Sunday, July 19, 2009

Military Museum

After exploring tide pools and bunkers we headed up a trail and found the Kodiak Military Museum, open nonetheless! As we entered the gentleman in charge admonished us 'This is a ...' at this point I figured he would say something about not touching anything and keeping the kids far away from the exhibits or something and I looked around at the 6 children we were bringing in, including a 2 year old and 3 year old, and wondered if we needed to rethink this plan but he continued '... a hand-on museum, you can touch everything and pick it up and look at it just please don't play in the ambulance which is on loan.' - alright, this we can handle!

Joshua poses next to a large projectile.

As it turns out if you take your 13-year-old camera-shy boy and put him next to a giant bullet (ok, it's not a bullet, as my husband tells me, it's a projectile...I still think it looks like a big bullet) he's happy to pose for a photograph!


'Wow, mom, this is really heavy - and it's even hollow!'


Sargent Sanders types up an urgent update.


This large rather archaic looking piece of technology was actually donated recently by the Coast Guard when they updated their equipment at a nearby LORAN station. Think that update might be a little overdue? I'm just saying... (Josh was not surprised when I showed him this photo, he just said 'yeah, and there's probably tubes in there, too.')


The cans of emergency drinking water made me giggle.


One of the highlights of the museum was the rack of old uniforms the kids could try on, here Joshua is cracking up at his brother trying to get into some very bulky pants. I always love it when I can get a picture of Joshua laughing!


Soldier Miriam prepares a report.


Isaiah finally conquers the humongous pants!


Of course, trying on the gas masks is a must.


Miriam with her 'gear harness' on backwards...or maybe upside down, but she didn't care she just loved wearing it!


With all these boys around the atmosphere is getting a little toxic.


Isaiah fully 'decked out'


This chair is from Saddam Hussein's palace, confiscated during the Gulf War in 1991. I just found it interesting.


This was a big hit. The funny looking contraption on the left is an automated switchboard, using this the phone in the middle can call either phone on the right or the left. I used it to call one of the phones and told Isaiah to pick it up, he was duly impressed and got a big kick out of playing with it with his friend, Sam, for quite a while. It was cool to see the automated switchboard 'do it's thing' each time you made a call.

We certainly made the most of our time at this gem of a museum right in our backyard and we look forward to our next visit! I am very excited about the opportunity to bring the kids back to look at some of these things as we learn about them in school this year! They even have a little gift shop where they sell actual old grenades, how cool is that! (-=

1 comment:

  1. That sounds like an awesome museum! I'm so happy for you - that you are finding so many cool things to do on your little island. Thanks for taking us along for the ride!

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