What's the story?

Today was my last day of chauffeuring the kids to and from camp this summer. Oliver and I dropped them off at 8:00 this morning, I came back and mowed the lawn for the first time in a month, and then Paul joined Oliver and I on the drive back to see their production. Considering opportunities to be a part of a drama or a choir during the coming school year will likely be slim to none due to COVID-19, I'm thankful Nadia and Ian were able to participate in this workshop this week. I'm also thankful that I didn't sign Oliver up this year because it meant he was available to spend time with Grandpa and Margie on Monday morning, and he wouldn't have been able to attend on Wednesday or Thursday because he was sick on Wednesday. All five of us had been healthy for six straight months. For the last five months I have felt like trying to avoid sneezing or using a tissue in public for fear people will think I have COVID-19 when it's just allergies. In a normal year Oliver's little bug on Wednesday wouldn't have phased me, but during a pandemic it was very nerve wracking. Thankfully he was back to normal yesterday morning. I kept him quarantined Wednesday and Thursday just to make sure he didn't pass any germs on to anyone else. I hadn't planned to sign Nadia up for two different theatre camps this summer. I had signed Nadia and Ian up for this one, it was cancelled, I signed Nadia up for another one, and then the rescheduled this one. 

With the Cinderstein camp they were very careful about keeping distance between the kids, took the kids' temperature every day, wore masks at all times aside from an outdoor snack break, and only allowed 6 adults to attend each of the two performances. With this camp put on by the FLN, they took the temperature of everyone in the vehicle every morning and required me to complete a health questionnaire every day, but the kids only had to wear masks when entering the building and they certainly didn't keep 6 feet between the kids. There were 13 kids in the camp this week - 4 boys and 9 girls. They split the group in half during the rehearsals. There were three adults running the camp. Their performance was at noon today. Everyone had to have their temperature taken and fill out a health questionnaire upon entry. This meant they took my temperature and Oliver's temperature twice today. Once seated, we were not required to wear masks whereas two weeks ago the parents attending the show had to wear masks for the entire 90 minute show. They didn't restrict how many attended today because they knew it would fall well below 25% of capacity of the sanctuary. Oliver, Paul, Pop Pop, and I attended the performance. What surprised me the most was the fact that there wasn't any attempt to implement social distancing in the sanctuary today. I was expecting every other pew to be used, for example. This was a musical which again is fairly surprising at the moment when choirs seem to all be cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns. Ian had only one line "The quarantine is OVER." Nadia had 20+ lines in the play. Ian was very enthusiastic with the motions in the songs. 

Part of the reason Pop Pop came up today was to take Oliver shopping for a bike, which is his birthday present from them. After the performance was over, I took Ian and Nadia to the swimming pool. I had bathing suits for all five of us, but Paul and Oliver didn't end up swimming. They went with Pop Pop to various stores attempting to purchase a bike, but just like the freezers, bicycles are hard to come by in 2020. We shall see which is possible first - Oliver's new bike or my chest freezer? I am guessing the bike won't take as many months as the freezer probably will. We shall see if my new freezer arrives before I turn 49. I'm not holding my breath!

Although I'm grateful they were able to participate in this, I'm also looking forward to the end of driving 2 hours a day. I've been going through a lot of gas lately! We can go swimming the next two days, I need to drive Paul to and from his colonoscopy on Monday, and then the kids and I will pretty much be back in home sweet home mode almost all the time aside from church on Sundays. 

Thankful Thursday

1. I was able to be one of the six members of the audience at the performance of Cinderstein on July 31. Paul was able to watch it on Facebook on August 1. 

2. The kids and I had a safe trip to Long Island on August 2 and enjoyed a few hours at Six Flags Great Adventure that afternoon.

3. We had a wonderful time with Aunt Janet. After months of quarantining by herself, she was very thankful for all the hugs! We played games, swam in an outdoor pool, and spent time at the beach. The kids also enjoyed having a bath in her jacuzzi tub almost every night.

4. Thankfully the power at Aunt Janet's house came back on after being off for 22 hours. Some people who live near her went 4+ days without electricity. One of the games we played while the power was off was hide and seek. Aunt Janet said it had been a long time since she had played that game! We ate more ice cream than usual for lunch when the power was out because the ice cream was melting. The kids didn't mind helping consume melting ice cream!

5. The kids and I had a safe trip back home on August 8 and enjoyed a few hours at Hurricane Harbor that day. 

6. I'm very thankful that Oliver joined our family eight years ago! He's very thankful for the hoverboard that Grandpa and Margie gave him.

7. The kids and I enjoyed a picnic at Pastor Ken's house on August 9 even though Ian came close to eating a walnut in a cookie. I was thankful I had some Benadryl in my purse and knew that we could quickly drive home if necessary for an EpiPen.

