Buffalo Take Two

In the summer of 2018 we made two trips to the western part of NY. In June of that year we went to a science museum in Rochester, the Strong Museum of Play, and the Genesee Country Village and Museum. In August of that year we went to Old Fort Niagara, Niagara Falls, Fort George, Buffalo Museum of Science, Lockport cruise on the Erie Canal, and saw a Broadway performance of Aladdin in Buffalo. On Friday morning we dropped Milo off at our friends' house and then drove to Buffalo. Our first stop was the Buffalo Naval and Military Park where we were able to tour the USS Little Rock (missile cruiser from the Cold War), USS Sullivans (destroyer from WWII), and USS Croaker (submarine from WWII). It would have been more enjoyable if the weather had been nicer. Just the day before it had been sunny and in the 80's, but that day it was raining and in the 40's. BRRR! Our second stop was the site where Theodore Roosevelt was inaugurated following the death of McKinley. Usually National Parks in this part of the US are free to visit, but that was definitely not the case here, however we enjoyed our tour, especially since it was indoors. The kids each earned a Junior Ranger badge, and we stamped our National Park passports. After we did our virtual backstage tour of Chick-fil-A earlier, they had mailed us four coupons for free entrees. We decided to use our coupons for dinner on Friday night. The line of cars waiting to go through the drive-thru was insanely long. I don't ever think I've seen a line that long outside of a fast food establishment, but wow it was impressive how quickly they got the cars through the line as they had many employees standing outside (in the rain) with tablets taking orders. We planned to go to Darien Lake for a few hours on Friday night, but given the rain we just went straight to our hotel.

The last time we had been to a hotel was the first week in October, and during that week we discovered that most indoor pools at hotels were closed due to COVID and breakfast buffets had become "grab and go" instead. Thankfully the indoor pool and jacuzzi at this hotel were open. We all swim a little on Friday night, and the kids swam again on Saturday morning. The breakfast was better than the grab and go breakfasts we had in October. The contents of our brown bags were similar to last fall, but they also gave the option of a drink of your choice, oatmeal, and yogurt. Hopefully by September hotels will be back to serving eggs and the like for breakfast. We shall see. We checked out of the hotel at 11:00am, stopped at Dunkin for breakfast sandwiches for our lunch, and went to Six Flags Darien Lake. The water park opened that day, but we never saw anyone actually going down the water slides and such. Thankfully it didn't rain on Saturday, but the temps only got up to the low 50's. Way too cold to be swimming in our opinion! We stuck with the dry rides. It was the first time since 2019 I could take pictures of the kids on dry rides without masks on as last summer masks were required just as they were earlier this month at Knoebels and Six Flags in Maryland. It was our first time at this park and probably the only time we'll go there. It's three hours from our house. We went because we got in free with our Six Flags membership (plus free parking and free unlimited drinks). They gave us a $5 coupon which we used toward a funnel cake, which was the only thing we paid for at the park that day. We had a late dinner on the way home at Wendy's using gift cards. We picked Milo up at 9:00pm. He was very, very, very, very, very happy to see us. Our friends had taken excellent care of him, but he missed us. She said he whined the most at bedtime on Friday night. It was his first time sleeping elsewhere since we had purchased him on December 12. Yesterday he turned eight months old! 

Yesterday morning was our lead pastor's final Sunday. His retirement began that afternoon after having been a pastor at this church for the last 40 years. Nadia had lunch and spent a couple of hours at her Bible quizzing coach's house after church. The rest of us attended a special lunch and service honoring the fifth graders being promoted to the youth group. I can't believe I now have two kids in middle school and that it is Nadia's last year in middle school. 

Last week we had tennis lessons M-Th and then were in New York on Friday and Saturday. I'm thankful our schedule is not as hectic this week. Today we're just staying at home. Tomorrow I'm taking the kids to Reptiland which is only ten minutes from our house. Paul is going to take the boys roller skating on Wednesday night while Nadia is at youth group and I'm at choir rehearsal. Thursday I'm taking the kids to the homeschool meetup at Kaos at 4pm, and Friday is another day we plan to stay at home all day. 

One of the best parts of the trip was the family time that included Paul. He took off a day of work in January to take the kids skiing and a day off on May 22 for his mom's funeral. He took off two days of work for our trip to Buffalo, and since he usually doesn't work on Sundays that meant we had three days together. He gave his crew the day off today for Memorial Day. He and his brother are planning to work a short day today. It's been great to have more time with him. We've been listening to a biography of one of his most favorite people - George Washington. Last night when we were tucking Oliver into bed, Oliver said to Paul, "see you on Saturday" as often he hardly sees Paul Monday through Friday, but thankfully that isn't true this week as Paul isn't working as much today. Also, he usually gets home around 8:30pm on Wednesdays, but he's coming home earlier this Wednesday to take the boys roller skating in the evening while Nadia and I are at church. 

Tennis Take Two

The kids had tennis lessons three weeks ago, and this week they are having their second week of lessons. Oliver really wanted to do another week of lessons, Ian was ambivalent, and Nadia really did not want to take any more lessons. I was leaning toward signing them up after I found out that Tab had signed her boys up for lessons this week. I left the decision up to Paul, and he was adamant that all three should take another week of tennis lessons. The first week of May my three kids were the only ones at some of the lessons. Another boy (Hugh) joined them one day that week. This week there have been five or six kids at each lesson as Hugh came twice this week. The Coach is fully vaccinated so he didn't mind it if my kids didn't wear masks. Micah and Isaiah haven't been wearing masks during tennis lessons either. Hugh has been the only one wearing a mask. On Monday the temperature was in the low 60's, on Tuesday it was in the low 70's, and today it was in the high 80's. 

