38 Hour Trip

Thursday morning the kids and I left our house at 8:00 to drive to Lancaster, which is two hours away. We then spent four hours at the Landis Valley Museum. None of us had been there before. I had chosen that day because they were having a Hands-on History Day, which it turns out is a popular field trip outing for public schools in that area, but the site is large enough that we were usually in groups of about twenty kids at any given time. We participated in four 30 minute workshops - one on wool processing, one on games and chores that kids did on the farm, one in a one room school house (it was 1892 according to the teacher), and one involved doing a craft called scherensnitte. We also watched a woman cooking in the tavern (making applesauce), and Nadia helped do a stitch in some leather under the guidance of a leatherworker in the Sexton's house. Four of the other buildings had costumed docents who gave us tours of that particular building - gun shop, country store, log house, and Landis Brother's House. There were also some self-guided buildings. The kids

also enjoyed a horse drawn wagon ride around the property. There was also a scavenger hunt throughout the whole day looking for pictures of "Wasser" (a dog). We found nine of the ten Wassers. Some of the site was similar to what we've seen in Williamsburg and Plimoth Plantation, but some of it was unique, such as the one room schoolhouse. The site included buildings and artifacts from as long ago as 1740 to as recent as 1940. I thought it was all very well done and was a very well spent $30 (cost for the four of us to attend).

After we were done we drove what "should" have been another two hours, but it took us a little longer due to traffic. My dad cooked some bacon while I made scrambled eggs and pancakes (while the kids played), and then the five of us had breakfast for dinner. After dinner I helped my dad with a little project and then we all played Racko, Bubble Talk, and Stay Alive (three board games). The next morning I worked on a project for my dad for about two hours before switching gears to pack our suitcase and pack our

lunches. I also brought home some photo albums so that I could work on dividing pictures between the five of us (my dad, myself, and my three siblings) back at our home.

Around 10:00 we drove to Baltimore in two vehicles. We spent about five hours in the Maryland Science Center during which time we watched a Planetarium show, explored the exhibits, watched some live demonstrations on topics such as liquid nitrogen, and ate our bagged lunch. It was a sunny day when we arrived at the museum, but around 3pm it started raining. We definitely got wet during our walk to another building in the Inner Harbor where we had dinner at Johnny Rockets before driving one vehicle to a parking garage close to Port Discovery, a children's museum. We spent two hours in that museum before we took Grandpa back to his car and then started our drive home to Pennyslvania. The drive "should" have taken three hours, but it took a little longer due to some traffic and one stop for gas and 3 cookies, 2 apple pies, and 3 cups of water at McD's (for a

grand total of $2.12). Oliver fell asleep before we even were out of Baltimore, and aside from a few coughing jags (one was so bad he threw up a little), he slept the whole way home. I let Nadia and Ian listen to a book on CD for the first two hours, and they slept the last 75 minutes of the trip. 99% of the time when I get home I unpack, etc. before going to bed, but I was exhausted last night. I emptied out the van (which involved making multiple trips), and then went to bed even though the suitcase had yet to be unpacked. This morning I made sure to unload the dishwasher (which had been waiting to be emptied for 50 hours), put away Paul's dirty dishes from the previous two days, and unpacked and put away the suitcase. It really was okay to wait until this morning to do those tasks. I do  not know why I always feel like I *must* get it all taken care of the same day I come home.

The kids must have been tired because I woke up at 7:45 to the realization that I almost overslept. Paul went to bed at 8:30 last night (while we were driving home) as he was planning to get up at 1:45am. The boys almost always have me up by 7:15 at the latest so I was very discombobulated to see that the clock said 7:45 as I was supposed to get Nadia to her teammates house sometime between 8:15-8:30 so she could ride with them to the soccer game. When I opened Oliver's bedroom door I discovered he was awake in his bed (makes sense since he had fallen asleep more than 12 hours earlier), but I had to wake Nadia and Ian up, which I very rarely do. They quickly got dressed, and I showered while they ate, and we managed to get Nadia there on time. We had a rude awakening when we went outside. We had been spoiled by temps in the 80's for several days, but it was in the low 50's this morning. Paul worked a very short shift today so he could be home in time for the boys' games. He hadn't seen any soccer games yet this season, and the season ends next Saturday, and there's no way to see all three kids next week. So he said he'd see the boys today and Nadia's game next week. Paul's parents came up to see the boys today for the same reason, as they also hadn't

seen any games this season.
planning to go in at 2am this morning (but actually I don't think he left until 4:00 am). The boys

Thankfully Oliver kicked the ball a little more than he had the rest of the games (although he still has a LONG way to go to actually being helpful to his team in any way, shape, or form). Oliver played the first three quarters, and since he was not playing the fourth quarter we took him home early because it was so cold and rainy out. Ian played defense in the second quarter and offense in the third quarter. He is also showing improvement (particularly on offense). He had one assist. We didn't see Nadia's game, but she said she played defense two quarters, sat out one quarter, and played goalie one quarter. It was her first time playing goalie, and she had really wanted to do that sometime. She said the other team only scored one goal while she was goalie.

Paul's parents spent most of the day with us, which was nice. Nadia didn't get back home until after 3:00. She had lunch with

her friend, and they went grocery shopping with her mom and such. Since Paul was home on a Saturday (a rare thing) I thought we could at least tackle one thing on the "honey do list" that I made in early August (as we haven't made any progress on that list for 2 months). I thought it would be easy to put the screen back in the screen door (he took the screen out in May). It took longer than I thought, but it's done (well the door is on the dining room table but once it's put in the track we can check that off the list). Paul fell asleep several times throughout the day while sitting in a chair, and he went to bed around 6:40. Normally I would have been shocked by that, but on last Saturday and Sunday nights he went to bed really early. He woke up at 9:00 and was surprised I hadn't woken him up. I had no idea I was to wake him up. I thought he was just going to bed early again. He had gotten up for work at 1:45 am on Sunday and Monday. I thought maybe he was doing the same tomorrow. So over the past eight nights he only tucked the kids into bed three nights as he was asleep before them four of

the nights and we were in Maryland the other night. I had said to him before I don't care how early he goes into work (meaning I don't mind if he leaves at 3:00 am because we're asleep) because I care far more what time he comes home at night, but now I am rethinking that statement because when he leaves crazy early he is going to bed so early at night that it's still diminishing how much time he has with the kids.

As for our 38 hour trip, I think a good time was had by all. It was our first time at the Landis Valley Museum and our third trip to the two museums in Baltimore. I don't think it will be our last trip to any of them. We paid $2 each for Port Discovery (they do that once a month from 4-8pm), and four of us got in for free at the science museum thanks to our membership (which saved us about $78). The biggest expense for Baltimore is the parking and gas getting there and back, but it's well worth it especially considering we got to spend time with Grandpa. The next time we plan to see him is in Lancaster on November 15 when we plan to see "Samson" at Sight and Sound.