8. We were able to spend some time with my Dad and Margie on Sunday night and Monday morning/afternoon. They treated us to lunch at Olive Garden. Yum! Margie also gave us a loaf of delicious homemade bread and gave the kids some candy.

9. I didn't take Oliver to pick up a free lunch on Monday since my Dad and Margie were here. I took him on Wednesday thinking they might only give us one bag of food because the rule is that all children must be present, but thankfully they know I have three

kids and gave me three bags even though Nadia and Ian were at the theatre workshop. This coming Monday will be the last time they give out meals this summer. I haven't bought milk since June because every time we go they give us 3 quarts of milk.

10. Nadia and Ian are enjoying the theatre workshop this week. I am looking forward to seeing their performance tomorrow at noon and planning to sign all three kids up next summer - in part so I can cut down the amount of time I am on the road as I could bring a book or laptop and stay up in that area. Tuesday was crazy sock day, yesterday was Hawaiian day, and today was wear your favorite color day. I wish I had gotten a picture of what they wore for Hawaiian day.

11. ALDI has had red grapes on sale for 99 cents a pound this week. I bought a LOT of grapes because they were nice and firm. Yum! 

12. Oliver got his first two pets today! He named his zebra danios Henry and Zuma. I have no idea how to tell them apart. Zuma is a good name in my opinion because they do "zoom" around all day

long. The fish themselves were very cheap ($2 each). The aquarium, food, bamboo plant on top, Amazon sword plant inside, cave, gravel, etc. cost a lot more than the fish did. Hopefully our first experience with owning fish will be a successful one! I had to cut the Amazon sword plant down for it to fit in the aquarium. 

13. I attended a ladies Bible study two weeks ago and again tonight. The woman leading the study really went above and beyond in terms of providing drinks, snacks, notepads, pens, etc. for every participant the first week. I didn't eat anything, but she gave me four beautifully decorated frosted sugar cookies to take home. Paul and the kids said they were very yummy.

14. I have already received a refund  for 6 of the 8 nights I had booked for our trip to Canada the end of this month. Priceline told me the Quality Inn and Suites wouldn't give us a refund for two nights, but I contacted the hotel myself, and the General Manager said she would approve the refund if Priceline contacts her directly. I am very grateful that it seems like we will receive full refunds for the 8 nights of lodging. Hopefully we'll be able to make that trip sometime in the future after this pandemic is completely behind us. Time will tell if we are able to go on our trip in early October as planned. 

19 Years

As of today Paul and I have been married for 19 years. We started dating in February 1997, so we've been friends for 23.5 years. We used to go on an overnight getaway or at least go out for dinner on our anniversaries. The last anniversary I recall us celebrating was in 2009 when we went to NYC for a day trip to see a Broadway show while Paul's parents watched Nadia. It's possible we went out to eat for our anniversary sometime over the past 11 years, but that's the last anniversary celebration I recall. Ever since our babysitters moved to Oklahoma in 2012 it's been challenging for us to go out on a date. Our last date was on March 4, 2018. I thought we might go on an overnight getaway when all three kids were at summer camp at the same time this summer, but Paul's work schedule is just too demanding in the summer for that to be a possibility. We'll have to make it a goal to at least go out for dinner next year since it will be our 20th. 

As we gear up for a new school year, I looked at the lists of books from last year. We enjoyed 131 chapter books together. I read some of those aloud, but the majority were audiobooks we listened to through Hoopla, Overdrive, or Audible. We're currently in the middle of Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin, which will be our 14th book for the 2020-21 school year because in Pennsylvania the year begins on July 1. Ian read 68 chapter books while he was in fourth graade. He has a few pages left in Poppy and Rye by Avi, which will be his ninth book for fifth grade. Nadia read 73 chapter books in sixth grade. Nadia has almost finished Dumpling Days by Grace Lin, which will be her eighth book for seventh grade. Although the number of books appears to be very similar between Nadia and Ian, if I took the time to add up the number of pages each child read during the last school year, I know Nadia's would be much higher as she usually reads books that are a lot longer than the ones Ian reads. Hopefully sometime this school year Oliver will begin reading chapter books. 

I made two purchases this week for the 2020-21 school year. Yesterday I paid for a one year subscription to World Watch News. Today I ordered four boxes from TalkBox.Mom. When Nadia was young I purchased the CDs for Rosetta Stone Spanish. We tried that off and on over the years. This past January I tried a different Spanish curriculum, but we weren't that crazy about it. I hope the one I purchased today is a good fit for our family because it was rather pricey; Dad and Margie gave us some money for our anniversary, and I put it toward the cost of the Spanish boxes. I really hope that all three kids and I begin to use Spanish in the home on a regular basis this year. I remember a little of the Spanish and German that I learned in high school, but I remember far more of the sign language I learned in high school because I used ASL a lot more than I ever used the Spanish or German. If the Talkbox program works well for us, we can do it again next year, and then maybe after that we can go back to Rosetta Stone? We shall see. Teaching art and teaching a foreign language are not my strong points. 