On Monday Tab met a friend for lunch. I walked around the park with Milo for two hours while listening to A Girl of the Limberlost. I've really enjoyed two

of Gene Stratton-Porter's books recently so I am planning on listening to five more of her books this summer. I want the kids to listen to Freckles at some point in the future. On Tuesday I walked with just Milo for part of the time while Tab ran some errands, and then she walked with us. Because of the heat, Tab didn't feel up to walking today. I chatted with her in her vehicle (with the AC on) for part of the time and walked around the park with Milo part of the time. Today Tab met us at Walmart prior to the tennis lessons so that they could do a tire rotation on the van during tennis lessons. It took me 7.5 months to drive 5,000 miles due to COVID. Last October the Walmart Auto center wasn't even open due to COVID. I am grateful they have reopened because tire rotations are free because I bought the tires there. Tomorrow I'm planning to treat the kids at sweetFrog to celebrate the completion of their tennis lessons for this summer. It's over priced frozen yogurt in my opinion, but the kids really enjoy picking out their toppings so I like to take them there at least once a year. 

Can you find Nadia on this ride?

For years Nadia has been asking for us to join a co-op again. We participated in two different co-ops several years ago. Neither of them met all year. I had contemplated joining two others that did meet all year long, but for a variety of reasons I hadn't done so. As is normally the case, Ian would prefer to stay home. One of the co-ops put on a production of The Sound of Music earlier this month. Because Nadia can't try out to be in Tuck Everlasting because we'll be away for 3+ weeks in September, she really wanted to be in this co-ops productions during the next school year. Students in grades 5-8 will put on a Christmas production in December, and students in grades 8-12 will be on another (TBD) production next May. Hindsight is 20/20 as they say. This past school year would have been the ideal year to give this co-op a whirl. This school year is not idea in light of our lengthy vacation in September, but I've decided to show up on registration day on June 15 to see if there will be room in the classes that the kids selected. The co-op meets on Tuesdays. During the fall semester we would be there from 12:00-4:45. It's held at a church 25 minutes from our house. Since Ian will turn 12 in December, I will consider him old enough to babysit Oliver at that point. Unless they add more courses for spring, I think Nadia will just have drama from 3:30-4:45 on Tuesdays starting in January and the boys can stay at home. 

Oliver selected three courses for the fall: art, baking, and one that will involve discussing character traits after listening to a true story. Ideally I would have signed him up for music, art, and some type of physical education, but the colored bells (music) is being offered at the same time as art, and they aren't offering a gym class for grades 4-5. Nadia and Ian are planning to take three classes together this fall - painting (grades 6-12), drama (grades 5-8), and a foam sword fighting gym class similar to Dagorhir, Belegarth, and Darkon. Nadia hopes to take a fourth class - Home Economics (sewing, calligraphy, setting a proper table, cooking, etc.). This co-op has a homeschool graduation at Camp Susque each May, and Nadia would like to participate in that. So we shall see how it goes whether this ends up being a one and done experience or if we keep participating in this co-op for years to come. They offer courses in history, science, math, etc., but I wasn't interested in signing up for any of those. I plan to homeschool the kids in the morning at home on Tuesdays and then spend our afternoons at the co-op in the fall. The past few years (prior to COVID) Nadia and Ian had taken classes at MCS (art and chorus) as well as participated in a homeschool gym class at our church. I would be open to signing them up for a homeschool gym class that started in January, but I said if we do this co-op, I am not signing them up for classes at MCS this year. She still wanted to do the co-op this year. Our vacation would have caused the kids to miss four weeks of co-op, so I decided to shorten our vacation by one day so that they would be able to attend the first session and "only" miss three weeks of co-op. 

Thankful Tuesday

1. We enjoyed watching episodes 4 and 5 of the second season of The Chosen. Sunday's episode was a cliffhanger so hopefully we won't have to wait too long for episode 6 to be aired. 

2. An ALDI is going to be built 15 minutes from our house!

3. In late April our neighbor who has an inground, heated pool invited Oliver over for a swim. 

4. My friend and her husband surprised us by attending Paul's mom's funeral.

5. I really, really enjoy playing piano duets with Ian. My grandma taught my mom to play the piano, my mom taught me, and now I'm teaching Ian = at least the 4th generation (I'm not sure who taught my grandma to play the piano). 

6. The office where we have our life insurance notarized our homeschool affidavit at no charge. I wrote a list of objectives for each child for next school year last week. 

7. Our church gave Paul a flower arrangement in memory of his mom. It was the first time in 51 years that someone gave him flowers. I have enjoyed having daisies and carnations in a vase on our kitchen table.

8. We got an estimate for replacing our roof in 2019. I wanted to do it in 2020, but Paul wanted to wait. We were afraid the costs for materials had skyrocketed since then but thankfully we'll "only" have to pay an extra $850 to have it done this year. Our roof is 22 years old, and we plan to have it replaced in September. Paul wants to do it now because he wants us to have solar panels installed on our roof.

9. Oliver, Nadia, and I planted some flowers in our flower bed. 

10. We enjoyed a play date at a playground/skate park on Wednesday afternoon. I enjoyed being able to talk with Tab some while the boys played. 

11. We didn't wear our masks or shields at church on Sunday. WOOHOOOOO! I so greatly appreciate steps

toward what used to be normal. 

12. Milo spent a lot of time alone at home in his crate on Saturday and Sunday, and he didn't have any accidents or throw up while we were gone. We were gone from about 9-3 on Saturday and from 10:30-12:30 and 2:45-7:25 on Sunday. The morning worship service was 90 minutes long, and Pastor Arlie's retirement service was three hours long. We each grabbed a piece of cake and then immediately left the dessert reception after the service because Nadia was already late for youth group at FBC. 

