2024 by the Numbers

1 - We went horseback riding once (Ecuador), ziplining once (Alaska), and canyoning once (Ecuador). Ian was on our church's top Bible quizzing team this year, and they won the national competition. Nadia and Ian participated in their first musical (Seussical) at Meadowbrook Christian School. Almost the entire year we have only had one guinea pig (Lily) as Peppa passed away very early in the year. I organized one field trip for homeschoolers this year - to a nuclear reactor at PSU.

2 - We went white water rafting twice (Ecuador and Alaska). Also, Ian played piano with the youth worship team on Wednesday night twice this year, and he performed in two piano recitals this year. Nadia and Ian sang in two programs at Meadowbrook Christian School (once for Oliver). The kids attended two roller skating parties at Trout Pond Park this year. We visited two waterparks this year - Montage Mountain (outdoors) and Camelback (indoors). 

3 = the number of (private) ice skating lessons the kids had this year. I hosted three game days at our home for homeschoolers. We saw three Broadway quality shows - Daniel at Sight and Sound and Prince Caspian and Pilgrim's Progress at the Museum of the Bible.

4 - Milo turned four in September. Since we visited Ecuador in February, Paul and I have now been to four continents (for the kids it was their 2nd continent).  Nadia was the captain of our church's "B" quizzing team this year, and they came in fourth place at the national competition in New York. Not counting relatives, we had friends come over for dinner only four times this year, which was less than the past two years. Paul and I attended four lessons of Intermediate Cha Cha. 

5 = the number of guitar lessons Nadia had this year. We visited five amusement parks this year Knoebels, Hersheypark, Kings Dominion, Canada's Wonderland, and Busch Gardens. Ian saw five specialists this year - two pulmonologists, two ENTs, and one cardiologist. These resulted in a diagnosis of sleep apnea and the scheduling of a surgery on his nose. 

6 - Nadia completed six college courses this year - three through Grand Canyon University and three through Liberty University. She has earned a grand total of 27 credits over the past 15 months. 

7 = the number of books Ian read this year. Sadly, the number keeps decreasing.

8 = the number of voice lessons Nadia had this year. We also visited 8 new zoos/aquariums this year, which brings our grand total to 38. 

9 = the number of days Nadia has worked at Warrior Run Petcare since she started that new job on November 8. 

10 = the number of books Nadia read this year. Sadly, the number keeps decreasing. Milo had his annual physical this week. He weighed exactly the same as he did last year - 10.4 pounds.

11 - Some members of our family saw 11 different movies at AMC this year. Some of these we saw as a family, and some of them only a couple of us went to see the movie. The first one Nadia, Cheri, and I saw this year was Cabrini (in March) and the most recent time was when Ian and Paul saw the new Sonic movie on December 21. 

12 - Oliver turned 12 in August. Nadia's current salary is $12/hour. 

13 = the number of kids who attended Oliver's 12th birthday party which featured playing bubble ball and glow-in-the- dark dodgeball at our church. 

15 - Ian turned 15 earlier this month.

16 - Nadia turned 16 in June. 

17 - The kids each earned 17 Junior Ranger badges this year bringing their totals to 217 (Nadia), 219 (Ian), and 203 (Oliver). Oliver read 17 books this year. After being on Facebook for 17+ years, I deleted my account in October.

18 = the number of days we hosted the homeschool co-op in our home this year.

22 = the number of days the boys both spent time at a camp this summer - 6 at overnight camp at PMBC with Xandir, 4 at a manufacturing camp, 5 at a theatre workshop, 2 at an overnight youth retreat at Camp Susque, and 5 at a Stronghold camp with some of their cousins. Ian spent an additional three days at Camp Susque for winter camp. It was his first time attending a winter camp, and he loved it! 

23 - Paul and I celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary in August.

28 = the number of days Nadia worked at Camp Susque this year. She's actually there working there right now (from Dec 31- Jan 3). She also spent an additional five days there with as a camper or on a retreat. We visited 28 National Park sites this year bringing our grand total to 158. 

41 = the number of piano lessons Ian had with Mrs. DeVito this year.

48 - This year we saw the license plates for 48 of 50 states (plus DC and several Canadian provinces). The states we never spotted were Hawaii and New Mexico. Last year the only state we didn't find was Wyoming, and in 2022 we didn't see North Dakota or Hawaii. We found all of the license plates in 2021. This year we visited our 48th state - Alaska.

49 = the number of books I read or listened to independently. This number was down from previous years primarily because Paul joined me for far more walks which meant I wasn't listening to an audiobook while walking Milo. 

51 = the number of field trips the kids went on this year.

52 - I turned 52 in April.

54 - Paul turned 54 in January.

58 = the number of posts I wrote this year, which was almost identical to how many I wrote in 2023.

65 - Nadia logged 65 hours driving on her learner's permit. 

83 = the number of books we listened to together or I read aloud. This was down from 94 last year, but this year one series we listened to was Keeper of the Lost Cities, and those books are LONG (one of the books was more than 24 hours long). 

1,246 - In October I achieved a 1,246-day streak on Duolingo. For 169 of those weeks, I had been in the diamond league. I was unimpressed with the daily refresh material available upon completing the Spanish course, so I deleted the app from my phone and my streak came to an end. 

12,836 = the number of steps I averaged a day this year (a little less than last year)

$18,158 - the amount of money we received back from the insurance company to pay for my ankle surgery in 2021

Merry Christmas!

We began our Christmas celebrations on December 8 when Al & Millie came up to our house; we put up our Christmas tree and decorations a day or two prior to that. We didn't see them at all in 2022. In 2023 and 2024 we saw them one time a year - both times on a Sunday afternoon in December at our house. The kids attended a homeschool Christmas party at the roller-skating rink on December 11, a youth group Christmas party that same night at church and sang in a Christmas program at MCS on December 12. Nadia and I attended a Christmas concert with Cheri on December 13, and our family attended a Christmas concert at our church on December 14. We decided to skip going to MCS on December 18-19, which meant I was able to take Oliver and Xandir to Kaos for two hours on December 18. Originally, we planned to celebrate Paul's dad's 83rd birthday on December 20, but due to the snow that day we postponed it to December 23, which is when the kids also received their Christmas gifts from him. We miss not being able to see Ellie. On December 24 we gave the kids their Christmas gifts and attended one of our church's Christmas eve services.