I don't usually keep a record of the books that I read, but part way through this summer I did begin keeping a list. I read seven non-fiction books and at least twenty novels so far this summer. In some cases I read the books and in others I listened to audiobooks. Right now I'm listening to If I were you by Lynne Austin. Many of the novels I read this summer were by Susan Meissner and Ruta Sepetys. I finished the photography courses that I wanted to take in June and July. I have listened to a few of the homeschool convention sessions, but I have until the end of December to finish those.

The first almost 7 years of our marriage we went on many dates and our vacations were primarily in the Caribbean or Europe. The last a little more than 12 years of our marriage our focus has been our children. Dates have been few and far between and our vacations have primarily been within the US. If we're all still alive nineteen years from now, Paul and I will be 69 and 67 years old and our kids will be between 27-31 years old. Maybe we will be grandparents at that point? Time will tell. Life is very unpredictable, especially in 2020!

He loved it!

Nadia is not the kind of child who needs a nudge when it comes to trying different activities or experiences. If she was an only child, I might be more amenable to agreeing to all her requests, but she's not an only child so for years I've had to help her select which activities she will actually pursue. For example, when she was younger she wanted to take ballet, ice skating, and gymnastics in addition to playing on a soccer team and basketball team. That would have been far too much! On the other hand, Ian is a child who needs a nudge now and then. Nadia and Oliver both attended overnight camp at Camp Susque when they were entering second grade. I *made* Ian attend overnight camp at Camp Susque when he was entering third grade. He loved it and needed no prodding to attend overnight camp in 2019 or 2020. I had signed Ian and Nadia up for a Youtheatre workshop that was supposed to take place in July. It was cancelled, and I was given a full refund. I signed Nadia up for a different acting class. Then I was informed they had rescheduled the Youtheatre workshop being put on by the Family Life Network. Nadia said she wanted to do it. Ian said he wasn't interested, but I signed him up anyhow. Nadia has attended a theatre camp every year from 2013 to the present. Ian had never attended one before, but he has talent both with acting and singing. Aunt Janet enjoyed hearing him impersonate a variety of voices last week. The primary reason he was hesitating was "stage fright." I had to wake the boys up this morning, which is something I *hate* to do, but waking them up at 7:00 this week (M-F) really isn't the end of the world. I wish they had slept in until at least 7:00 every morning last week on Long Island, ha ha! When we picked Nadia and Ian up at 12:30, the first thing Ian said was, "I loved it!." He later told me he had no idea a theatre camp could be that much fun. It's just like I tell the kids when they see a new food and immediately determine they don't like it. I urge them to at least take a bite before they form an opinion. Because of COVID-19, there are not many kids enrolled in the workshop this week (only 13). They had auditions this morning. Ian is playing the part of a jock. Nadia has one of the main roles. Her character's name is Tiffany; she knew one of the girls in this workshop from Camp Susque. The kids range in age from 8-15. Oliver also said he didn't want to participate. He doesn't usually need a nudge to try something new, and since he JUST turned 8 last week I didn't sign him up. I asked Nadia today, and she said she thought he would have done fine. Stage fright wasn't the reason Oliver wasn't interested. He said he loves to sing and dance but didn't want to memorize any lines. My plan is to sign all three up for this camp next summer. And it will probably be the only theatre camp I sign Nadia up for next summer. All three kids going to the same theatre camp at a church 25 minutes from our home for just five days sounds perfect to me.

Last night Margie and my dad arrived at our house at 7:30pm. Paul left at 7:45 to go get Nadia. They returned home at 8:15, and then the seven of us played Bubble Talk. This morning Oliver and I got back to our house at 8:40 after dropping Nadia and Ian off at their theatre workshop, and Margie and my Dad arrived at our house about one hour later. Grandpa built with blocks with Oliver, he showed them how he can use the hoverboard they gave him and the five of us played ladder ball and Spot it. Margie and I had been in the lead in ladder ball, but Grandpa and Oliver pulled ahead to win at the very end of the game. I was the winner in Spot it only because Nadia wasn't here playing with us. At noon we left to pick up Nadia and Ian at their theatre camp, and then we went to Olive Garden to have lunch. Because we had to wait 20 minutes for a table, we ate our lunch MUCH later than usual. It was delicious!! Nadia ate TONS of breadsticks. Margie and I both chose to have soup, salad, and breadsticks. Nadia said that my meatballs are better than Olive Garden's. I'll take that compliment! Because we had a late and large lunch, no one is hungry for dinner even though it's almost 6pm right now. We'll be eating a VERY small meal this evening. If Paul doesn't get home too late, maybe we'll even eat dinner with him for a change! He usually doesn't eat dinner until after 9pm, but I think he'd eat earlier if we were eating when he was at home. Dad and Margie's third anniversary is this Wednesday, which is why they are spending three nights at a couples only resort in the Poconos. They checked in this evening and will drive back to Virginia on Thursday. Our 19th anniversary is tomorrow, but it's been quite a few years since we did anything to celebrate an anniversary.