13. Paul and I were recently discussing how many times we used my time share over the 20 years I owned it. We went on nineteen vacations through the time share, but we actually booked a total of forty-nine weeks through the time share as sometimes a relative or a friend used a week, and other times we booked more than one unit for a week. For example, when we went to Florida in 2015, we used four weeks that year because we stayed at a resort in Orlando for one week and spent a second week at a beach, and Paul's parents also had a unit for two weeks on that same trip. Of the 49 weeks, two of them were not actually used. The more recent instance was when we booked a week in Williamsburg and didn't end up going because of the damage a hurricane had done in that area. The first time was when we chose not to go to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico because I was offered additional courses to teach (on campus) in the summer. At that time in our life it was very helpful for me to earn as much money as I could because we were spending tens of thousands of dollars on adoption. I would estimate that between what I paid to buy my time share in 1999, the maintenance fees we paid over the years, and the annual fee we paid to Interval International that we spent about $8,000 altogether on our time share. We think we got our money's worth out of it if it enabled our family, friends, and relatives to enjoy a total of 47 weeks of vacation over a period of twenty years. 

10,000 Reasons

 My kids have sung at three funerals over the past five years. In July 2016 they sang "Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus" at my mom's funeral. In September 2018 they sang "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" at Paul's Gram's funeral, and today they sang "10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)" at Paul's mom's funeral. A friend of Paul's sister-in-law played a flute solo of "Amazing Grace," Ian and I played a piano duet of "Cornerstone," and I played the piano when the congregation sang Amazing Grace. Unfortunately they didn't have a microphone available for the kids to use. Ellie's brother-in-law gave the main eulogy. Paul's dad, Paul's dad's sister, and Paul's brother also gave eulogies. At my mom's funeral I gave a brief unscripted eulogy at the luncheon as that is when all of the eulogies were given because she requested there not be any during her service. At my brother's funeral I gave a longer eulogy that I had prepared ahead of time. 

It's so easy to feel a sense of remorse following the passing of a loved one. I found myself wishing I had told her how much she meant to me the last time I talked to her, but when I was talking to her I had no inkling it would be the last time I'd hear her voice, and she was rather confused at the time. Over the last week I've found myself second guessing whether I should have driven to the hospital to see her that last night. I wasn't even sure if the hospital would allow more than her spouse to see her, and I knew she wasn't opening her eyes or showing any other signs that she knew what was going on around her, and I was afraid I'd be too emotional. Similarly, I found myself thinking this afternoon that I should have given a eulogy this morning, but then I reminded myself that I played the piano three times during her service and helped the kids prepare for their part in the service. That was another way of honoring her. There are many people who make jokes about their mother-in-law, but I certainly can't relate as I had a good relationship with Ellie. I'm very thankful for the memories that we made over the past 24 years. It will take time to adjust to the new reality of not being able to talk to her any more. I'm very thankful that her time of pain and suffering has come to an end. Because we had only had one visit with her over the last 17 months, as Ian said in some ways it had already felt like she was gone. 

I'm also relieved that the service is over as attending funerals can be a challenging experience emotionally. I expected to see Paul's relatives - most of whom we hadn't seen since Gram's funeral in 2018, but I didn't expect to see my friend Tab and her husband (Dan). I was shocked. The funeral was held at a church that is one hour from our home. They live maybe 15 minutes closer to that church but still it was a total shock that they came to be a support to me and our family. Wow. I almost cried happy tears when I saw them because it meant so much to me that they would surprise us in that way. They had seen Paul's parents a few times over the years - basketball games and most recently at a patriotic concert Nadia and Ian were in in November 2019. Dan works at the hospital where Ellie spent a lot of time and he had actually seen her there upon occasion. Milo wasn't a fan of us attending a funeral today as it meant he was alone in the house in his crate for almost six hours. Thankfully he didn't have any accidents or throw up in his crate while we were gone. He was VERY happy when we came home.  Grandma would have loved Milo had she ever been able to meet him. When she posted his picture on her Facebook page in February, she introduced him as her newest grandson. Pop Pop has seen Milo one time so far, and unfortunately he didn't give a very warm reception to Pop Pop. I don't think that would have happened to Grandma if she had been able to meet him as he barks at men more than women or children.

Flowers and a frog

In the last three weeks we've accomplished 14 things on our summer bucket list as well as partially completed a few others. One item on our list was to plant flowers, which is something I hadn't done since 2016. Nadia and Oliver chose which flowers they wanted me to buy yesterday afternoon, and we planted them this afternoon. I mowed the lawn, used the weed whacker, did some weeding of the flower beds, and started trimming some of the bushes. It was a very hot day today for our state so I decided to finish trimming the bushes tomorrow morning. While I was outside, Oliver found a frog (or maybe it was a toad?) that he caught and released several times. He also wants to plant a seed for a tree and grow a tree. Of my three kids he's consistently been the one most interested in nature. 

I saw today that WVIA posted that they will be having a day at Montage Mountain waterpark next month, which was another encouraging sign of life moving closer back to normal. I also noticed that a couple of the National Parks we are hoping to visit in September have very recently reopened or have announced when they will be reopening. I hope that trend continues! Today I booked our reservations for Darien Lake next weekend. I should have done it earlier as some of the time slots were already filled. I also purchased timed tickets for the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural site and the Buffalo Naval Park for next Friday. 

