In the Poconos

On Thursday morning the kids were very anxious to be at Grandma and Grandpa's house so we left at 9:20 after I finished packing and planting the last few annuals in the flower  beds; with two stops (one to return books to the library and the other to get gas for the van), we arrived at their house at 1:00pm. Oliver only slept for 25 minutes. Ian also took a nap. The kids did pretty well thanks in part to food (I had packed lunch), dvd's, and the iPad. Oliver cried some, and the other two asked me countless times how many more minutes until we get there. They enjoyed playing at my parent's house and a walk to a playground that afternoon. We had an early dinner (pizza) at 4pm so that I could head off to the Teach Them Diligently convention. I arrived at the 5:00 session about 15 minutes late due to traffic on the Beltway. I attended three sessions that evening and made one purchase in the exhibition hall (which was much smaller than the one at CHAP). The third session was definitely my favorite. I ended up buying some of her art dvd's the next day. I am really excited about including this in our art curriculum next year! I got home about 9:30pm and was rather tired from all the driving and such.

Oliver waving and saying "Hi, ca(t)!"

On Friday morning I still didn't allow quite enough time for traffic on the Beltway and thus missed the first 15 minutes of an excellent session by Sonya Shafer on helping children establish good habits. I stayed until 2pm and then headed back to my parent's home. That night my parents took us to dinner at Chevy's. What a treat to have Mexican food again for the second time in one month after not going to a Mexican restaurant in years! My dad also played Boggle with me that night after I put the kids to bed, which was another special treat.

On Saturday the traffic was much lighter so I arrived on time, but I wasn't getting anything out of the first couple of sessions, and I decided I had enough of conferences (having just attended a 2 day conference the previous week). I planned to stay until 4pm, but I ended up leaving at 11am.

On Sunday morning we went to Sunday School and church at my parent's church, had lunch with them, and then got in the car to drive to East Stroudsburg (in the Poconos). The traffic on I-95 was really bad, which shocked me for a Sunday afternoon in May. Mapquest had said the trip would take about 3 1/2 hours, but it actually took 5 hours due to traffic and a couple of quick stops. Paul thought he would arrive at the resort before us, so he stopped at Dunkin Donut to get our dinner. In hind sight I should have stopped along the way because he got lost and we had to wait for him for 30 minutes. Our food was cold, we were VERY hungry by the time we were able to eat, and I had a splitting headache from driving so many hours (with Oliver crying quite a bit of the time).

By the time we ate and brought our suitcases in, it was very close to the time we usually start getting the kids ready for bed, but after having been cooped up in a van for 5 straight hours, I felt they deserved a quick dip in the pool so we spent 30 minutes swimming and put them to bed 30 minutes later than usual. We are staying in a 2 bedroom townhouse. The kitchen, living room, and dining room are on the first floor, and upstairs there are two bathrooms and two bedrooms. The three kids are staying in one bedroom together. Nadia and Ian are each sleeping in their own double bed, and Oliver is sleeping in a pack n play. On Sunday night they went to bed quickly. Ian and Oliver had shared a bedroom the previous three nights at my parent's house without any problems. I discovered that if one of them woke up (and was crying), it didn't wake the other child, which amazed me. This afternoon they all took naps at 1pm, which is normal for Oliver but very unusual for Ian and Nadia. The downside of this was that Nadia and Ian had a very hard time going to sleep this evening (didn't get to sleep until about 9:30pm!). I won't be encouraging any more naps for those two over the next five days!

This morning Paul and I took the kids swimming for two hours, came back for lunch, and then before they took their naps we took them to the playground for 30 minutes. When the kids were waking up from their naps my parents arrived here from Maryland. They are staying in another two bedroom unit. All seven of us headed to the pool for a quick dip before going to Friendly's for dinner and to Walmart to buy a few things for the week. Paul left for home after we came back from Walmart. He is teaching a lab on Tuesday and Thursday mornings starting tomorrow. He will come back out to the Poconos on Thursday afternoon. He worked for his dad last Wednesday through Sunday and will put in one more day this week on Wednesday. His working for Kennedy Concrete is helping us avoid paying COBRA for health insurance for 3 months, as our coverage through Bloomsburg ends on May 30 and doesn't begin at Bucknell until the end of August.