Because of our lengthy meal at Olive Garden, the kids and I decided not to go swimming today even though it was in the 90's outside. Tomorrow I'm planning to take the kids straight from theatre camp to the swimming pool. Oliver was having a hard time choosing between Olive Garden and Taco Bell so I promised him I'd take him to Taco Bell for lunch sometime this week if we went to Olive Garden today. We hadn't been to an Olive Garden in more than a year. We've only been to a sit down restaurant twice in the past six months (including today's meal). I haven't decided exactly what day we will "go back to school" but it will likely be either August 20 or 24. I know we'll be taking August 25 off for our last trip to Six Flags (in MD) this year. Even though our regular school year hasn't begun yet (we're in "unschooling" mode this week), we have begun watching an episode of World Watch News each day (M-F). I purchased an annual subscription today. I've been impressed with the quality, and I think it will be an excellent addition to our curriculum this year. Since this is the last week the swimming pool will be open and the last week the kids have a "camp" of some sort, it feels like the last week of summer. There are three things left on our summer bucket list that we haven't done yet that CAN be accomplished this summer - catching fireflies, jumping rope, and making a fruit pizza. We shall see if we accomplish any of those three things in the next two weeks. Even if we don't, we will have accomplished 41 out of 44 things, which isn't too shabby considering all the things we could NOT do this summer due to COVID-19. 

Water park!

I had a trip to Montage Mountain in our calendar for June before I realized that almost everything would be cancelled beginning the middle of March. We usually go to that water park near Scranton for free once a year through our WVIA membership. Our summer bucket list usually contains about 100 experiences on it. This year our list has fewer than 50 experiences on it, but we DID make it to a water park this summer. I drove to Jackson Township, NJ three times this summer. The first two times we spent our time at Six Flags Great Adventure, but yesterday we spent 5.5 hours at Six Flags Hurricane Harbor. It was the first time any of us had been there. Thankfully the traffic wasn't too bad around NYC. We left Aunt Janet's house at 8:00 and arrived at Hurricane Harbor at 10:45, and that included one stop to get gas for the van ($1.99 per gallon!). Oliver really wanted Aunt Janet to join us at Six Flags. She said she would have loved to ride some metal rollercoasters with the kids if the park was closer to her house. Due to COVID-19, they didn't have all of the attractions open in Hurricane Harbor, but the kids enjoyed going down water slides, floating along the lazy river, and swimming in the wave pool. I had my bathing suit on and planned to join them, but since they only required you to wear a mask as you were entering/exiting the park, buying something, or using the bathroom, I went back out to the van to get my camera after the kids had gone down their first water slide. I planned to put the camera in a locker after getting some pictures so I could join them on the water slides. The previous week I had rented a locker for $1 for two hours at Great Adventure. Would you believe in the water park they charge $22 for a locker? I wasn't willing to pay that much and didn't feel like entering the park a third time in one day. So I didn't ride any rides. I did get myself a little wet at one point because I was so hot. This was our fourth trip to a Six Flags park this summer, and it was the first time I used my good camera at a park this summer. I took just a handful of pictures with my cell phone the other three times. Pictures with facemasks on is just not very appealing to me. So I sweated a lot more yesterday than I thought I would at a water park, but I was able to take pictures!!! I haven't edited all of them yet, but I have included a few in this post. I had made reservations at both Hurricane Harbor and Great Adventure in case the kids wanted to ride a few rollercoasters after the water park closed, but they suggested we just drive home. We bought a late dinner at Subway on the way home as I had a gift card. 

This morning we all went to church together. The senior pastor had the last two weeks off. Two weeks ago Pastor Brandon preached an excellent sermon. I can easily picture him being a senior pastor. Paul watched the service online last Sunday and said that Pastor Eddie (youth pastor) did a good job. I'll have to watch that sermon online because it was his first time preaching at our church.. He's been the youth pastor at our church for about one year. I asked Paul to take the kids swimming today so I could have a few hours at home alone this afternoon. If the weather cooperates, all five of us can go swimming together next Sunday, which is the last day the pool will be open in 2020. This evening I'm taking the kids to a picnic at Pastor Ken's house, and Nadia will have youth group after that. I'm thankful we were able to spend 5.5 days with Aunt Janet and visit Six Flags on the way there and back. I'm also glad that the next time we'll be in the car for 6+ hours in one day, Paul will be with us, which means I don't have to do all the driving myself.

