Ever been on a real Coast Guard Boat?

Yesterday was our Flag Day.  We were going to start our day clearing the land in Tafeta.  We were ready to go and listening to the radio when we heard that as part of the Flag Day celebration the US Coast Guard Cutter was in port and they were open to the public from 9am-3pm.  How fun?  We decided to go and we had a great time.

 We had a very nice gentleman (Ian) give us a tour and it was just our family.  He showed us all around and telling us some of the things they do.

 He took us up to the bridge and we spend a lot of time looking out of the binoculars and other equipment there.  I wish I had gotten a picture of one of the boys in the Captain's chair but  thought I might be taking too many liberties with that.  It was cool though.

 The boys are trying to see what was floating in the harbor and Skyler was just trying to see out the window.  ;)

 Riley got to use his sea legs too a bit.  Not as much as he wanted to though.

 He then took us to the flight deck.  Okay I may have these names all wrong so sorry.  While we were there they were working on the helicopter.  We were there watching them work when one of them came and asked if we wanted to sit inside the helicopter.  The boys were so thrilled.  I got a picture of each on of them in the chair.

 

I know, I was too close and you can't tell they are in a helicopter!  The guys said, "Just don't push any of the red buttons".  Oh boy,  that is like saying..."Push it!  Push it!"  I was trying to take pictures fast  so we could get out of their way and there wasn't any place to back up.  Cool memory even though the pictures don't show it all.  So fun.  

 We saw where Ian worked and some of the firefighting gear they had on board.  Then Ian took us to the galley so the boys could have a drink.  I offered the boys help to wash dishes but we weren't taken up on that offer.

Everyone had a good time and thought the whole tour was so awesome.  Skyler even woke up this morning saying, "That boat was awesome!" 

 Thank you so much to the US Coast Guard for making that experience available to us and thank you to Ian (and the helicopter guys) for their time in showing us so many neat things.