World War II Museum Visit

Dagobah Academy took its first field trip on Friday!  We were excited to have another parent "volunteer" to drive us into New Orleans.  It was special to have him take the day off of work to accompany us to the World War II museum.  It was education and family fun in one!!

My soldiers waiting for their train to boot camp.

While we aren't necessarily studying this war at the moment, it was still beneficial for the kids to soak up even a bit of the information this museum had to offer.  Our family on both sides had members fight in World War II.  If you looked at our family tree, we could probably re-enact Lt. Dan's war history video montage from Forrest Gump.  

The 4-D video that accompanies this museum is spectacular and definitely worth the extra cost.  It brought to life, the serious nature of this war and the unity that our country felt at the time.  My sixth grader told us that he understood the inappropriate nature of war simulation video games after visiting this museum, which means he soaked in the gravity.  Win!

We visited the Boeing center, which highlighted the aircraft used in the war.  This was a big hit with the kiddos.  Seeing these monster planes hoisted in the air definitely made an impactful impression.  My smile was big and bright when a reference was made to one of our recent homeschool lessons.  Win again!

Lunch at the museum was dynamite, as you might expect from a restaurant in New Orleans.  The food down here really is sensational.  Thank goodness we counted the stairs we climbed (over 400), to lessen the food guilt.  

My small one lost a tooth at the perfect time in the museum, just as we entered the Pacific fighting section.  There are warnings about the graphic images that you encounter in this area.  When I went back through (sans "wee girl"), I was happy that we had visited the restroom instead.  Severed heads hanging from trees aren't images needed to be branded into a sensitive kid's head.  That part of the war was totally brutal!

We had a great day.  The kids and I were happy to be out of the house and to enjoy time with our "volunteer".  It always turns out to be a big experience when we leave New Orleans.  We drive past the cars stuck in traffic down a wide open road toward home sweet Houma.  The lack of traffic is, without a doubt, our favorite part about this new duty station.