Sunday, December 28, 2008

Pearl Harbor Day





























Today we went to Pearl Harbor. We had no real idea of what to expect, but it exceeded our expectations. You have to stand in line and get tickets for the USS Arizona Memorial, then come back when it is time for your tour. So, we had time to go and see the USS Missouri in the meantime. This was really cool, in case you don't know, this is where the peace treaty was signed with Japan. This ship was also used in Operation Iraqi Freedom, so there were modern things in the ship and lots of really cool things to look at. It's been raining on and off since we have been here and it started raining really hard just as we were finishing the "Mighty Mo" tour. From there we returned to the Arizona Memorial Visitors Center. They show you a documentary film of the Pearl Harbor attack before you are ferried out into the harbor to the memorial. Being the family cry baby, I had to wipe away tears before boarding the ferry. The trip to the memorial is very solemn. It brings out all that patriotism and thankfulness for our military. I think anyone under 30 should be required to go watch the movie, then go to the memorial and look at the names on the wall. You can still see oil slowly bubbling up from the ships hull. Mason took a picture of that, isn't it amazing, oil bubbling up for over 60 years? What a huge ship. Our next stop was the USS Bowfin submarine and museum. This was awesome!! We all decided that there must be a maximum size allowance for submarine duty. It is really tight quarters! There were lots of cool dials, switches, levers, wheels, just general gadgets, all around. This eventually left me quoting Sean Connery in The Hunt for Red October. You know, "Aim 43 degrees south, prepare to dive, load torpedoes," just silly stuff like that...meanwhile Carey was making sonar sounds and spotting things on the "sonar", the other visitors thought we were crazy. The kids laid on the bunks, sat at the desks, talked on the phone/radio, oh wait, that was me and Carey! Anyway, it was a great day, Mason was even smiling, mainly when he was laughing at me. The day ended with Shaved Ice from Matsumoto's in Haleiwa and crab hunting in the dark across the street from the house. Madi prayed as we left Pearl Harbor, thanking God for those that gave their lives for others in Pearl Harbor and for those still fighting today. We should all echo that prayer and remember the ultimate sacrifice that God made when He gave His Son for us, while we were just us not deserving a single thing. His grace, greater than all our sins.

1 comments:

Boog said...

"Gee, all I wanted to do was have a peaceful tourist day and those fruity rednecks from Texas had to ruin it..they're nuts, they belong in a nut house." - guy in back ground of mighty mo picture w/ goatee. Sounds awesome, proud of ya'll for going to see that. Love ya!