Yellowstone and Teton

Wednesday morning we started our day in Montana. After a delicious hot breakfast, we drove to Yellowstone National Park. We stopped at Krispy Kreme to get donuts for our breakfast the next day and entered the park near the Mammoth Hot Springs. Shortly after entering the park we crossed the border from Montana into Wyoming. There were several elk walking around near the Visitor Center as we were leaving after buying 3 Junior Ranger booklets. Usually they are free, but they did give us three nice patches at the same time that we bought the booklets. Shortly after leaving the Visitor Center, we saw a car with a Hawaii license plate! I saw SO many different state's license plates inside Yellowstone. I think we saw almost every state that day. As far as finding all of the license plates, we've seen 49 states (all but Rhode Island), DC, and three Canadian provinces. Most of the time I stayed in the van when Paul and the kids went on short hikes to see various thermal features around the park. I did hop out to see Old Faithful. The feature I MOST wanted to see was Grand Prismatic Spring. It was too far of a walk for me on crutches. That had been one of the things I most wanted to see on this trip so it was heartbreaking to be SO close (sitting on a bench near the path) and yet not able to actually see it. Of the things that had been the top five I was most looking forward to, I think Mount Rushmore will end up being the only one I'm actually going to get to experience. I just keep reminding myself that at least Paul, Nadia, Ian, and Oliver are able to see and experience them. Since I couldn't do the hikes, the highlight for me in Yellowstone was seeing elk, a coyote, and LOTS of bison. We saw bison many different times throughout the day. Nadia's favorite part of the day was the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone which features a waterfall. We drove a total of 341 miles that day. For almost all of our meals on this trip we're eating a free breakfast at a hotel, eating food we've packed for lunch, and using a gift card obtained through credit card points for our dinners. Our dinner in Yellowstone was the first meal on this trip that we paid for with a credit card rather than a gift card. We got food from the cafeteria near Old Faithful. 

That night we stayed at a cabin in between Yellowstone and Grand Teton. Each cabin had a double size bunk bed and a desk. I had brought two flashlights for our stay in the cabin, but it turned out those weren't necessary as there was a battery operated lantern in each room. Nadia had the top bunk in our cabin, and the boys shared the top bunk in the boys' cabin. No bedding was provided. We had brought 3 pillows and 5 sleeping bags from home. There were two pillows in the cabin Nadia and I stayed in. I used one for my head the the other for my foot. I didn't know Paul didn't have any pillows in their cabin. This was a big mistake as sleeping without a pillow really messed Paul up physically. Since it's challenging to fit everything in our trunk, we left the two sleeping bags I had bought for this trip for Paul and I in the cabin. When we went to check out the next morning, I went to the bathroom in the building where you check out while I thought Paul was checking out. We discovered later that morning that Paul had forgotten to check out. Usually I am the one who handles checking in and out on vacations. I'm going to put their keys in the mail to them at some point. I called them and explained that we accidentally left without checking out. The biggest downside to staying at the cabin was the fact that it was a decent walk to the bathroom, which was out of the question for me. Although naturally I haven't taken anywhere near as many pictures as I would have if I hadn't broken my ankle, between Paul, Nadia, and myself we have gotten some pictures and videos through my old camera (which is now Nadia's camera), my cell phone, and my camera. I just haven't had much time yet to upload or weed through them yet. 

The best thing that happened on Thursday when we were at Grand Teton was getting a text that Milo was doing much better. The first week had NOT gone well for him at the dog sitter's, which was also hard on them. Thankfully he's done well the past 3.5 days. I had picked a variety of hikes for us to do at Grand Teton and also had planned for us to take a shuttle boat ride across Jenny Lake. Because of my broken ankle, we skipped most of the hikes. We drove to the top of Signal Mountain (elevation 7,720). A park ranger told us where moose (in rut) had been seen that morning. Unfortunately they weren't there when we drove in that area. We did see a pronghorn, and Ian immediately commented that we just saw the fastest land animal in North America. The two animals we hoped to see but didn't in Yellowstone or Grand Teton were bears and moose. After we left Grand Teton we drove through Idaho on our way to a hotel in Utah. We stopped a place that was advertising free samples of buffalo and elk jerky. Paul and the kids each tried six different types of jerky, and then he bought two kinds. Nadia had selected a Teriyaki flavored salmon jerky. We didn't bring much cash with us on the trip so we decided from now on to ignore signs for free samples as after they give us samples we feel obligated to make a purchase. Our two other stops in Idaho were first for the kids to swim in lava hot springs mineral water and then for dinner at Subway. I usually *love* jacuzzi tubs so I was bummed to stay in the van during that adventure. Thankfully the hotel in Utah also had office chairs with wheels in the room which I again used as my wheelchair. We drove a total of 336 miles that day as we spent time in Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah. The kids earned one Junior Ranger badge, which was their 8th on the trip so far.