And we're off

 Well as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. Last year when we spent a week here in July, the weather was ideal. It wasn't ideal this week, but we still had a very nice time with Aunt Janet. The kids swam at least once each day as they swam in the outdoor pool 5 of the last 6 days (every day except for Wednesday) and swam at the beach on 3 days (Mon., Wed., and Thurs.). Yesterday the kids swam in the pool for 3.5 hours, played with Oliver's new Paw Patrol toy, used his new hoverboard, watched some episodes of Mandalorian with Aunt Janet, and watched some episodes of Paw Patrol. We all played a game of Apples to Apples. Oliver was the least enthusiastic about that activity, but he actually won the game! This week we played Bubble Talk, cornhole, Bananagrams, Pit, Quiddler, Apples to Apples, and Suspend with Aunt Janet. Five of those games were ones Aunt Janet hadn't ever played before. We're so thankful we've been able to spend a week at her home four years in a row. Hopefully in 2021 we'll be able to return without bringing any face masks along. 

The past five days have been relaxing here on Long Island. Today will be an exhausting day for me since it will involve driving to NJ, spending several hours at Six Flags, and then driving another 3 hours home. Nadia and Ian will be in a theatre workshop Monday through Friday. Our schedule will go back to being one where we stay home most of the time starting on August 17 because the swimming pool that we joined in June is closing on August 16 and we don't have many other plans after August 14.  I received more information about the theatre workshop yesterday. The kids were grateful to hear that they only need to wear masks when entering and exiting the building. They won't have to wear them during the four hour workshop each day. Their temperatures will be taken every day, and I have to fill out a COVID-19 questionnaire every day. Those attending their performance on Friday at noon will also only have to wear a mask until seated in the sanctuary. We can take it off during the show. I'm thrilled the actors won't have masks on during the show because #1 it means we can see their facial expressions and #2 it will be easier for them to project their voices. If the Towfighis, Benners, or my Dad/Margie wanted to attend the show, they wouldn't be allowed to because if you've spent more than 24 hours in any of 35 states on the list, you have to quarantine for two weeks before the performance. We haven't spent more than 24 hours in any of the states on the list so we are fine. I'm also thankful that they are limiting the audience to 25% of capacity rather than just six people (the maximum allowed to attend each of the two Cinderstein performances last week).Nadia and Ian will have auditions on Monday morning. I'm looking forward to finding out what parts they will have! 

The homeschool gym class they've done in the past is for ages 9+ only this fall. In the past it was ages 5+. We didn't participate last fall or winter because they were in the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale in the fall and Upward basketball plus ice skating lessons in the winter. I had signed them up for homeschool gym in the spring, but it was cancelled due to COVID-19. Even though all choirs have been cancelled for this fall (Youth Chorale, Soul Patrol kids choir, and the adult choir I usually sign in at church), I'm not signing them up for the gym class if Oliver wouldn't be allowed to participate. I also am not signing the kids up for art or chorus at Meadowbrook until it seems more of a guaranteed thing that school WILL be held in person all the time. Knowing that life will be much simpler after August 14, I can power through a long day today. I'm thankful that despite COVID-19, we were able to go to Six Flags at least four times. We're hoping to make a fifth trip with Paul to the one in Maryland later in August. It will be his first trip to Six Flags this year. Considering that two of the Six Flags parks that we planned to visit in August still haven't opened (Darien Lake in NY plus the one in MA), I'm thankful that it still feels like we got our money's worth out of four of the five memberships. We lost money on Paul's membership as it would have been cheaper to buy him one ticket than pay a monthly fee for his membership, but all things considered we made out okay even though we didn't go to three of the Six Flags parks I thought we'd go to this summer. The third one (La Ronde) is open, but Americans aren't allowed into Canada. We might possibly have a membership at Six Flags again at some point, but I'm not planning on renewing ours whenever our commitment ends. I do believe we'll be able to go to Six Flags for free for part of next year because the parks didn't open until July this summer.

Eight Years Old!

My baby turned eight years old today! Naturally, he can't stand it if I refer to him as my baby, but since he's my youngest child, he'll always be my baby. Here are eight ways I would describe Oliver Elliot:

1. EXTROVERT!!! Oliver thrives on playing with other kids. He'd literally skip a meal and/or skip watching tv if that would give him more time to play with kids in the neighborhood. In general he's not one who gives a lot of attention to our schedule, but when he's looking forward to something like spending time with his cousins or coming to Aunt Janet's house, then he is very fixated on the calendar as he counts down the days!

2. Loves to hug! Physical affection is definitely one of his primary love languages. When he recounts his favorite parts of the day, he almost always includes something along the line of "cuddling with mommy."

3. Likes most foods. There would be some dishes, such as white chicken chili, I'd have to eat the whole thing myself if it weren't for Oliver. I'm very thankful that Oliver isn't a picky eater. He still has a long way to go with his manners at the table. This child seems to prefer to eat everything with his fingers rather than silverware.