I'd assume that it would seem like I would have a lot more free time now that we're taking a break from homeschooling, but I never lack for things to do! In addition to mowing and other yard work that I did today I also made a cheese soufflé, ordered some clothes online once I realized Nadia outgrew her bathing suits from last year and needs one next week, requested an audiobook by ILL, did a load of dishes, removed all long sleeve shirts from the boys' dressers and finished moving their summer clothes and bathing suits into their dressers, worked on some vacation plans, practiced the piano with Ian and the trio with the kids, completed a couple of lessons on Duolingo as I'm trying to strengthen my knowledge of Spanish, and the list goes on. I enjoyed listening to A Girl of the Limberlost while I was mowing and weed whacking. Yesterday I got the annual homeschooling affidavit notarized. Tomorrow I'm hoping to write up objectives for each of the kids for next school year which needs to go with the affidavit and their homeschool evaluations for this school year.  

Catching insects

Thankful Tuesday

1. I'm thankful for the 76 years of life God granted to Paul's mom. We miss her. It's an adjustment to accept the fact that I can't call her on the phone any more, but it's a comfort to know her time of pain and suffering has come to an end. 

2. Micah and Isaiah did an excellent job taking care of Milo on May 9. We are so thankful that they plan to pet sit him various times over the next four months. 

3. Those who have been vaccinated don't have to wear masks, and the end is in sight for everyone being given the option to stop wearing masks. Our church has made the decision that starting next Sunday masks will be optional for everyone. Woohoo! I got my first vaccine injection yesterday, and thankfully my only side effect was a sore arm.

4. I've been enjoying attending some choir rehearsals again! We are singing four anthems from May through August, and one of the ones we are singing is one of my top five that I've ever sung in my life - The Majesty and Glory of Your Name. I sang it in Maryland in the 1980's, had the choir I directed sing it in Pennsylvania about 20 years ago, and now am singing it again in 2021.

5. The kids had fun playing arcade games and laser tag with Micah and Isaiah on May 6.

6. I purchased some clothes for the kids at yard sales on May 7. I also bought Paul a Rubik's cube.

7. The kids had fun playing with seven other kids at a friends' house on May 7 - exploring their pond and stream, roasting hot dogs over a fire, etc.

8. The kids enjoyed the time spent at Six Flags on May 9. They were avoid standing in line most of the time. Nadia had a great time in Maryland with four of her cousins for four days, and Ian and Oliver loved having four of their cousins here for four days. 

9. Ian's expander is back in his mouth and so far we have been successful at turning it six times. Hopefully the next eight turns will go smoothly and then hopefully we will be done. 

10. Nadia had a good experience with her first quizzing event in Indiana on May 14-15. She also had her first experience sleeping in a college dorm and eating in a college cafeteria.

11. The kids have been sleeping in lately (except for when their cousins were here), and Milo has even been cooperating most of the time! 

12. The kids selected a song to sing at Grandma's funeral this Saturday - 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord). My choir director sent me music for the piano accompaniment this afternoon.

13. We enjoyed watching the ladybugs go through metamorphosis. The boys also enjoyed the lesson on insects by the Biology professor at Bucknell on May 15. 

14. Vennari's, which is my favorite place to get pizza, gave us a free pizza on Saturday because they thought they had mixed up our order. 

15. I got a lot of exercise through walking the last two weeks. 

16. I finalized what the kids will be studying in science the next school year. Ian and Nadia will be doing a physical science textbook together. I am determined to do a better job with gathering what they need for the experiments. Oliver has been very interested in birds lately so that's what he'll be studying for the first semester. It turns out three of their cousins will be using the same Physical Science textbook in Ecuador so Yvonne and I are planning on having the kids discuss some things together via Zoom. It will be a 6th grader (Ian), 7th grader (Nathan), 8th grader (Nadia), and a 9th grader (Joshua) doing science together! This past year Nadia did science independently, but I decided to have Ian join her this coming year again rather than having him join Oliver again next year. 

Pfizer

To get vaccinated or not has been an ongoing discussion between Paul and I once they opened it up to all adults last month. When my PCP asked if I wanted the Moderna vaccine, I declined it. However on Friday Paul said that he had changed his mind and was going to get the Pfizer vaccine so I decided to follow suit. I am scheduled to get my first shot tomorrow morning at the CVS in our town, and Paul is scheduled to get his first shot at the same CVS in the evening on Tuesday. So in June we will be considered fully vaccinated. Nadia is the only child in our family age 12 or over, but we are not interested in having her vaccinated at this point. The fact that those who are vaccinated are being given permission to not wear masks definitely was a factor in our decision. Our governor has said that our state's mask mandate will end when at least 70% of adults in our state are fully vaccinated. At the current pace of vaccinations, they are expecting that to happen in the middle of June. I have read that they are hoping we will resume wearing masks during flu seasons in future years so I realize that we might not be permanently done with wearing masks or shields, but I am really, really looking forward to taking a break from them. It would be heavenly if we didn't need to wear them in September when we're on vacation. The plant is not air conditioned and so it is unpleasant for Paul and his employees to wear masks at work while doing a physical job in the heat. Paul can't wait to tell his employees they can stop wearing masks at work. It's definitely a good feeling to sense that there is light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to mask mandates. 

The state of Massachusetts recently gave permission for amusement park rides to be operated. The Six Flags in MA was the very last one in the USA and Canada to be given permission to reopen. This means we are now planning on visiting at least two Six Flags parks that we'd never done before - Darien Lake (Buffalo) and Six Flags New England (MA). We're planning to visit Old Sturbridge Village and the Springfield Museums when we're in MA. If the Springfield Armory reopens between now and then, we also will visit that National Park. The third park we might visit is Great Escape in New York, but I'm not scheduling that one until more National Parks in the state of New York reopen. It feels like things are moving closer and closer back to "normal" which is a great feeling. Hopefully that means that by September hotels that used to offer a free breakfast WILL actually be offering a free breakfast again. During COVID some have been offering a to go bag of food and others haven't been offering anything. Similarly, I'm hoping that it means if a hotel has an indoor pool - the pool will actually be open in September which definitely wasn't the case when we traveled last October. I'm not certain how long I should wait before I actually start making more reservations for our trip. Currently I cut out one day in Arizona because everything on Navajo land is closed. Thus far I have only booked one night in a cabin in between Grand Teton and Yellowstone. Here's to hoping this vacation will be a lot closer to normal than our vacation in October 2020 was. 

