Where did ya go?

Where in the world have I been?

I have three post in the works, I promise. The last couple of weeks have been rather busy with a drama production at one of my schools, parent teacher conferences, doctor's appointments and the passing of my sweet step father in law. Spring break is next week and I will be able to catch up then. But look for a giveaway and information about the Titanic spring break events this week.

Titanic Tribute Experience

Last night was the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. It was an honor to be part of this memorial celebration. Mikie had to work so the kids and I took Greta and went for our tour at 4 o'clock. Traffic was horrendous which is typical for Pigeon Forge especially on a Rod Run weekend.
Our family has toured the Titanic in Pigeon Forge before, but this was Greta's first time. She was so excited to be able to attend on this special occasion.

Waiting to board!

We received our boarding pass and listening devices and headed "onto" the ship. Each boarding pass tells the story of a passenger or crew member. We took our time and listened and read everything we saw. The kids were excited to find the people on their boarding passes throughout the museum. Maggie was really excited when she found out that Violet Jessop who was a member of the crew, survived and had written her memoirs, Titanic Survivor: The Memoirs of a Stewardess. 

Out of the six of us four survived only Mollie and I didn't make it that night. Once through the tour we shopped in the gift shop where I purchased our picture memorializing our trip on the Titanic on this fateful day.

Then we walked up the street to Salsarita's for dinner. We had never ate at one before and it was a new experience for us. The food was awesome. I was really glad there was no one behind us in line, because Michael had his usual "I don't know what I want," melt down at the counter. The walk through Pigeon Forge was a first for the kids. Yes, I know we used to park and walk all over Sevier County when we were young, but my kids have never experienced it. As I said earlier it was a Rod Run weekend, traffic was bumper to bumper, radio's blaring, people yelling out their windows, and of course the Rod Run must have burnouts right there in the middle of town. Michael was impressed with all the motorcycles. On our way back to the tribute we stopped for a picture.

 We had white tag VIP seats and it was first come seating, so we were six rows back which were really good seats for those of us who didn't have reserved seating. The kids were excited to see what was going to happen. They passed the time taking pictures and video as we waited. 

At 8 o'clock we literally jumped out of our seats as the Titanic blew it's horn and the announcer asked everyone to proceed to their seats. The cold chills were beginning. As dusk ensued, 8:30 approached and Captain EJ Smith began to tell us about that his final voyage as Captain. That trip was to be his last for he was to retire upon his return home. We met the families of many of those who were on the Titanic that night as they were introduced and seated on the front row. 

First Class Maid, Jaynee Peters was the host for the evening, members of the Grandfather Mountain Highlanders stood atop the ship and played their beautiful bagpipes and drums. The Circle Players presented scenes from Titanic the Musical and Sound Company Children's Choir was joined by a children's choir from Switzerland to sing. Allan Wolf author of  The Watch That Ends The Night:Voices from the TITANIC, read an excerpt from his book. Flares were set off as the stress signal was sounded that an iceberg had been struck. Clergy aboard the Titanic were also remembered by Father Joe Brando, Rev. Tom Sterbens who told of Baptist Pastor Robert Bateman and Rabbi Eric Carlson. 

 As the Eternal Flame was lit a young lady from North Carolina sang a beautiful rendition of My Heart Will Go On. A waterfall of fireworks fell from the deck of Titanic and the flame was lit below. The flame will burn 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

A moving tribute to celebrate the lives and death of those who were aboard the Titanic. We were moved, and honored to be able to attend. Maggie even said she hopes she will be able to attend the 200 year anniversary tribute. She would just be 108 then. Michael tried to put the number of years into perspective by reminding me of a special lady at my parent's church who was 2 years old when the Titanic sank. He said I know she wasn't there but do you think she remembers it? He hopes to see her soon so he can ask her.

We ended our evening with a 45 minute departure from the parking lot and a bathroom/snack break at McDonald's. The kids were in bed by midnight and I was not far behind. As I laid down I thought of what those passengers were going through at that particular time, as the panic was starting to set in. I thought of those who are descendants and the stories that have been passed down. I thought of how Easter had fallen on the Sunday before, just as it did this year. How Mikie and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary on April 11th the day the Titanic departed from Queensland, Ireland, and of the love of Isidor and Ida Strauss. Mrs. Strauss could have boarded a lifeboat but chose to stay at her husband's side, telling him, "We have lived together for many years, where you go I will go." What love, what true companionship and dedication to her marriage and husband. As I prayed for those who are still touched by this tragedy I began to drift off to sleep with a sadness in my heart that this event took place but happy to have been there.

Disclaimer: This post and opinions are my own. As a Mom Blogger, I was given tickets for the tour and VIP tickets for the tribute in exchange for sharing the Titanic with my readers. Thank you Titanic Museum Attraction!