On December 25 we drove to Maryland; including one brief stop it only took us 3 hours and 10 minutes, which was shorter than usual. Nadia drove the first hour, and Paul drove the rest of the way because I was holding Milo the whole time. In 2022 and 2023 we brought him to Virginia and Chicago. This was his first trip to Maryland. We had to keep him on a leash most of the time for a variety of reasons including the fact that their cat, Skittles, was not a fan of Milo. It was the first time in ten years that we all celebrated Christmas together. The number of people (23) was identical to how many were gathered together in 2014. We lost two (Maurice and mom) and gained two nephews (Wesley and Brendan). The last time we were together for Christmas Micah was the youngest (3 months old) and Jenna was 12. Since the kids are older this time around, Jenna's boyfriend, Toby, and Joshua's girlfriend, Esther, also spent some time with us. This time the youngest is Brendan (8 months old) and Jenna is 22. A photo canvas in my home is from that Christmas. The photo is of Jenna, my mom, and Maurice. Jenna is the only one still alive ten years later. I miss Maurice and mom very much. Ten years ago, Oliver became very sick while we were in Maryland, and we had to cut the visit short earlier than planned to take him to the hospital in Pennsylvania. I'm thankful he's outgrown his premature lungs.  Now that the Towfighis are living in Maryland, I doubt I'll ever host the large family gathering again at Christmas as I don't think our house is big enough for 23 people, and that number will likely grow as our nieces and nephews begin to get married and have kids. Activities included playing many games, jumping on the trampoline, playing pickleball, watching The Secret Life of Pets, opening gifts, and going ice skating. Nadia and Rachel continued their tradition of making a mystery dessert. They went a more conservative route in selecting the ingredients, and the cupcakes were delicious! Their sleepover was different as they didn't create a detailed schedule, and Susie and Andrew joined them. We wrapped up our Christmas celebrations today when Paul took Oliver to a free Christmas party at the ice-skating rink in Sunbury. I'm not sure if we'll go to the free ice-skating party on Tuesday, but if we do, Oliver will have been ice skating three times within five days!

We left the Towfighi's house after lunch on Saturday, ate dinner, and then I drove Nadia and Ian to Camp Susque where they will be attending Winter Camp for high schoolers from Dec 28-31. This will be Nadia's last year attending Freeze Camp because after you serve as a counselor (which she plans to do in the summer of 2025), then they have you attend Blast Camp (college/young adults) even if you're a senior in high school. Ian hasn't ever attended a winter camp. I signed him up without asking him if he wanted to this time because I knew it would be the only year he could attend with Nadia. I'll give him a choice in the future. I'll pick Ian up at 11:30 on December 31, but we won't pick Nadia up until January 3 as she's working as a member of support staff for Blast Camp. She'll be cooking meals, doing dishes, and cleaning. Normally we resume our schoolwork on January 2, but due to Nadia being at Camp Susque, we won't resume until January 6. From December 21-January 17 the kids will end up having a whopping 8 days of school due to Christmas break, skiing at Elk Mountain on January 8, and Ian's surgery on January 15. Our second marking period will end on January 17. Our co-op won't resume until February 4. 

16.5 years old!

Six months from today Nadia will turn seventeen years old! Here are some ways that she changed over the past six months.

1. She quit practicing the guitar, so I ended her lessons. She has sporadically been practicing the piano. 
2. She had voice lessons for two months this fall. Due to the fact she is only in the ensemble of The Wizard of Oz and didn't make it into the district choir, she stopped taking voice lessons. 
3. She visited Alaska for the first time, which was her 48th state!
4. She completed three classes through Liberty University this fall (7 credits) - Old Testament Survey, Evangelism, and 20th-21st Century Art. She earned 3 A's. Altogether she's earned 27 credits so far. 
5. She worked at Camp Susque for four weeks. She is scheduled to work during their Blast winter camp from December 31-January 3, and she has applied to be a counselor there next summer. She received a care package in the mail from Camp Susque earlier this month that included some snacks and a book by Paul David Tripp.
6. She has begun working at Warrior Run Petcare. Sometimes she works there from 4-6pm, and other days she works from 7:30-noon. She enjoys her job working with dogs! Her boss gave her a very nice gift bag last week that contained super comfy socks, a $100 gift card to Amazon, hot chocolate, chocolates, lip balm, and a mug that looks like a dog. 
7. She has had her learner's permit for almost exactly six months! She has completed the 10 hours of driving at night as well as the requirement to drive for at least 65 hours altogether. She thinks she'll try to get her license at the end of January. She needs to learn how to parallel park before then.
8. She's been studying chemistry. It's not her favorite subject, but she has to take chemistry in college so hopefully this will prove helpful in the future. She's completed 7 out of 16 chapters so far.
9. She's been completing Pre-Calculus through Teaching Textbooks. It's also not her favorite subject, but she has to take Calculus at Liberty in the future. She's looking forward to not having a math class next school year! 
10. We had her first official college visit at Liberty University when we attended College for a Weekend. While there we submitted the only college application that she plans to submit to begin as a residential student at LU in August 2026. She won't find out if she's been accepted until after we submit her HS transcript in May 2025. 
11. She's begun preparing to take the SAT in March. Her goal is to do well enough that she won't have to take another math class at LU prior to taking Calculus. 

Fifteen years old!

Ian Alexander joined our family fifteen years ago! We began his birthday celebration on December 8. Uncle Al, Aunt Millie, and PopPop came up after church. I served shrimp, pot roast, breadsticks, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and vegetables. Al and Millie brought cookies and a birthday cake for Ian/ PopPop which had a photo of JoJo and some gummies that looked like Legos. Ian received his birthday and Christmas gift from Al and Millie that day, and I also let him open the birthday card from Grandpa. We all played Wits and Wagers and then the kids plus Uncle Al and Paul played some Jackbox games while I did the dishes.

Usually, we don't do schoolwork on Ian's birthday, but this year we didn't do schoolwork on December 9-11 and did do it on his actual birthday. On December 9 Xandir, Julianna, and Nathaniel joined us at Camelback resort in the Poconos. We left our home around 11:00 and arrived at the resort around 12:30. After we checked in, the kids enjoyed the water park for about 3.5 hours. We've been to Great Wolf Lodge many times. Last year we tried Kalahari, and next year we're letting Nadia pick which indoor water park she wants us to visit. The Bobinis family had spoken highly of Camelback last year. On Monday we had dinner at Red Robin. I was impressed that (before tip) the total for six kids' meals and two adult meals plus one soda for $75. The kids enjoyed the fact that many of the things that were served were bottomless. The room we stayed in had two bunk beds (four boys), a king size bed (Paul and I), and a queen size sofa bed (Nadia and Julianna). Five of the kids played Phase 10. We had breakfast sandwiches and donuts at Dunkin Donuts the next morning. The kids were in the water park for almost 7 hours on Tuesday. Paul and I participated a little. We went to a pizza place for dinner before driving home. The next day the kids went to a homeschool roller skating party from 10-12, had lunch at home, and then were at church from 1:15-8:00 for art, chorus, Bible bowl, and a youth group Christmas party. 

Paul's dad came up to our home on Ian's birthday. He played chess with Ian before dinner. I served PopPop beef stew, and the rest of us had Georgian egg and cheese bread, which was Ian's request. The kids sang in the Christmas program at Meadowbrook Christian School that night. The middle school/ high school chorus sang five songs. Their least favorite was O Come All Ye Faithful because they sang it in Latin. The birthday gifts Ian received over the course of the week included money, Sonic game for the Nintendo Switch, Legos, Phase 10, Super Mario book, Sonic comic books for the Kindle, and a laptop. I think he had a good birthday! We love him SO much and are so glad he's part of our family! Below here are some ways he changed over the last six months. 

