USS New York

We visited the USS New York, LPD-21 (Landing Platform, Dock), and Gramma came along too.

The USS New York is a state of the art amphibious assault ship, and was commissioned on November 7, 2009. Her bow contains 7.5 tons of steel from the World Trade Center. Her motto is : Strength forged through sacrifice. Never forget. She can carry a crew of 363 (360 Navy, 3 Marines), and an expeditionary landing force of 699 Marines.












This is Mikro's description of our day:

We went on the USS NY. It's big, but it's not as big as the Intrepid. They had just a few helicopters on the flight deck --Intrepid has more aircraft-- and they also had tanks you could go in, and a new technology prototype which you couldn't [go in]. And no bathrooms. At least, none that were signed as restrooms! It was fun. I went with my Gramma. And there was also something that was very sharp that was on the floor. It can rip flesh. It's called "No Skid". [He was warned about falling on No Skid surfaces before we boarded, and I guess he took the warnings to heart!] My favorite thing on the ship was going in a tank. In the Humvee, that is where the Marine was the expert, not Dad, In the tank, Dad was the expert.

(I bet the Marine on the tank was just as expert, but he was so occupied with trying to keep the crowd of people atop the tank from falling off and hurting themselves, he didn't have a lot of time to chat.)

First stop on the tour is the hanger deck, where there are armored vehicles on display.

M1A1 Main Battle Tank:







An AAV (Assault Amphibious Vehicle):





Next stop, down the very steep ramp to the well deck, where the LCACs (Landing Craft, Air Cushioned) are:




The USS New York carries two LCACs and 14 Expeditionary Fighting Vehicles (EFVs).

Then up to the flight deck: Looking aft, forward, and to starboard at the Intrepid.





UH-1N Huey Helicopter:



CH53-E Super Stallion:



AH-1 Cobra:



MV-22 Osprey:







USS New York also carries CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters, but none were on display when we visited.

Us:



Back inside and down to the hanger deck again, where there were more vehicles and Marines with displays of equipment, doing the occasional demo.

High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (Humvee):

Mikro climbed up in and monopolized the Marine's time with a stream of about a million questions, which were politely and thoroughly answered. "What does this do? What's that for?" etc.





Light Armored Vehicle (LAV-25):






Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) (the "prototype" Mikro didn't get to climb all over):



Mikro checks out this Marine's Squad Assault Weapon (SAW):



This was the first time Mikro has been aboard an active duty US Navy ship, and he thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Thank you to all the sailors and marines who made it such a terrific day. And more importantly, thank you all for your service to our country. I wish we lived in a world where no mother's son (or daughter) was ever in harm's way, but as the steel in your ship's bow silently testifies, we do not. I am grateful for your willingness to protect us all.

Science Stories

Fingerprinting with cocoa powder-- could science be any more fun? Mikro loved this program at he library. First they read a story and looked for the science in it. Then, they did the fingerprinting activities. First they did their own prints with an ink pad, then they used butter to transfer prints onto a mug, dusted it with cocoa powder and lifted the prints with tape, and attached them to another kid's worksheet so everyone would get a bigger sample of the types of patterns in fingerprints. I had to make Mikro wash up after handling the butter, but I was really happy that his allergies didn't prevent him from joining in the fun. (He only reacts if he ingests things, not from skin contact, thankfully.)

Homeschool Stuff

We've been reading a lot of science...



Mikro also is totally obsessed with Science Songs, and now with the DVDs of They Might Be Giants' Here Comes Science and their math one, too (title just escapes me...)

And there's been math, especially graphs and charts. We are still working on place value. I am amazed no one ever explained it to me in a way that really made sense. I think Mikro can say differently. I bought these little cubes that connect like Legos from American Scientific Surplus. A set of 50 is $1.25, and they come in 5 sticks of 10, in five colors. They've been useful in the place value work we've done, and they also worked really well to show Mikro how a bar graph represents data.

He has started to draw and write on his own initiative. The other night at a restaurant with paper table covers, he drew a self portrait that evolved into a family portrait and even included our dearly departed pets. Months ago, I tried showing him how to use simple shapes to draw things, and he never seemed to be paying attention. Well, now he's drawing people: "A circle for the head, a big oval for the body, skinny rectangles for the arms and legs," says he, as he draws.