Prairie Dogs and Bighorn

Badlands in South Dakota

On Tuesday our day began in South Dakota. The hotel served a continental breakfast, which was not as nice as a hot breakfast but much better than the grab and go breakfasts some hotels have been offering for more than a year. We drove 558 miles that day. Originally I wasn't planning to include North Dakota in the trip. Adding it definitely added some mileage to our day, but we are trying to visit all 50 states before Oliver graduates and didn't plan to be near North Dakota in the future. We went to the southern unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We would have liked to have had more time to explore the park. We saw MANY prairie dogs and a few bison. I only have one memory prior to the age of four, and that one memory I have is of seeing prairie dogs pop out of their holes when we were on a vacation with my maternal grandparents. Because of how tired Paul was, we left the hotel later than planned which gave us less time at the two National Parks we visited that day. Our second stop of the day was the Battle of Bighorn Battlefield in Montana. Because of our late start, we only had one hour at that park. Paul definitely wished he had more time to spend there as he loves to read every sign on a battlefield tour. The kids earned two Junior Ranger badges that day, and we drove 558 miles. Because we had left the hotel much later than I had planned and didn't leave the Bighorn park until 6pm (Mountain Time), we changed our dinner plans from Cracker Barrel to McDonald's. Unfortunately, it didn't save us much time because the lobby was closed and the drive-thru line was very slow. Also, I had to go to the bathroom. So we also stopped at Dairy Queen for dessert and a bathroom break as their lobby was open. So our stop for dinner still ended up being 45 minutes long, which didn't seem like "fast" food considering we ate in the van while we were driving to the hotel.

We spent the night at a Best Western in Billings, Montana. I had paid more for that night than another night on the trip, but it was well worth the extra money. The hotel had a small indoor water park (two water slides, a basketball hoop, and an area where you could walk across floating logs to get across the pool). It was also more creative in terms of the décor (bear theme) and plush. The hot breakfast they served was the best one we've had so far on the trip. In my opinion the best feature of the hotel was that the room Nadia and I shared had hard wood floors, and the desk in the room had an office chair with wheels. Oh it was so nice to be able to use that "wheelchair" to use the bathroom during the night. I even rode that chair to the elevator, down to breakfast, and out to the van before Paul returned the chair to the hotel room. What a blessing!!! Just going to the bathroom is a major undertaking for me on crutches. Nadia often has to help me open doors. I have almost fallen multiple times. For example, once my left shoe got caught under a mat as I entered a hotel. Paul caught me that time. The most painful time was when I was in the bathroom building that was for the cabins we stayed in on Wednesday night. Somehow I got off balance when opening the door of the bathroom stall. I started to fall backward and landed on my bad foot. Thankfully I had my boot on, but it was still very painful. During this day we also saw two Alaskan license plates. We knew that Alaska and Hawaii are usually the hardest to find so I was very excited when we saw those two Alaskan plates! As for COVID impact, since we left Chicago, the only time we've worn masks has been when we've been in a building at a National Park.

Pipestone, Badlands, and Rushmore

On Monday our first stop was Pipestone National Monument in Minnesota, which has been a quarry site for Native Americans for many, many years. Thankfully I was given a wheelchair upon entering the Visitor Center, and Paul was even able to push me along a 3/4 mile long trail. We would buy a wheelchair, but there isn't room in the van for one. As it is, I have to hold the crutches whenever we are in the van, and I take the boot apart and it sits on the floor in front of me in the van while I have my right foot up on the dashboard to help reduce the swelling in my foot and leg. On Tuesday I couldn't even wear the boot at all because the swelling was so bad, but on Wednesday I resumed wearing the boot when I was not in the van or a hotel room.