1. Ian's voice finished changing.
2. He was on the A team at Nationals in June. Their team won first place. Ian came in 8th place both in the written and individual competitions. Unfortunately, he hasn't gotten off to a good start this year. Hopefully he will put a lot more time into studying Luke over the next six months.
3. Ian has been assigned the roles of a crow and Nikko (head of the flying monkeys) in The Wizard of Oz. 
4. In school he's studying English, Geometry, Chemistry and modern history (1707 to the present).
5. This fall he's read Uncle Tom's Cabin. The Two Towers, and the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for English. He's currently reading To Kill a Mockingbird. 
6. He was diagnosed with a mild case of sleep apnea after having a sleep study done in Hershey.
7. He's scheduled to have a septoplasty in Mechanicsburg next month.
8. He visited Alaska, which was his 48th state. 
9. He now has braces on his bottom jaw and has rubber bands that are used to connect his two jaws when he's not eating. 
10. The transition to high school has NOT gone smoothly for him. He's temporarily lost the privilege of having a cell phone until he gets caught up with his schoolwork. 
11. His closest friends at the moment are Xandir, Ben, Nathaniel, and his cousin, Joel. 
12. I never have to remind him to practice the piano. In fact, sometimes I actually ask him to stop practicing so that he can get other work done. 
13. He has been waiting SO long to see the new Sonic movie that he plans to see at the theater with Paul next week. 

Surgery #3

Ian has been under anesthesia four times so far - two urological surgeries and two endoscopies. Since an endoscopy is technically a nonsurgical procedure, his next surgery (septoplasty) will technically be his third. Since those surgeries and endoscopies took place in 2010 and 2011, Ian has no memory of them. As he'll be fifteen years old when he undergoes the septoplasty, he will remember this one. Not counting the surgeries that I had which were related to pregnancy, my last surgery was a septoplasty. Dr. Wilson said the procedure hasn't changed over the past 30 years (mine was in 1994). Ian's sleep study showed he has mild sleep apnea. We had been told he had hypertrophy turbinate as well as a deviated septum and that the septum could only be repaired after he was eighteen. We were trying to decide whether he should have one or two surgeries, but this pediatric ENT said that she can do both procedures at one time on a fifteen-year-old. Ian didn't want to wait three years to be able to breathe through his nose when he's awake, and hopefully this will also lead to an improved quality of sleep for him. We could have scheduled the surgery to take place as soon as January 15, but we're waiting to get a price estimate from the second surgical center before we choose between the two locations where Dr. Wilson performs surgeries. The two locations are the same distance from our home (85 minutes away one way). I paid $250 yesterday for Ian to see her in Hershey, which was closer to 100 minutes away one way. Considering it took eleven months for him to have his sleep study, I'm grateful the wait for the nose surgery won't be as lengthy and that we don't have to make any more trips down there prior to the day of his surgery.

Here's a few highlights of what we've been up to since I wrote last:

1. Another mom and I took 13 kids to see The Best Christmas Pageant Ever at AMC. On another day my dad and Cheri joined us at AMC to See Bonhoeffer. They were both good movies! Ian has decided to do his report this year for the history fair on Bonhoeffer. Oliver is doing Abraham Lincoln, and Nadia is doing Jane Goodall. 

2. Ian played the piano with the youth praise team for the second time ever and performed a duet (see video above) at a recital. Pop Pop joined us. Nadia wasn't able to attend as she was at work. 

3. Cooper was at our house for 8 days while his family was on vacation.

4. We helped pack over 300 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child at our church.

5. Oliver, Cheri, and I attended a Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert and had dinner at Olive Garden.

6. Nadia has been working more hours recently. She worked about five hours on November 30, four hours on December 2, two hours on December 3, and she's scheduled to work about four hours on December 6. She loves having a job that involves working with cats and dogs! 

7. My dad spent 6 days with us, and during that time Yvonne's family (11 people) also spent about 39 hours at our house. 

8. I've been making progress with vacation plans. I booked our rental vehicle for our trip in May (the cost was painful). On the other hand, I paid a tiny amount to book an Airbnb for four nights in Honolulu and two nights on Maui because I used $1,250 worth of gift cards to Airbnb that I got through credit card points. I've booked 11 out of our 13 nights in Hawaii so far for a grand total of $219. I'm hoping to use credit card points to get Turo gift cards to pay for the rental cars on Oahu and Maui. We'll have to pay for the rental vehicle on the Big Island because we plan to pick it up at Hilo and return it at Kona, which means we can't use Turo. I'm really looking forward to visiting Hawaii for the first time! 

Giving Thanks

1. Paul was supposed to have jury duty in August. They postponed it to November because of our trip to Alaska. He had to check on Friday night four weeks in a row to see if he needed to report the following Monday or not. Thankfully, all four weeks he received the message that he didn't need to report for duty! We both are happy to perform this civic duty at some point, but we'd prefer to do so either in the summer or at least 7 years from now when we're empty nesters. Although I do most of the homeschooling, Paul does chemistry experiments on Tuesdays at co-op, and he helps Nadia and Ian with chemistry and math when they ask for help. 

2. The kids enjoyed a retreat at Camp Susque with their youth group the weekend of November 8-10.

3. Cheri and I attended a women's ministry dinner at my church on November 8.

4. I struggled to come up with something special to do on Tuesday since it's our final day of co-op for the fall session. Thankfully, I finally had the idea to take the kids to see the movie The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Their parents will pick them up later than usual from our house on Tuesday. I've never taken eleven kids to the movies before, ha ha! Thankfully, Ben has his driver's license so between his vehicle and our van everyone will have a ride. 

5. Nadia was given a small speaking part in the Wizard of Oz! She will be the barrister of Munchkinland.

6. Two nights ago, Cheri and I attended a Philips, Craig, and Dean concert. It was amazing. It was definitely my favorite concert from 2024. I love how the three men harmonize together. I first started listening to them in the early 90s. I'm not sure if I had ever been to one of their concerts before. 

7. I purchased a new game recently - Telestrations, and we enjoyed playing it for a family fun night once and also the kids at co-op played it last Tuesday. We certainly don't have a family fun night every week, but we try to have one once a week as often as possible, and we certainly have plenty of time together as a family almost every week since we homeschool, and Paul works from home! 

8. Nadia earned an A in Evangelism and an A- in Old Testament Survey this semester. Her art history class doesn't wrap up until December 13. As of this moment, she's earned 24 college credits so far. As of December 13, that will increase to 27 credits. She could technically receive a HS diploma from the state of Pennsylvania in the spring as they will issue one once you've earned 30 college credits, but we're going to wait until the spring of 2026 because the tuition at Liberty is much cheaper if you're in high school. Also, I want her to at least take Physics and Literature when she's in twelfth grade. When I went to register her for her spring classes, I found out that they have additional prerequisites for some classes if you are enrolled as a high schooler. This means she can't take three of the classes I thought she could take through dual enrollment. Thankfully, I found three other classes that I believe she can take instead (astronomy, earth science, and developmental psychology).  

