than five years and $7.5 million dollars to restore the ship!

 You can't help but notice the cramped quarters on this boat.  I felt claustrophobic on the tour; I cannot imagine living on such a boat with a crew and all that went along with whaling.

One of the volunteers on the Morgan asked if anyone knew why the table had those pieces of wood on top.  Sure enough, Collin had the answer; they keep the dishes from sliding around too much.

After touring the ship, we entered a tent full of activities for the children.  All three of them enjoyed this!  The tent was not crowded, so we were really able to enjoy everything offered.

 The coolest craft was the "scrimshaw".  They were given skewers and small bars of soap, and they scratched designs onto the soap with the skewers.  Then, black shoe polish was rubbed over the designs to create the appearance of scrimshaw!

Kate's scrimshaw is on the upper left, and the other three are labeled.  Very cool!

Reagan made every craft possible.  Kate and Collin made a few.

 One of the volunteers told the kids she would give them bracelets if they could throw the "harpoon" into one of the circles.  Collin and Reagan both did this standing behind the line, but Kate just walked right up to the game board and pushed the harpoon through the circle.  Everyone thought this was funny, and she earned a bracelet.

Whales

We are having fun learning about whales and thought we would share some of our favorite whale books.

Whales by Gail Gibbons: This book is full of information about different types of whales. It is probably best for children age 6 and older. We looked at the illustrations together and I chose to read the information that I thought C and R would understand and enjoy learning. I do this often with books that are too old for them.

Giant of the Sea A Story of a Sperm Whale by Courtney Granet Raff : This book was perfect for C and R. It is a fictional account of how a pod of sperm whales work together to defend the youngest member of the pod from a hungry killer whale. While this book is a work of fiction, there are a lot of great facts about sperm whales in the book. Also, the book comes with a small stuffed sperm whale (this was a huge plus, of course).

Water Beds Sleeping in the Ocean by Gail Langer Karwoski: This book explains how marine mammals sleep in the ocean in a very soothing way. There is a great educational section at the back of the book to further extend the learning. I really like this book and think it is a worthwhile investment.

Ocean Seasons by Ron Hirschi: Seasons change in the ocean, just as they change on land, and this book describes how the ocean changes. This book also has a nice educational section that can be photocopied or downloaded from the publisher's website.

Moby Dick by Herman Melville (adapted for young readers): We have an adaptation that was compiled by the City of New Bedford, MA in 2001, I have not seen it available on-line. This book is for older children (probably age 10 and older) but we enjoyed the illustrations. I am adding this book to T's summer reading list; he is twelve.

If you have a favorite book about whales or the ocean, please let me know.

Here is a link to the whale craft we did last week. We started learning about whales during our Connecticut portion of the fifty states project, but C and R were so fascinated by the whales that we just extended our learning; that is a great thing!

Field trip to the Whaling Museum

I grew up in New Bedford, MA. If you have read Herman Melville's Moby Dick, then you know that New Bedford was once the whaling capital of the world and served as the setting for Moby Dick.

New Bedford has a beautiful whaling museum, and C and R enjoyed their first trip there this week.

C and R were amazed by the size of the Blue Whale skeleton; it is 66 feet long.
C is steering the whaling ship.

C and R learn how to raise the sail on a whaling ship.


This is the view from the observation deck at the museum.
The museum has an amazing collection of items related to whaling that C and R were not interested in at this time, but they both enjoyed the visit and look forward to going back soon.