4. TALKATIVE. This child talks nonstop for hours on end. Sometimes I enjoy listening to him, like when he and I are going for a walk, and other times (say when he crawls into bed at 6:15am) I ask him to give me a few minutes of peace and quiet. He doesn't need anyone to be listening to him for him to talk. He sits in the back row of the minivan and talks sometimes to himself for hours on long road trips. 

5. Loves music! I enjoy some but definitely not all of the music that he enjoys. Sometimes that means he'll listen to music on the Echo dot in his bedroom or uses headphones so I don't have to hear it. 

6. Loves to be outdoors. In fact he's been known to be in such a hurry to get out in the morning that he's gone out before he's even changed out of his pajamas. Oops! He's often outside until I call him in when it's getting close to his bedtime. When we go for a walk, he often discusses the plants and animals that we see along the way. It's very exciting for him when he spots a toad or a deer or a blue jay or a squirrel, etc. When it's the slightest bit warm outside, he loves to get wet whether that means throwing water balloons, squirting water guns, or dumping a bucket of water over his head. This child also has a fixation with the weather; he constantly asks me what the current temperature is or what the forecast is. Maybe he'll be a meteorologist one day?

7. Imaginative! Oliver often creates stories (see #4) and also loves to talk about what his life will be like when he's an adult. He assures me that his children are going to give me lots of hugs. Lately he's been saying that he's going to have a hot tub and two horses. Both of my boys insist they are going to live near me. I would be thrilled if that is what actually happens! Memorizing is a challenge for Oliver. He's come a long way with memorizing verses for AWANA, but in general he has the hardest time remembering things like the names and values for coins, the names of cousins, Aunts, Uncles, etc. As his mother and teacher, I am trying to be patient and hoping before he enters middle school he knows that a penny is worth one cent. He did memorize my phone number recently!

8. Generous! He is generally very prone to sharing with others. For example, when were out in the water at the beach chatting with a man, he invited the man back to Aunt Janet's cabana for a cookie. The man declined, but he said it had been a long time since someone offered him a cookie. Oliver often offers the kids in the neighborhood something to eat or drink when they are playing in our yard. If a family member asks Oliver to share something he's eating, he almost always says yes.

This birthday is definitely different from his previous seven birthdays. We are spending it on Long Island with Aunt Janet for one thing. Due to COVID-19, we probably won't see Paul's parents. My dad and Margie are coming up to the Poconos to celebrate their 3rd anniversary next week, and they are going to visit us for a little bit on Monday morning on their way to the resort. I tried to get donuts at Dunkin' this morning, but the restaurant was still closed due to electricity issues. Aunt Janet had some gluten free chocolate donut holes in the freezer that she defrosted. She also made hot chocolate and cut up some cantaloupe. I had my usual oatmeal, but the kids enjoyed the donut holes and hot chocolate. The weather forecast isn't great for today. We probably won't be going to the beach as planned; we had planned to eat ice cream at the make your own ice cream sundae booth at the beach tonight. I brought two gifts from home for Oliver to open this morning. The kids were able to try out his new hoverboard some before it started raining. Grandpa and Gubba gave him the hoverboard. I've been assembling the Paw Patrol toy that Paul and I got Oliver. Aunt Janet purchased a candle for his birthday cake. I brought Paw Patrol napkins, cups, plates, tablecloth, and a birthday banner. Aunt Janet bought him a Paw Patrol coloring book and balloon at Dollar Tree earlier this week. We usually can't watch Nick Jr because we don't have cable tv, but I let Oliver watch a few episodes of Paw Patrol on her tv this morning due to the weather. Hopefully the kids will at least be able to swim in her pool at some point today. The high is only supposed to be 75 so I doubt I'll get in the water. Thankfully the pool is heated to 90 degrees. Paul was bummed not to be with Oliver for his birthday, but he did talk to Oliver on the phone this morning. 

Tomorrow morning we plan to leave and drive to Hurricane Harbor (the Six Flags water park in NJ) before driving home. Hopefully it won't be raining when we're in NJ. We love Oliver very much and hope he has a very special birthday today. Now that he's eight years old, it means for the first time in a little over 12 years I won't have any kids using a car seat or booster seat in our vehicle. The time is just flying by! For the next four months my kids will be 2 years apart - 8, 10, and 12 years old. Thank you, Lord for bringing Oliver into our family eight years ago. 2012 is a year I will never forget since I spent 18 weeks of 2012 in either the hospital or a Ronald McDonald House. 2020 is a year I don't think ANYONE will ever forget due to social distancing, masks, quarantines, almost everything being cancelled, etc. Hopefully by the time Oliver turns nine most things will have truly gotten back to normal.

