Divine Providence while at the beach!

Beautiful turquoise water of the Gulf of Mexico.

I believe God is involved in mankind's affairs. I do not believe that God looks down on us and just shrugs and lets us fend for ourselves. I believe like a parent He is there to guide, protect and intervene when necessary.

We were at the beach for a week this month and while there, I felt clearly that Divine Providence guided our steps. One day we decided to change our original  plans. We were going to take the kids to the local water park, but after checking on the prices and acknowledging our children's age group, we decided it would be too much trouble and money involved for little return. So we told the kids we weren't doing the water park instead we were going to do something much better.

You can imagine the disappointment... However they were excited about the unexpected. And we, the parents, were nervous about meeting those expectations.

On the way down our building, as we entered the elevator, a lovely older lady, seeing us all dressed and together as a family asked, "Are you going shopping?" I told her that we were going for a drive. So she asked if we had been to the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola. "Not yet." I responded quickly thinking about the possibility of maybe we should go there this morning, but still not sure. Would the kids enjoy it?? Would it be too much information for kids under 10 years old? Would the 30 minute drive be too long? Would we find too much traffic?

Checking out all the nature treasures.

As we left that morning at 10 am with plans to go for a ride to show my parents the State RV park and the pier, we had no idea what the day would hold in store for us.

Once we got to the State RV park we found out that the Nature Center had baby alligators and a whole exhibit of local mounted animals on display. We spend an hour in there talking with the employee in charge about RV lifestyle. The kids amazed us with how much they know about animals. I had no idea they knew what taxidermy was. Most of the things they shared with us they learned on their own watching TV shows, educational videos or websites and reading books. There were snakes, turtles, insects, alligator, frogs, cockroaches and lots of preserved dead animals and shells, snake skins and other nature treasures for us to see. The Nature Center offers weekly activities that include educational videos, nature walks and more.

Turtles and more turtles!

We stopped at the gift shop and the grandparents gave the kids a little something. My husband and I decided to travel to Pensacola and try the museum. Mainly because it is FREE admission. We figured we didn't have anything to lose!!!

oh, boy!! were we glad we went. There is so much to see. There are 2 big pavilions full of aircrafts in both of them. There are FREE guided tours at different times, there are simulators of all kinds for the courageous people that like to try them (these are paid rides). There is so much history, geography, engineering, social and cultural content in this Museum.

Look at that red airplane on the wall!

The air crafts are displayed in such a way that will cause you to awe at how amazing they are. The aircrafts hang from the ceiling as well as from the walls. There are also the traditional standing alone ones on the ground. Whoever designed the displays did a great job. The sitting benches for the visitors are old air crafts seats still with the seat belts and furnishings. There are jungle gyms and climbing structures for the children made of  parts of air craft carriers or ships.

Here are some of the other amazing exhibits offered at the Museum for FREE:

The perfect jungle gym for the kids!

*  the frictionless air track demonstrates Newton's three laws of motion;
* wind tunnel - including Bernoulli's Principle.. show how a wing produces lift;
* Space scale - allows you to read your weight on other planets;
* watch demonstrations on four computer-based flight simulators;
* the free-fall race demonstrates Galileo's law of falling bodies with different weighted tennis balls;
* Descartes' divers help us to understand the principle of buoyancy;
* air pressure changes from the Dead Sea to Mt. Everest are shown;
* various propulsion devices;
* watch as "stuff" is removed from the Magdeburg hemispheres.

My troops walking the museum!

There are exhibits from the trip to the Moon, from people who were lost at sea; from dirigibles; of air balloons. You can see the living quarters of the troops that are out at sea; POW living conditions; a former  President's aircraft and so much more. There is even an IMAX at the Museum with at least 4 different features showing each day.

We left the Museum at 4:30pm - their closing time. Everyone was happy to have come. Everyone was refreshed. There was a sense of gratefulness to the men and women that serve this country. Men and women that take their jobs seriously even when just training. We truly enjoyed our trip to the Museum and I know for sure we will be coming back to it again next time we come to this area.

Blue Angels flying low!

DS7 was moved by the POWs who were tortured in the war camps in Vietnam and Japan. DD9 was amazed by the air crafts she was able to climb into their cockpits. DD5 had a blast watching her first IMAX movie. Everyone enjoyed the simulators and all the information we learned.

Divine Providence showed us the way!

How has the Lord showed his direction in your life lately?

Blessings, Tereza

Proud to be an American!