We spent most of the day in South Dakota. Paul and I really enjoyed the scenery while he was driving. Our second stop was the Badlands. We really, really would have liked to have had more time there. Ideally we would have liked to have had three full days in South Dakota. Because of how late we checked into the hotel the previous night because of my visit to the ER, we got a later start than planned on Monday morning. Because of that we decided to eliminate a visit to the Crazy Horse Memorial from our schedule. Three other places we would have liked to visit if we had more time would have been the Minuteman Missile National Park (near the Badlands), Jewel Cave, and Wind Cave (near Mount Rushmore). The kids had already earned the Minuteman Junior Ranger badge through the mail, but Paul would really have enjoyed going there in person. I contemplated four cave tours and finally settled on two, but we ended up cancelling our plans to see Timpanogos today which means Mammoth Cave will likely be our only cave tour on this trip. If we had to do only one, I'd definitely want it to be Mammoth. After dinner at Golden Corral, we went to Mount Rushmore. We were there during the lighting ceremony. Ideally, I would have liked to be there earlier in the day, but we were glad we got to see it. Paul went to great lengths to get me up there by wheelchair. He knew it was one of the top three things I most wanted to see on the vacation. 

Oliver mentioned multiple times that he wished he had run back and told me about the slippery place on the path, and Paul said he wished he had stayed there to warn me when I got there. They had yelled something up to Nadia and I, but we didn't hear what they said. It's amazing how something that takes a second to happen can greatly impact your life and the lives of other people in your family for days and weeks to come. I have only fractured a bone one other time in my life. When I was either 20 or 21 years old I fractured this same ankle. That time it was from slipping as I went down the stairs in my parent's home. I was a teacher at the time, and I had been dealing with a painful cyst on my tailbone. I assumed I had just twisted my ankle so I went to school as usual. Part way through the day I remarked to my students that my back was really hurting, and one student then told me that my ankle was also purple and very big. I had been standing on a broken ankle and teaching for hours! I promptly sat down and finished the school day teaching with my right foot propped up on a chair. Another teacher took me to a medical center afterwards so I could get an x-ray. I had to use a wheelchair for a few days until the swelling went down, and then I was in a cast. It was hard for me to give up my independence in terms of not being able to drive for weeks, but at that point I wasn't also responsible for the care of three children. I hope that I will be able to drive again much sooner this time around than I was about 27-28 years ago. 

We drove a total of 507 miles that day and visited three National Parks, which meant the kids earned three more Junior Ranger badges or patches. The hotel we stayed at didn't have a pool, but it didn't matter as we wouldn't have had time to use a pool anyhow. When we went to check into our rooms, we were told our rooms were on the second floor, and they didn't have an elevator. Thankfully they were able to switch one of our rooms to the first floor. I have enough trouble navigating 1-2 steps. There's no way I could do an entire flight of stairs at this point! Thankfully all the hotels since then have had elevators. Hopefully that will be the case for the rest of our trip!

We had another curveball to deal with on Monday in addition to my broken ankle. Tab, our dog sitter, called to say that Milo had been having a very bad case of separation anxiety from the first day we left on our trip. He had been crying a lot, vomiting a lot, and having many bad cases of diarrhea. Obviously he was miserable, and it was also very unpleasant for Tab and her boys to be cleaning up so many disgusting messes. I called the vet on Monday, and my friend, Cheri, also called Tab on Tuesday morning to discuss possible ideas. Tab said if the situation didn't improve soon they were going to take him to the vet and/or put him in a kennel. We were worried he would do even worse in a kennel. He loves their black lab (Maggie) and has two boys who are caring for him at their house. Considering we were in South Dakota when we found out, there wasn't much we could do about the situation aside from pray. We had already been praying for Milo every day. I asked other people to pray for him as well. It made me think we shouldn't have gotten a dog. Yes, this trip is longer than any will likely take in the future, but we often go away for 1-2 weeks and he was a mess right from the start. 

Photo credit: Nadia - taken in Michigan before my accident

Broken Ankle

Sunday morning we left Wendy's home at 7:30 so that we would have time to meet Nadia's pen pal, Stella, at a Dunkin' Donut on our way to Wisconsin. Stella's mom is pregnant with their eighth child; Stella's dad brought Stella and her nine-year-old brother to Dunkin. Her brother chatted with Ian and Oliver, and Paul chatted with Stella's dad while the girls visited in person for the first time. After spending an hour there, we continued driving to a dairy farm that was just over the border in southern Wisconsin. The owner of the dairy farm, who was our tour guide, is named Yvonne! We saw how she milks her cows and met a wide variety of the animals on her farm - chickens, goats, donkeys, peacocks, cats, dogs, etc. The kids were able to bottle feed a calf. One of the calves was less than 24 hours old! Originally I had thought we'd visit a science museum in Milwaukee or Madison, but then I decided a dairy farm would be a good choice for a state known for making cheese.

