Niña and Pinta

We heard that replicas of the Niña and Pinta were coming to Little Rock and we knew we had to go. We went three years ago when they were here, but the boys don't remember that. The Pinta (right) is built to scale and the Niña (left) is built to 1 1/2 it's original size. The Santa Maria was too big to be built due to financial constraints and size contraints (it would fit under bridges and things).

I got a group together to get a discounted rate and a tour. We were lucky enough to have grandma join us on the tour and help hold Heidi (who was a little scared). The tour was really good. The guide even took some of the kids and pointed out where the crew lives and taught them some "ships talk" like galley for kitchen and ladder for stairs. The boys liked the cannon that were used for signaling each other. Thomas remembers there were 12 anchors on each of the original ships so they could cut and run when needed.

Before we went to see the ships we learned all about Columbus including reading a great chapter book that is part of a series called "History Maker Bios" that we got at Barnes and Noble a while back. We learned about his whole life and his journeys.