22 hours without power

Yesterday it only rained for a short period of time, but the wind wreaked havoc. Usually we swim twice each day - in the pool in her development in the morning and at the beach in the afternoon and evening. Yesterday we only swam once (pool in the morning), and today we only swam at the beach. Yesterday afternoon we stayed inside and played various games including hide and seek, cornhole, Suspend, and Quiddler. The electricity went off around 3:00pm. Aunt Janet has lived in this home for 17 years, and she said the power rarely goes off because their lines are underground. She said the longest it had ever been off in the past 17 years was 1-2 hours (even during Hurricane Sandy). This time it was off for 22 hours because they couldn't get the substation back on the grid (whatever that means!). I had downloaded four movies from Disney+ on to the iPad last Saturday so the kids could have movies to watch in the van. Last night we started watching Eight Below, and we finished it this morning. I never thought five of us would be watching a movie on our iPad. We used the Bluetooth speaker to amplify the sound. Aunt Janet had met one of the dogs from the movie when she was in Alaska in 2006. Thankfully, Aunt Janet has a gas stove so we were able to heat up some pulled pork for dinner last night. We ate a lot of melted ice cream with our lunch today. The boys and I were able to sleep upstairs last night, but I'm very grateful the power came back on today as I think it would have been very hard to sleep up there tonight without air conditioning as it was in the 80's up there this evening before I turned the A/C back on. We weren't able to swim this morning because the pool filtration system had been down for so many hours. We're hoping we can swim in the pool tomorrow morning and go to the beach. The trip to the beach was tricky because many trees were down and sections of many roads were closed. Also, many stoplights were not working due to the power outages. There were more than 20 trees down in Aunt Janet's development. We walked around the development last night after they turned off the VERY loud alarms that had been going off for 3+ hours. The kids played in the small playground with some other kids for more than an hour last night.

Isaias

Since we live in central Pennsylvania, hurricanes and tropical storms very rarely impact our weather. Although hurricanes certainly create much bigger problems in places like Florida and South Carolina, hurricanes affect the weather here on Long Island more often than where we live. The last three times we came to Long Island we had very good weather overall. Last year the weather was absolutely perfect. Another year we went to an aquarium on a rainy day. Our tradition when we spend time at Aunt Janet's has been to have breakfast, let the kids watch about 1 hour of tv (she has cable and Netflix, and we don't have either of those), swim in an outdoor or indoor swimming pool for about two hours in the morning, have lunch, and then drive to to the Old Field Club beach where we usually stay until at least 7pm. Yesterday she grilled hot dogs and steamed some corn on the cob at the beach for dinner. This morning we were able to swim at the pool for a little more than 2 hours, but we're not heading to the beach today due to the rain and wind from Isaias. Thankfully, the weather forecast looks fine for the next two days. Aunt Janet brought up a cornhole game that we played inside her home. Nadia, Oliver, and Aunt Janet were on one team, and Ian and I were the other team. We played three games. Ian and I only needed 1/2 point to win for the last couple of turns, but Oliver got 5 points to win the game for his team, which meant their team won 2 of 3 games. Yesterday we played Pit at the beach and began a game of Quiddler. Aunt Janet, Nadia, and I finished the game of Quiddler today. I won that game. I took some pictures at the pool yesterday. I brought my camera to the beach yesterday but then didn't take any pictures. Tomorrow I'll be sure to take pictures at the beach. The water temperature at the beach and the swimming pool is lovely.

I had recently purchased a Polamalu t-shirt for Nadia at a thrift store, and when I was helping Oliver pack I realized that I had previously gotten him a Polamalu t-shirt at a yard sale. Nadia and Oliver wore their matching shirts yesterday. Paul and I have decided to take a year off from watching the NFL. We usually have cable tv for at least four months each year (September - December), but we're going to take a longer break from cable tv this year. Right now we have Disney+ and Amazon Prime. I haven't decided if we will continue Disney+ when the year I paid for ends in early December. We are looking forward to seeing The One and Only Ivan on Disney+ later this month. We had expected to see it in the theatre, but the theatres have been closed since March. I had used credit card points to get an AMC gift card prior to the pandemic thinking I'd use it this summer to take the kids to see 3 movies (Mulan and Minions 2 were the other two movies we planned to see). We might not be using the gift card until 2021. We shall see when the movie theatres actually reopen. 

We're on Long Island!

Nadia's performance went well on Friday night. I was one of the six parents permitted to attend that performance. The director's attempt to livestream that performance on Facebook was unsuccessful. On Saturday afternoon I took the boys to the swimming pool during Nadia's performance. Paul was able to watch the livestream on Saturday. He was able to hear the performance (which couldn't be said about Friday night's attempt), but the lighting still made it very difficult to tell who you were looking at. The camp was open to teens entering grades 6-11. Nadia is entering 7th grade, but she was the youngest person in the camp. There were a few kids entering 8th grade in the camp. The two lead roles (director and fairy godmother) were played by two teenagers who are going into 11th grade. After the performance on Saturday the director suggested that people bring their own food for a picnic at the larger park in town. The kids and I stayed at the picnic for 90 minutes. We were the first to leave. I am sure Nadia would have liked to stay longer as the teens were off in a field playing a game together, but we had left our home at 12:30, and I knew it would be 7:00 by the time we got home. I was tired and knew I'd be driving for 6+ hours the next day. I had helped the kids pack their clothes in the morning, but I still had packing to do that evening. I went to bed at 8:45 on Saturday night so I would have enough energy for the driving on Sunday.

