Thankful Thursday

The book was the only thing in that huge box!?!?

 On Monday morning the kids and I were out the door at 7:15, and we arrived at the hotel north of Pittsburgh around 10:45. After a little bathroom break, we drove down to the Carnegie Science Center which is located right next to the Steelers' stadium. Ian was VERY excited about this. He saw a big picture of three players on the side of the stadium, noticed that one was Big Ben, and kept asking to have his picture taken with "Big Ben" (the photo). We spent almost five hours in the museum, and that proved to be not enough time! All five of us got in free thanks to our membership. It would have cost if we had seen a laser show or an IMAX movie, but we opted to just do some of the free shows. Our only expense was $5 for parking, which saved us about $100 compared to what it would have cost if we bought a one day admission for three kids and two adults. There were nine different shows that day (two of those shows were presented more than once so there were eleven free shows altogether). We only saw three of the shows - a planetarium show, a program called "high

voltage" that was about electricity, and a "taste the rainbow" program that included us each tasting a kale chip. The USS Requin Submarine was closed for maintenance, but hopefully the next time we visit this museum we can go outside and tour the submarine that is in the water right by the museum. Some parts of the museum were similar to things we had seen at other science museums, but several exhibits were not at the museums in Philadelphia, Baltimore, or Boston. Thus far the kids have been to four science museums, and I am expecting that #5 will be the one in Chicago. Although the kids have enjoyed all four of them (we've been to the one in Baltimore three times so far), I think this Pittsburgh one was their favorite. The Bodyworks exhibit had things we haven't seen before (focused on the human body), and the roboworld was very interesting. They had robots that were doing different things. One robot was playing basketball right next to where people were also shooting hoops, and the robot was far more accurate. Another robot would create with up to 900 marbles whatever someone drew on a computer screen.

I did not allow enough time for the SportsWorks building, which was our last stop before heading to the Duquesne Incline. They had many interesting things in that building such as a rock climbing wall, a roller coaster simulator that spun you upside down, and much much more. Nadia volunteered to participate in two of the shows, and we did a wide variety of activities throughout the museum such as touching a cockroach and eating a marshmallow that had been frozen with liquid nitrogen. We met my dad's cousin (Charlie) and his wife (Nadine) at the parking lot for the incline. We enjoyed riding up Mt. Washington and enjoying the view of the city. Ian was again VERY excited about being able to see the field where Big Ben plays. 

In hindsight, we should not have done the incline so late in the day. Since I live in a rural area, I sometimes forget about RUSH HOUR. Big mistake. A drive that should have taken 15-20 minutes took 90 minutes instead. Considering I had already driven about four hours in the morning, it was exhausting to spend that much more time on the road. First we stopped at Brooke's house. She and

her husband are both lawyers. The last time I had seen her husband (Peter) was at Charlie's 70th birthday party in 2007 when Brooke was pregnant with her twins. I had seen Brooke briefly in the summer of 2012 when she visited me in the hospital during my pregnancy with Oliver. I also had met one of her sons that day. My kids met Charlie, Nadine, and their other daughter, Samantha (who lives in Virginia) at my mom's funeral. On Monday it was the first time my kids had met Brooke, Peter, and their three boys. Their twins are eight (will be turning nine next month) and are in third grade like Nadia, and their youngest is seven and in first grade like Ian. The six kids didn't have much time together, but it seemed like they hit it off well and would have enjoyed having more time to play together. Then we *finally* drove to Texas Roadhouse where Charlie graciously treated the five of us plus Nadine and Brooke to dinner. It was definitely the latest by FAR that my kids have ever eaten dinner as we didn't arrive at the restaurant until 7:30, and we didn't eat until after 8:00, which is usually when Oliver is going to bed. We didn't leave the restaurant until 9:00, which meant the kids weren't in bed until 9:30.

Nadia and I shared a double bed, and the boys shared the other double bed in the room. I did not get much sleep. Nadia just couldn't seem to be still. Tuesday morning we enjoyed a continental breakfast and then hung out in our room for awhile because the Children's Museum didn't open until 10:00, and we only had a 15-20 minute drive. All five of us again got in for free aside from paying $6 for parking. We started on the top floor, and I quickly learned I should have brought bathing suits for the kids as the water area really necessitated wearing a bathing suit (which the other children were

wearing). There were some interesting exhibits along the way such as a gravity room which really messed with your mind, but the highlight for my three were the art studio and makeshop on the first floor where we spent our time after eating lunch. They had a wide variety of art activities for the kids to do and had those areas very well staffed so that most of the time the kids had one-on-one assistance as they did things like needle felting, print making, painting, sewing, clay,

circuit making, etc. Nadia made a beautiful bookmark from recycled materials with an artist from Israel. I also enjoyed seeing many artifacts from Mr. Roger's throughout the museum - a pair of his shoes, a sweater his mom had knitted for him that he wore on the show, and many of the puppets used in the show. There was also an exhibit focused on Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. 