9. Paul and I have talked about going to Hawaii for over 20 years. Lord willing, it looks like we'll be going there next August. I purchased the airfare today because the price had dropped, and I had codes to get two of the tickets for $99 each. The plan is that we'll fly from the DC area to Honolulu and then fly back from Maui to the DC area. At a later time, I'll need to book flights in between the islands. Rachel might be joining us for the trip, or her family might overlap with us for part of our trip. We plan to spend 4 nights on Oahu, 7 nights on the Big Island, and 2 nights on Maui. I know some people visit Hawaii regularly (like my Aunt Janet), but Paul and I view this as a once in a lifetime trip. I'm planning to use credit card points to pay for most of our lodging and rental car expenses. If all goes as planned, we'll be on Oahu on Oliver's 13th birthday and on Big Island on our 24th anniversary. So far, I paid about $1800 for round trip tickets for the five of us and paid a whopping $36 for a five-night reservation on the Big Island. We're excited about seeing more of God's beautiful creation! 

10. This weekend Paul installed the sink faucet I recently got for the kids' bathroom. Our house is 25 years old. We haven't done any big projects on the house this year, but we've done some very small things like replacing two faucets. I'm not handy *at all* so I'm very grateful for Paul's help!

11. A couple from our Sunday School class took our family out to lunch today because they wanted to hear more about our trip to Alaska as they are planning to go there next year. We had an enjoyable time!

12. The Newsboys are one of Ian's top two favorite bands. They performed at a venue less than 30 minutes from our house last night. Cheri joined the five of us. The concert Friday night was definitely more up my alley, but I was thankful we could make a memory together! 

13. Paul had a cough for two months. He finally went to the doctor on Monday. Thankfully the antibiotic plus steroid seems to be working as he's much better now than he was a week ago. 

14. They had said it would take 3-4 weeks to get the results of Ian's sleep study. Thankfully it actually only took a couple of days. He has mild sleep apnea. The pulmonologist recommended he see another ENT to have surgery on his nose. He has an appointment with an ENT on December 3. Ian said he doesn't want to wait until he's 18 to be able to breathe through his nose. We shall see if the ENT agrees. They won't fix a deviated septum on a minor, but they can address the hypertrophy turbinates. Ian had four surgeries before he turned three years old, but he hasn't had one since then. 

Thankful Thursday

 1. Nadia has been hired as a part-time kennel assistant! She starts her training at 7:30 tomorrow morning. It seems for the most part she will only work on Saturdays. They are paying her $12/hour. She is hoping to at least earn enough to pay for her car insurance. 

2. Last weekend Nadia had a nice time with some of the girls she worked with at Camp Susque. I drove Nadia and Melanie to the home they were staying at, and Melanie's dad picked the girls up on Saturday morning.

3. The five of us were able to help pack meals at FBC on Saturday afternoon. Altogether 100,000 meals were packed that day at that church! 

4. The weather has been unseasonably warm. I love it! Not everyone in my family agrees with me. 

5. We enjoy hosting co-op at our home. The messiness of art is not my favorite part but hearing the laughter and watching the kids interact with each other warms my heart. This week's debate was on whether Pluto is a planet or a dwarf planet. Our final two debates will be on AI and whether there should be an age limit for the President, VP, and those in Congress. In art this week the kids began sculpting a turtle out of clay. Paul does two chemistry experiments with them each week. After lunch the kids play games. This week it was Balderdash and Pit for the first 90 minutes. Some kids stay later. This week the kids who were still here after 2:00 played Catan. 

6. Paul was supposed to have jury duty in August. Thankfully they were willing to postpone his until November due to our trip to Alaska. Every Friday evening (for four weeks) he has to check online to see if he's supposed to report at the district court in Williamsport or not. The first two times the answer has thankfully been "no." In light of co-op, we're hoping for the same result tomorrow and next Friday night. 

7. Ian has been using a gymnastic mat as a chair in our family room. I decided we needed to get another chair of some sort, and the kids picked a large bean bag. I used credit card points to get a Walmart gift card and used that gift card to pay for the 5-foot bean bag chair. Ian isn't the only one using that seat! Similarly, I used credit card points to buy a new faucet from Lowe's for the kids' bathroom. Hopefully it won't be too difficult for Paul to install it. 

8. In January Ian's primary care doctor started the process that finally culminated in him having a sleep study in Hershey last night. I usually transport the kids to their music lessons, doctor appointments, etc., but Paul stayed in the room with Ian for his sleep study. We are praying for accurate results so that we will know if Ian has sleep apnea, and if he does have it, how severe it is.

9. I'm thankful that we live in a free country where we have the ability to vote. I'm also grateful for the outcome of the election. Ultimately, God is in control, and my faith is in Him alone certainly not any politician, but given the ages of Alito and Thomas, I have been praying that when it's time for them to retire, they could be replaced with justices who would strictly follow the constitution. It's the first time in my life that every single candidate I voted for won! I am encouraged that Trump won even though Kamala's campaign spent FAR, FAR more money. I think how much money is spent on campaigns is insane and that which campaign has the most money shouldn't be the determining factor in who wins. Personally, my political views are not influenced one iota by all the things that showed up in our mailbox, by billboards, or by ads. Similarly, it is reassuring to know that people can make their own personal judgments despite what the media is constantly telling us (ex. "he is Hitler" - seriously?!?). Is Trump my ideal candidate? Absolutely not. I didn't even vote for him in 2016 because I wasn't sure if he was actually going to be conservative. Ironically (because Paul was the one who talked me out of the "lesser of two evils" philosophy while we were dating), Paul voted for him three times.

10. Paul has believed for four years that Trump actually won in 2020. I have thought it was *possible* that due to election fraud he lost, but I wasn't sure that could be stated as a fact. I changed my mind this week. In 2008 131 million people voted, in 2012 it was 129 million, and in 2016 it was 136 million which puts the average at 132 million over those 3 elections. The total for 2020 was 158 million, and this year the number was probably around 139 million. Hillary got 65 million votes in 2016 (Trump only had 62 million that election), and Kamala got 67 million in 2024. You'd think there would be much more of a draw to elect the first woman president (I hope that does happen at some point in my lifetime!). I can't believe that 20 million extra people actually voted in 2020 when the choice was between two old white guys. I'm more convinced now of the theory that fraudulent mail-in ballots swung that election. Since the numbers came back to "normal" this time, I feel like the election was probably fairer. I'm sure for many decades there has been some fraud involved on both sides of the aisle. I had students at Bloomsburg who would brag about the fact that they voted twice - once by absentee ballot based on their home address and again on campus using their college address, but it seems like in 2020 it was taken to a whole new level. I have to show an ID to board an airplane or check in at a hotel. I don't smoke or drink alcohol, but if I did, I'd need to show ID to make those purchases. I think our elections would be less susceptible to fraud if people had to show ID when they voted. Nadia was inundated with so many text messages encouraging her to vote, and she's only sixteen. The next time we have a presidential election both Nadia and Ian will be able to vote. They are growing up too quickly! 

Thankful Thursday

1. The kids enjoyed going to a glow-in-the-dark dodgeball party for Xandir and his cousin, Alice last Thursday afternoon.

