Forts and Fathers

On Wednesday the kids and I met Paul and his parents at Sight and Sound Theater to see their new production "Jesus." It was amazing! I have loved every show I have seen there, but this one was definitely my favorite. If you've never been to one of these shows -think a Christian Broadway show. I don't mean a small Broadway show. Think a BIG one with many live animals (camels, horses, pigs, doves, goats, etc.) and amazing sets. The show started with Jesus calling the first disciples and ended with Peter preaching on the Day of Pentecost. I'm sure it had to be difficult to select which stories from the Gospels to include, but it was powerful. Aside from Jesus some of the other main characters included Mary (Jesus' mother), Mary Magdalene, Lazarus, Martha, Mary, Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, Peter, Judas, James, and John. The show started at 3:00, and it was almost 6:00 before we pulled out of the parking lot. Oliver kept asking why they didn't bow at the end. You can tell he's been to other dramatic productions before! Since it was so close to Father's Day and I had a $25 gift card to

Texas Roadhouse that we got at Christmas and hadn't used yet, the seven of us had dinner there before going our separate ways. I like the fact that between the free rolls and a baked sweet potato I am full, which means my dinner costs about $4 - the same as a kid's meal. Paul and his dad both enjoyed having a steak. The kids pick the same things no matter what restaurant we are at (macaroni and cheese plus applesauce for Nadia and Oliver and chicken tenders for Ian). Nadia also opened her birthday gifts from Paul's parents. She got a dvd (Wonder), earrings, and a case to store her earrings in. By the time we left the restaurant it was 7:00, and we hit traffic near Baltimore so we didn't arrive at Yvonne and Joe's house until about 9:15pm.

On Thursday we didn't drive anywhere, which was wonderful. Yvonne and I did take eight of the kids to the playground for a picnic lunch (walked there), but otherwise we never left the house. Margie took Jenna and Nadia out to lunch that day. Yvonne and Joe had made eggs and bacon for

Andrew's 13th birthday breakfast, and for dinner that night Joe grilled some cheeseburgers and hotdogs. I made the brownies for the birthday celebration. He wasn't the only one who opened presents. I gave my dad his Father's Day gifts that day, and Nadia received her birthday gifts 10 days early. Yvonne's family gave her a pretty necklace from Turkey, and Grandpa and Margie gave her a Tempur-Pedic pillow that she had been wanting for several months. Grandpa also had birthday gifts for some other Towfighi birthdays (some belated and some early). Oliver and Julianna played together as usual, but the difference was this year they didn't require the close supervision that they required in the past. They used to be rather mischievous!

Friday was a really hectic day. Andrew wanted to go ice skating for his birthday, but we went on Friday instead of his actual birthday because Yvonne's best friend and her two kids could join us on Friday morning. We skated from about 9-11. I skipped the skating because of the cost ($12 per person

including skate rental) as well as the fact I knew I needed to conserve energy. Joe plus ten cousins (all except for Wesley who is only one year old) were skating while Yvonne, Grandpa, Margie, and I just watched. After ice skating, Grandpa treated everyone to lunch at Chick-Fil-A. Then the Towfighis went to Six Flags (they have season passes), and I took my kids to Fort McHenry. Grandpa and Margie joined us for about 30 minutes of the 2 hours we spent at that site. I remembered Nadia's 4th grade pass (so we all got in free), but I forgot to bring the kids' National Park passports. I stamped some other small pieces of paper and plan to tape or glue them into their passports. We watched the movie, attended one talk put on by a ranger, and Nadia and Ian both completed the Junior Ranger program. Nadia earned her second badge, and Ian earned his first badge. Next we went to Port Discovery, which is a children's museum. We arrived at 4:00pm, and Yvonne's family joined us at 6:00. We had planned to leave by 7:00, but since they had only arrived at 6:00 we stayed until 8:00 which

put us back home around 9:00. This whole trip was actually planned because it was the third Friday of the month, which is the one time a month that it is $2 per person (instead of $16) to visit Port Discovery starting at 4pm. When I made these plans, I didn't know the Towfighis would be in Maryland that week. I had originally planned on taking my kids to museums in DC on Thursday, but when I knew that the Towfighis would be around, I scratched those plans as I knew they'd rather play with their cousins. We are now planning on a trip to DC in November. One of the highlights of our time at Port Discovery was a 35 minute circus science show. Oliver and Nadia both volunteered to be in the show. Oliver was picked to balance four spinning plates.