We spent time in 4 different states that day - Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota. Our third stop was Effigy Mounds, a National Park just over the border of Iowa. Unfortunately it rained some during our 3 mile hike there, and on the way down I slipped on some mud as the path was turning a bend. The path wasn't smooth, and my right foot landed in a little hole. The initial pain so extreme I couldn't even think of moving. Paul and the boys had been ahead of Nadia and I on the trail. They came back when they heard me scream. Eventually I leaned on Paul and used him to stand up. I could tell immediately that I either broke my ankle or had a very bad sprain. It took me FOREVER to get down the rest of the trail. It seemed like the Visitor's Center was miles away, but Paul said that part of the trial was about 1/3 of a mile. I was leaning on Paul and trying to use my right foot as little as possible was it was very painful. Paul carried me part of the way, but I was too worried about both of us ending up injured to let him carry me very far. When we got to the Visitor's Center, we found out they didn't have a wheelchair (many National Park sites do have them). I had to hobble to the bathroom. They did let Paul drive the van really close to the front door of the building to pick me up. We crossed the Mississippi River once more to return to Wisconsin as that was where the nearest urgent care was located. I was there for a little less than 2 hours. They were hoping it was only sprained and thought that might be the case given how swollen my ankle was, but the x-ray showed I had fractured a bone. Thankfully I don't need surgery. They gave me crutches and a boot and said I could return later that week to be splinted. We explained we wouldn't be in the area later in the week. So I was told to stop somewhere else along the way if necessary and to definitely have a follow-up appointment once we were back at home. 

We crossed the Mississippi River for the third time that day to drive across Iowa and into Minnesota. We arrived at the the Econo Lodge much later than planned due to the trip to the ER and backtracking back to Wisconsin. We arrived after the indoor pool was closed and went straight to bed. We drove 548 miles that day, the kids earned one Junior Ranger badge, and we added two states to the list of states the kids have done something in (Wisconsin and Iowa). I didn't sleep that well because of how much pain I was in, but I was very impressed with the mattress I was sleeping on. My back rarely likes mattresses, but that one was exceptional! I was also impressed that they served a hot breakfast after having had a pathetic one at  a Comfort Inn in Michigan the first two mornings of our trip. 

Most of our itinerary has remained the same despite my injury. I have to spend a lot more time sitting in the van while Paul and the kids are doing things I can't do with a broken ankle. On Tuesday I suggested we skip our trip into North Dakota, but they didn't want to eliminate that stop. I had suggested it because Paul has now had to do all of the driving. I'll write about what we did this week from Monday through Thursday tomorrow morning. I will have time to do so because we decided to cancel our plans to tour Timpanogos Cave tomorrow morning. Paul was really struggling today, and I thought that even though we paid $50 for our tour tickets (and missed the cancellation window by a couple of hours when I made the decision), it will be good to have a leisurely start to our day tomorrow. Nadia was disappointed because she is all about earning as many Junior Ranger badges as possible, but I think even she will enjoy sleeping in tomorrow. I had to cancel my reservations for several things in light of my injury. I was able to get a refund for the horseback riding and slot canyon tour. I need to cancel my ticket for Mammoth Cave as that also will be impossible on crutches. Being on crutches has also limited my ability to take  pictures, but I have taken some, and Paul and Nadia have also taken pictures with my phone or DSLR. I will try to add more pictures to tomorrow's post. I'm too tired to do so tonight! 

Kalamazoo and Chicago

On Friday morning our day began with a tour of the Ford Rouge Factory where they make F-150 trucks. I have toured other automotive plants, but it was a first for Paul and the kids. The previous day we rarely needed to wear our masks, but we had to wear them on the bus ride to and from the factory and also during the tour. After the tour we had lunch at Subway before we drove two hours to the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, Michigan. We spent a little over two hours at the museum. It was very hard to pull Paul away. He loved hearing about the airplanes. We watched one short movie about going to the moon, and the kids also enjoyed riding a few indoor rides. They were disappointed that the flight simulators and such were closed due to COVID, but we didn't have to wear masks. It was a very worthwhile stop on our way to Chicago, especially as we got in free with our ASTC membership. It took us 2.5 hours to drive to my sister's home in Chicago from Kalamazoo, but it seemed like only 1.5 hours because we moved from EST to CST. 

