Cousins and a concert

Ian is 18 months older than Joel, but Joel is much taller than Ian!

 Although May 8th was officially our final day of school, in some ways it didn't feel like summer started until after Nadia's play was over at the co-op. We definitely felt like we were on summer break last week as we spent about 74 hours at Great Wolf Lodge with my sister's family. The only other times we've been to Great Wolf Lodge it has been in December which means we've never been in their outdoor pool or used the high ropes course. That is still a true statement because the resort is undergoing massive construction, and the outdoor activities were closed. In the past we've only stayed one night, which typically translates to us being there for about 29 hours. Just as we have done in the past, we went with a homeschooling group from New Jersey because we pay less than half of the usual rate. Another family from the co-op where Nadia did drama was also at Great Wolf Lodge last week. Paul didn't join us on the trip, but Jenna's boyfriend did. The Towfighis paid for two rooms, and we paid for a third room. There were fifteen of us altogether. Five females shared one room, and the ten males shared the other two rooms. I shared a bed with ten-year-old Julianna. We ate breakfast and lunch before we arrived on Tuesday, and we all went to Taco Bell for dinner that night. Because it was Joel's 12th birthday, I made him a carrot cake with cream cheese icing which everyone ate for dessert. Some kids spent a lot of time in the indoor water park. Some of them spent very little time in the water park although between the hours of 11-4 on Friday they didn't have many options because we had to check out of our rooms by 11:00. Nathan broke his nose and two bones in his arm on Memorial Day, so he was unable to get wet the first two days we were there. He was wearing a splint on his arm and saw an orthopedic doctor today to get a cast. We're praying he won't need to have a surgery on his arm. Toby wasn't feeling well for a majority of the time, and Yvonne and Joe were dealing with unpleasant cases of poison ivy, but the rest of us were doing well physically. We had brought food from home to eat for our breakfasts and lunches on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Yvonne and I ran to Domino's for pizza on Wednesday and to Subway and Dunkin' for subs and donuts on Thursday. My kids and I got food from Wendy's for dinner on Friday during our drive back home. Milo wasn't a fan of our trip to Great Wolf Lodge because he was home alone by himself far more hours than usual, and Paul was the only one here at home in the evenings. My kids love to spend time with their cousins, and that was the main reason we spent a few days at Great Wolf Lodge! I had promised the kids a special treat once we listened to 1,000 books together. This was their reward albeit we still have five more books to go to reach our goal. 

Yesterday Nadia spent six hours at Faith's house, and her brother, Xandir, spent 4.5 hours at our home. Today was a normal Sunday with the exception that we attended a free outdoor concert by the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra this evening. They performed music from a variety of movies such as Star Wars, Frozen, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Spiderman, etc. The vast majority of the concerts we have attended as a family have been of Christian contemporary music. I'm grateful for opportunities to expose them to some other types of music. Naturally I was thinking of my favorite violinist, Wendy. 

Memorial Day weekend

 Aside from wearing red, white, and blue clothing, we don't usually do anything special to celebrate Memorial Day. Paul usually goes to work that day, and the kids and I usually stay at home all day. That will still be the case tomorrow, but if we are talking about the entire three-day weekend, we attended a military air show on Saturday and a picnic this afternoon. I saw the Blue Angels perform when I was a child, and for several years I've tried to make plans for us to see them. The airshow that they were supposed to participate in in 2019 in Wilkes Barre was cancelled. Then I planned for us to see them in Annapolis in 2020, and that obviously didn't happen. A show at the Naval Academy would have been free, but this year I opted to attend one at the Pocono Raceway instead. I thought paying the $ for the tickets was worth it because of the fact that the drive would be much shorter. I imagine it must be just as bad when they hold NASCAR events there. It turns out it's an absolute nightmare to drive to or leave that venue as the road can't handle the volume of traffic. We are spoiled where we live in that we almost never deal with traffic of any kind. Paul occasionally encounters a traffic delay on I-80 when there is a significant accident, but that's about it. On the way there the traffic added 40+ minutes to what was supposed to be a 75-minute drive. The police officer wouldn't allow us to turn right out of the venue, and this created a much longer delay. Paul had only been to one other air show in his life - a WWII one we attended at an airport in Reading two years ago. He really enjoyed the F-22 Raptor demonstration as well as the Blue Angels. Other performers included a aircraft called the Vampire and two pilots who performed a wide variety of stunts. Rob Holland's were particularly impressive! I think the kids enjoyed at least parts of the air show, but I don't think they were as enamored with it as Paul and I were. 