While we were at the museum, Paul called me and told me it was sleeting north of State College (which I would pass through on I80 on my way home). It was only raining in Pittsburgh. He said I needed to either spend another night in Pittsburgh or come home a different route that would add one hour to my drive. I really wanted to sleep in my own bed, so I opted to drive a different route. Then as I was on my way home he told me it was also sleeting in our town, and he suggested that I spend the night in Mechanicsburg with his aunt and uncle. We ended up at their house a little before 8pm, which meant I had driven for almost 5

hours since leaving the museum (and 4.5 since I dropped my dad off at the hotel), and I still had to drive a little less than 2 hours on Wednesday morning. On the way out there it took me 3.5 hours, and on the way back it took me more than six hours altogether. Plus on the way back I had to pay a hefty toll, and there hadn't been any tolls on the way there. Tuesday night I was really wishing I had just stayed an extra night in Pittsburgh. The good news is that we arrived home safe and sound. The roads were fine on Wednesday because it was warmer that day. Having a longer drive is much better than getting in an accident.

Today I'm thankful...

1. That the Steelers won on Sunday. I am also VERY glad the Steelers won't play the Giants again for four more years. I'd be fine with our teams never playing each other again. :)

2. We had a safe trip to and from Pittsburgh.

3. We had the closing for our refinance today. Paying over $2K in closing costs was not a very "fun" way to spend money that is for sure, but our payments will be $200 less per month and if we stay here for another 10 years we'll save thousands in interest as our interest rate dropped 3% and we shortened the length of our loan. I am so glad all the paperwork and such is DONE.

4. The low oil pressure light started coming on only when I hit the brakes while we were in Pittsburgh. The light only flashed on briefly and then would go off again and stay off until the next time I used the brakes. I thought something was wrong with the sensor because I had gotten the oil changed only a 2 weeks (and 2 days) before we left for Pittsburgh. Then on Wednesday I noticed a strange sound now and then and was more concerned that something was wrong. When I drove it home last night from caroling at the nursing home, I told Paul I wasn't going to drive it again until it had been taken to a mechanic. Paul checked the oil

and nothing showed on the dipstick. I then became very worried that I had been driving around without oil and had done serious damage to the car. Paul figured that Sears must have done something wrong with the oil change 2 weeks ago. He had planned to come home really early today (to attend our closing at 3:30), but he ended up staying home the whole day. He got oil at Walmart, put some of it in the van, and then drove the van to Toyota. They fixed the oil leak and said that no damage had been done. Thank you, Lord! He then went to Sears to show them what Toyota had documented and the bill he paid at Toyota and also what he paid at Walmart for oil. They said the manager at Sears will call us tomorrow. I'm hoping they'll reimburse us since it was their error that incurred these expenses, but I am very relieved that it cost less than $100. I was fearing a much higher bill than that. What a relief!

5. Nadia and I had a wonderful bus trip on Saturday. We enjoyed touring the Capitol and State Museum and watching the

Nutcracker ballet for the first time.

6. We really enjoyed our visits to the Carnegie Science Center and Children's Museum of Pittsburgh. It was even more special because we shared those experiences with Grandpa. I am so thankful for our ASTC membership. We've gotten in nine museums for free in seven months. It's the best $40 I've ever spent!  We also enjoyed riding up the Duquesne Incline.

7. It was wonderful to spend some time with relatives we don't see very often (Charlie, Nadine, Brooke, Peter, and their three sons). My dad never had any first cousins. Charlie is a more distant cousin of his (3rd maybe?), but growing up we saw them as often as our first cousins. Hopefully we won't let 9 years pass before we see them again, and hopefully our next gathering will be for a happier reason than a funeral. We also appreciated Charlie treating us to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. I do love their loaded sweet potato and rolls!

8. Paul's parents spent the day with my boys last Saturday. They took them to Lowe's and Home Depot to do workshops and bought them things at Walmart, etc. Ian is looking forward to riding his new green bike when the weather is warmer!

9. Yesterday I took the kids to the Children's Museum in Bloomsburg. It's much smaller than the one we visited in Pittsburgh, but I love the programs they offer. This time the focus was on gingerbread. They had some science activities (one on

genetics for example), but the highlight of the kids was making a gingerbread cookie and a gingerbread house.

10. My new canvas was delivered today. Paul assumed it was a gift for my dad, sister, or brother since none of my kids were on the canvas, but nope I got it for our house. I figure EVERY picture on our walls doesn't need to be our three kids, right? Ha ha! I will have to take a picture of it on the wall and post it at some time. The photo is of my brother, Jenna

(oldest niece), and my mom. I took advantage of the Cyber Monday sale and got the 16x20 canvas for about $25 including s/h. Speaking of packages, the very first photo in this post shows Nadia holding a book in front of a box. Would you believe that book was the ONLY thing Amazon put in that BIG box?!?!? Why I don't know!

11. I was very disappointed to find out my choir isn't singing this Sunday because we had been scheduled to sing a beautiful arrrangement of "O Holy Night," and my dad plans to be here this Sunday, and I wanted him to hear us sing that song. They also cancelled our choir rehearsal. I really enjoy choir rehearsals, but the upside of not having one last night was I was able to go Christmas caroling with the kids at the nursing home in our town with their AWANA.

12. I found out this week when Nadia and Ian will be having their basketball practices. Nadia was very happy to find out that they will be Monday for Ian and Tuesday for Nadia. She was happy because this means they can take ice skating lessons on Thursdays. Personally I would have been happy to take one year off from ice skating lessons, but I know they do really enjoy them.

13. The kids didn't see Paul at all on Monday or Tuesday and only saw him for about 5 minutes on Wednesday. It was really nice that he was home from work today and was able to eat with us, put up Christmas lights outside our house, take the van to be repaired, going to the closing at the bank, and fix the dryer (he had accidentally put something down the dryer vent while we were away). He also watched "Finding Dory" with the kids this evening as we brought home a copy from the library yesterday.