New England Aqurinum

Today we visited the New England Aqurinum.

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We all had a blast walking around and checking all the exhibits. The petting zoo is cool! You can pet Stingrays and Sharks!

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JMan pats a Stingray

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GMans turn.

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Jellyfish

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Penguins

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The boys

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Myrtle

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Lunch!

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Lenore, JMan and JMan

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GMan at his cutest

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Not to be out done by his brother here’s GMan at his cutest

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Funny tee shirt

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All done. It’s not cheap but it’s fun!

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GMans BDay

Tonight we are celebrating GMans BDay. First stop Kimball bumper boats.

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And second was bumper boats!

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GMan get a tow…..again!

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Your bday hosts

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The kids were still up when I went to bed at 12:30 and apparent my better 1/2 heard them at 1:30, by at 6:15am all were asleep.

Driving Range

Brought the kids to the driving range today. All had fun and the best part is ice cream after.

GMan in action

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JMan in action

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Lowell Summer Music Series

Jess and I are at the Lowell Summer Music Series tonight. Kicking off for Buddy Guy is Quinn Sullivan…..he’s 14 years old and is better on a guitar than many folks four times his age.

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Buddy Guy and Quinn Sullivan jamming.

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JMans birthday strike again

This evening we went to our local Mexican Resturant ixtapa.

He asked for a Coke and got it.

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Then he was surprised by the wait staff with a happy birthday in Spanish. Pretty cool stuff. He was shocked when they placed a sombrero on his head! However, the ice cream made up for the shock!

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When we got home we had more sugar in the form of mini cup cakes.

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In case you forgot he turned six today.

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Fishing Derby

Today GMan and I went to the fishing derby at my club. GMan did all the work while I sat and enjoyed the wonderful spring weather.

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GMan in action.

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We didn’t catch anything but GMan still won a tackle box! GMan relaxes for some post derby fishing.

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Water snake in the pond.

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GMan art show

GMan art show was the other day. All the kids did something on stage and GMan’s class sung several French song including a funny in about a duck that wanted grapes at a lemonade stand.

After all he singing we wandered around to view the art.

First up is a paper mâché mask.

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Tea Pot Money Bank.

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Art is statement.

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Sea Scape.

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Electric Box (like the operation game).

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U.S.S Albacore

We visited the U.S.S Albacore today. Its a de-commissioned submarine in Portsmouth NH. According to a video we watched at the visitor center its the only sub on dry land open to the public. Go here for more information on Albcore Park.

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Here’s a few views of the outside.

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The troops!

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Twin screws.

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Space is cramped and I can imagine it was a busy place with 50 crew members aboard.

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Officers mess hall. This room is quite large and is located right off the main galley.

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GMan and JMan in the officers bunks.

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This room had its own sink! Very fancy accommodations. Here’s the sink down.

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The sub was full of crafty ways of storing 10 lbs of you know what in a 5 lb bag! Here’s the same sink in the up position. No conventional drain as the waste water simply ran out the back as you closed it up and them lead away to who knows where in a pipe.

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GMan hacking on a typewriter. I’m very happy to say he know what it was. However, I’m sure he was also looking for wifi so he could hack on his iPod.

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Quick….turn off the valve next to the tickle switch…you know the one next to the long weight (wait that is). Now this is my idea of engineering fun.

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GMan and JMan give it a whirl. Go left at the rock and head past the lighthouse for 3000 miles, look up and you might be in Galway Bay.

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Up pericope. GMan checks our the surroundings.

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Here’s the view.

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Here’s the sonar crew.

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JMan trying to close the mid ship hatch.

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The hatch.

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Galley head, complete with 47 valves, many more switches, knobs and handles. Note the rather lengthy instruction sheet on the back wall.

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This was a check list for diving. The diving officer would call the orders, which were repeated back to him and them he’d slide the corresponding plate from from left to right of vis-a-versa.

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Hmmm…….I don’t see Domino Pizza listed on the phone extensions options.

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This is not the Ritz. What we have here are 14 bunks. The highest number I remember seeing was 34. So with a crew of 50 this was defiantly a hot bunk situation. A lot of the photos were taken with Pano as it was the only way to capture the entire space. To give you an idea of size, the lockers at the end of the below photo are about 20″ wide.

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GMan and JMan in engine #2.

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A upward view to one of the escape trunks.

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Okay boys crank up the mains screws and lets head for home. GMan and JMan perched high in the engine room.

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Accidentally photo by a total stranger I asked to snap one of all of us.

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Here’s the official one.

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Commissioning Pennant flown during trials.

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Nice scale model of the sub.

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Last but not least the engineer in me had to snap a photo of some drawings in the museum.

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