During our twenty-five day trip we plan to drive through twenty-five states. Five of the states are ones the kids have already done something in before (OH, WV, IL, KY, and PA), and Indiana is the only state that we plan to drive through this trip without actually doing anything in the state. We had all already done at least one thing in Indiana in the past. I actually lived in Indiana during the summer in 1993. The kids should be adding nineteen states to their life list during this trip. So far they've added one state - Michigan. The kids were naturally very excited to see their cousins. We arrived at their home a little after 5:30pm last night. Drayton made a delicious dinner of grilled chicken, watermelon, potatoes, and corn bread, which we ate about 30 minutes after we arrived. Wendy was playing her violin at a wedding. She joined us when she came home. I let the kids stay up past their usual bedtimes (according to what time it was EST) to help them adjust to CST as in just a couple of days we'll be in MST. We're never going to be in PST, but Arizona doesn't follow DST so it will seem as if we are in PST when we're in that state whenever we're not on tribal land as the Native Americans do follow DST. 

This morning Drayton made a delicious breakfast of eggs, bacon, tater tots, and waffles. We left the house around 8:45 to drive to the Shedd Aquarium where we spent about four hours. We ate our packed lunches in the aquarium. We didn't see an octopus, but we saw many different fish as well as sea lions, dolphins, otters, beluga whales, penguins, jellyfish, seahorses, eels, etc. During the afternoon the kids played at their home, and Rachel also attended a ballet class. Wendy had another wedding gig this afternoon. This is Paul's second time being in Chicago in his life. The first time was in December 2001 when he and I were here for New Year's Eve after attending a wedding of one of my cousins and visiting my maternal grandma in Indiana. Speaking of twenty years later, today is the 20th anniversary of 9/11. When the kids and I were in Chicago in the spring of 2017, we went to a zoo, the Museum of Science and Industry, Children's Museum, Field Museum, Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, and the Adler Planetarium. Since this trip was much shorter and the most important thing for the kids is just spending time with their cousins, we only went to Shedd Aquarium. The next time we come to Chicago I'd like to take them to the Pullman Memorial (a very small National Park site here in the city), the Navy Pier, and the Art Institute. The Field Museum and Planetarium are very close to the Aquarium, but very little of the Planetarium is open at the moment, and my kids aren't really fans of natural history museums. For dinner tonight we're going to have Chicago deep dish pizza from Pizza Capri. Paul hasn't had that in almost 20 years as we went to Gino's East in 2001. 

There are only 3 nights of the 24 nights on this trip that Paul and I will be sharing a bed. Last night and tonight are two of the three. There is one night on the trip in Utah when we'll all spend the night in one room as the room has two queen beds plus a sofa bed. I was able to cancel Paul's dad's room for that night. Wendy and Drayton each drove one of their two vehicles to the aquarium today, which means today is the only day on our trip that our van will not be driven at all. We'll make up for it tomorrow, as we plan to drive for 9 hours altogether. Nights 1-2 at a hotel in Dearborn, MI and nights 3-4 at my sister's home in Chicago are the only two times on this trip that we'll stay two nights in the same place. The rest of the trip we will only spend one night in each hotel.

Their landlord's dog (whom Susie is paid to walk) is also named Milo!

Henry Ford

This morning we arrived at Greenfield Village at 9:30. We didn't see every self-guided building, but we went to all the ones that were staffed. In the village some of the buildings that Ford had recreated in the Village were ones we had seen in person such as Edison's lab at Menlo Park and the Wright Brother's cycle shop. There were various rides you could pay extra to ride such as a train ride, carry-all pulled by horses, carousel, and Model-T. We had planned to visit this site in the spring in 2020 before we knew the impact COVID was going to have on our lives. Prior to COVID you could buy a ride ticket that covered all of the rides. That isn't the case right now. We opted to only pay for rides on the Model T, which was a splurge as it cost $40 for the five of us to have one ride on them, but it was the highlight of our day. After spending about 5 hours at the site, we then walked to the Henry Ford Museum, where we spent the following 2.5 hours. Again, we didn't have time to look at everything in the museum, but we saw a majority of the displays and watched a short (but very well done) movie about car racing. The biggest disappointment was that we could see some nice hands-on things in the museum that were not

allowed to be used due to COVID. 

