Thankful Thursday

1. I'm so thankful for the death and resurrection of Jesus! On Easter this year we went to church and then to Paul's parents house where ten of us enjoyed a yummy meal together. We drove in two cars because Paul decided to spend the night at his parent's house so he would have a very short drive to work the next morning. In light of the several inches of snow that fell during the night, it was a wise choice!

2. The swimming lessons have been going well. Three down and one to go. The best news is that on April 9, for the first time in his life, Oliver was swimming (without a noodle or anything) in four feet deep water! Woohoo!

3. Nadia received compliments from her coaches at gymnastics on Monday night for her headstand. She can hold hers longer than the other kids in her class.

4. Even though the fourth graders were on a field trip, the art teacher still held art class for the three homeschoolers (Nadia, Ian, and another girl) who

showed up for class on Friday.

5. Nadia got a haircut last Friday. I thin her hair looks cute a little shorter (shoulder length). The boys and I did some grocery shopping while she got her haircut. The salon is very close to the grocery store. They had some great sales last weekend including grapes for 99 cents a pound. I bought a lot of grapes as Nadia, Oliver, and I all enjoy eating grapes.

6. The kids and I opted to stay home on Saturday. We had planned to do a workshop (for kids) at Home Depot and then an art class at the Children's Museum, but Oliver was the only one who still wanted to keep those plans. Ian was on the fence, and Nadia and I wanted to stay home.

7. The kids and I enjoyed a Bible study and social at Pastor Ken's house on Sunday night. Oliver enjoyed playing with one of Pastor Ken's granddaughters who is almost three-years-old. He also loved the fact that someone brought his favorite food of all - watermelon!

8. Last night Paul took Nadia and Ian to a free concert in Williamsport put on by the Repasz Band. They are the oldest continuous band in the US (since 1831). The group performed at various historical events over the years such as the surrender during the Civil War, Teddy Roosevelt and Taft's inaugurations, etc. I would have taken the kids, but I was too tired given I had worked for the university for 10 hours yesterday. I was asleep before they got home even though they left before the concert was over, given it didn't start until 7:30pm.

9. The kids love watching Odd Squad (a PBS show they watch via Amazon Prime). Certain seasons weren't available via Prime, so we signed up for a free 7 day trial (which will cost 4.99 month if we keep it) so they can watch more episodes. The show teaches a lot of math so I like the fact it's their favorite show at the moment! Once in math recently when I started to teach Nadia something, she said - I already know how to do this because they taught us on Odd Squad. Yahoo!

10. Maurice made a quick trip to Philly this week (from Austin) and decided to accept Penn's offer. My brother will be living in the same state as me for most likely at least the next five years!!!

11. Including today, there are only 12 days left this semester when the kids will be at the babysitter! I usually do some schoolwork every single day, but the other days I do it at home while the kids are with me. They prefer doing their schoolwork with me, so lately we've been doing two (and sometimes three) math and

spelling lessons in one day so that they can skip it the days they are with the babysitter. The end is in sight for their school year as well! We should finish the science textbook next week, and we should finish reading the New Testament, their spelling textbooks, and Nadia's 4th grade math textbook by May 10. Ian will be more than half-way through the 3rd grade math textbook by May 10. As for social studies, I could wrap that up at any time. Lately we've been studying Shakespeare and Michelangelo.  Proof as to how busy I have been, I

haven't taken a single picture yet this month. I will have to make up for lost time this summer!

12. It had been months since anything had been crossed off the "honey-do" list, but this past weekend Paul pruned our one remaining apple tree. Hopefully the number of apples will be more manageable the next few years. We had never done a big pruning on the tree, and we've lived here almost 10 years. Paul also did the majority of the work for filing our federal taxes. I did our taxes the last 16 years all

by myself, but considering how overwhelmed I've been lately with the length of my to do list, I asked Paul to do the taxes this year. He hasn't done the state or local taxes yet, but he has a few more days to get those done. I appreciate his help! I had to help him some since he hadn't filled out a tax form since 2001 and since I had a lot of the information he needed, but he did most of the work. We owed money, but that was only the case because I went back to work, which means it's actually a good thing (not that we love paying taxes).

13. Oliver has really been into giving compliments lately. Sometimes they seem really random, but it's still very sweet. Yesterday when we went into a restaurant to pick up our large pizza (take out), he told the server, "I like your shirt." She really appreciated it, and I heard her commenting to someone else as we walked out about how a little boy had told her he liked her shirt. Now if he could be more well behaved when he's at the babysitter's house....

14. This has felt like a never ending winter. It has snowed a few times this month. When I talked to my brother in late March, he said that it was Mom's fault. Her birthday was March 20, and she used to comment that she brought the first day of spring. Maurice said she wasn't here to bring us spring so we were still having winter, ha ha! I do miss her so much. I miss her emails. I doubt there will ever be another human being who will send me as many emails as my mother did (I mean personal emails not the spam ones from companies!). To be honest, it's just not the same even writing on this blog now that I know my mother won't be reading it. She used to send me emails in response to things I wrote on the blog or we'd talk about something I'd mentioned on the blog during our daily phone calls. The blog felt more like a two-way conversation with my mom. As far as the weather goes, spring weather is supposed to arrive today, and it's supposed to be really warm on Saturday and Sunday. It was less than 30 degrees when I drove to church on Sunday morning - in April!

Brrr! I hope we are done with snow for many months. I am very ready for spring and summer weather!