Maryland to Indiana

This has been a whirlwind of a week. We left the state of Pennsylvania for the first time in seven months last Sunday to drive to Maryland. Nadia spent four days with Yvonne's three eldest children, youngest son, and Jenna's two cats. She worked on a large Lego set at Toby's family's house (Toby is Jenna's boyfriend), went ice skating (first time in 14 months because of COVID), played frisbee golf, baked a lemon meringue pie, etc. We came back on Sunday night with Micah (6), Julianna (8), Oliver, Joel (turns 10 later this month), Ian, and Nathan (12). The previous week I had stayed in bed some mornings as late as 7:45, but this week I was up before 7:00 every morning. On Monday we went to two playgrounds and ate pizza outside. On Tuesday we went to a playground in our town and ate rigatoni and meatballs. On Wednesday we went back to the same two playgrounds that we visited on Monday and also got ice cream cones, slushies, root beer floats, etc. at the Purple Cow. I made  Belgian waffles, sausage, and eggs for breakfast and tuna noodle for dinner and baked a double batch of lemon cookies for the next day. On Thursday Joe offered to stop for fast food on the way home, but his kids said they'd rather eat leftovers at our house. I'll take that as a compliment. Every day four of the kids earned turns to play the Switch or Wii. Micah earned his turns by me reading picture books to him. The other three earned turns by practicing the piano, doing a puzzle, or reading. Julianna and Oliver usually opted to play outside rather than earn turns. Each night (M-W) they watched a Minion/Despicable Me movie together. A good time was had by all even though our trampoline is out of commission. Yesterday Ian kept commenting on how much he missed his cousins. 

Joe brought Nadia home on Thursday evening and shortly thereafter left with his four kids who had been with us for four days. Milo was glad to see Nadia! She unpacked and cleaned up her room (where Julianna and Micah had been staying) and then packed an overnight bag. Friday morning I let Ian "babysit" for the first time ever. Basically Ian ate breakfast while Oliver was still sleeping upstairs. When I came home from dropping Nadia off at church, Oliver was still in bed. I didn't pay him. Knowing Oliver had been getting up earlier than usual when his cousins were here (and Milo was sleeping in his room), I didn't want to wake him up just to have him be in the car with us when I dropped Nadia off at church. It's an 8 hour drive to Indiana Wesleyan University. Being in a vehicle for 16 hours over a period of 40 hours sounds very unappealing to me, but hopefully she has had a great time. Paul is going to pick her up at church around 11pm tonight. I miss my girl and am looking forward to having her with us tomorrow. I will admit when she's away I wish that she had a cell phone, but we're sticking with our plan to wait until she turns fourteen to get her a phone.

Oliver, Milo, and I walked to a playground yesterday, but other than that we stayed at home sweet home. I resumed working with Oliver on his multiplication facts, and we resumed listening to audiobooks together. The boys would have preferred to just stay at home again today, but awhile back I had signed the kids up for a program on insects presented by a professor at Bucknell. The boys got to use a pooter (insect aspirator) and they also caught insects with an insect net and examined what they caught in a vial before they were released. Speaking of insects, our praying mantis nymphs emerged from the ootheca (egg case) this week. Wow. We had a LOT of praying mantises. Unfortunately I hadn't done the research I should have. We've done ladybugs twice, butterflies twice, and an ant farm once and none of those involved feeding live insects. We feed the ladybugs a raisin soaked in water for example. I was not interested in feeding our praying mantises live insects so we released all of the nymphs outside. They had suggested that we release most of them or the stronger ones will eat the weaker ones. Lovely. We had more success with the ladybugs. Ten of the larvae entered the pupa stage and nine of them emerged as adult ladybugs. When they first emerge they are white, but it doesn't take long for them to change color. It was really exciting to watch them emerge and turn colors. Nadia didn't witness the transformation since she was in Maryland but some of her cousins got to see it. I'm planning to release our nine ladybugs outside tomorrow after Nadia is back home. 

Although the timing of having relatives here when I was absorbing the news of Ellie's passing was a bit challenging for me personally, I think it was helpful for the kids. Even though I feel a sense of relief that her pain and suffering has come to an end, I still feel a huge sense of loss  I'm sure the loss is greater for Paul, his brother, his dad, her sister, etc., but it's still an adjustment to me to realize I will never be able to call her on the phone again. I also found out today that my Aunt has adjusted the timetable of her move to Reno from Fall 2022 to Fall 2021. She's putting her home on the market next month, which means our trip to see her this summer will be our last. My sister is moving to Ecuador this summer, my brother, mom, and now my mother-in-law are in heaven, and my Aunt Janet is moving to the other side of the country. I've made many trips to Long Island over my lifetime. As a child we'd visit Aunt Janet and/or my Grandma Lillian. I made trips there by myself to visit my Grandma when I was a teenager and in my twenties, and this summer will be the fifth year of me taking the kids to spend a week with her. I also made trips to Long Island with my friend, Joyce, to visit my Grandma in my 20's as her family also lives on Long Island. It seems like our trip this summer will be the last hurrah. I had planned on waiting until 2022 to visit Sagamore Hill since we couldn't last summer due to COVID (because I was trying to go when we had a fourth grader and could get in free), but now that I realize this will probably be our last time on Long Island, I will try to ensure that we visit Sagamore Hill and Fire Island this summer if they have reopened as those are two National Parks on the island. Now I just need to find a dog sitter for that week as the weeks we were considering for that trip don't work for our dog sitter. 