2. Last Friday, Cheri, Nadia, and I enjoyed a meal at Applebee's and a For King and Country Concert. We used a gift card for our meal and had free tickets because we were volunteers with Compassion. The only costs were the gasoline to get down to Hershey and back plus the fee to park, which I learned would have been $25 instead of $35 if I had prepaid for it online. Lesson learned! The concert was sold out, and 299 kids were sponsored that night! PTL! I got an email from the director of volunteers for the state of Pennsylvania, and he said it was my tenth time serving as a volunteer with Compassion. 

3. The boys enjoyed helping as candy runners at our church's Trunk or Treat. Oliver was Batman, and Ian used some things we had at home to create a Scrooge costume. Part of his costume included Oliver's suit jacket. Oliver LOVES to wear suit jackets, so I got him one at Target recently.

4. The VanHorns got 6 free tickets to see Daniel at Sight and Sound due to working at Knoebels. They invited Ian and Nadia to use two of their free tickets on Wednesday. They enjoyed spending that time with them! Since that meant Wednesday was going to be a day off from school, I invited Xandir over to spend a few hours playing with Oliver yesterday afternoon. 

5. Paul had lunch with Dave (former employee) today.

6. Because Ian's sleep study was postponed at the last minute, all five of us were able to help pack meals at Experience Missions for a few hours on Tuesday night. 

7. The weather has been unseasonably warm. Nadia would prefer it to be cooler, but I like warmer weather! Paul and I took Oliver and Milo trick or treating last night, and we didn't even need to wear a light coat! 

8. The man who purchased Kennedy Concrete took a one-year loan from Kennedy Concrete which was to be repaid by July 31, 2024. Up until this week he hadn't made any payments on the debt since December 2023. Thankfully, he made another payment this week which represented about 25% of the balance. Hopefully he'll pay the remaining 75% by the end of December. 

Opting out

 I don't recall exactly when I joined Facebook, but I'm guessing it was no later than 2007. From at least 2016 until 2024 I have had times where I have temporarily deactivated my account for varying amounts of time, but I never considered permanently deleting my account. However, that's the step I recently took. For a period of thirty days, I have the opportunity to undo that decision. Once the thirty days pass, it will truly all be gone. I decided that the "cons" outweighed the "pros." I have never used Twitter, and I had an extremely short stint of looking at Instagram. I do post the videos I create onto YouTube, but I view things on YouTube very infrequently - sometimes to watch church online or to watch a Bible Recap video or the like. I used to read far more blogs, but most of the people I used to follow no longer post on their blog or they do so very infrequently, so I don't spend much time in a year reading blog posts that others have written. I think this means that if I find out something about someone I know, it's going to be the old-fashioned way - because they told me, emailed me, or texted me about it. When I deactivated my account, I was still able to use Facebook Messenger. I don't have access to it any longer because I went the deletion route this time. I had a private Facebook group that I used with my homeschool evaluator, but I've let her know I'll be switching to sending her a monthly email instead, which is one of the options she provides all of her families. I might be in the dark about some events in the future because of this choice I've made, but in general I don't think we'll feel too much of an impact by my choice. I created an account for Paul many years ago, and he's never accessed his account. Paul has done fine with never using Facebook for the past 17 years. It can be done! Paul uses Twitter now because of his new investment "job."

I've also decided I am done using Duolingo because I finally finished the Spanish course! It "only" took me 1,244 days to accomplish that feat. I currently have a 1,246-day streak, but I'm planning to let that go. I'm also on a lengthy streak when it comes to being in the diamond league (169 weeks), and my friends quest streak is also fairly long. I've earned the monthly badge every month from June 2021 to October 2024. On Sunday night I won the final round of the diamond tournament for my 6th time. My current Spanish score is 120 out of 160. Since I finished the course, I now have access to the "Daily Refresh," but I have been very unimpressed with that feature of the program, which is why I'm planning on letting my "streak" drop from 1,246 down to 0. Most days I spend 30 minutes on Duolingo. Hopefully what I've learned in Spanish will be useful at some point in my life. I can understand the letters we get from the Compassion kids we sponsor who speak Spanish without reading the translation into English. As is normal for learning another language, my receptive comprehension is far better than my expressive skills, especially when it comes to all the verb tenses. Duolingo can only take you so far, but I know now far more words in Spanish than I've ever known at any other time in my life. 

All of the photos in this post are from the homeschool co-op that meets in our home on Tuesdays. We've been having debates (first one was on whether cigarettes should be banned in the US, the second was on animal testing, and the next one will be about zoos), doing artwork (completed three of the six art projects I planned for this session, and we've started the fourth project which is an acrylic painting of a lighthouse). discussing books (Sign of the Beaver, The Two Towers, and Listening for Lions), playing games, and doing chemistry lab experiments (this last Tuesday one involved hydrochloric acid and an egg). I haven't touched my camera in quite a few weeks. I don't plan to opt out of that though! I need to do a better job of taking pictures more often. 

Here are some other random updates from the past three weeks:

1. This month our church began a campaign to raise 4 million dollars over the next 3 years to pay off existing debt (1.7) plus build a new, bigger facility for the Sunbury campus and Recovery Church (2.3). 

2. Nadia had a sleepover at a friend's house two weekends in a row. She was one of three girls from Meadowbrook who auditioned to be in the district chorus. Unfortunately, they didn't make the cut. Nadia has been taking two Bible classes through Liberty for six weeks. On October 21 her third class through LU began - an art history class. I recently registered her for three classes (7 credits total) for the spring semester - two Bible classes plus a government class. She also has a job interview on November 1 for a job that involves grooming dogs. She has logged around 35 of the required 65 hours of driving so far. We found out today that the dates of the Nationals for Bible quizzing next summer won't interfere with the dates Nadia will hopefully be a counselor at Camp Susque. PTL!!!

3. Ian and Oliver spent several hours at a friend's house last Saturday. Ian played the piano for the youth worship team for the first time ever on October 9. 

4. All three kids auditioned to be in the Wizard of Oz at MCS. Oliver and Nadia will just be in the ensemble. Ian was given two parts - a crow plus Nikko (head of the flying monkeys). All three kids are looking forward to going to a glow-in-the-dark dodgeball birthday party tomorrow afternoon. 

5. All five of us helped pack meals at our church on October 12 (collectively packed 125,000 meals for people in Uganda and Ecuador) and at Experience Missions on October 22. All five of us also attended a Colton Dixon concert at our church on October 18. Ian, Nadia, and I were volunteers with Compassion that night. Twenty-two kids were sponsored!

6. Oliver attended two trunk or treat events on October 19-20. This is his last year of being eligible for these events due to his age. The boys will be helping as candy runners at the trunk or treat at our church on October 25 while Nadia and I attend a For King and Country concert with Cheri in Hershey as Compassion volunteers.

7. I was the substitute teacher for our Sunday School this past Sunday. I taught a lesson on Haggai.

Thankful Tuesday

1. Paul, Nadia, and I had a good visit at Liberty University September 19-21. I'm thankful there is a Christian college not *too* far away that offers the degree Nadia wants to pursue.

