When I saw how much the kids loved seeing the touring Broadway performance of Aladdin in August in Buffalo, I decided to make it a goal to take the kids to see one Broadway show per year. I had heard rave reviews for years for Lion King. The tickets to see it in NYC were just too high (meaning I was unwilling to spend more than $500 to buy 5 tickets), but I saw the tour included Norfolk, VA, which I thought we could do if we got a week through Interval for Myrtle Beach around the time the tour would be in Norfolk. I got our tickets after we got our week in Myrtle Beach. I had no idea that time that Nadia would be in a production of Lion King, Jr. this summer. I know of five organizations within 45 minutes of our house that offer theatre camps in the summer. The one where she went in 2013, 2014, and 2018 have two middle school productions this summer - Mary Poppins, which she would love to do but it would mean she couldn't go to Camp Susque and Willy Wonka, which is one of her least favorite books/movies. The one where she went in 2015 and 2016 is doing Frozen, Jr this summer. Although she loved Frozen at one point, that's no longer on her list of princess stories that she likes, plus there were a variety of schedule conflicts. Her other options included a Snoopy musical, the Pied Piper (she took an acting class there in 2017), or Lion King, Jr. (where she was in Madagascar, Jr. in 2017). Two of the theatres are about 20 minutes from our house. One of those does offer a theatre class for middle schoolers, but it doesn't include putting on a theatrical presentation, which is a requirement in her mind. The downside of the one she picked is that it's 45 minutes away from our house. The upsides are that it only lasts one week (some of the other productions include three or more weeks of rehearsals), and the dates (in August) don't conflict with anything else. I'm hoping to possibly carpool with someone else to make the driving more reasonable. So we plan to see Lion King in Norfolk the end of May and then watch Nadia in it in August. The kids put on the production three times - Friday night plus twice on Saturday. The Snoopy musical would have been her second choice, but the dates conflicted with Camp Susque.
I think the last full day of school will be May 6. I plan to have Oliver keep doing reading for more of the month of May, but otherwise I think we'll have wrapped up this school year. I have a bunch of field trips scheduled for May, but most of our summer activities won't begin until the end of May. Here's the current plan:
End of May and first part of June - Family vacation with Paul's parents (includes a week at Myrtle Beach as well as other sites including Jamestown, Yorktown, Williamsburg, Monticello, Montpelier, Luray Caverns, USS North Carolina, Fort Sumter, etc.)
Week of June 10 - Horseback riding camp for all three kids (M-F)
Week of June 17 - Oliver at Camp Susque for 3 nights; Nadia and Ian one day at Montage Mountain Water Park; VBS at our church four mornings that week
Week of June 24 - Ian at Camp Susque for 7 nights
Week of July 1 - Long Island with Aunt Janet
Week of July 8 - all three kids at Camp Good News (9-3 M-F) and VBS (6-8:30pm)
Week of July 15 - Nadia at Camp Susque for 7 nights; boys have chemistry camp (1-4pm) and VBS (5-8pm)
Week of July 22 - baseball/softball clinic for four nights (all 3 kids), hopefully a history camp for 3 hours a day for 3 days that week for all three kids (hasn't been posted yet on the website)
Week of July 29 - probably art camp for all three (3 hours a day M-F) but possibly a history camp for Nadia and Ian instead
Week of August 5 - National Night Out, roller skating, DelGrosso's Amusement Park, and a 2 night getaway to New York State to visit Fort Ticonderoga and Saratoga
Week of August 12 - Nadia at theatre camp
Week of August 18 - two-day trip to Allentown (National Museum of Industrial History, Museum of Indian Culture, Lost River Caverns, Crayola Experience) and two one-day trips (Erie Maritime Museum and Eckley Miners' Village)
I haven't been scheduling any field trips since I found out Maurice had passed away, but thankfully I already had quite a bit planned out of the summer. Some of these plans might change if I decide to stay at home next school year, but as of now here are some field trips I've planned for May through August.
- Homeschool Day at Refreshing Mountain (includes science plus zip lining and such)
- Reptiland
- Pennsbury Manor
- Washington Crossing Park and Old Barracks Museum
- Statue of Liberty
- Aesop Fables presentation, Steamtown, Bees Backyard, and Sky Zone trampoline park
- Mulan, Jr musical and Lake Tobias
- Valley Forge
- Blue Angels Airshow
- Colonial Children's Day at Fort Frederick State Park
- Civil War Days at Curtin Village
- Revolutionary War Days at Fort Roberdeau
- Civil War Days at Landis Valley Village
- Snoopy musical
- Junie B. Jones musical
- Something Grimm production at BTE
- WGRC Day at Knoebels (free concerts)
- Civil War to WW2 at Eckley Miners' Village and Old Jail Museum
There are some things that we have done the last year or two that are NOT on the calendar thus far for this summer including:
- Swimming or diving lessons (we're doing indoor lessons right now at Bucknell)
- Tennis lessons
- Adventure Camp (Nadia enjoyed this at Bloomsburg University last year but I'm hoping the zip lining and rock wall climbing on May 9 will suffice)
- Far fewer trips to amusement parks; right now we just have three planned - Knoebels in May, Montage Mountain water park in June, and DelGrossos in August. In comparison last year we went to Dorney Park, Sesame Place, Six Flags, Knoebels, Disneyland, Legoland, Aquatica, Montage Mountain, and Sea World.
Of course these plans are not set in stone. Time will tell. With the experience of my brother's sudden passing still very fresh in my mind, I know that plans can drastically change even at the very last minute. My brother was scheduled to speak at a conference later this month. We just never know what a day will bring. The less drastic instance that often comes to my mind was from May 2012 when the dentist office called and to confirm if I'd be at my six month appointment the next morning. I said I'd be there. Then I ended up in the hospital during the middle of the night, and it ended up being several months before I was able to actually make it to the dentist.
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