Tomorrow morning the kids and I will begin our seven day adventure in the Midwest. Our first stop will be the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland, and then we'll be spending the night at my cousin Sam's house. He and Heather have two girls who are very close in age to Nadia and Ian. Saturday morning we plan to stop at the Imagination Station in Toledo as we make our way to my sister Wendy's house in Chicago. My kids can't wait to spend time playing with their four cousins! We plan to spend five days in Chicago before we head back to Sam and Heather's place in Ohio and then back home on Good Friday. Paul will need to take care of the guinea pigs in our absence. Ian and Oliver have never been farther west that Ohio. Nadia has technically been in Chicago twice. The first time she was in my womb was I learned that I was pregnant while I was in Chicago in 2007, and she came with me again when she was an infant when I was speaking at a conference in Chicago. Those two trips I flew to Chicago. The last time I drove to Chicago was in 2001 with Paul.
I would appreciate prayers for a smooth and safe trip, especially for Oliver not to cry too much as he's not exactly been the best traveler in the past. The kids are really enjoying the Guinea Dog books on CD that I got from the library, and they're bringing some toys and I'll let them use the iPad a little and also watch DVD's during part of the drive. I think the longest stretch of our trip at any point is about 4.5 hours. Hopefully stopping at museums will help to make the drive more tolerable for everyone. I picked museums that will be free with our ASTC membership.
I wasn't sure if we'd actually go on our field trip today to Bald Eagle State Park because unlike yesterday's weather of 60's and sunny, today it was supposed to be in the 40's and rainy (including thunderstorms), but they didn't postpone or cancel the event and all three kids said they wanted to go (my vote was to stay home). So we went. Thankfully it didn't rain during the three hours we were there. They cut the program short by an hour (didn't do the shelter building or compass scavenger hunt activities). I think the turnout would have been a lot more if the
weather had been nicer. There were about 20-25 kids there. Activities included a demonstration with two live animals (screech owl and black rat snake), a campsite crime scene, painting picture frames, identifying a variety of mammal pelts of mammals found in PA (black bear, fisher, skunk, opossum, raccoon, beaver, deer, etc.), and wilderness first aid. They also played with a parachute and played a game of predator and prey. Everyone present won a door prize. Ian and Nadia each picked a nice orange water bottle that contained some candy and small toys inside, and Oliver picked a 100 piece puzzle. We wore rain boots and brought umbrellas. Thankfully we didn't need those, as it didn't rain while we were there, but we were very glad we were wearing our winter coats as it was cold out!
When we got home I was very busy with cooking the pork for Paul to eat while we're gone, baking six dozen cookies to take with us as hostess gifts, doing a load of laundry, helping the kids pack their suitcases, finishing my Bible study lessons for my study this evening, etc. I am going to sleep well tonight!
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