Textless Thursday

Third bucket list

Today I worked on our third annual summer bucket list. I was able to do that in part because we stayed home this morning. We have completed about 1/4 of the list thus far. We saw Trolls on DVD a while back, so we opted to stay home this morning instead of seeing that at the theater for $1 today. After lunch we spent 2.5 hours at the swimming pool. Nadia stayed in the water the whole time. The boys stayed in the water most of the time. The water temperature is now up to 76 degrees! I swam laps some, worked with teaching Oliver to swim some, and also read a little. It was warm today but not beastly hot like it has been the last few days. Originally we planned to go to Knoebels today as it was a buy one get one free day. The weather was perfect for a day at Knoebels, but I'm glad we were at home for most of the day.

I found out at the pool yesterday that the only lifeguard who can give lessons is Tommy, who is only lifeguarding on Sundays due to working at Geisinger this summer as a part of his pre-med major at Bucknell. Last year there were a couple of lifeguards

who could give lessons during the week, and I was hoping to take advantage of that this summer. Originally the kids' schedule was free in the evenings the last two weeks of June, but recently I had signed them up for Kidzway Camp at our church (I plan to have Nadia and Ian attend that 3 nights next week) and 5 nights of Mega Sports Camp the last week of June at another church. Both "camps" are free and are at night. The preschoolers do a variety of sports, but Nadia and Ian each had to pick one sport. Their choices were flag football, basketball, soccer, and cheerleading. Nadia picked basketball, and Ian picked flag football.

When I found out they couldn't take swimming lessons at our pool, I told Nadia she had a few choices - skip Kidzway Camp to do swimming or diving lessons next week in the evenings, skip swimming and diving lessons this year, or take private swimming lessons in the morning the last week of June. She picked the private lessons knowing that if she made that choice she'd skip diving lessons

this summer. Oliver has been signed up for a group swimming class the last week of June. I am going to work with him in our pool until that point as he has a lot more fear than he used to regarding the water. Nadia might do diving lessons again in the future, but that was scratched off our list for this summer. I called the recreation association today to see if they would allow Ian to be in the beginner tennis class for ages 9-12 with Nadia so that he could take Level 3 swimming lessons right before tennis. Right now he is scheduled to be in the beginning tennis class for ages 6-8, but that conflicts with the level 3 swimming class. I'm hoping they'll bend the rules a little because private lessons cost more than the group class, and I'd rather not pay for private lessons for both of them. We shall see what they say.

Another reason I wanted to stay home this morning is because tomorrow should be a jam packed day including a 50 minute trolley ride, Montage Mountain water park and miniature golf, and seeing the movie Cars 3. The kids will get into free into all of those places including a free drink and popcorn at the theater! Paul and I will get in free for everything except the movie. Our tickets will cost us $5 each. I plan to pack lunch and use a gift card for dinner, which means the outing will cost us $10 plus the gas it will take to drive to Scranton and back. I am thankful for our WVIA membership!

Thankful Tuesday

1. I found recently that one of the libraries in our system had several Adventures in Odyssey cd's. Considering listening to Adventures in Odyssey is one of Nadia's most favorite things to do, that has been a blessing.

2. For months the kids had been on a kick of watching Odd Squad via Amazon Prime. Now their latest craze has been 321 Penguins. I am so thankful for Christian videos for kids. I don't remember anything like that existing when I was a child.

3. Nadia got her haircut on Wednesday. I love it when her hair is shorter given she is a not a fan of having her hair brushed. I wanted to go before her birthday since the charge is the same as the child's age.

4. Oliver's coach provided pizza and such for his soccer team on Wednesday night. Ian's soccer coach took the team out to OIP for pizza after their practice on Thursday night. Paul went with Ian. The parents play against the kids during the second half of the last practice. He took part in Ian's last practice, and I played during Oliver's soccer practice.

Even though older siblings were helping on the kids' side (such as Nadia and Ian), the parents were scoring far more goals than the kids so they decided to form a wall in front of the goal. Would you believe I scored a goal when there were 4-5 kids lined up across the front of the goal? I couldn't believe it! I am not very athletic.

5. Oliver went to summer musical on Wednesday night without any hesitation at all. What a HUGE improvement. Thank you, Lord! Nadia was also very happy to find out that night she was given a part. They are doing the same musical they did at our church in the spring. She's not the GPS this time, but she got the part of Emma. Ian didn't get a part this time, but he's hoping he'll get a solo. Ian was Noah when they did it at our church. One of our neighbors has two kids in the musical and ironically their daughter is the GPS and their son is Noah. It cracks me up that both times those parts are being played by siblings.

6. On Thursday Nadia, Ian, and I enjoyed a wonderful 3.2 mile

hike at Ricketts Glen State Park. The weather was gorgeous and the waterfalls were beautiful.

7. On Thursday night Nadia helped out with a Little League fundraiser at the Turbotville Carnival. Oliver, Nadia, and I enjoyed eating some funnel cake and walking around the carnival. Nadia used some of her money to play two games.

8. On Friday we enjoyed swimming for free at Liberty Splashland and the horseback riding lessons for all three kids. We also got our family photo taken that night at church.

9. On Saturday morning some beautiful navy blue carpet was installed in our master bedroom. I love it! I smile every time I look at it.

10. On Saturday we had the last soccer game of the year. I am very grateful to have a break for two months from practices until flag football season starts.

11. On Saturday we enjoyed the trolley museum and Bees Backyard for Scranton. Both were free thanks to our WVIA

membership. We also enjoyed dinner at Subway thanks to a gift card.