Goodbye. Grandma

I met Paul's mom in 1997 and have had a good relationship with her over the past 24 years. In the earlier years I spoke to her on the phone sporadically, but for the past thirteen years there have only been two people I've spoken to on the phone on an almost daily basis - my mom and Paul's mom. In two months it will be five years since I have been able to talk to my mom. I typically saw Paul's mom more frequently than my mom since she lived a lot closer to us. During the first seven years of our marriage Paul and I went on vacations just as a couple, but beginning in May 2009 we began inviting either Paul's parents or my parents to join us. Our first vacation with Paul's parents was to Antigua in May 2009. I found out I was pregnant with Ian during that vacation, and Nadia was almost 11 months old. Our other vacations with Paul's parents were to Florida three times, San Diego, Myrtle Beach, Grand Cayman, a Caribbean cruise, and Cape Cod. Just like I had no idea when we were in Williamsburg with my parents in 2015 that it would be my last vacation with my mom, we had no idea in 2019 that our vacation in Myrtle Beach would be our last with Paul's mom. She really wanted to go to Hawaii in 2020, but due to her health and COVID-19, that didn't happen. I occasionally talk to other people on the phone, but now that my mom and Paul's mom have passed away, I could easily go weeks without talking to anyone on the phone. I called Paul's dad far more often than usual over the last several months because I couldn't talk to Ellie and wanted an update on how she was doing.

When I met Paul he told me that the three most important women in his life were his mom, Nan (his mom's mom), and Aunt Debbie (his mom's sister). My grandparents passed away before Paul's grandparents did. Since we've been married, we've attended five funerals for family members - Nan, Paul's paternal grandfather, my mom, Paul's paternal grandmother (Gram), and my brother. Paul's mom passed away at 2:40 this morning, so her funeral will be our sixth. The kids sang at Gram's funeral and my mom's funeral. All of Maurice's nieces and nephews were in a special procession at his funeral. I imagine they will also sing at Paul's mom's funeral. I played the piano at Gram's funeral, and I will be doing so next week at Paul's mom's funeral. I either played the flute or the piano at Nan's funeral. The easiest funeral to attend was Gram's because she was in her 90's and longing to join her husband and others in Heaven. In general, I find funerals to be extremely challenging emotionally as I prefer to grieve in private. I think Maurice's was the hardest because he was only 35 years old, and his death was completely unexpected. Toward the end of my mom's battle with cancer, I began praying and asking the Lord to take her home because I didn't want her suffering to be prolonged. My mom turned 71 years old four months before she passed away. Ellie turned 76 in November. 

Ellie's battle with cancer was much longer than my mom as she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma more than 13 years ago. We came very close to losing Ellie in 2014. I remember crying in Maryland in 2014 when talking to my mom about how I feared I might never see Ellie again. I would never have guessed at that time that my mom would pass away almost 5 years before Ellie. Ellie's next close call was in the fall of 2019 when she had a heart attack. Life was never the same for her from that point onward, partially due to her health problems and partially because of COVID. Given her weakened immune system due to contracting MRSA in 2014 as well as her other risk factors (age, cancer, heart problems, etc.), we thought that she would die if she contracted COVID. Because of those concerns, the kids and I only spent time with her one time in 2020 (her birthday in November) and not at all in 2021. Ironically after Paul's dad went to great lengths for more than a year to ensure she didn't come down with COVID, she did contract COVID-19 in the nursing home, but amazingly she didn't have many side effects from it. However she had an infection in her heart which went into her bloodstream and caused her to have a stroke. She also had been dealing with kidney problems for months, and recent scans showed she either had an infection in her liver or liver cancer. She had been in a LOT of pain for more than two months. The last week or so of her life it was challenging to talk with her on the phone because she was very confused. My last conversation with her was on March 5. She was hospitalized on March 6, transferred to the ICU yesterday, and passed away at 2:40 this morning. Yesterday the decision was made to end all medical treatment aside from pain medication because her heart, lungs, and kidneys were all shutting down. During her hospitalizations in 2020 no one was able to be with her in the hospital. During her most recent hospitalizations only one person total (not at a time) could visit her (Paul's dad). Thankfully, the hospital allowed more than one person to visit her last night. She didn't open her eyes or give any indication that she was aware of what was happening, but Paul, his brother, and her sister were able to say goodbye to her last night. Paul's dad stayed in the ICU until she passed away. I remember how excruciatingly painful it was to say goodbye to my mom even though I wanted her suffering to come to an end. My mom was alert and spoke to me when I told her goodbye. With my brother I didn't have a chance to say goodbye, and I didn't drive to the hospital last night to say goodbye to Ellie. I often told her I loved her, but I don't remember if I told her that during our last conversation last week. I do remember that I told my brother I loved him during what ended up being our last conversation. 

I didn't sleep much last night and had an exhausting day as I'm not accustomed to feeding and caring for six children so I need to wrap this up. I'm very thankful that Ellie's pain and suffering has come to an end, but she will be deeply missed. Tomorrow would have been her 54th wedding anniversary. I'm asking for prayers for those who will be grieving her absence - her husband, two sons, two daughter-in-laws, grandkids, sister, cousin, etc. I can't believe we have had Milo for exactly five months and she never got to meet him. She posted his picture on Facebook and referred to him as her newest grandchild. I wish I had asked for her recipes for macaroni and cheese and also baked beans. I wish I could give her one more hug and be able to tell her again how much she's meant to me over the past 24 years. She loved my children dearly, which of course meant the world to me. I can't believe Oliver at the age of eight has already lost both of his grandmothers. I was in my 20's when my grandparents passed away. At least they are all old enough that they should remember her. I'm not confident that Oliver will remember my mom. Ellie was a wonderful daughter, wife, mom, grandma, aunt, sister, cousin, friend, and mother-in-law, she will be deeply missed by those who loved her. It's comforting to think that she's been reunited with her mom and others who have gone before. 

