Don't be a victim - Protect yourself

This Class is being taught by my Karate Instructor-Sensei Mitch and is well worth the time and $$. Make sure you tell him you read it here on "The Wearne's in the Woods"

An Autumn Afternoon Race

One of the nice things about homeschooling is the ability to allow the children to take a break and organize an afternoon race on a beautiful autumn day. Alex took the time to make the tinker toy race flags which would be used during the race. Here is the green flag, red flag and caution (yellow) flag.

The contestants during pre-race ceremonies (we were hoping for our normal afternoon f-15 flyover - it ended up being about an hour late!)
The green flag came out and #212 took the lead #18 is closing back in after getting loose coming out of turn # 2 due to Navarre crashing into him causing a 3 lap caution.

The Jolly flag man displaying the green flag.

And the winner is...#212 Beautiful Blue Star (aka. Ariel)

#18 performing his post race interview he may have lost the race but still in contention for the championship

Forty-One for Freedom

We had our first family home-school field trip this week. The title above refers to the 41 Boats that served as the Real deterrent to nuclear war during the Cold War era. We learned about these specific boats on our trip to the USS Nautilus Museum in Groton, CT. The Museum is made up of the Submarine Force Library and Museum and the USS Nautilus (SSN 571) which are located on the Thames River next to the Naval Submarine Base. There is no charge for entry although donations are welcomed. The Museum is self guided and there are volunteer Docents in the Museum and when you tour the Submarine you can get an Audio wand that gives you lots of details and information about what you are viewing as you make your way through the belly of the boat. There is a theater in the museum that has a 50 minute movie that plays every hour on the hour - Trust me it is well worth watching, I was amazed at the new things I learned in those 50 minutes. The museum is split into 2 era's the left wing is dedicated to the Cold War Era and the right wing is dedicated to the WWII Era.
When we left the Museum we took the short drive to the US Submarine Veterans of WWII National Memorial East. It was moving to see the stones engraved for each of the 52 submarines that were lost during that era and the walls with the names of all 3,617 submariners who lost their lives defending our freedom during WWII.
The kids were moved when we explained to them what we were observing, and it was hard to control the many emotions that were welling up inside me as I thanked God for all those who served our country and paid the ultimate price. I hope to take the kids to our nations capitol some day so they can see the multitude of memorials that remind us of the sacrifices made to preserve our freedom and the freedom of countless others.
Before heading home I decided to take the family on a short drive to show them where Electric Boat - the company who builds these awesome vessels - was located.
It was a great day full of education, fun, admiration, and remembrance.

For some great information and pictures of the Nautilus (SSN-571) you can also go to the following web page: http://www.subguru.com/nautilus571.htm

Their not just for Pregnacy Tests any more...

In case you are wondering - Yes, that title popped into my head as soon as I realized I would post about our family outing.

Rebecca was feeling under the weather yesterday so I decided since we were not getting together with anyone today I would get up early with the kids and take a road trip to attend a Poultry Swap at the NorthEastern Avicultural Society monthly meeting which is held at the Westford Sportsman's Club in Westford, Massachusetts.

I woke the kids up early this morning and to my surprise Rebecca decided to go along for the ride. I found out about the event from my fellow BYC members and was excited to see the different types of chickens, ducks, geese, game birds, exotic tropical birds and lots of different types of bunnies.

Before departing I checked the web site one final time for the address and was thrilled to find out that they were going to have a Falconry demonstration / informational session.

We had no plans on purchasing anything today but our hearts were stolen by a pair of little girl bunnies (Yes I verified this when I got home as we don't want them to multiply!) who we named Sadie and Miley. They are a mix of Dwarf and Mini-Rex so they should remain small and seem to enjoy human interaction. Sadie is similar in color to an eastern cottontail and Miley has the white patches and blue eyes (in the pictures they are red from the camera flash.