Titanic comes to life

On June 11th our family had the privilege of visiting the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee as part of the Mommy Bloggers group. Never having been to the Titanic the kids were more than a little excited about our trip. Although I had to repeatedly tell Michael, who is six,  we weren't sailing anywhere and we didn't need water for our trip, he still wasn't convinced. Our tour began with the 9:00 AM boarding. We were each given a boarding pass of a passenger that was on the actual Titanic. The boarding pass gave the passengers name, their class status, age and city of residence. Also on the boarding pass is a short story of the person it represents, telling who they were and why they were on the Titanic. The pass also includes a question, such as "Would there be a lifeboat for me?"

After receiving our boarding pass another member of the crew gave us each a listening device that we would use for the new audio tour. Our group was then ushered into the front room where we found out how our listening devices worked. The kids were so excited when we started through the museum. There are two different audio tours you can listen to. There is one for adults and one for children. On the wall there are plaques with numbers on them, blue for adults and red for children. You type in the number and press play. All four of our children loved being able to listen as they wanted to their own "story." Mollie, who is four, let me know real quick she knew what she was doing and needed NO help in punching in her numbers. As you listen to the adult tour you hear the voices of actual survivors of the Titanic as well as First Class Maid Jaynee. I listened to both tours in some areas and only to the kids in others. The biggest reason being that I wanted to be able to talk to the kids about what they were hearing.

As we moved from the first room into the second, there is a large map on the wall. The map showed the route the Titanic took. As we stepped up to the interactive panel in front of the map, Mary Kellogg, who along with her husband John Joslyn, (who led the 1986 expedition to the real Titanic), told how the Titanic left port and its future demise. She shared with our family her husband's desire to never let the Titanic, her passengers and their stories disappear. Her passion for this attraction was very evident in her telling of the Titanic. Personally it was my favorite part of the tour, to hear her passion and know that she is part of this important documentary of history.

We moved throughout the Titanic first seeing how Third Class passengers lived on the boat, visiting the dog kennel, shoveling coal into the furnace and ultimately standing at the bottom of the Grand Staircase.
We ascended the Grand Staircase after a visit with a crew member who told us about the materials used in building the staircase. On the next level we got to see the difference in Third Class living and First Class as we visited and learned of the wealthier passengers on the trip. We learned about three more of the passengers on our boarding passes.

A First Class Maid led Michael to a display to see the grossest thing on the ship. I locket of hair and beard. I can't remember the passengers name but he had cut it and mailed it to his wife. Michael thought it odd, but was more impressed with the maid's British accent, trying to decide if she really talked like that even when she wasn't on the Titanic.

Continuing on we steered the Titanic, touched an iceberg, felt the 28 degree water just like the passengers did that fateful night, sent SOS messages, climbed the deck at differing degrees of sinking and sat in a life size lifeboat. The kids played in the children's area and then we had our pictures made together.

We began to make our way to the end of our tour as we found the names on our boarding passes. Each of our passengers had survived the sinking. We saw pictures that were truly amazing and unbelievable. A room dedicated to the expedition to the Titanic tells of Mr. Joslyn's journey to the Titanic at the bottom of the ocean.

We turned in our audio tour devices and descended the Grand Staircase to make a visit to the gift shop. We purchased a thimble to remember our trip. Our nine year old, Mattie has talked about visiting the Titanic since it was being built. She was very pleased with her "awesome" tour and wanted to go back through. Maggie, our seven year old loved the dog kennel and trying to find Mademoiselle Frou Frou.
Michael was impressed that we had docked in the same exact spot the ship was in outside when we entered. Mollie liked the TotTitanic the best. Mike and I were very impressed with such detail and passion that has went into this museum. We are very thankful to have been able to be a part of this tour and see first hand what the Titanic was all about.

Someone asked me at church what I really thought of the Titanic. It is awesome, everyone should try to visit it at least once. Would I recommend it for small children under four, it depends. Mollie will be five next month and two hours was a little long for her, although the Tot-Titanic couldn't have come at a better point in the tour. If your child is four or younger it would depend on their attention span, but I would probably wait until they were a little older. I wish that I had remembered to print the scavenger hunt from the website before we went, mine would have loved to work on that. The website also has educational things on it and I should have done a little "teaching" before we went. It would have helped with all their questions, but we were able to talk and research more when we returned home. Mike who is a history buff researched about the sister ships of the Titanic and Mattie enjoyed sharing in another bit of history with her Daddy.

With that being said, go visit the Titanic, check out Titanic Museum online, friend them on Facebook at Titanic Museum Pigeon Forge, TN and follow them on Twitter at Titanic USA.

Disclaimer: Opinions in this blog are entirely mine. We received free admission to the Titanic as part of the mommy bloggers invite. Pictures found in this blog are from the Titanic Museum website as pictures are prohibited inside the museum.