We only drove about 10 miles total today, but we were on our feet for over 7 hours straight. We packed food and ate it at Greenfield Village near the playground. After we left the museum, we drove to Bob Evans for dinner. We are using gift cards for almost all our dinners on this trip, and tonight we also used a gift card for ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery. I was the only one in our family who had ever been in a Cold Stone Creamery before. Paul just got a plain old vanilla milkshake, but the rest of us got ice cream with mix-ins. After we got back to the hotel, the kids and Paul went for a swim. Aside from the disappointing breakfast this morning, I think we all had a good day! I really liked my salad at Bob Evans that had pecans and cranberries on it. Yum! We are thankful for men like Henry Ford and Thomas Edison who had a very significant impact on life for many people around the world. 

Ford's very first vehicle (1896) called the Quadricycle

Garfield and River Raisin

Yesterday morning we left our home at 5:30am. The kids and Paul slept a little in the van while I drove. Then we alternated between listening to an audiobook and the kids having screen time (iPad or Switch). We finished Men of Iron by Howard Pyle first and then began River Secrets by Shannon Hale. During the vacation we are trying to see a license plate from every state. Nadia is keeping track. We saw around 20 different states yesterday plus Ontario. We arrived at the home of James Garfield at 10:00am. We had a 45 minute tour of his home and the kids earned a Junior Ranger badge. A little after 12pm we left and drove about 40 minutes to Cuyahoga National Park. We didn't have time to explore the park. We ate our packed lunch at a picnic table there. We picked up Junior Ranger booklets, but the kids didn't have time to complete them there. If they choose, they can finish them later and we can return them by mail. Our third stop was the River Raisin National Battlefield. We watched two movies, and the kids each earned a Junior Ranger badge. The have recently opened a new Visitor Center. Unfortunately the exhibits weren't open yet. The Ranger was very nice and gave our family a lot of information about the battle since the exhibits weren't accessible. The tour at Garfield usually costs $10 per person for those over the age of 16, but because Oliver is in 4th grade, it was free for our family. The other two sites are free for everyone, but one of the movies cost money to see at River Raisin. It was only $9 for our whole family to see it. After River Raisin we had dinner at Red Robin, which is a favorite place for the kids. Finally, we checked in at a Comfort Inn and Suites. The jacuzzi tub wasn't open, but the indoor swimming pool was. The kids swam until about 9pm. Usually we share one hotel room, but because Pop Pop had been planning to join us, he had paid for one hotel room most of the nights of our trip. Each room has 2 queen size beds. Paul and the boys were in one room, and Nadia and I were in the other room. Ian and Oliver shared a bed, and the rest of us each had our own bed. Yesterday we drove a total of 517.4 miles. Today we will only have very short drives (less than 15 minutes) as we're staying at a hotel near the Henry Ford sites.

As for COVID thus far, we have to wear masks inside all National Parks, but so far that was the only time we had to wear masks. We were expecting a breakfast buffet this morning, but instead all they had were packages of small donuts, packages of muffins, apples, and coffee. Since we are spending two nights here, we're planning on eating food we brought for home for breakfast tomorrow. Nadia and I would rather have oatmeal than what we had last night. There are microwaves in our room, and I brought some bowls, spoons, and oatmeal from home just in case a hotel didn't serve any breakfast. As we were driving  yesterday morning, it hit me that we only packed the kids' pillows. We need 5 pillows for our night in a cabin in Grand Teton. We'll have to decide between now and then whether to buy two pillows OR take a chance that two pillows will be available to rent that night (they can't be reserved ahead of time). Oliver forgot to pack his swimming goggles. The only other thing we realized we forgot to pack so far was extra charging cables for the van. 

A praise would be that Yvonne and her family arrived in Quito on Tuesday afternoon. We are praying for Margie to get good results from her upcoming CT scan. She will be undergoing chemo and radiation for her breast cancer. We are also praying that her reaction to the chemo will be much better than it was earlier this year. We are also praying for Paul's business because the two guys who were supposed to start work on Tuesday ended up choosing a different job. They are very short handed. Finally, we are praying that Milo won't be too much of a hassle for the family who have him for the next 24 days. Here's a picture of him snuggling with me from Tuesday morning while we were homeschooling. I do love him even though he really, really, really drives me crazy sometimes (such as when he ate one of our Civil War kepi hats a few days ago that we planned to take on the trip or when he destroyed Ian's glasses). I do miss the guy even though some of his behaviors make me want to scream. 