Cousin Swap

 Last week Oliver talked almost incessantly about the plans for this week. I am quite certain he'd choose time spent with cousins over a trip to Disney World. It was certainly a very unique Mother's Day. Usually we go to church and typically celebrate the holiday with Paul's mom. Last year was unique because of the lockdown (no church or time with anyone outside our household). This year we streamed the service like we did last year but only because we were en route to Maryland. We left the house around 7:30, and our first stop was the pet sitter's house. They only live 15 minutes from our house, but it was out of the way for where we were headed. I was surprised at how hard it was for me to leave Milo and his crate at another house and how often I thought of him throughout the day. In many ways he feels like the baby of the family, ha ha! We then drove to Maryland; it was the first time in seven months that we left the state of Pennsylvania. We arrived at Six Flags a little around 11:15. The park was a ghost town just like it was every time we went to a Six Flags park in 2020. It was quite the contrast to Knoebels, which was crowded last Sunday. The water park hasn't opened yet. There are two rides in the "dry" part of the park that do include water. Most of the kids rode the one that doesn't get you *that* wet. I don't believe any of them rode the one that soaks you. They hardly ever had to wait to get on a ride. As members we each received a free ice cream treat and there was one new ride that hadn't opened to the general public yet that Nadia rode. We paid about $70 per person for our membership in 2020 and because of COVID closures last year our membership was extended through part of 2021. The kids and I went to Six Flags five times last year so we've now used our membership (plus free parking and free unlimited drinks) six times. Paul went once last year so this was his second time. We're planning to go to one more Six Flags park next month (near Buffalo). If the kids and I go a total of 7 times it will mean each visit cost us about $10. I think that's pretty reasonable! We packed our lunches and ate them in the van before we entered the park. The Towfighis shared some of their meal passes with us, and we stopped at McDonald's on our way home for a little bit to eat. So it was a very unique Mother's Day. Yvonne and I don't personally enjoy amusement parks any more, but our 11 kids (plus Jenna's boyfriend) had a good time. I enjoyed eating part of a funnel cake and having time to chat with my sister. We left the park around 6pm and arrived home with Milo at 10pm. Micah and Isaiah did a fabulous job caring for Milo, but he was still OVER the moon excited to see me when we picked him up. We could never have left him in his crate alone for 14 hours so I'm very grateful they are willing to be his home away from home from time to time over the coming months. 

On our drive to Six Flags we passed the funeral home that we use for my mom and my brother. It wasn't my favorite way to remember my mom on Mother's Day. I do really miss her, but this holiday is not the emotional landmine that it was in 2007 (when I wondered if I'd ever become a mom) or in 2017 (when I was still really grieving the loss of my mom). My sister gave me our Mom's urn on Sunday in preparation for their move to Ecuador this summer. I didn't want her ashes in my house so Yvonne buried them in my mom's flower beds. Paul's mom spent Mother's Day in the hospital. She is in a lot of pain, had an elevated white count, and has been experiencing a lot of confusion for the last week or so. She was admitted on Thursday. The upside to the hospitalization is that at least Paul's dad was able to visit her for the first time in more more than 3 weeks.

Nadia is in Maryland with four of her cousins. Julianna is sleeping in Nadia's bed, and Micah is sleeping on an air mattress in Nadia's bedroom. Milo is sleeping in Oliver's room for four nights while the cousins are here as Nathan and Joel are both sleeping on air mattresses in Ian's room. Ian had an orthodontist appointment today only because I screwed up by not bringing his expander to the appointment last Monday. They cemented it back in this morning. We are supposed to return in three weeks and turn it 14 times before then. Hoping and praying it goes smoothly. I left Nathan and Joel at home (Nathan is 12.5 years old) and brought the other four children with me. I let them each pick out a treat (pack of gum or candy) at Surplus Outlet when we did some grocery shopping on the way home. This afternoon I took them to Lewisburg where they spent a few hours at the playgrounds. We ate pizza on a picnic table at the park for dinner. As usual, we brought Milo with us. It was chilly this morning when we went to the orthodontist (40's), but it was in the 60's when we were at the playground. Last night was a late night for all of us so tonight we will be going to bed earlier. I am pooped! I'm sure Nadia has had a great day in Maryland with her cousins. Although spending almost 8 hours in the car is not exactly how I'd choose to celebrate Mother's Day, it was a good day. I am very thankful for my mom, Paul's mom, and the three precious children God has given me (plus the others I get to meet in Heaven some day). I also have to say I now have more comprehension for how people feel like a "mom" to a pet. I loved different cats we had as pets over the years, but I never felt *this* attached to one I think in part because we certainly never took a cat with us to the playground and other places that we've taken Milo. 

