Thankful Thursday

1. I was able to be one of the six members of the audience at the performance of Cinderstein on July 31. Paul was able to watch it on Facebook on August 1. 

2. The kids and I had a safe trip to Long Island on August 2 and enjoyed a few hours at Six Flags Great Adventure that afternoon.

3. We had a wonderful time with Aunt Janet. After months of quarantining by herself, she was very thankful for all the hugs! We played games, swam in an outdoor pool, and spent time at the beach. The kids also enjoyed having a bath in her jacuzzi tub almost every night.

4. Thankfully the power at Aunt Janet's house came back on after being off for 22 hours. Some people who live near her went 4+ days without electricity. One of the games we played while the power was off was hide and seek. Aunt Janet said it had been a long time since she had played that game! We ate more ice cream than usual for lunch when the power was out because the ice cream was melting. The kids didn't mind helping consume melting ice cream!

5. The kids and I had a safe trip back home on August 8 and enjoyed a few hours at Hurricane Harbor that day. 

6. I'm very thankful that Oliver joined our family eight years ago! He's very thankful for the hoverboard that Grandpa and Margie gave him.

7. The kids and I enjoyed a picnic at Pastor Ken's house on August 9 even though Ian came close to eating a walnut in a cookie. I was thankful I had some Benadryl in my purse and knew that we could quickly drive home if necessary for an EpiPen.

8. We were able to spend some time with my Dad and Margie on Sunday night and Monday morning/afternoon. They treated us to lunch at Olive Garden. Yum! Margie also gave us a loaf of delicious homemade bread and gave the kids some candy.

9. I didn't take Oliver to pick up a free lunch on Monday since my Dad and Margie were here. I took him on Wednesday thinking they might only give us one bag of food because the rule is that all children must be present, but thankfully they know I have three

kids and gave me three bags even though Nadia and Ian were at the theatre workshop. This coming Monday will be the last time they give out meals this summer. I haven't bought milk since June because every time we go they give us 3 quarts of milk.

10. Nadia and Ian are enjoying the theatre workshop this week. I am looking forward to seeing their performance tomorrow at noon and planning to sign all three kids up next summer - in part so I can cut down the amount of time I am on the road as I could bring a book or laptop and stay up in that area. Tuesday was crazy sock day, yesterday was Hawaiian day, and today was wear your favorite color day. I wish I had gotten a picture of what they wore for Hawaiian day.

11. ALDI has had red grapes on sale for 99 cents a pound this week. I bought a LOT of grapes because they were nice and firm. Yum! 

12. Oliver got his first two pets today! He named his zebra danios Henry and Zuma. I have no idea how to tell them apart. Zuma is a good name in my opinion because they do "zoom" around all day

long. The fish themselves were very cheap ($2 each). The aquarium, food, bamboo plant on top, Amazon sword plant inside, cave, gravel, etc. cost a lot more than the fish did. Hopefully our first experience with owning fish will be a successful one! I had to cut the Amazon sword plant down for it to fit in the aquarium. 

13. I attended a ladies Bible study two weeks ago and again tonight. The woman leading the study really went above and beyond in terms of providing drinks, snacks, notepads, pens, etc. for every participant the first week. I didn't eat anything, but she gave me four beautifully decorated frosted sugar cookies to take home. Paul and the kids said they were very yummy.

14. I have already received a refund  for 6 of the 8 nights I had booked for our trip to Canada the end of this month. Priceline told me the Quality Inn and Suites wouldn't give us a refund for two nights, but I contacted the hotel myself, and the General Manager said she would approve the refund if Priceline contacts her directly. I am very grateful that it seems like we will receive full refunds for the 8 nights of lodging. Hopefully we'll be able to make that trip sometime in the future after this pandemic is completely behind us. Time will tell if we are able to go on our trip in early October as planned.