Fables, Trains, and Trampolines!

Yesterday the kids and I enjoyed a lovely day together. We left the house around 8:30. Our first stop was the FM Kirby Center in Wilkes Barre where we saw a one hour production that featured several of Aesop's Fables. Sometimes we go to things that are more geared for Ian and/or Nadia; the average age in the audience of this production was closer to Oliver's age. They all enjoyed it. We ate our packed lunches in the van as we drove for about 25 minutes to Steamtown National Historic Site. We spent about 2.5 hours there, and all three kids earned their Junior Ranger Badges and also got their National Park Passports stamped. I skipped having them stamped at Ellis Island/Statue of Liberty on Tuesday because no bags are allowed when going up to the crown. In addition to badges, they also received nice patches and certificates today. We had taken the kids there once before when Nadia was seven years old. It was our first time attempting a Junior Ranger badge, but she didn't complete the whole booklet in 2015. This year all three kids completed their booklets with some help from Mom. I must say I really like the Junior Ranger program. It makes tackling a museum manageable for children ages 6-10. It forces us to read SOME of the informational signs, but we don't have to read every word of every sign. I want to buy something that I can use to display all of their Junior Ranger badges in each of their bedrooms. I'm hoping by the time they graduate from high school they have amassed a nice collection of them! Next up should be Valley Forge.

Steamtown is right next to a mall. We walked on an elevated walkway (walking above the trains) up to the mall. As we were walking Oliver said that he had prayed this morning and asked God to give us a pretty, sunny day. Oliver's prayer was answered! After spending three days touring sites in cold, rainy weather it was nice to be out in such pretty weather (70's and sunny). The kids played in Bee's Backyard (indoor playland) for about one hour. We can go there once a year for free because of our WVIA membership. On our way to our last stop for the day, we got breakfast sandwiches at Dunkin' Donuts (using a gift card the kids got at Easter) for an early dinner. Our last stop was at Sky Zone, which is a trampoline park where the kids are allowed to bounce for one hour for free each year again thanks to our WVIA membership. After they bounced, we stopped and got some treats at McDonald's before driving home. During our drives we listened to a little more than one hour of Elijah of Buxton, part of the CD for their musical, the radio, and about 45 minutes of No Talking. They each were allowed to have one 20 minute iPad turn, but they didn't watch any DVDs during our time in the van yesterday. Our entire adventure lasted ten hours, and we didn't pay a dime for any of the activities, and I used gift cards for dinner. The only costs involved were parking ($2.50 in the meter so we could see Aesop's Fables) and whatever amount of gas we used today while I drove us there and back. Not bad, eh? Field trips don't have to cost a lot of money.

If you can't tell, I am so grateful to be able to JUST focus on my kids and housework and not also trying to juggle a job on the side, although I did receive a reference request from a school district today. But generally speaking BU hasn't been taking any of my time for the past week. Our new deck is the same length as our old deck, but it's not as wide as our old deck. There was a forsythia bush at the one corner of the old deck. It's placement looked really strange once the deck became smaller. So I cut it down this evening. I started digging up the roots but haven't finished that part of the project yet. There is still a little bit of lumber from the old deck in our yard plus now this bush I removed. So Paul will need to bring home the pick-up truck from work one more time. I feel like I've hardly seen Paul over the past two weeks. He's been going to bed even before me. Tonight he was home for a little more than an hour before he went to bed, and during that time he was awake he was showering, eating dinner, etc. while we were doing other things, so our paths barely crossed. We did move the broken grill together this evening so I can mow the lawn tomorrow. If it wasn't broken, I could have moved it myself.