2. The three of us also enjoyed spending time with my dad during our time in Lynchburg. We had dinner with him twice, played games together at his house, saw Anastasia together at LU (a musical none of us had seen before), and attended church with him.

3. The boys had a fabulous time at my sister's home in Maryland while we were in Virginia, and the Seiberts did a great job taking care of Milo in our absence. 

4. Our co-op resumed on September 24. The first picture in this post is of the colored pencil project that the kids worked on. We have eleven kids in our co-op. I just snapped a picture of half of their projects. Paul is doing two chemistry experiments per week with the co-op, and I am leading book discussion groups, debates, art, and some geography lessons. My kids are very grateful that their friends come over once a week! We do our work from 9-12, have lunch together, and then some (or all) of the kids stay for another 90 minutes of playing games. The first game we played today was Guesstures (similar to charades). The 5 girls beat the 5 boys with a score of 75 to 52. After that three girls played Suspend and Rack-o while seven kids played hide and seek in the dark in our basement. Milo loves having more kids here. He's a big fan of co-op! 

5. Our town had their annual community yard sales this past weekend. Some years we haven't been around, and other years I've spent many hours scouring these yard sales. This year Nadia, Oliver, and I did a little bit of yard sale shopping on Saturday. I got some clothes for the kids, hiking boots for Nadia, and six puzzles for Nadia. 

6. The kids have signed up for their auditions for the Wizard of Oz on October 12. I'm thankful they can participate in this school musical! The rehearsals are starting much earlier this year (October 21 compared to January 18 last year). Thankfully, we have far fewer schedule conflicts this year. 

7. Yesterday was Milo's fourth birthday! We love him so much and hope he has many more years of life with our family. Nadia baked him a cake using a recipe intended for dogs.

8. I've enjoyed Nicholas Sparks' books for years, but this week I listened to his newest one (Counting Miracles), and I loved it. 

9. This summer I purchased the geometry course by Teaching Textbooks for Ian, but then in September we switched to the textbook by Art of Problem Solving. I asked TT if there was any way we could have a refund as he had only done 10 lessons, and we've been costumers for seven years. Although it was outside the normal refund window, they made an exception and gave me a store credit that I can use next summer when I purchase Oliver's next math course. It was nice not to waste the money spent in light of switching from one curriculum to another. 

10. This past weekend I watched the movie Sweetwater which was about one of the very first African Americans to join the NBA. It was informative and entertaining to watch. I tend to enjoy movies based on true stories.

11. I’m having a lot of fun researching ideas for our trip to Hawaii next August!

College for a Weekend

Once Nadia decided she wanted to major in Zoology, this greatly narrowed down the list of possible colleges for her to attend. Fewer than 40 colleges offer that major in the US. Liberty University offers two different tracks, and one of theirs is for those who do not want to become veterinarians. This past weekend we attended College for a Weekend at Liberty University. On Thursday morning we left our home around 10:00, dropped Milo off at the Seibert's home and then drove to Maryland. We spent around an hour with the Towfighis before Nadia, Paul, and I continued driving to Lynchburg. We stopped at a Wendy's to get dinner. We didn't arrive at Liberty until around 7:15pm. Stopping in Maryland added two hours of driving time, but Ian and Oliver were able to spend three days with the Towfighis. Micah turned ten on Friday. I think it was the first time the boys were with him on his birthday. After we parked in a parking garage, we walked to the Student Union to check-in to the event. Nadia then joined her friend Rory for games and ice skating while Paul and I went to my dad's house. Paul came back to pick her up a couple of hours later.

Friday morning, Nadia and I left bright and early so that we could park and walk to a biology classroom for an 8:15 class. I returned to my dad's house after we found the classroom. Nadia attended a second biology class at 9:20. Paul and I met her for convocation. The Vines Center seats about 9,500, but that wasn't room for everyone at 10:30 on Friday because of the extra people on campus for Parent's Weekend and CFAW. They use the basketball arena, which seats 4,000, for overflow when needed. We ended up in the overflow because Paul and I had to park much farther away when we returned. In addition to a time of singing, we heard from Cole Hocker, who won the 1,500 at the Paris Olympics this summer. Convocation is mandatory for those living on campus and is held twice a week. About 6,000 students also voluntarily attend a chapel service on Wednesday evenings. Although we went to church with my dad at Heritage Baptist on Sunday morning, Nadia will most likely attend Thomas Road Baptist (on campus) on Sundays while she attends Liberty. Our church isn't small, but our church is about 25% of the size of TRBC. After convocation we went to the dining hall for lunch. The amount of food choices available was impressive. After lunch we visited two different dorms, went on a "Surviving your first year" tour, and bought a sweatshirt at the bookstore before Nadia attended a digital photography class. While she was in class, I submitted her application, paid the enrollment deposit, and picked up the "free" t-shirt and blanket offered for those who applied and paid their deposit. The application fee was waived because we were there for CFAW. After her class was over, we visited one more dorm before we drove back to my dad's house. The four of us went to Logan's Roadhouse for dinner. My dad said he hadn't had a steak in at least 20 months. Later that night Paul dropped Nadia off for late night games on campus and picked her up two hours later. 

Saturday morning all three of us left bright and early for a tour that started at 8:00. Parking was no trouble at that time on a Saturday! After the "academic" tour, we went to the Snowflex Centre where Nadia tried their ski slope and also did a little tubing. We paid $10 for a two-hour pass, but she only stayed for 30 minutes. She prefers skiing in Pennsylvania. After having lunch in the dining hall, we took a third student-led tour before meeting my dad to see a performance of Anastasia. After Anastasia we ate dinner at the dining hall. In hindsight, it would have been better if we had eaten dinner on campus on Friday night and eaten at Logan's Roadhouse on Saturday night because they had very limited options on Saturday in the dining hall because there was a football game at 6:00. That evening we played games with my dad at his house and Nadia worked on her online college classes. 

On Sunday morning we attended the 9:00 worship service at my dad's church, and then we drove to Maryland to pick up the boys. We left his church around 10:30 and arrived home about nine hours later. Our stop at the Towfighis was much briefer than it was on Thursday, but we made brief stops for lunch, dinner, picking up Milo, and buying a few groceries at Aldi. If we drive from our home to Liberty, it takes about 6 hours including a stop for gas and/or food. There are usually other students from our church attending Liberty each year, so I don't think we'll need to drive down and back every time Nadia has a break during the school year. Rory is taking dual enrollment classes now just like Nadia, and both girls plan to start at LU in the fall of 2026. Rory's brother is currently attending Liberty. Although this was Nadia's first and we presume last official college visit, she has visited (and taken tours on some) other colleges including IWU, Houghton, SWU, OKWU, and Messiah. Ian isn't sure where he'd like to go to college so we might be visiting more than one with him. I think Cairn will be the first on our list to visit with Ian. Considering that Paul and I are in our 50's, it doesn't seem abnormal to have a child who is getting close to graduating from high school, but on the other hand it feels like the past sixteen years have just flown by. Liberty is certainly bigger than all of the colleges I attended or taught at. Praying for the continued growth emotionally, spiritually, physically, socially, and academically for all three of our kids! 

