Rock Island Arsenal

Our first day of vacation was spent at the Rock Island Arsenal.  We began our visit by getting official army visitor passes from the checkpoint.  From there we went straight to the tank park.  The boys had a blast seeing, touching and climbing on the old tanks and artillery (and so did Daddy!)

After seeing the tanks, we headed over to the Mississippi Lock & Dam located on the island.  The boys had a blast watching the gates open and close and the river rise and fall.  We even got to see a coast guard boat go through the lock.

Finally, before leaving the island, we went to the arsenal museum and were able to see walls of different guns dating all the way back to World War I and before.  They also had a cute little kid section where the boys could dress up in army uniforms from different eras.  They had a blast dressing up (and looked pretty cute doing so!)