Half a century!

Paul turned 50 years old today! We started dating a few weeks after he turned 27; in four years he will have dated or been married to me for half of his life. I've been with him as he entered his 30's, 40's, and now 50's. I threw him a surprise party when he turned 40, but aside from his family, I would have no idea whom to invite if I were to have thrown him a party this year. In the first several years of our marriage we used to get together with Paul's parents, brother, Gram, etc. for every birthday, but for the past maybe ten years or so, we have generally only gotten together for the kids' birthdays. This year I wanted to spend time this week with Paul's family, but because Oliver was sick and we didn't want to expose Grandma to his germs, we postponed our get together until tomorrow. He had donuts for breakfast yesterday morning, pizza for dinner last night and will again tonight, the kids made him birthday cards, I made him Heath bar cookies, and I bought him Payday candy bars plus a book about the battle of Saratoga. Hopefully he's having a special birthday even though his birthday always comes right before his trip to Baltimore (which means he's under more stress than usual).

Because we didn't travel this Christmas break (which turned out to be a wise choice given how sick Oliver was during the time we would have been in Maryland), we had more time at home than we usually do over Christmas break. When I have extra free time, my first thought is almost always that I should tackle some projects around the house. I thought I'll paint the basement steps, clean the vents, and a few other things from the to do list. I ended up not doing anything around the house aside from the typical chores plus putting away the Christmas decorations and tree. I used my extra time to spend many hours on National Park Service websites doing research on Junior Ranger badges. I was trying to find out which ones we could do from home (either online or by mail). I printed out a big stack, and the kids have started working on them. Nadia loves to do word searches and crossword puzzles, which are often found in those packets. Yesterday I had all three kids complete one on Mary McLeod Bethune. I also made hypothetical plans as to when we might visit other parks where you must complete the booklet in person. I believe the kids have completed 22 so far. I came up with plans as to when we might complete another 128 badges (some by mail and others in person). I also listed another 41 that we *might* be able to do at one point or another. Some I added to the list because they are within a reasonable driving distance of us (NY, MD, DC, VA, NJ, or PA), and others I included just due to wishful thinking - Carlsbad Canyon, Pearl Harbor, Mount Rushmore, Hoover Dam, etc. Ones I think it would be nice to visit some day, but I have no idea if we'll actually make it there or not.

I have a possible plan of what vacations we might take over the next 4.5 years. I know the plans might drastically change, but mapping these helped me get an idea of possibly how many Junior Ranger badges the kids might be able to do (I should have bought them bigger canvases; I wasn't thinking big enough when I bought those!) as well as how many states they might make it to before they graduate from high school. These plans go through spring of 2024, which is when Nadia will be finishing her sophomore year. Just as the years have flown by with Paul, I know that the years that Nadia is still living at home will also fly by, and so I am trying to put careful thought into what our vacations will be like in the next several years. I would love it if we could take the kids to a Caribbean island once (or Hawaii) and also to Europe once, but I am not making any plans along those lines at the moment as right now those kinds of trips are definitely out of our reach financially. It is a high priority to me that each of the kids go on a missions trip to a third world country at some point, but I haven't given thought as to when exactly that might happen.

Here are the plans I have at the moment. I know they will change many times. For example, I discovered this week that Greenfield Village in Detroit is opening up 8 days later than they did last year, which means we won't be able to go there in April after all. Sob! I'm still planning to take the kids to Detroit in April, but I had to adjust our plans once I found out we couldn't spend a day at Greenfield Village. I see that FDR's home will be closed for renovations when we will be in that area in August. Since he is one of Paul's least favorite presidents, I'm sure he will shed no tears over the kids not earning that particular Junior Ranger Badge. On the other hand he'd probably be thrilled if I included a trip to Coolidge's homestead, as Coolidge is one of Paul's favorite Presidents. George Washington is definitely his most favorite, but we've already been to Mount Vernon. I included flights in four of the trips and all the rest we would drive in our own vehicle to the locations. Time will tell how many of these we actually experience, but at the minimum I've had fun planning them! I only listed trips to Long Island for July 2020 and July 2021, but as long as my aunt is well enough for us to visit her, we will continue traveling there once each summer.

1. April 6-15, 2020 - Chicago/Detroit with stops in Ohio and a daytrip to Milwaukee
2. May 18-20, 2020 - Maryland/DC
3. June 2020 - a two night excursion that will include Mercer Museum, Longwood Gardens, Fonthill Castle, Rehoboth Beach, and the Air Command Center
4. July 4-11, 2020 - Long Island with a stop at a national park in NJ on the way home 
5. August 26-31, 2020 Ontario/ Quebec with stops in New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts
6. September 24-25, 2020 - an overnight in western PA to visit 5 national park sites plus Fallingwater and Old Bedford Village
7. July 3-10, 2021- Long Island with stops at 5 sites in NYC on the way there and stops at 2 sites in NJ on the way home
8. October 2021 - Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming (round trip flight to Salt Lake City)
9. Spring 2022 - 1 week in WV/OH/KY
10. Spring 2021 or Fall 2022 or Spring 2023 - Georgia/Florida (Paul has been itching to go back to Orlando as the kids haven't been to Epcot or Universal Studios yet and Oliver was very young the other times we were in Orlando. I added in 6 national parks to the possible trip.) fly to Jacksonville and fly back from Orlando or Tampa
11.  Spring 2021 or Fall 2022 or Spring 2023 - California/Nevada (primarily San Francisco area plus Lake Tahoe where two of my cousins live) fly to San Francisco and fly back from Reno or Sacramento
12. Fall 2023 - New England (CT/MA/ME/RI/NH)
13.  Fall 2023 or spring 2024  - a few days in Philadelphia and also a few days in MD/DC
14. Spring 2024 - Southeast (GA/TN/NC/KY/AL/MS) round trip flight to Atlanta