Originally I had planned to stop at Sagamore Hill on the way here and Thomas Edison's National Park on the way home. Since both parks are still closed due to COVID-19, I asked the kids if they wanted to visit Six Flags in NJ on the way there and/or back. Usually I pick a museum or historical site that only adds a few minutes to the drive. Stopping at Six Flags would add at least 90 minutes to the drive, but considering it typically takes us 6.5 hours round trip to visit Six Flags Great Adventure from our home, the fact it would add less than 2 hours to our driving time made it seem worthwhile. The boys wanted to go on both days. Nadia had repeatedly said she wanted to only go on our way back on Saturday because she didn't want to miss church on Sunday. When we visited Six Flags Great Adventure with Uncle Joe and four of his boys in July, the water park (Hurricane Harbor) wasn't open. The water park opened on July 24. We have never been in that water park before so I made reservations for August 8 for Hurricane Harbor. On Saturday Nadia told me that she had changed her mind and would like to also visit Six Flags on the way to Long Island. It was too late to get a reservation for Hurricane Harbor, but I was able to get reservations for Great Adventure.

We left our house around 7:30 yesterday morning and made one stop for gas on the way to Six Flags. Gas is cheaper in NJ and NY than it is in PA, but I didn't have enough gas to wait until we were in NJ. I was thrilled to see there are gas station's near my aunt's house where the gas is $1.99. I paid that price once in March at the beginning of the pandemic. Not counting the time spent going through the screenings and such, we spent a little more than 4 hours in the park. The kids absolutely loved being with their cousins the last time we were at that park, but Joel is afraid of heights and my boys deferred to his preferences. Last time Ian rode a bigger ride with Uncle Joe, Nadia, Joshua, Andrew, and Joshua one time. Yesterday Oliver and Ian rode several bigger rides that they hadn't ever ridden before. Ian discovered that the Superman rollercoaster is his favorite ride at that park! Oliver isn't tall enough for the Superman because you need to be 54 inches to ride some of the rides. Paul can't wait for us to return to Orlando. My plan has been to wait until Oliver is tall enough to ride every ride. Oliver enjoyed riding El Toro and The Joker. Aunt Janet said she still enjoys metal rollercoasters. She said she'd still enjoy The Joker and Superman, but she doesn't ride wooden rollercoasters any more. El Toro is the wooden rollercoaster in the picture above. Normally we spend more than 4 hours in an amusement park but #1 we had already been to the park last month, #2 we wanted to spend some time with Aunt Janet that evening, and #3 it was really hot out. Even though they reopened Hurricane Harbor, there were still several rides closed due to COVID-19 and two of those included the flume and rapids rides which means no water rides in Great Adventure are open this year. 

This is our fourth trip to spend a week with Aunt Janet. In 2017 we came on a Saturday and attended church with her on Sunday. The last two years we arrived on Sunday evening and left on Saturday morning. All three times we ate dinner with Aunt Janet on the day we arrived. Yesterday I texted her from the park to let her know that because we had eaten an early lunch we wanted to stop at get breakfast sandwiches at Dunkin on the way to her place. Six Flags doesn't let you bring any food into the park so we had eaten the lunches we packed at 10:30, and we wouldn't have arrived at her house until about 6:30. We enjoyed some ice cream at her place before swimming for about an hour prior to putting the boys to bed. Ian is usually the first one up, but Oliver got up really early this morning. Hopefully he'll sleep later tomorrow morning because I got less than 7 hours of sleep last night, and I prefer to get 8-9 hours of sleep. We are very thankful that THIS trip wasn't cancelled. New York has 36 states (well that also includes DC and Puerto Rico so it's actually not just "states") on a list that if you are coming into NJ/NY from any of those states you must quarantine for 2 weeks. Virginia, Maryland, and Illinois are all on the list so if my other family members wanted to visit Aunt Janet they'd have to quarantine for 2 weeks. Aunt Janet knows of people who have been fined $2,000 per person for not following the quarantine regulation. We wouldn't have come if Pennsylvania was on the list. This might be our only vacation in 2020. I'm very thankful we were still able to spend a week with my Aunt. We're headed to the pool shortly and after lunch we'll head to the beach and spend the rest of the day there. Even though they really need rain around here just like we do in Pennsylvania, we're hoping for not too much rain over the next five days so we can enjoy her beach and outdoor swimming pool. The indoor pool is closed due to COVID-19.