14 years old!

 

For the past four months my kids ages have been two years apart, but that changed on Tuesday when Ian turned 14. He and Pop Pop blew out candles on a birthday cake on December 3. I made him peanut butter cup cookies for his birthday as peanut butter cups are his favorite type of candy. On December 11 we left our home around 9:00am to drive to the Kalahari resort in the Poconos; we ate the lunches we packed in the van. Check-in was a very quick process at a kiosk, and although usually you can't get into your room until 4pm, our room was already ready. We headed straight to the water park and spent about five hours there before we changed back into dry clothes and drove to Perkins to have dinner. The kids could have spent two more hours in the water park after we got back from having dinner, but they opted to hang out in our room instead. Oliver watched tv, Ian played on the Switch and iPad, and Nadia used her Chromebook. I worked on Ian's birthday video (see above). Nadia gave Ian a plush banana slug, Pop Pop gave him a $50 Apple gift card, Uncle Al and Aunt Millie gave him $20, and we gave him a Mario game for the Switch and a tripod for his phone that he wants to use when making stop motion movies. He had received two of his birthday gifts from us early - his very first cell phone and a watch. On Tuesday morning I ran to Dunkin to buy donuts and five breakfast sandwiches. That food constituted our breakfast and lunch for the day. When I made tuna noodle the previous Saturday, I purposefully doubled the recipe so that we'd have enough to have it again on Tuesday night. Paul and Ian also had some of the pork tenderloin that was left over from my dad's birthday dinner on Sunday. After dinner we went to Meadowbrook Christian School as Nadia and Ian sang in five of the songs at their Christmas program. 

In December 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022 we went to Great Wolf Lodge for one night for Ian's birthday. The kids and I went to the Kalahari in Sandusky, Ohio in August 2016, but we had never been to this particular resort. We still had the homeschool discount that we have had at GWL every time we've gone there, but Kalahari still costs quite a bit more than GWL. We decided to give it a whirl once. There are different pros/cons between the two parks. GWL has a better wave pool and has the lily pad feature that my kids enjoy. Kalahari has more water slides including mat slides. Altogether though I would say there is a better value to be had at GWL. If was up to Nadia, she would have spent the entire time in either the lazy river or the jacuzzi. At Kalahari you could be inside or outside while in the jacuzzi (even in the winter) which was different than GWL. Next year we're planning to try Camelback (another indoor water park resort in the Poconos), and then we're going to let Nadia pick in 2025 which one we go to as that will likely be her last hurrah as she'll be a senior in high school that year and probably won't be able to join us during Ian's last two years of high school. 

Here are 14 descriptions of our 14-year-old:

1. He enjoys playing the piano. He started taking lessons with Lyn DeVito in August and performed The Waltz of the Flowers with Josh in his first duet piano recital in November. He's currently working on a Christmas song that incorporates some classical music and also a Mario song that he plans to play at the recital in February. His piano teacher recently started working on teaching him to also play by ear.

2. Although he hasn't spent as much time as I hoped he would on learning Python the last four months, he still says he wants to study computer programming in college.

3. He's set a goal of being on the "A" team from our church at the Bible quizzing nationals in June. It's within his reach, but there is tough competition this year. I'm pleased that he's striving toward that goal. He's memorized several chapters of Ephesians and Galatians so far. He won first place in the individual competition at the practice quiz in Ohio last month!

4. He enjoys foam sword fighting with the Stronghold club in Winfield. His favorite weapon is a spear.

5. He has a beautiful voice. I usually wish that he would open his mouth wider and smile more at concerts. He sang at three concerts with the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale in November and December. He opened his mouth more at the Christmas concert at Meadowbrook earlier this week because he said he couldn't see the audience.

6. He really enjoys our small homeschooling co-op. He especially enjoys spending time with Ben, Nathaniel, and Xandir. 

7. Ian loves to spend time with his cousins Nathan and Joel. 

8. He still loves to spend time playing with Legos, Nintendo Switch, and iPad (or his Android phone). 

9. So far, he's breezing through Algebra 2. He'll be resuming the General Science textbook he started last year tomorrow. Next fall when he enters 9th grade, he'll be taking Chemistry and Geometry. 

10. He had two more baby teeth extracted by the dentist recently at the request of the orthodontist. He lost his retainer in the summer, so he's been enjoying chewing gum the last several months. He will be starting phase two with the orthodontist in February. 

11. When I pick him up from the youth center at church, he's usually playing either ping pong, pool, or foosball. He's enjoying our new foosball table that was an early Christmas gift. 

12. He almost always has cold cereal for breakfast. Some of his favorites are Captain Crunch, Fruity Pebbles, and Reese's Puffs. He almost always has a peanut butter and orange marmalade sandwich and half an apple (dipped in peanut butter) for lunch. His favorite ice cream is Moose Tracks. 

13. Ian enjoys reading Sonic comic books. Over the past six months he read Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling, The Second Mrs. Gioconda by E.L. Konigsburg, The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain, and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. 

14. The thing I most appreciate about Ian, aside from his hugs, would be his sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. I look forward to seeing how Ian will grow physically, spiritually, socially, academically, and emotionally over the coming year! 

Grandpa was with us for his 80th birthday!