Some of the activities that I anticipated for years experiencing for the first time with my kids they DID love as much as I thought they would (ex. circus, Disney on Ice, Sea World, Tran Siberian Orchestra, amusement parks, seeing their first Broadway show, Stars on Ice, and skiing). Other experiences that I greatly anticipated were not nearly as special to the kids as I thought they might be. The two things that would fit that description from the past six months would be seeing the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall and seeing the Blue Angels yesterday. Paul often comments when I say that I want the kids to experience xyz before Nadia graduates, he will add "and Paul" because in most cases they are also new experiences for him. I'm glad Paul and the kids were able to see the Blue Angels for the first time, and I never plan to return to the Pocono Raceway! 

This morning we allowed Nadia and Ian to attend the youth service at 9:00. Oliver joined us in the 9:00 worship service. We left at 10:20 which unfortunately was a little bit before the prayer time ended at the conclusion of the service because we were attending the 10:30 service at another church so that we could see the kids' friend, Micah, be baptized. After that service, we came home to let Milo out and change our clothes prior to going to a picnic with other friends and family of Micah at Montour Preserve. The weather was gorgeous! The kids had fun playing with Ean, Ivan, Micah, and Isaiah. This I believe the first time we attended a picnic near Memorial Day or Fourth of July in I'd guess more than 15 years. I am extremely grateful to those men and women who have given their lives in the service of our country. 

Nadia has been offered her first job! We have no idea what her salary will be, but the manager is willing to hire her. If Nadia does well during her probationary period, she can work as many as 30 hours in a week and can continue to return as an employee in the summers for years to come. I am thankful that Reptiland is less than 4 miles from our home since Nadia is too young to drive herself to and from work. She will be doing a wide variety of tasks - helping in the gift shop, cleaning, etc. Probably the only time her responsibilities will involve animals will be if they need her to sell feed sticks where the budgies are located. She could have started work this Tuesday, but the kids and I will be spending four days at Great Wolf Lodge with Yvonne's family and Toby. The manager hasn't told us yet what her start day will be. I hope that this proves to be an excellent experience for Nadia. She's had a phone for a little less than a year, but she doesn't have a phone number so she can only use it where there is Wi-Fi available. In light of this job offer, Paul and I are planning to start paying for a monthly plan for her phone. Paul and I have only been paying $5 a week (total) for both of our cell phone plans through his company, but that will likely be changing in the near future. In doing a little shopping, it seems that it's cheaper to go with a family plan, but we need four phones for a family plan. Ian would have been due to receive his first phone this December, but he might be getting his first phone sometime this summer if we choose a plan that involves having at least four phones on the plan.

New co-op taking shape

The homeschool game days have morphed into a new local co-op. Twenty-one adults and children attended our first field trip at Eckley Miners' Village on May 9. Yesterday about forty adults and children attended our second field trip at the Historic Warrior Run Church. The church was first formed in 1769, but the first two buildings were burned down. The current structure was built in 1835. We also visited the cemetery and a home near the site of the Battle of Fort Freeland. A retired schoolteacher graciously conducted the 4-hour program at no charge. During the last hour of the day the students had two hands-on experiences with making rope and using a loom. Our third field trip has been scheduled for June 8. This Friday afternoon I am hosting the fifth game day for the group (second time we've had it at our home). I'm working on planning more field trips for the group over the coming months. 