Dad and Margie also drove to Maryland (from Virginia) on Wednesday evening, and they also left on Saturday morning. They stayed in a hotel. Maurice, Nadia, and the ten Towfighis occupied the four bedrooms upstairs. Oliver and Ian stayed in the bedroom that is in the basement. I slept on a couch in

the living room the first night and then a couch in the family room the second two nights. Maurice's friend (plus his wife and three kids) stayed in the living room on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. I almost slept in our van on Friday night because his friends' kids stayed up so late and I couldn't sleep. Last night I went to bed at 8:30pm, and I plan to do the same tonight to try to make up some of the sleep I lost in Maryland. Including Maurice's friend's family there were 20 people sleeping in the same house on Thursday and Friday nights! Maurice went with his friend to the zoo (in DC) on Friday.

Saturday morning the kids and I were out the door by 8:15am. I was exhausted from being out and about for 12 hours straight the previous day, but somehow I managed to have the energy to drive almost 2 hours to Fort Frederick. It was the biggest fort the British built during the French and Indian war. I had signed Nadia and Ian up for a 5 hour program that helped them experience life as a soldier in the 1750's. If we attend the program

next year, they will experience life as a captain in the 1750's. The practiced marching, doing chores (stacking wood, sweeping, getting water from a 40 feet deep well, etc.), a mock battle, playing games, firing a cannon, etc. They were served either beef stew or bread, meat, and cheese. My two picked the latter and skipped the pickles. They both loved the pound cake that was served for dessert. Their drink choices included lemonade or root beer. I hadn't signed Oliver up because it was for 8-12 year olds, but there were kids his age and younger in the program. At lunch he did have a piece of bread and a piece of pound cake, and then after lunch he started joining in many of the activities with the other kids. Nadia was one of only two girls and the only one of my kids who chose to do the scrimshaw activity. They were pretending they were engraving a powder horn, but they were actually doing it on halves of bananas. Many of the participants were from a Cub Scout troop in WV. On the way home the kids asked to stop at Dunkin Donuts to have breakfast sandwiches for dinner.

Since they made that choice, I also got 6 donuts to eat this morning for a special Father's Day breakfast (gave Paul 2 of the donuts).

This morning we all went to the first service and then the kids and I went up to Kidzway for the second service. I taught the lesson on Joseph twice. One of the adults commented to another adult that I did a good job, and the man she told responded "she was my teacher" which surprised the other adult. He is now an elementary teacher himself (and the father of two young girls), but when I first met him he was an undergrad student of mine at Bloomsburg University (more than 10 years ago). Speaking of my students at BU, four of them have either emailed or texted me in the past two weeks telling me that they have been hired for the upcoming school year! Three of them have been hired in local school districts, and the fourth was hired in a school closer to Philadelphia. It meant so much to me that each one of them let me know their happy news, and I of course was thrilled to hear they have gotten jobs. Hopefully

I'll hear from more of them as the summer progresses.

After the second service the five of us drove straight to the movie theatre to see Incredibles 2. We had 4 free movie tickets and vouchers for 2 free drinks and 2 free popcorns. The outing cost us only $6! Because I am utterly exhausted (this morning I felt like I didn't want to leave the bed the whole day) and because it's hot out today and I don't do well in that heat, Paul offered to mow the lawn. I am very thankful. It needed to be mowed on Wednesday but I didn't have the energy to do it before driving to Lancaster. When we got home last night I saw it REALLY needed to be mowed. I was planning to do it after the movie today, but I am very thankful Paul did it instead. He asked if we could have pizza for dinner, and since it is Father's Day and I don't mind getting the day off from cooking, I went and got us pizza for dinner. The kids had made his Father's Day cards on Tuesday so he had received those a few days early. If we return to Fort Frederick at some point, hopefully Paul will be able to join us as that would totally be up his alley! Hopefully he had a good Father's Day!