Day 278, Year 8: Inside a Whale
Date: Thursday, August 8, 2013
Weather: Rainy Morning, Clearing in the Afternoon
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
The weather forecast dictated our day, but as usual, the forecast did not materialize. We woke up to rain and there was a chance of rain all day. Heather called early saying the boys really didn’t want to go to their last swimming lesson of the summer in the rain, so we reset the plan. Since the Sam and Jonah have been on vacation in Maine, I had planned a very low key day. But the alternate was to go to the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History to participate in their Inflatable Whale Program and that is what Sam and Jonah chose to do. Going there requires about an hour in the car each way and I thought after traveling to Maine that they would definitely NOT want to get in a car again. But they did, and off we went.
We made a quick stop at our new storage unit as Jonah was very curious and wanted to see it. After that, we drove the 45 minutes to Dennis to the Museum. The parking lot and overflow parking lot were full to the brim. I guess the weather sent more than just us to the museum. We put our names on a waiting list for the inflatable whale program, and proceeded to explore. Compared to the Museum of Science in Boston, this is a tiny, tiny, little place. But it seemed to be just the right size for Sam and Jonah to truly enjoy. We alternated between exploring indoor exhibits and going to walks on the trails outside. The outside trails are great and I could just let the boys run in the sunshine and soak in nature. Sam loved this part of the day. While outside we observed juvenile Osprey in their nest that we had watched on the live CAM inside the museum. Jonah really enjoyed the snakes in the Marshview Room and all of the turtles in Turtle Bay. Both boys loved the honeybee observation hive and the display on sharks—especially the shark cage. And we all loved experiencing the 45 foot inflatable whale. We got to learn about whales from the inside out by sitting inside the inflatable and listening to the presenter. Sam and Jonah both know so much about ocean life. Sam was the only person in the whale that could answer a question about what adult sperm whale eat (answer: giant squid). And Jonah could answer questions about whales that Sam and I couldn’t that were part of a game before we went into the inflatable.
The boys napped on the way back to Falmouth. I stopped by Heather and Jed’s to pick up swim suits and we then headed to Woods Hole to our favorite beach–Stoney. I had on jeans and couldn’t go in the water with the boys, but they had a wonderful time frolicking on their boogie boards and playing in the sand. After the beach, we went to pick Jed up at Redfield (the building where he works in Woods Hole) which is right next to the dock Windbird is calling home for a week. Sam and Jonah just had to run down and see Windbird in her new home.
Tomorrow I am going to check out some furniture and clothing consignment shops in the area and will then return to Woods Hole to watch the boys while Heather does afternoon fund raising on her public radio station. It is that time.
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| 130808 Day 278 Cape Cod, USA–Cape Cod Museum of Natural History |