Last night some parents gathered to discuss ideas for our new co-op. Nadia says we need to come up with a name for our co-op. We haven't figured that out yet. Our first session will last six weeks in the fall (October/November) and will include Health and Nutrition, Speech, Marine Biology lab, a chess club, lunch and a book club. I gave a list of 15 different books to some of the moms in an attempt to narrow down the list to probably 3 choices. The kids will be able to choose which group to be in based on which book they have chosen. Nadia and Faith already chose Much Ado About Nothing because Faith hasn't read any Shakespeare yet. I want Oliver to read one of the books from the Chronicles of Narnia. Ian is leaning towards either joining Oliver or reading The Hobbit. We're waiting to see what the other students choose. So far we have 13 students planning to join us, and more are considering joining us. The students are between 5th-12th grade, and 69% of the kids currently planning to attend are in 8th-10th grade. Ian will be one of five eighth graders. Eight of the kids will also see each other on Wednesday evenings at Bible quizzing as three younger siblings (Xandir, Lucy, and Oliver) plan to join their older siblings (Faith, Ben, Jill, Ian, and Nadia) in September. We haven't chosen the dates for the next session (winter/spring) because some of us are hoping to go on a mission trip to Guatemala, and the dates for that haven't been chosen yet. As of now we are planning to meet in our home. If the group outgrows our home, we'll see if a local church will allow us to use their facility. Even though we are adding this co-op to our plans for the upcoming school year, it doesn't mean we'll discontinue what we have been doing. Nadia, Ian, and I have scheduled auditions to possibly be in a performance of The Sound of Music that is to take place in November. I'm also probably going to sign the kids up for art and chorus at the Christian school at our church (if we don't do drama at the CHEF co-op again next year). Whether I sign the kids up to be in the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale again in the fall will depend on whether we are participating in Sound of Music and also what days/times those rehearsals are held. 

Nadia spent some time making crepes today with Tab. I had a long overdue physical today. I haven't had a colonoscopy and given how expensive those are (and our medical sharing plan doesn't cover them), I have opted to go the Cologuard route instead. The physical cost $50, and she said that the bloodwork she ordered will total less than $50. The Cologuard will cost more than that, but it still will be far less than a colonoscopy. Today I also signed the boys up for a babysitting class the local hospital offers. Nadia took it four years ago. I don't know if the boys will do any babysitting, but I think it's worthwhile for them to learn how to do CPR and such. 

Step in Time

This week has been tech week for Nadia, which translates to spending about 50 hours at the church where the homeschool co-op meets. About forty of the students in grades 8-12 chose to participate in the spring drama program this year. They invited one seventh grade boy to play the part of Michael Banks. His sister, who is in high school, played the part of Jane Banks. Nadia was in three of the twenty-four scenes of the musical - Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, Step in Time, and Anything Can Happen. She wore the costume of a chimney sweep and star dancer for the latter two scenes. The students who played the parts of Bert, Mary Poppins, Miss Andrew, and the four members of the Banks family all did a particularly excellent job. This semester I was the chair of the hair/makeup committee and a member of the publicity committee. This week I primarily was helping in the kitchen as we served about 100 people one meal a day plus snacks throughout the day.  I brought in a batch of brownies and a batch of Rice Krispie treats and also applied foundation to some of the boys on Wednesday for the dress rehearsal and yesterday for the first performance. Nadia had four people in the audience last night who came to see her - Tab, me, Mia, and Macey. One of our pastors was surprised to see me there last night as he didn't know that Nadia was in the show. Tonight, I believe there will be ten people who are coming to see her - five Kennedys (including Paul's dad), Jill, Faith, Xandir, Lucy, and Melinda. Last year fewer were able to come to one of her performances because they conflicted with a Bible quizzing event. 

Last year the boys also spent the week with us during tech week. Ian was on the stage crew, and Oliver played with other kids. This year I made other arrangements for the boys. They spent Monday and Tuesday at Tab's house. Because they spent the night at their house, I took Nadia out to dinner at Olive Garden on Monday night for a mom/daughter date. On Tuesday the boys joined some other families at a state park. They had a blast and needed to take showers before I took them home as they had been playing in the mud at one point. Paul dropped Milo off on Monday morning when he took Ian and Oliver to their home. Unfortunately, Milo was not a good boy on Monday, so Paul had to pick Milo up on his way home from work on Monday night. Milo spent many hours at home alone on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Today he'll have far fewer hours at home alone because Paul's dad is coming up to spend several hours at our home with the boys before going up to see Nadia's show. The last two days the boys spent the day at Xandir and Faith's home. Each morning I dropped them off at their home. Paul picked them up at church at 6:30 on Wednesday after the Bible quizzing practice, and he picked them up at Melinda's home last night. The boys were already in bed by the time Nadia and I got home after 10:00 pm last night. Although I'm glad that Nadia had the opportunity to participate in this musical, I'm also very, very glad that today is the last day as this is a very exhausting week for me which translates to headaches, etc.