Yesterday, after a spectacularly stressful drive, he knew Kev and I were in foul moods. So he announced that he was going to make get well cards for us. He asked for spelling help, but wrote Kev a card that said "I hope you feel better," and me, I got: "Happy Better!"

Yep, that's true. Happy is better. It's good to be reminded of that, sometimes.

Forest in the City Class at NYBG

Our homeschool group had a class about the beautiful and ancient forest at the New York Botanic Gardens in the Bronx. The foliage was gorgeous, and we walked over a bridge (which Big Bird walks over in the opening credits of Sesame Street. something which fascinated Mikro) over a beautiful stream and saw a waterfall. I have been to the gardens many times, but never explored this area before. It is peaceful and picturesque, and definitely a place we will visit again.





The kids learned about the forest ecosystem, the lifecycle of forest plants, the forest as habitat, and they drew things living in the forest and made leaf rubbings.

















It was a perfect day until nearly the end. Shortly before we were planning to leave, the kids were running around on the flagstone courtyard near the garden cafe and gift shop. Mikro was looking over his shoulder and tripped and took a hard fall, splitting his chin open and gushing blood all over the place. Instead of freaking out, I stayed calm, grabbed the first aid kit, applied direct pressure, saw that the wound was spread apart and might not close, decided to give sealing it with Nu Skin a shot before further traumatizing the shrieking hysterical child in my arms with a trip to the ER, sprayed it, covered it with gauze and a huge bandage, and watched to see whether it would keep bleeding and soak through. Luckily, the Nu Skin worked and the bleeding stopped. The crying was another matter, but a trip to the gift shop and a couple of wooden snakes and a see through frog with internal organs later, and Mikro was fine.

Mondays Are Chemistry & Art

Chemistry was about slimey and sticky stuff, like silly putty and slime!



Art was about murals. They looked at some of Keith Haring's work, and then each kid made a mural with a message. Mikro's message was "Help animals in the neighborhood!" After they were done, the group went around the "gallery" and look at their friends' work and each child said one thing they liked about the drawing.



Mikro drew a man helping an injured cat, a bird feeder and a bird bath.

I's Bday

Mikro's friend I. had a birthday recently, and Mikro had a blast at her party. Her mom had a bunch of fun games for the kids to play, including a version of charades where everyone gets a card with something to act out, and you have to figure out who else got the same thing as you did. And the telephone game, freeze dance, and a fun race game where you put cheerios on a piece of spaghetti stuck in playdough. And there was a pinata, which was a huge hit, and which Mikro loved so much that he asked if he could keep a piece of it, and wore it on his head...











Happy Birthday, I!

Reading with...

Carmen! At Mulberry Street Library.

Our book group read "The Giving Tree", talked about gifts and friendhip, and made a giving tree craft and friendship bracelets.

Carmen did an awesome job reading the story to the other kids, Her mom later told me she was nervous, but you would never have known it. Kudos!




Afterwards, Mikro and I hung out at the library and read a book about the Periodic Table and the Nate the Great Halloween book. A fun day!

Disney's A Christmas Carol Preview at GCT

Mikro and I saw the Disney Christmas Carol train at Grand Central Terminal, and enjoyed learning a bit about how they made the movie. Afterwards, we were treated to a sneak preview of the film, which Mikro found both fascinating and terrifying. Apparently, fascinating wins, because he has since asked me if we can go see it in the theater...

Mondays Are Chemistry & Art

Chem class was about Super Sticky Stuff. The kids tested the adhesive properties of different kinds of tapes and examined them with a magnifying glass.



In art class, they looked at some of Andy Goldsworthy's amazing nature installations and then made a patterned collage using leaves, acorns, pine cones, etc.

The Frog Prince and City That Drinks the Mountain Sky

Mikro took a drama and storytelling workshop at Croton Library, and afterwards watched a performance of The Frog Prince. During the performance, the workshop kids had two small parts-- pretending to be trees in the forest, and later, being courtiers who greet and bow to the king. Mikro's bow was...er, suitably theatrical.



At the end, the kids got to check out the harp.



Our homeschool group saw the first of several shows we'll be attending at Tribeca Performing Arts Center. Arm of the Sea Theater presented "City That Drinks the Mountain Sky", a puppet show which details the natural history and history of the Catskill reservoir system which supplies New York City's water. The kids thought it was magical. Unfortunately, photography isn't permitted, so I have no images to share of the colorful and creative scenery and puppets...