Laser tag, trampolines, and more!

 

The roller skating rink that is closest to our house has a free skating session the first Wednesday of each month. In the past we could only take advantage of this in the summer because during the school year I'd have choir rehearsal and the kids would have AWANA, but due to COVID-19, there's no choir at my church and AWANA is by Zoom. We opted not to participate in AWANA by Zoom. Nadia is at church from 4:30-8:15 on Wednesdays between her Bible quizzing meeting and then the youth group small groups. Yesterday I still took a 3rd grader, 5th grader, and 7th grader to the roller skating rink, but the seventh grader was a neighbor named Maddox since Nadia was at church. Oliver and I drop her off at 4:30, and Paul picks her up at 8:15 on his way home from work. Just eight months ago Oliver really didn't know how to roller skate. Ian and Oliver's rollerblading abilities have improved dramatically this year. I bought two pairs of roller blades during the pandemic through Facebook. I had purchased another pair in September 2019, which means all three kids now have their own pair of roller blades. Oliver and Ian were really flying around the rink last night, and Oliver was one of the last three left in the limbo contest. The man who won the four corners game gave Oliver his token for a free drink or popcorn.

Today I took the kids to Williamsport as a homeschool group had set up an outing that included one hour of either bowling or arcade games plus one hour to play laser tag and/or jump at the Fly World trampoline park. It cost $10 per child, which seemed like a pretty good price for 2 hours. The kids chose to play arcade games for the first hour, and then they jumped on the trampolines for about 20 minutes before they headed up to play a game of laser tag with five other homeschool kids (two teams of four). Oliver was on the winning (blue) team. Ian and Nadia were on the red team. Nadia had been to Fly World once with Aunt Wendy, Rachel, and Grace so she already had a pair of Fly World socks. The Sky Zone trampoline park in Pittston that we usually visit once a year for free via our PBS station ONLY accepts *their* socks. They wouldn't accept the Fly World socks, but this trampoline park isn't particular as long as you're wearing trampoline socks. Nadia wore her Fly World socks, and the boys wore Sky Zone socks. Although we haven't gone bowling yet in 2020, the kids remember going bowling many times over the years whereas they don't recall having played arcade games before although they've been to Chuck E Cheese in Maryland with the Towfighis and once in Harrisburg for Oliver's third birthday party in 2015. We had our main meal at lunch (potato cheese soufflé) and ate sandwiches and fruit in the van  as the event was from 4-6pm, but next time I'll have the kids bring water bottles. They became thirsty, and due to COVID they couldn't use the drinking fountains. I splurged and bought them each a drink. The homeschool group has this outing once a month during the school year. The kids said they want to return next month! The only downside is that Nadia likes to go roller skating at a different skating rink when the Christian radio station hosts an event there once a month, and they also hold it on the first Thursday of the month. I think next month I'll see if any kids in the neighborhood want to come with us for this two hour event. 

1. I'm thankful that the kids have adjusted to the time change. Monday morning Ian climbed into bed with us at 5:55am. I had changed several clocks around the house on Sunday, but I had forgotten to change Ian's clock. 

2. Speaking  of sleep, Paul and I didn't get much sleep on Tuesday night because of the election. Paul stayed up until 2:30am. I went to bed at 9:30, got up at 1:30 to check on how things were going, went back to bed at 2:30 (but it took me a long time to go back to sleep), and then I was up again at 6:15. Thankfully, last night I slept very soundly for nine hours. 

3. Nadia and I have been enjoying the key lime pie I made this week. I figured if we are making international recipes this school year, we should also try one that has its origin in the USA, right? I required the boys to have one tiny little taste of it just so they would know what it tasted like, but I never require the kids to eat a dessert they don't like. I also made a soufflé for the first time today. Today's was a potato cheese soufflé. Later I'm going to try another one. Oliver absolutely loved it. Nadia and Ian thought it was "fine" so I imagine it won't be the last time I make it. The recipe called for two cheeses - Morbier and muenster. The grocery store didn't have Morbier cheese, so I used cheddar instead, but I did buy muenster cheese for the first time. Nadia loved the muenster cheese and is planning to use the rest of it to make grilled cheese sandwiches, which is typically what she has for lunch most days. She said she liked it as much as swiss cheese, which has been her most favorite cheese for months. 

4. Paul and the boys are really enjoying the Mandalorian show on Disney+. It's the first time in my kids lives that they are waiting for one new episode of a show to come out each week. Last Friday the first episode of the second season was released. The second episode will be released tomorrow. There will be eight new episodes over the coming weeks. The boys often have a count down of how many days until they see baby Yoda!

5. Ian, Oliver, and Maddox had fun roller skating last night, and my three kids had fun playing arcade games, jumping on the trampolines, and playing laser tag today! 

6. I haven't been watching the games at all, but the Steelers are the only undefeated team in the NFL at the moment. A 7-0 start is quite impressive, especially since the last two weeks we played teams that were either undefeated or had only lost one game prior to playing the Steelers. My Dad is hoping this season will end with their seventh Super Bowl victory!