Momfessionals: California Trip Part 5 - Tide Pools and USS Midway

Tuesday morning started off the way we liked it...

.... snuggled up (it was in the low sixties in the morning) out on the balcony sipping tea. Some of us a little more sunkissed than others from our Coronado beach day ;)

We had planned on heading out bright and early to the zoo but G wasn't feeling 100% (something she struggles with on trips sometimes) so she took a nap outside (is there anything better!?!?!) and I read...

... while the boys headed off for a little exploring.

They headed out along a path on the shoreline to the Pier making a couple of pitstops at a little swimming cove and some tide pools.

Where did they land??? At an ice cream shop down by the pier that they decided we had to check out later that day ;)

By lunchtime G was feeling completely fine so we made our way over to the USS Midway museum...

... which was 10x cooler than we expected it to be.

First of all - the sheer scale of the ship was next level. Like it's hard to even comprehend until you're on the ship.

We started on the main level where the kids got to sit in ejection seats...

... see some incredible planes...

... and we all got to listen to some incredible stories via the complimentary audio tour. The kids had a different color for the audio tour and they were given these cards that had questions for them to answer as they went through the ship.

We headed up to the flight deck which (again) was almost unbelievable.

I'm going to try to edit down how many pictures I show but we know that's not my strong suit. There were SO MANY incredible planes and helicopters and you could get into a ton of them.

We absolutely had a contest to see who could recreate this pose the best...

From the flight deck there was a tour you could walk of the interior of the captains level (I'm probably not calling it the right thing) as well as the pilot pre-flight room.

The coolest part was getting to see the "war room" (that's what Luke thinks he remembers it being called)...

... and then we headed back down to check out the gift shop...

... and then down again....

.... to see the mess hall, galley, crew quarters, infirmary, post office, surgery bay, dental suite, engine room, laundry room, etc.

Not going to lie - it absolutely got to me about an hour into the lower level walking tour (which is completely self-guided) that there were no windows, I had gone up and down 45 sets of stairs and had zero clue where I was or how to get out. Gave me a whole new appreciation for the servicemen and women who lived on ship for months!

Before we left the kids turned in their question cards and received their wings from the sweetest docent.

And then it was tome to go ashore!

In my opinion, the Midway is a MUST if you're going to be in the area. I read a review that said to give yourself "at least" three hours and I kind of rolled my eyes at that before we got there but then when we'd been there almost four hours and honestly could have stayed longer I "got it". There was so much to see, so much to talk about and it REALLY gave all of us an appreciation of the scale and sacrifice of military.

The best and most unexpected part though were the "yellow hats" - volunteers stationed around the ship to answer questions and provide insight. We engaged with several of them and you guys.... it was hands down the best part of the day. We were on the flight deck and there was this gentleman sitting on a bench by one of the jets and my boys asked him if he had served and he said, "yes" and then they asked him what role he played and he told them he was a pilot. Then they asked him what he flew and he started pointing out fighter jets including the F14 Tomcat and I just wish I had a picture of my boys faces. Same when we were in the "war room" area of the ship - they met a man who served on an aircraft carrier doing communications and he was just a wealth of knowledge. If you go make sure you ask questions and engage with the volunteers!

On our way back to the car we stopped and got some henna tattoos because why not...