The Smith Family: Meeting Denis Sullivan

This morning we were so excited to wake up and prepare the little ones to spend the day with their aunt Joyce. They didn't know why yet but they soon found out that it was Colton's special day to do something very exciting with his mama and daddy.

After Joyce came and left, leaving just the three of us behind, we ventured to Ft. Pierce to begin our adventure.
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The whole way there Colton didn't have a clue where we were going and bless his heart he was so patient about it. This was his first glance to what we were doing seen out our car window as we headed over the bridge...
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The Denis Sullivan, a 137 foot three mast Schooner which we were about to embark on.

Although we wound up having to postpone our actual sail until March due to some crazy and unexpected winds, we spent the day aboard this beautiful ship, which is based out of Milwaukee, with some other families from our homeschool group.

Not only did we get a tour of the boat and really became comfortable with being aboard such a magnificent ship, we did things such as testing water quality, determining the depth of the water, examining plankton with microscopes, learning to tie several different knots, learning to raise the sails, seeing how an underwater robot works, and learning some good 'ole sea shanties (or the work songs used on ships). It was pretty neat to see the kids actually singing these while working together to raise the sails.

Colton just after he raised a sail (with a little help)

Collecting "stuff" from the bottom of the sea.

Examining the ~~stuff~~ plankton that he collected.

Before they began their knot tying lesson, they were asked to tie any knot they knew how to tie. This was Colton's. A figure eight. I then asked him to please teach me how to do that.

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It was so... very windy and down right cold at times, but we still managed to have a special time with our little sailor. Ft. Pierce is such a beautiful town especially with its pretty blue waters.