The last two pictures were taken from the top of the tallest building on campus.

Thankful Thursday

1. I forgot to mention that during our trip to Alaska, I spotted two of the four license plates I was hoping to find. I saw one from Nevada and South Dakota. Usually it's harder to get North Dakota, but for some unknown reason I've seen MANY license plates from North Dakota this year and only one from South Dakota. The two I am still looking for are Hawaii and New Mexico. I haven't found all 50 in one year since 2021. I certainly saw FAR more Alaska license plates than usual this year! 

2. Last Saturday we spent the day in Lititz. Our first stop was the Johannes Mueller House. We had a guided tour that included a lot of interesting information about the Moravians. Then we met 10 out of 11 Towfighis at the high school to see a production of Tuck Everlasting by a group called Servant Stage. I've read the book and seen the movie but never seen that musical before. Their shows and concessions are all "pay what you wish". We had pizza at Nino's before driving back home to Milo. We've certainly seen the Towfighis more often this year than we usually have in the past! 

3. Everything went smoothly with the boys' orthodontist and dentist appointments on Monday. Ian now has braces on his bottom jaw for the first time. Oliver pulled one tooth out at church on Sunday morning, and the dentist pulled two more (at the request of the orthodontist) on Monday afternoon. 

4. Nadia started taking two Bible classes online through Liberty University this week. We're thankful she can earn some credits toward college while she's in high school.

5. They have chosen the Wizard of Oz for the spring musical, which was the one Nadia voted for! All three kids plan to participate.

6. Yesterday the kids enjoyed roller skating with friends (for free) at a homeschool roller skating party from 10-12. The party was *supposed* to be from 12-2. We wouldn't have been able to go if it was held then. I'm thankful Carolyn made a mistake, and that the owner of the rink was able to scramble at the last minute to open up the rink two hours earlier than planned! 

7. Nadia is glad that some of her friends want to go to the homeschool prom with her. She didn't go the last two years, but she's planning to go in May. This means we need to buy her a dress!

8. On Tuesday I took seven kids to PSU. Ben and his sisters followed behind me. I had organized a field trip to the nuclear reactor at PSU. The 2.5-hour program was outstanding. The kids enjoyed eating some M&M's as they learned about half-lives, and they also enjoyed eating some marshmallows after they finished building some atom models. About 20 homeschoolers showed up for the program plus a few moms. We were parked in a parking garage right next to the Creamery, so I decided to treat the ten kids to ice cream after we ate our packed lunches. It was delicious! 

9. When we attended the homeschool potluck on September 6, I tried a new recipe - campfire cookies. They were so delicious that there weren't any left to bring home. I already made them a second time since then. Yum!!

Thankful Thursday

 1. The last two days we were in Alaska went well. We enjoyed seeing a variety of animals at the Large Animal Research Station in Fairbanks (including sandhill cranes), sled dogs at Husky Homestead, milking calves at our final Airbnb, muskox at the Muskox Farm, and a variety of animals at the Reindeer farm (my favorite being the bison). 

2. Returning the van went smoothly, and we again appreciated having TSA Precheck when we flew out of Anchorage. Our flight was delayed, but we arrived safely in Baltimore early in the morning on August 30, and Joe kindly picked us up and brought us back to their home. It was lovely to not need to pay for parking at BWI!

3. We enjoyed spending some time with 9 out of 11 members of Yvonne's family on August 30-31. Joel and Nathan joined us for an excellent production of Pilgrim's Progress at the Museum of the Bible.

4. The Seiberts did a great job taking care of Milo while we were gone. We were grateful to be reunited with him on August 31. Addi and Westyn took care of our guinea pig and mowed our lawn once while we were away. 

5. Nadia began taking voice lessons with her choir teacher on September 3. It means we now have a weekly commitment Monday through Thursday between piano lessons, voice lessons, art, and chorus. Nadia is also staying 30 minutes later on Thursdays for an extra session to prepare for district choir auditions. That extra session doesn't cost us more money. 

6. All three kids are taking art and chorus this year at MCS. It's the first time Oliver has taken any classes at MCS. Ian and Nadia took classes there in 2018-2020 and then returned in the fall of 2023. We're also thankful that the three possibilities for the spring musical are all ones the kids could enjoy. Some of the musicals they've done in the past would NOT have been appealing to my boys. We're waiting to hear if they're doing Barnum, Willy Wonka, or the Wizard of Oz.

7. On September 4 Bible quizzing and the youth group resumed meeting on Wednesday nights. This is also a first for Oliver. Quite a few new kids showed up last week for Bible quizzing! Because the adult small groups didn't resume until yesterday, Paul and I went on a date last Wednesday night using the money my dad gave us for our 23rd anniversary. We had dinner at Texas Roadhouse, and I got a treat at Rita's. We also got some clothes and shoes for the kids at the thrift store and some groceries at Aldi's. Dates when you've been married 23 years are a lot different than dates prior to marriage, ha ha! 

8. On September 6 we enjoyed having dinner with other homeschoolers at the VanHorn's. 

9. Nadia is improving in her driving skills. I'm very thankful for God's protection! On Monday morning when she was driving Ian to his orthodontist appointment, it hit me that she's been driving a lot and never gotten gas. She's been the only one to drive Paul's car for the last couple of months. I feel like the Holy Spirit graciously prompted me to think of this because when I asked her, she said she didn't know how much gas was left. I leaned over and was shocked to see it said we had two miles until we'd be out of gas. Thankfully we were less than 2 miles from a gas station. Whew. There are so many lessons to learn with driving including paying attention to the gas gauge. I've never run out of gas before, and I hope she never does either! 

10. I paid for one month of access to the Angel guild. As a family we watched Sound of Hope which is about a small town in Texas that adopted a LOT of kids through the foster care system. Oliver has watched a few episodes of the Wingfeather Saga, and all the kids watched some episodes of Tuttle Twins. I don't plan to keep it more than a month right now, but it's nice to be able to access their movies and shows from time to time. There are a few more movies I'd like at least some of us to watch before our month ends. 

11. We haven't had a working doorbell for two years. Yvonne wisely suggested purchasing a wireless doorbell. It was very inexpensive, and it was also very easy for Paul to install. Problem solved! Ironically the very first people to use our doorbell were two women campaigning for Harris/Walz. I politely said we wouldn't be voting for them and said have a nice day. Usually if people are coming two by two to our door, they are Jehovah's Witnesses. I don't ever recall anyone ever stopping by for a political reason. They asked for Paul in particular, probably because he's registered independent.

12. Last Wednesday I waited at church while the kids were in art and chorus, brought them home, and then turned around and took them back an hour later for Bible quizzing and youth group. Paul suggested that our normal routine should be that the kids just hang out at church for about 90 minutes after choir until Bible quizzing begins at 4:30 on the weeks he and I are coming back at 6:30 for our small group. This means that we will have a window of up to five hours together without kids. If he's busy with the stock market, it might cut that time in half, but still, it seems like a great plan to me! I don't think we'll typically go out to eat, but we can go for a walk, play a board game, etc. There are definitely perks to Paul working from home! 