Thankful Tuesday

 

1. Our basement stayed dry last week during the rain from Ida. 

2. The kids played arcade games and jumped on the trampolines at Kaos with Micah and Isaiah last Thursday. Unfortunately due to the shortage of employees they weren't able to play laser tag. I enjoyed being able to chat with Tab, and we were able to give Micah and Isaiah the pottery they had painted about a month ago as it had been fired in the kiln. 

3. We stayed at home sweet home on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Monday. The only place we went on Sunday was to church in the morning. It's been nice to have several days with little or no driving. Because it was "promotion Sunday" for the kids moving up to a different class, we all received free Rita's ice. Oliver chose cotton candy, Ian chose root beer, Nadia chose blue raspberry, I chose Georgia peach, and Paul didn't want any. Although it was a little chilly that morning to be eating ice, it was a yummy treat!

4. The kids are excited about their first classes at co-op this afternoon. Nadia is already talking about next year at the co-op. I'm definitely ready to contemplate whether we'll do it next year or not, but hopefully the kids will have a good semester. Oliver is taking bells, baking, and YWAM (biographies), and he has free time for one period. Nadia is taking home economics, painting, a physical education elective, and drama. Ian is taking painting, a physical education elective, and drama with Nadia, and he has one free period. I am the aide for the 3rd-5th grade class and am supervising a study hall, and I have the same free period that Oliver has. I am thankful that these opportunities are out there.

5. Paul worked a shorter day yesterday because of Labor Day, which meant the five of us had dinner together!

6. I've enjoyed the cooler weather the last several days, which has meant I've taken some walks with Milo.

7. Yesterday we completed our sixth day of school in terms of days with our textbooks. It was day 14 of 180 for the school year. We have gotten off to a pretty good start. Yes, I see evidence of the "summer slide" especially with Oliver in spelling and math. He made a lot of progress this summer with multiplying and dividing but grew rusty with adding and subtracting. Oliver is enjoying learning to play the piano, Nadia is proud of her progress on the flute, and Ian really likes using Teaching Textbooks Math 7 for his sixth grade math. Nadia and Ian have begun working on learning Javascript. We memorized the first six verses of James chapter 1 and will learn verse 7 today. They all seem to be enjoying writing and drawing in their copy of the Book of Centuries. 

8. We're all very excited about our trip that starts bright and early tomorrow morning! We're taking Milo to the dog sitter's house this evening. We did most of our packing yesterday and plan to finish and load up the van before we go to bed tonight. I'm very thankful we have the opportunity to travel around the USA for the next 25 days! It's definitely going to be very different from every other vacation we've gone on together over the past 20 years, hopefully it will be a good one! Praying that COVID won't cause TOO many bumps in the road during our travels. Hoping that the hotel pools will be open, the hotels that say they offer breakfast really will offer breakfast, etc. We have had experience rolling with the punches over the past 18 months so hopefully we can adapt easily if we do experience some COVID related curve balls along the way.

9. I made a small batch of applesauce last night using apples from our tree. After all the work we've done hauling away hundreds of pounds of apples and tree branches over the past month, it's nice to receive SOME positive benefit from our tree. Thankfully Paul brought home a truck on Friday night and we were able to clear away a lot which meant I was able to mow the whole lawn this past weekend.

The dog ate...

 

Prior to owning a dog, I had no idea how true it could be if a child said, "the dog ate my homework." Dogs eat just about anything, and paper products are definitely high on Milo's list. I've taken notes on a piece of paper, made the mistake of leaving it on the couch (which wasn't a problem for most of my life), and then had to write everything down again because Milo ate the paper. This week he destroyed one book. Thankfully it was a Magic Tree House book we owned that I got very inexpensively, and Oliver had just finished reading it. At first I was going to try to salvage it, and then decided to just toss it to the recycling bin. Some of the things he's chewed on cost a lot more to repair or replace than a paperback book such as our kitchen table chairs, couch cushions, and couch pillows. As much as I love him, there are times I regret the fact we bought a puppy because of all the damage he's done to our home and belongings. The most recent moment I felt that way was when he destroyed Ian's eyeglasses. Ian took them off because he wanted me to clean them. He set them on the armrest of a couch. Milo got ahold of them and was in the process of chewing them to bits when we extricated a what was left of the eyeglasses from Milo's mouth. Ian's first pair of glasses never were broken. He got a new pair when he outgrew the first one and also needed a new prescription. We've replaced the second pair multiple times. The pair that Milo destroyed I had just purchased at the end of May. I certainly don't want to be buying Ian a new pair of glasses every three months!! For now he's using a previous pair that we taped together. He's only using them when he's reading. I assume the new pair will arrive while we're on vacation. He'll have to wait a month to receive the new glasses. Hopefully these will last a lot longer. As much as Milo makes me want to scream at times, I will miss him while we're on vacation. I did tell the dog sitters about what happened with Ian's glasses as I want to be sure they keep Milo in his crate when they're not supervising him because I don't want him to destroy anything in their home!