12. Paul got a good report at the dermatologist on Friday.

13. We enjoyed attending Summerfest at the state park on Sunday afternoon. Activities included learning about snakes, kayaking, crafts, looking at the sun through a special telescope, etc. It was Maryann's last event. We will miss her very much! Hopefully not too many years will pass before they hire someone to replace her.

14. The kids and I attended a picnic at one of the pastor's houses on Sunday evening while Paul was at work. We ate some yummy food and played outside (Frisbee, corn hole, etc.).

15. We are getting an elliptical! I asked Paul's input regarding whether we should make another payment on the principal of the mortgage (I just made one last week), and he said he thought we should buy a piece of exercise equipment since I had to give up running when he went back to work at

Kennedy Concrete. I'm excited. Hopefully it will help me lose weight and get in better shape without causing any pain to my knees or back. I applied for a Sapphire credit card again. We've done it twice before. You get a $500 bonus after you use it for 3 months. I'm going to order the elliptical after we get the new credit card in the mail. I've decided at some point I want to get a 70-200mm lens. I am going to keep saving money (that I get from birthday and Christmas gifts, that I get from selling things, and this credit card bonus) until I have enough for it. I agree that it's smarter to get the elliptical now.

16. I started a Bible study on the names of God this evening. Afterward, the leader came up and said some really sweet things to me. Those words of affirmation really touched my heart and encouraged me.

17. This morning we saw an Alvin and the Chipmunks movie for $1 each at the theater. We hadn't seen the movie before. While we watched the movie Sears was changing the oil and rotating the tires on our minivan.

18. Our swimming pool opened on Saturday. Today was our first time going this season. The music pastor's wife and kids were there (who are Nadia and Ian's ages) when we arrived. Although I'm not a huge fan of 90+ degree weather in June, the upside is that it has helped warm the water up in the pool. They said the water temperature has gone up 9 degrees over the past two days! I swam some laps today. A few days ago I started on a diet of sorts, and I am planning on swimming laps every time we are at the pool as I need to lose some weight. I wish I had started months ago, but better late than never.

19. After the swimming pool we stopped at the library. One of the things we picked up was a set of 4 CD's for Jonathan Park, which is another radio drama like Adventures in Odyssey. I'm thankful for interlibrary loan!

20. We had a great time at Idlewild yesterday! Nadia's friend, Grace, joined us for this adventure. The amusement park is rated the number one amusement park for children. I had read about it in magazines and such a few years ago. I am glad we went, but I doubt we'll return as we personally wouldn't rate it as "the best." Since it was hot, we spent more time in the water area than on the dry rides. The lazy river and wave pool were their favorites yesterday. Nadia was the only one who went on a big water slide. We rode on Daniel Tiger's trolley through his "neighborhood." I haven't gone through all the pictures yet, but here are a few of them. The kids have now been to twelve different amusement parks thus far. This is the only "new" one planned for this year.

7.5 Years Old!

Today is Ian's half birthday! Last year we gave him his birthday gifts on his half-birthday, which he loved, but then when his birthday rolled around he was disappointed not to get gifts from us, although he still got gifts from his grandparents on his birthday. So this year we are going back to giving him his gifts on his birthday, even though  his birthday is 13 days before Christmas. We are spending the day at Idlewild today, and that should make for a very special half-birthday! He misses his Daddy, and the fact that his Daddy is taking two days off of work this week to spend with us is also very special!

Ian still loves playing with Legos, drawing, stuffed animals, and everything related to Star Wars. Over the past six months he saw three more of the Star Wars movies - episodes 2 and 3 plus Rogue One. He hasn't been playing the Wii the past few months; playing Mario on the Wii used to be one of his most favorite things to do. He has switched back to the iPad.

The last few months Ian's

favorite fruit for lunch has been either a slice of watermelon or half of an apple. He likes it best if I give him some peanut butter for his apple slices. Several month ago he switched from drinking skim milk most of the time to drinking water most of the time. He will drink apple juice or chocolate milk if I have either of those, but most of the time I don't, and that means he choose water most of the time.

Over the past six months he switched from size 5 to size 6 pants, and he grew 1.5 inches in that time span. In science we studied astronomy, which he really enjoyed. He particularly likes to defend the reasons why Pluto should be considered a planet. He also learned his division facts (0-11 tables). He showed a lot of improvement on the basketball team this winter as he made far more baskets than he did the previous year. He's still my most energetic child, which showed when we were hiking at Ricketts Glen last week!

He still loves babies. A few months ago we had to find a new child to support because

India wasn't allowing Compassion to work in their country any longer. We had supported Manu (also born on 12-12) for several years. Ian chose a one year old in Kenya. He also loves our guinea pigs that we got a few weeks after he turned seven. He named his Patches after my mom's cat who died last spring. Any time we pass a dog, he asks the dog's owner if he can pet the dog. He loved playing with my cousin's boxer (Rocky) in Ohio in April.

Ian had his first speaking part this spring in the kids' musical at church. He did a great job! During the school year he chooses to go with us to the first worship service and then to Soul Patrol kids' choir during the second service. In the summer he goes to Sunday School one service and the worship service the other. Ian is often the only one of our kids sitting with us during the worship service during the school year.

Ian loves learning new vocabulary words. He has an excellent memory, and when he hears me saying one of the words we've learned when I'm reading a chapter book to them, he will point it out to me with great delight. Way to go, Ian!

Over the past year his hair has gotten darker. My Aunt Janet was the one who noticed this, and then I had to agree that last summer he still was a tow headed blonde but now his hair is darker blonde. It's a reminder of how when you see someone every day you don't notice the changes as clearly as someone who hasn't seen that person in 11 months.