After a bit of a rough start, we spent the day at the Monterey Aquarium checking out the exhibits, displays and tanks.  We saw sharks and rays and jellies and ocean life of all kinds.  Since it was ‘Homeschool Day’ there was a room for homeschoolers set up with hands on exhibits.  Max and Lucy had a great time.  The weather was beautiful and the drive home was very easy (and long).

Lucy’s favorite part at the Aquarium was the rescued otters and the sea horses.  She thinks the otters are soooooooooooo cute.

Max’s favorite part of the Aquarium was the ‘behind the scenes’ tour that we took.  It was a guided tour that showed how the Aquarium operates.  Lucy didn’t really like the tour, and when I asked her what would have made the tour better, she thought for a second and said ‘some ice cream samples would have been nice.’

Toby’s and my favorite exhibit was the sea horse room.  In this area, we saw many different kinds of sea horses, including the ‘leafy dragon’ (http://www.worldmostamazingthings.com/2011/04/sea-dragon-leafy-weedy-sea-dragons.html)

We also learned that sea horses are the only animals in nature where the males give birth.  The female sea horse drops eggs into the male’s pouch and then the baby sea horses pop out of the pouch some time later.  God is amazingly creative.

Today we left for the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  We will be visiting on ‘Homeschool Day’.  The admission for parents and kids is free!  Poppa was available to watch Roly for the duration.  Our plan was to drive up and stay at a local motel the night before, visit the aquarium and then drive home after it closes at 5p.  That plan took a little detour but disaster was averted.

We left a bit later than we wanted to.  Nothing serious.  We were just settling in to some audio books as we passed Buelton when Toby (the driver) says : What is that, is that us?  I turn around in my seat and look out the back window to see a large billow of grey smoke emanating from our van.  I had Toby pull over right away (in the triangle of space between an onramp and the freeway.  I look / feel under the car and I come away with lots of oily liquid on my hand and there are spatters all over the back of the van.  I lift the hood and check the oil dipstick, and it is dry.

We called AAA and the plan was to have the van towed to Carp (riding in the tow truck), get the Honda and start over.  Yaya had come up to visit with us for part of the weekend.  Toby had the idea of asking if Poppa/Yaya could bring us a car in Buelton.  Toby called and explained the situation.  Before she could ask, Poppa had suggested that he and Yaya bring us a car in Buelton!  Yay.  Poppa to the rescue, again!

The tow-truck arrived early and dropped us off in Buelton.  Because we pay for the AAA ‘Plus’ membership, we have 100 miles of towing included.  The tow-truck took our car to Tom Watts Automotive (about 60 miles).  The tow driver said that towing is $7 per mile without AAA.  Poppa called right after the tow driver left and said ‘I see your van on the tow truck’.  A few minutes of transferring luggage and we are back on the road heading north to Monterey.  Poppa and Yaya saved the day!

Man, oh man.  I thought I was an above average marksman.  The Appleseed Project weekend says differently.

Max and I arrived at a cold, wet outdoor range on Sunday.  I had brought some tarps so I laid those out to keep off of the mud.  Max borrowed the same rifle from Saturday, but this time one of the instructors put a bipod on it.  Max was in heaven.  He spent most of the day in the prone position blasting away at the targets.

I spent the day trying to qualify.  I had a very hard time shooting on anything smaller than the 100 yard target.  My best score was 84 (out of 250).  Pathetic.

I am looking at getting my own Ruger 10/22 and putting some peep sights on it.

I will also be making a visit to the optometrist.  I had a very hard time seeing the smaller targets out of my right eye.  My left eye was able to see the targets, but they disappeared once I sighted down the gun.

There were a bit less than 20 shooters there both days and 6 volunteer instructors.  Of those shooters, only 3 achieved Rifleman that weekend, and all 3 had been to multiple Appleseed weekends.

Max and I ended up shooting more than 700 rounds this weekend.  Although I performed horribly, I am excited to go back and improve my scores. 

I appreciate all the time and efforts that these volunteers put in.  Thanks Appleseed.

Max and I went to Winchester Canyon Gun Club to attend the Appleseed shooting clinic.  We set up on the line, and one of the instructors saw that I was using a lever-action rifle and offered a loaner to me.  She brought over a Ruger 10/22 and I offered it to Max, but he wanted to continue to use the rifle we brought for him (borrowed from Uncle Marc).  We went through 5 or six rounds of shooting (usually 10 shots per round) and Max was not even hitting the paper.  (Targets were 1" x 1" black boxes on white paper, 5 per sheet.)  He was getting frustrated. 

We tried some different things for him, but in the end he and I swapped rifles.  The loaner from an instructor had ‘peep’ sights, while the rifle from Uncle Marc had ‘notch’ sights.  The ‘peep’ sights are much easier to use and more accurate.  Also, the instructor set up a small bench rest for Max to use in the prone position.  Between the rifle change/peep sights and the bench rest, Max began to hit the paper and then to hit the targets.  My accuracy went way down with the notched sights.

We used 3 types of targets, the black box target, the ‘Quick & Dirty AQT (Army Qualifying Test)’ and the Redcoat targets.  (The picture below is one I got from Google, not our targets)

For the Redcoat target, we loaded up with 13 rounds in 2 magazines (3 & 10) to represent the 13 original colonies.  The sizes of the target on the paper represented targets at various distances, since we set up at 25 meters. The largest dog is 100 yd, next was 200, 300 and the smallest dog target was 400 yards.  The red rectangle was to represent a British officer’s head at 250 yards.  Rifleman in the American Revolution could hit that target at that distance with a rifled musket.  The goal was 3 shots in each dog target and 1 shot in the rectangle, shot from any position (most were prone) and without a time limit.

The AQT is shot from different positions, with transitions and time limits.  The largest (100 yd) was 10 rounds from standing with a 2 minute time limit.  The middle were 5 rounds each target, but the magazines were loaded 2 & 8, so there was a magazine change.  This is a transition target from standing to sitting / kneeling with a time limit of 55 seconds.  The 300 yd targets were shot 3,3,4 with magazines loaded 5 & 5.  This is a transition target from standing to prone with a time limit of 65 seconds.  The last row’s targets were shot 2, 2, 3, 3 with 1 10 round magazine in the prone position with a time limit of 5 minutes.  I always did well at the 100 yd target, but the rest were mostly misses. 

The marksmanship goal of the Appleseed Project is to shoot greater than 210 on the AQT (out of 250).  This is equivalent to Army expert, and is the minimum required to be an Appleseed Rifleman. 

Tomorrow, Max and I are going to a 2 day marksmanship clinic put on by a group called ‘The Revolutionary War Veterans Association’.  The weekend clinic is called ‘The Appleseed Project’.  Its goal is to teach heritage, history and marksmanship.

I borrowed a Ruger 10/22 from Uncle Marc, and I am also taking my Browning Lever Action .22.  It should be a lot of fun.