The temperatures dropped this week. Although the hot temperatures were good for swimming outdoors last week, in general I love it when the temps are in the 70's. Although I accomplished many of the things I wanted to this summer, I didn't take regular walks with Milo as I had hoped that I would. This week I've started taking Milo for some walks. He loves it! Oliver has joined me for some of them. I know we'll be getting more exercise on our vacation, but I'm hoping to get at least one nice walk in each day before we leave. The kids and I also worked on moving apple tree branches from the backyard. That was  BIG project. Nadia picked up hundreds of pounds of apples and put them in a bunch of garbage cans. I was finally able to completely mow that area of the lawn for the first time in almost a month. This apple tree has been more of a nuisance than a blessing the last few years.  Most homeschoolers around here have big gardens and do a lot of canning and such. That is definitely not my interest or my forte. We've tried and failed with growing strawberries and blueberries in our backyard, and now it seems the same is true for apple trees. 

Ida

If we lived along the eastern coast of the US, our lives would be impacted more by hurricanes than they are in central Pennsylvania. However, this year our plans have changed two weeks in a row because of a hurricane. Last week we delayed our trip to Long Island because of Henri, and last night I cancelled our reservations for a homeschool day at Ricketts Glen State Park because we could receive up to 7 inches of rain today from Ida. Thankfully so far our basement hasn't flooded! The family bonfire that was supposed to take place at our church this past Saturday night was moved to tonight because of rain last week, and then they ended up cancelling all midweek meetings tonight due to swollen creeks and such. Considering I just drove to Long Island and back a few days ago and we leave for our 25 day road trip one week from today, I don't mind skipping the 1 hour 40 minute (round trip) drive to the state park today. Last year (prior to realizing how COVID would change our lives) I had planned to take the kids to Kipona in Harrisburg over the Labor Day weekend. Naturally it was cancelled last year. They are having the event this weekend, and I had planned to go. I asked our niece, Jenna, if she'd like to join us as it's taking place not that far from where she's living right now, but she said she needs to do homework on Saturday. Because Paul works on Saturdays and because I'd like a little break from drives that are longer than 25 minutes one way, I cancelled our plans for Saturday. I'm planning to take the kids to Kaos tomorrow afternoon, but from Friday through Monday the only time I plan to leave the house is to go to church on Sunday morning.

The past few years Nadia has been the first one to get up and the only one to do some schoolwork prior to eating breakfast. The first three days of school for this year, Ian has been the one getting up and starting his work before the other two are out of bed. Usually Ian is the last one to finish his schoolwork each day, but he has been the first one done each day so far this week. He's really enjoying doing math on the computer for the first time, especially as he's earned two 100% and one 95% on his first three lessons without any help from me. Because we didn't go on our field trip today, I had the kids earn a Junior Ranger Badge for the Hopewell Furnace and also watch a series of videos they posted as a virtual tour. Because I'm assuming the kids will earn quite a few badges this month on our vacation, I have purchased an additional canvas for each of them as the ones they have been using to display their badges are getting close to being full! 

 

It's been 15 years since I went on a trip that was longer than 2 weeks. I am trying to do everything I can to be prepared. Today I gave Oliver a haircut and signed up for the 4th grade pass so we can all get into National Parks for free this year. I plan to mow the lawn, pack our suitcases, and give Milo a bath and trim some of his fur over the next few days. At this point next week, we should be in Michigan! An answer to prayer would be that there are two guys who will be starting to work at the plant on Tuesday, and they are planning to work for Paul for a couple of months. He has been short staffed, and he really wanted to have someone in place before he left for 25 days. A prayer request would be that the pathology report from Margie's recent mastectomy wasn't what we were hoping to hear. We are praying for wisdom for the doctors, Margie, and my Dad as they made decisions regarding her medical care.