Salamanders and Sales

Aside from our one week vacation in October and our trip to Long Island in August, the kids and I have been home most of the time for the past 14 months. That was not the case over the first seven days of this month. First, we went to Bloomsburg for our homeschool evaluations on May 1. While she was testing Ian, I took Nadia and Oliver to the town park. While she was testing Oliver, I did some grocery shopping at Aldi. On Sundays we usually go to church, but this past Sunday we went to Knoebels after church. On Monday I took Ian to an orthodontist appointment and then all three kids to a two hour tennis lesson. Tuesday they only had a one hour tennis lesson because the high school needed to use the tennis courts earlier than usual. Tennis was cancelled on Wednesday because of rain. Nadia was at church from 4:30-8:15, and I had my second choir rehearsal in 14 months from 6:30-8:00. The boys stayed home all day as Paul came home from work earlier than usual. On Thursday the kids had a two hour tennis lesson. Milo and I walked around the park during their lesson, and I was listened to Freckles by Gene Stratton Porter while we walked. Tab had offered to take my kids with hers to the monthly homeschool meetup at Kaos. We met at a parking lot on the way home from tennis. The kids enjoyed one hour of arcades followed by one hour of playing laser tag. They skipped the trampolines this time. I mowed the lawn and cooked dinner while they were at Kaos. 

Yesterday morning I took the kids and Milo to some yard sales in Milton. The annual community yard sales weren't held last year, but they resumed this year. At 10:00 I took Milo and the kids to Cheryl's house. She has two boys and had invited eight other kids over to explore a stream and pond. Nadia was the only girl there. The kids collected various things from the water and looked at some through microscopes. They found algae, mollusks, crayfish, salamanders, newts, a frog, etc. The kids roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over a fire. Cheryl made a delicious soup for the four moms to enjoy. I had done some more yard sale shopping during part of the time the kids and Milo were at Cheryl's house. I had planned to return to the yard sales this morning and then take the kids to an outdoor program about birds at 2:00 this afternoon, but I think we'll just stay home sweet home today. Tomorrow will be an exhausting day as we'll be driving to Maryland in the morning (streaming the church service while we drive), meeting Yvonne's family at Six Flags, and then driving back home in the evening. Milo will be spending the day at Tab's house. I hope he's a good boy! We moved the dates of our family vacation because Tab's family will be traveling the first week of October. Yes, the schedule of our dog sitter is determining when we go on vacation this year, LOL! Now we are planning to leave on September 7 and get back on October 1. I booked one night so far - a camper cabin that is right in between Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Paul thought we should pick the one that included electricity and a private bathroom, but the kids liked the bunk bed in the one without electricity, and the cost was much less for that one. Either way there won't be any cell service, WIFI, or television so I figured we could go without electricity for one night. We don't own a tent so this will be about as close to camping as we'll get I think.

Nadia likes to sleep in now that school is over. I've decided this is the perfect opportunity to listen to some chapter books again with the boys that we did years ago when Oliver was very young. This morning the boys listened to The Chocolate Touch (from start to finish). Yesterday they listened to Chocolate Fever.  They also worked on a Junior Ranger badge this morning about the Pony Express. In our house learning is something that goes on almost 365 days a year not just on "school" days. Ian finished his missed spelling list yesterday. His last word to master was "guarantee." Oliver is still working on learning his multiplication facts; he made a LOT of progress this week. I'm reading John Grisham's newest book, Sooley, which is about a basketball player from South Sudan. Even though it's fiction, it's heartbreaking to think of all the violence that really has occurred in that country. 

Five years later

 

At this time five years ago my mom was losing her battle with cancer and Paul was finishing his third and final year as a chemistry professor. So much has changed over the past five years. My mom and brother passed away, I went back to work FT for two years, and Paul transitioned from Bucknell back to Kennedy Concrete. It was a huge change for our family because he went from going to work 3 days a week to going to work 6 days a week. He also works far more weeks of the year and is away from home for far more hours each day. There are still times when he goes into work extremely early, but in general he doesn't go in to work now as early as he did in 2016. He still usually leaves before any of us are awake. The time he typically gets home has moved to a later time over these five years. He typically comes home between 8-9pm Monday through Friday. He comes home earlier than that on Saturdays. Most weeks we barely see him M-F. We see him the most on Sundays. Usually we get a few hours with him on Saturday. This past Saturday he went to bed after dinner and slept for almost 12 hours so we only were with him for about one hour on Saturday.

The good news is that we've gotten adjusted to not seeing him very much. It was hard in the beginning, but over the years we have become accustomed to the new normal. Sometimes Nadia gets frustrated that we schedule family outings on Sundays if it means she has to miss the evening youth group and/ or we attend church online instead of in person because of the day trip. Similarly, although I still miss my mom and brother, I've gotten accustomed to not being able to talk to them or give them a hug. Recently Oliver and I saw a bird I don't believe I've ever seen before. I'm sure Maurice would have been able to identify it. I *think* it was a ruffed grouse. The bird was sitting on a nest built on some rocks. The eggs were also beautiful and different than the eggs I usually see in nests around here.                                                                Five years ago Paul discovered a problem with our shower. He worked on it from time to time for 4.5 years and then we hired a handyman to finish the project. Paul said in January that he didn't consider it to be quite done, but I decided a couple of weeks ago to finally resume using my shower.       

Five years ago we didn't have any pets. In December 2016 we got our first two pets - two guinea pigs. One of those guinea pigs is still with us. In 2020 we had two rabbits for two months, got two more guinea pigs, had two fish for five months, and got our first dog.                                                      For the past almost thirteen years, it has been very rare for me to be able to sleep until 7:30am. I've never been one to sleep in really late - not even when I was a teenager, but prior to becoming a mom, I used to sleep until 7:30 sometimes. Ian has very recently started sleeping in a bit later, and Milo has been willing to patiently wait in his crate in Ian's bedroom. I am very, very grateful to have the opportunity to sleep until 7:30 from time to time!  A sober thought to me is that in five years Nadia will be graduating from high school. EEK!  That probably seems far away to her, but it seems to be just around the corner to me. I hope we make many precious memories over the coming five years. I booked our very first white water rafting adventure yesterday which will be part of her 13th birthday celebration. I'm very thankful for the many hours I get to spend with my three children.