Rob and the California George Family

It's amazing what photo editing software can do. Thanks, Tim, for the improvement!

Labels: Bingo, Disneyland, Photo, Rob

Labels: Family, Photo, Vacation

Hayley is spending the night, as part of a 5th grade school program, on the
Brig Pilgrim in Dana Point Harbor. To prepare for this trip, the class reads Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana. The book describes Dana's experience as a sailor on the Pilgrim as it sailed from Boston to California and back.

The kids get to experience life as members of the crew. They are split into groups that have to do a job ranging from line handlers to hide gatherers to galley crew. There were no women, so they are all "men" for this trip. One member of each group is a "mate" and is addressed as "Mr. xxx" (substituting their last name for xxx). Other sailors are just addressed by their last name.

The officers include the Captain and the First Mate. There is also a cook on board. As in historical times, the Captain is stern and quick to give out punishments as needed (no beatings, but swabbing the deck, eating an onion, stuff like that). Each group is assigned a 2 hour shift of standing watch on deck during the night too. They will be very tired tomorrow and, fortunately, don't have to go to school!

Andrew and Bethany both did the Pilgrim overnight trip when they were in 5th grade and had a very memorable time. I tried to sign up as an adult participant this time, but my name was not picked. Celeste got to do it with Drew. Adults are the "tall sailors" and also get chores, punishments as needed, etc. Lots of funny stories come back from this trip.

Labels: Hayley, Photo, Pilgrim, School