Cousins and a concert

Ian is 18 months older than Joel, but Joel is much taller than Ian!

 Although May 8th was officially our final day of school, in some ways it didn't feel like summer started until after Nadia's play was over at the co-op. We definitely felt like we were on summer break last week as we spent about 74 hours at Great Wolf Lodge with my sister's family. The only other times we've been to Great Wolf Lodge it has been in December which means we've never been in their outdoor pool or used the high ropes course. That is still a true statement because the resort is undergoing massive construction, and the outdoor activities were closed. In the past we've only stayed one night, which typically translates to us being there for about 29 hours. Just as we have done in the past, we went with a homeschooling group from New Jersey because we pay less than half of the usual rate. Another family from the co-op where Nadia did drama was also at Great Wolf Lodge last week. Paul didn't join us on the trip, but Jenna's boyfriend did. The Towfighis paid for two rooms, and we paid for a third room. There were fifteen of us altogether. Five females shared one room, and the ten males shared the other two rooms. I shared a bed with ten-year-old Julianna. We ate breakfast and lunch before we arrived on Tuesday, and we all went to Taco Bell for dinner that night. Because it was Joel's 12th birthday, I made him a carrot cake with cream cheese icing which everyone ate for dessert. Some kids spent a lot of time in the indoor water park. Some of them spent very little time in the water park although between the hours of 11-4 on Friday they didn't have many options because we had to check out of our rooms by 11:00. Nathan broke his nose and two bones in his arm on Memorial Day, so he was unable to get wet the first two days we were there. He was wearing a splint on his arm and saw an orthopedic doctor today to get a cast. We're praying he won't need to have a surgery on his arm. Toby wasn't feeling well for a majority of the time, and Yvonne and Joe were dealing with unpleasant cases of poison ivy, but the rest of us were doing well physically. We had brought food from home to eat for our breakfasts and lunches on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Yvonne and I ran to Domino's for pizza on Wednesday and to Subway and Dunkin' for subs and donuts on Thursday. My kids and I got food from Wendy's for dinner on Friday during our drive back home. Milo wasn't a fan of our trip to Great Wolf Lodge because he was home alone by himself far more hours than usual, and Paul was the only one here at home in the evenings. My kids love to spend time with their cousins, and that was the main reason we spent a few days at Great Wolf Lodge! I had promised the kids a special treat once we listened to 1,000 books together. This was their reward albeit we still have five more books to go to reach our goal. 

Yesterday Nadia spent six hours at Faith's house, and her brother, Xandir, spent 4.5 hours at our home. Today was a normal Sunday with the exception that we attended a free outdoor concert by the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra this evening. They performed music from a variety of movies such as Star Wars, Frozen, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Spiderman, etc. The vast majority of the concerts we have attended as a family have been of Christian contemporary music. I'm grateful for opportunities to expose them to some other types of music. Naturally I was thinking of my favorite violinist, Wendy.