13. Finding good coupon codes for Shutterfly is NOT as easy as it used to be years ago, but I did manage to get two copies of a photo books that contains over 100 pages for small amount of money. I used to make photo books more frequently when they were only 20 pages long. Now that I can make them a little over 100 pages long, I have only been making two photo books per year. This photo book was for March through early September. 

Muskox, Reindeer, and Huskies

On our last full day in Alaska, we started our day in Fairbanks at the Large Animal Research Station that is run by the University of Alaska Fairbanks. They have muskox and reindeer. We watched two muskox charge at each other over a piece of vegetation our tour guide was offering them. Their name is misleading because they don't have any musk glands, and they are most closely related to goats. At the Research Station we also saw and heard (they are very noisy!) some sandhill cranes. We also visited a muskox farm the following day in Palmer, which is about one hour north of Anchorage. While we were there, we heard a couple of male muskox roar. It sounds very similar to a lion's roar although not as loud. At the farm, we also saw four calves which were only four months old. After they've attempted to mate some females with a couple of males, they separate the females who *might* be pregnant and wait eight months to find out if they are pregnant or not. The only way they know is after the calf is born! Under the shaggy coat of fur muskox have a layer called qiviut that is insanely soft. They shed that layer once a year, and that is the reason the muskox farm exists. They sell yarn and other things made from the qiviut. Ian's one souvenir from the trip was a plush muskox.

After driving south for about two hours, we visited the Husky Homestead, which is near Denali National Park and is the home of Jeff King, who has won the Iditarod four times. Amanda Otto also works there and recently finished in 8th place in the Iditarod and second in the Yukon Quest. First, we got to hold a puppy, most of which will eventually be sled dogs for Otto, King, or one of their competitors. These dogs LOVE to run. They have a very large hamster wheel for both the puppies and the adults to use. We also watched the adults run as a team on a treadmill. Amanda and Jeff told us about some of their experiences. 

It was a cloudy day, so we didn't see Denali. On our way to Palmer, we ate dinner at a cafe that has a wonderful view of Denali when it's not hidden by clouds. The food was good, and the prices (by Alaskan standards) were reasonable. On the trip we mostly got our desserts from the grocery store. The exceptions were that four of us had gelato (and Paul got fudge) in Seward one night, and we all got ice cream in Palmer on our last night in Alaska. Although I booked our final night through Airbnb, it was actually a bed and breakfast. I hadn't realized that breakfast would be included so we had already purchased two breakfast sandwiches at the grocery store for Nadia and Ian to eat for breakfast. We left those in the freezer in the guest suite for someone else to enjoy as all five of us ate the homemade breakfast. Had we arrived at 7:00 pm, we could have bottle fed four newborn calves, but we didn't arrive until 8:00. 

The next morning, Oliver and I got up early so that we could bottle feed the calves. Oliver fed two of them. I was very content to leave the pen after I fed one of them as I didn't realize how pushy they could be and how they would try to suck my legs. My pants were getting covered in slobber! Oliver also picked raspberries and strawberries from their garden for our breakfast. She served us scrambled eggs, waffles, potatoes, fresh fruit, orange juice, and chocolate milk. Yum! Our first stop on Thursday morning was a Muskox Farm, and our second was at a Reindeer Farm. They actually had MANY different animals at the Reindeer Farm. We fed many different kinds of animals that day including a moose and reindeer. The animal I was most impressed by was a bison that would obey various commands such as giving the woman his knee or his hoof!!! That bison is more obedient than our dog.

After we left the Reindeer Farm, we drove to the valet parking lot near the Anchorage airport where we returned the Dodge Caravan minivan that we had rented through Turo (basically the vehicle equivalent of Airbnb). We took a shuttle to the airport and breezed through security. TSA Pre check is definitely worth the fee in my opinion! We purchased an early dinner at a McDonald's in the airport. Had we known our flight was going to be delayed, we would have waited on buying it. We flew to Seattle and then to BWI. We tried to sleep on the second flight. Some of us were more successful than others, but none of us got *that* much sleep. Joe picked us up at the airport in Maryland and brought us back to their house. Nadia, Paul, and I went back to sleep. I had a headache most of the day due to getting very little sleep and adjusting to a four-hour time change, but still we enjoyed spending time with Yvonne's family. Brenden spent a lot of time in my arms. 

On August 31 we spent the morning with Yvonne's family. The boys didn't get up until almost 10:00 am. After eating lunch, we drove to DC with Joel and Nathan as we had tickets to see a performance of Pilgrim's Progress at the Museum of the Bible by the same group that we had seen perform Prince Caspian. After the show was over, we walked Joel and Nathan to the nearest Metro station, and the rest of us drove back to get Milo and go home. We were very tired and went to bed shortly after arriving home. I was grateful I had done three loads of laundry at Yvonne's house the previous day. We had to wait until after church on Sunday morning to stop at a grocery store and buy things like milk, eggs, and bananas. 

Alaska is a beautiful state, and we were grateful to see a variety of animals and despite the clouds making it difficult, we were able to see the northern lights. We were all healthy, all of the places we stayed were nice, and we didn't have any difficulties with our rental vehicle. Most days the low was in the 40's or 50's and the high was generally in either the high 50's or low 60's almost every day we were there. We didn't have any issues with mosquitos, although we did encounter MANY pesky flies on the hike to Exit Glacier. The leaves were starting to turn colors, It rained a few times we were there, but many of the days it was sunny, which is not typical. We were able to see Denali on two of the ten days we were in Alaska, and a minority of people who visit are able to catch a glimpse of it. The price of gas was very reasonable, but the price of food there is rather high. Subway is the national chain (not counting gas stations) that is spotted most frequently outside of the cities. I wouldn't make many changes if I were to have a do-over on this trip. I would definitely make sure to take a picture of Denali when I saw it (duh!), I'd visit the Creamer's Field instead of the ice museum in Fairbanks (the ice museum was a spur of the moment addition when I realized how close we were to it while eating dinner our first night in Fairbanks), and I would have had us drive in a loop by adding a stop at Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in between our time in Seward and our visit to Fairbanks. That would have added some miles to our trip. Over the course of the ten days, we drove exactly 1,200 miles. Time will tell if we ever return to the state. My guess is that it was a once in a lifetime trip for at least Paul and me. I'm very thankful we were able to travel to Alaska! 

Forty-eight states done and two to go! Within the next year we hope to visit our last two states. I already got our tickets for our flight to New Orleans in May and our return flight from Phoenix. I decided not to cancel our Alaska Airlines credit card which means in light of the annual fee involved that we've decided to fly on Alaska Airlines to Hawaii next August because we will receive two companion fares for about $100 each, which is much cheaper than what it usually costs for a roundtrip ticket to Hawaii. We plan to visit my sister in Maryland in December for Christmas, but we don't plan on flying anywhere or going on any big vacations until May. Now that I've finally finished blogging about our trip, I need to work on making a video, a photo book, and getting a print to put in the Alaska space in the map on our wall. I have a feeling it's going to be a picture of the bull moose that we saw up close and personal!

Museum of the North in Fairbanks