15. In late 1999 I bought a bi-annual one that technically takes place one week in the even years, but any year I can buy a getaway (extra week). I went on a vacation to Florida with my friend (Charlene) in 2000, and the used my first exchange for our honeymoon to St. Lucia in 2001. The last few years they have been giving me extra exchanges that are only good at certain locations (such as Orlando, Williamsburg, Poconos, etc.) during certain months year. Some years we've used the timeshare getaway or exchange program more than once in a year. In 2015 we actually booked two units for three weeks (6 total exchanges or getaway purchases) as we spent one week in Orlando, one at a beach in Florida, and one in Williamsburg. In 2016 we only used one week in Cape Cod. of the In 2017 we didn't use our timeshare at all, which was highly unusual. Some years other family members have used a getaway or an exchange, but that also didn't happen last year. Thus far this year I don't have anything booked through our time share, but I am expecting to use an extra exchange or a getaway in September in Williamsburg. Usually I deposit my week early and put in a request toward the end of each odd year (such as maybe November 2017). We have until February 2020 to actually use our 2018 week. Recently I spent some time trying to figure out some future vacation plans so that I can put in a request for 2019 using our 2018 week. During the first 17 years I owned this time share I didn't have to pay anything extra even if the unit I received through the exchange was bigger than the one I "own." My unit is an efficiency, but we usually get a two or three bedroom unit. This year they have implemented a policy that it costs $99 per upgrade - so to go from an efficiency to a three bedroom = 3 upgrades. This policy isn't true for the extra exchanges. The extra exchange fee is more than a regular exchange fee, but we don't pay anything extra if we have a three bedroom unit rather than an efficiency. I think the fee is fair considering I paid a lot less for my time share and my maintenance fee is smaller, but I'm still thankful for the 18 years I didn't have to pay anything extra to stay in a unit larger than the one I own. 

16. We could use our exchange for Williamsburg in September, but in light of these new fees and the fact that it's easy to get a week for Williamsburg through another route, I've decided to save the 2018 exchange for 2019. Our current plan is to spend a week on either Hilton Head or Myrtle Beach in early June 2019. Some of the vacations I'm envisioning for the future aren't really suited for a time share because they will be vacations where we are driving different places rather than just staying in one location for an entire week. We are staying in one place in San Diego, but the time share company doesn't have much available in that area, which is why we went with airbnb instead. Speaking of vacations, earlier this month I used the "Purchase eraser" (another form of credit card points) to subtract $616.61 from our credit card bill (two of our airline tickets plus part of a third), which means at this point we're only going to pay $771.39 total for 5 roundtrip tickets to California and back! Where there is a will, there is a way to make vacations affordable!

The timing of the vacations listed below is based on me continuing to teach. The dates will change if I go back to being a stay at home mom. I was basing this on me teaching on Tuesdays/Thursdays. The best times for vacations based on my university schedule are the following: mid May through near the end of August (my summer), Thanksgiving week in November (we get the whole week off), spring break which is a week off in March, and the break in between semesters (mid December to mid January). I'm not going to list plans for future day trips but just those that will likely involve at least one overnight. The ones in blue are places the children have never been before (and in some cases none of us have ever been before). I'm sure there will be additions, deletions, and revisions to the plan, but still it helps to have tentative plans. Nadia is almost ten years old so the years of her living in our house could easily be half-over. I want to make the most of the years we have with them!

1. San Diego area - Sea World, Disneyland, LEGOLAND, San Diego Zoo, USS Midway Museum, Maritime Museum, Aquatica, San Diego Safari Park, La Jolla Beaches, San Diego Natural History Museum, Fleet Science Center, and Cabrillo National Monument - May 27 - June 5, 2018
2. Baltimore/DC - Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Fort McHenry, Port Discovery, Museum of the Bible, and National Museum of the American Indian - June 14-15, 2018
   
3. Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium, Fort Pitt Museum, Bushy Run Battlefield, Carnegie Science Center - August 4-5, 2018
   
4. Niagara Falls - Genesee Village, Rochester Museum and Science Center, Strong Museum of Play, Hornblower cruise, Journey behind the falls, white water walk, and Fort George, Buffalo Museum of Science, Old Fort Erie, and IMAX movie - August 18-21, 2018
   
5. Virginia- Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown - September 13-17, 2018 (time share)
6. Washington, DC - details TBD (somewhere in between November 16-26, 2018)
7. NYC - Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty, Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum, Staten Island Children's Museum, Brooklyn Children's Museum, see a Broadway musical, Liberty Science Center (NJ), Tenement Museum, Central Park, 911 Memorial - March 2019
   
8. New York - Saratoga National Historic Park, SUNY Poly's Children Museum of Science and Technology, and the Museum of Innovation and Science  - May 26-27, 2019
   
9. South Carolina/Virginia - Myrtle Beach or Hilton Head, Fort Sumter, Luray Caverns, Montpelier, Monticello, Virginia Discovery Museum, USS North Carolina Battleship, Cape Fear Museum of History and Science (also stop in Lynchburg to visit my Dad and Margie) - June 2019 - time share for beach part of the trip
10. Michigan - Ann Arbor Hands-on Museum, Flint Children's Museum, Michigan Science Center, Sloan Longway, Imagination Station (Toledo, OH), Henry Ford Museum, Ford Rouge Factory Tour, Greenfield Village, Fort Mackinac, Colonial Michilimackinac, Soo Locks, National Museum of the US Air Force (Dayton, OH - free) - August 2019
    
11. Virginia - Antietam Battlefield, Manassas Battlefield, Petersburg Battlefield, Appomattox Court House, Natural Bridge State Park, Wright Brother's National Memorial, Port Discover, Science Museum of Virginia, and Nauticus and the Battleship Wisconsin (also stop in Lynchburg to visit my Dad and Margie) - November 2019
12. Philadelphia - Fireman's Hall Museum, Independence Seaport Museum, Battleship New Jersey, Franklin Institute, Independence Hall - March 2020
13. Mexico - November 2020 (use time share)