On Tuesday the kids and I pulled out of the driveway at 6:40am, and I didn't return until 9:30pm. Our first stop was the Daniel Boone Homestead. It was supposed to take 2hr 20 minutes to get there, but it took more like 2hr 40 minutes because I needed to get gas and I accidently took a route that took a little longer. The program had already started when we arrived, but after paying and taking a bathroom break, we joined some homeschoolers at the blacksmith station. There were twelve stations. We did eleven of them. The "hearth and kitchen" station was already packed up when we got to it. Many stations had things the kids could touch. Some of them had things the kids could do such as dipping candles, writing with a quill pen and sealing it with a wax seal at the end, and helping make butter. Daniel Boone was born and lived the first fifteen years of his life at this house. His family moved to North Carolina when he was fifteen because the family was excommunicated from their church because two of his older sisters had married men who weren't Quakers. The other reasons for moving included wanting to live in an area with fewer people and lower taxes. One station included a tour of the Boone House. We passed by the sawmill, but that wasn't one of the stations.
At each station there was at least one costumed interpreter. We stayed there for about four hours. Nadia said her favorite part was the militia station. The kids practiced following commands when marching such as right face, left face about face, forward march, etc. After we left we drove one hour and stopped at my friend Kay's house. She is 77 years old, and her husband is 80. He wasn't there because he's still a self-employed electrician. Kay was the principal of the school before I was the principal. I met her in Indiana in graduate school in the summer of 1993, and we became friends when I moved to Pennsylvania in the summer of 1996. I've only seen her a couple of times over the past nine years. Unfortunately I didn't zoom in close enough on the back of my camera screen to notice that she was blinking when I took the picture of her with my kids. Oops! She gave the kids pretzels, brownies, juice, and peanut butter M&Ms. We stayed at her house for about 90 minutes, and then we needed to continue our drive home. We stopped at a Dunkin Donuts and used a gift card to get breakfast sandwiches for our dinner. I dropped Ian off at his soccer practice, and then drove to another town where Oliver was having a soccer game. Nadia and I watched the first three quarters of his game. He played in three of the four quarters. The good news is that he didn't cry or object to going out there and playing. The bad news is that he is the least enthusiastic player on the field. He moves slower than molasses, and the coach has to plead with him umpteen times when it's his turn to do a thrown in or corner kick. It's just plain torture for me to watch Oliver's soccer games. I cannot wait until the season is over. Paul picked Ian up at 6:30 from his practice and brought him over to Oliver's game at the start of the fourth quarter. I left to go to my two hour Bible study on the Kinsman Redeemer (book of Ruth). After Oliver's game was over he made a stop at the library for me, and then took the kids home and put them to bed. When I got home I got the garbage ready, put away the dirty dishes, cleaned up a little bit, and then went to bed. I was exhausted.
Originally we had planned to go to the Ephrata Cloister on my birthday, but because Oliver and I were sick that day, we rescheduled for April 19. Yesterday I decided we'll wait until October. It's a similar although not identical type program, and it's also two hours away. Yesterday in the van the kids listened to a book on CD (Saving Shiloh), each had a 30 minute iPad turn, and watched two DVDs. Nadia threw up on the way down there (car sickness). She used the trash can we keep in the car for that purpose which was awesome, but then she forgot to keep it vertical so there was still a mess to be cleaned up when we got home. Yuck. Oliver also made a mess with a bag of pretzels I had brought for our snack. I decided last night I wasn't game for another four hours in the van on Friday, which is why we're waiting until October to visit the Ephrata Cloister. I had never been to the Daniel Boone Homestead. Paul said he was there when he was young. None of us have ever been to the Ephrata Cloister. Paul and his dad will be driving to Canada tomorrow morning and returning Friday night. It's a business trip. I had asked that they schedule it on a Thursday/Friday as I need his help on Tuesday nights so I can go to Bible study and Wednesday nights so I can go to choir. The kids have a three hour dress rehearsal at church on Friday and gym class there in the morning. Tomorrow we're going to see a play about Little Red Riding Hood and then go to an Emergency Preparedness Carnival at a federal correction center that is about five minutes from our house. I had planned to take them to a fish hatchery before I learned about the carnival. We'll save the fish hatchery tour for another time.
My mother's day gift was delivered today - a battery operated weed whacker. Now I need to sell the gas powered one. I succeeded in assembling it myself and used it today. I also spread stuff to kill the ants around our house. That was a first for me. It's been Paul's job the rest of our marriage. I am taking over as many of his duties around our house as possible because he just doesn't have time to do them. I kept waiting and waiting and the number of ants in our kitchen were multiplying so I went with the "if you want something done do it yourself" adage today. Sometimes I feel like I am in over my head as I'm not nearly as good with my hands as he is, but I am probably capable of doing more than I think I am. It was really hot today. I hate to complain about the heat because I'm not a fan of winter weather, but I couldn't do the weed whacking and mow the whole lawn without taking breaks. I also finished up the strawberry bed. Let me say gardening is NOT my thing. We shall see how this turns out. While I was doing it I was questioning my sanity in attempting this task. Tomorrow I hope to finally get those blueberry plants in the ground that I bought weeks ago.
I also finished Nadia's GPS costume today. I completely used two cans of spray paint (black) and part of another one (silver). I am not happy with how it turned out, but I have never professed to be very artsy/ craftsy. The lesson I have learned is to say "no thank you" the next time someone asks me to do a task like that. I'd be happy to help in other ways, but making things out of cardboard is not my specialty. Tonight they had their first GPS rehearsal at the Alliance Church. Oliver started up again with crying and carrying on and not wanting to be separated from me. Thankfully one of the women just picked him up and put him in the room. She said it took less than 2 minutes for him to settle down, and he was fine the rest of the night. Soccer practice was right before that, and he was fine until I walked away to locate Ian. He came running off the field crying for me. Soccer will be done in 3 weeks (plus 3 days). What a relief. I am seriously thinking of skipping soccer for all the kids next year. Rushing through dinner to get them up there for practice four nights a week plus games on Saturdays is just too much for me. Paul was planning to meet me there at 6:15 so I could get to choir, but he hit traffic and didn't make it, so I was 30 minutes late to choir rehearsal. We aren't singing this Sunday because the kids are singing, and then May 28 will be our last time singing on a Sunday until September. I am grateful he has decided to continue the choir next year even though our numbers are down.
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