Margie had surgery to place a pin and rod in her hip and femur to prevent those bones from breaking. She's very thankful to be back at home as she ended up spending several days at the hospital following the surgery. Her PET scan this week revealed the good news that although she has innumerable tumors in her skeletal system (primarily near her pelvis), the cancer hasn't spread to any of her vital organs. We are praying that the radiation treatment that she will have in the near future will be helpful in greatly reducing her pain, and we are praying for wisdom regarding other treatment decisions. 

Dear Bob and Sue

Most of my life the only way I consumed a book was by reading one that was printed on paper. During my lengthy hospitalization during Oliver's pregnancy, the doctors and nurses kept giving me grief for the massive stack of library books that were in my hospital room. I was frequently asked why I didn't use a Kindle instead. Shortly after that, I did purchase a Paperwhite Kindle. Similarly, when I first began reading chapter books out loud to my kids, I was unfamiliar with audiobooks. In 2017 I began using Audible from time to time, and in 2019 a friend shared about getting audiobooks for free through the public library. For the first several years that we accessed audiobooks, I only got children's books that we would listen to together. I've been walking regularly for over a year, and I have been enjoying listening to audiobooks while I walk. I've never purchased an audiobook for myself. I either listen to ones I can get for free through the library or ones that are included in the "Plus" portion of Audible. I never pay full price for a subscription to Audible. I only renew my membership when they offer it at least 50% off, and we only have it a few months a year. I've also used AudiobooksNow to get books for the kids from time to time, but the service I learned about more recently was Scribd. If you are the kind of person who wants to own an audiobook for months or years to come, Scribd is not for you. However, if your family listens to several audiobooks a month, and there are books you want to listen to that aren't available through the public library, Scribd can be a very good deal. It costs $12/month. I just pay for a month when I know there are several books we will listen to that month. It ends up costing us $1-2 per audiobook between the books that the kids and I listen to together plus the ones I listen to on my own when we have Scribd for a month. 

Although I've still been listening to some fiction, I've been listening to more nonfiction this year. Some of the nonfiction books I've listened to so far in 2023 have included: Essentialism by Greg McKeown, I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai, Unoffendable: How just one change can make all of life better by Brant Hansen, Find Your People by Jennie Allen, Effortless by Greg McKeown, Boys in the Boat by Daniel Brown, Educated by Tara Westover, All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvaat, Win the Day by Mark Batterson, The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath, Don't Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table by Louie Giglio, All My Knotted-up Life by Beth Moore, and Shakespeare Saved my Life by Laura Bates. Right now, I'm getting near the end of Dear Bob and Sue which details one middle-aged couple's journey through the national parks. The first and second books in that series are included in the plus catalog. All three books in the series are included in Scribd. I am enjoying the book because of the fact that we've been to over 100 National Park sites so far, and I've done research regarding some of the others that we plan to visit. The couple really likes to drink beer and margaritas which isn't something I can relate to, but the foods they mention the most often are pizza and peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, which are two foods at least some of us eat regularly (Paul and Nadia don't eat PB&J). The first book is about them visiting all of the 59 parks that were called "National Parks" (ex. Acadia, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, etc.) at the time they started this journey. There are sixty-three now. Of those sixty-three, we've been to fourteen so far, and we plan to visit five more in August/September (Redwood, Crater Lake, Mount Rainier, Olympic, and Lassen Volcanic). During that trip I'm going to purchase a National Park pass for the very first time as without a fourth grader we can't get one for free. 

I'm hoping that the five of us will visit all 50 states (6 left) and all ten of the Canadian provinces. If we visit my sister's family in Ecuador, Paul and I will have been to four continents. I'd like to visit Africa and Australia at some point. I have no desire to ever go to Antarctica. I have no desire to visit all 63 National Parks in part because some of them are very remote (have to take a flight or a boat to get to them) such as Gates of the Arctic and Katmai in Alaska, Isle Royale (Michigan), Channel Islands (California), North Cascades (Washington), Voyaguers (Minnesota), Apostle Islands (Wisconsin), American Samoa, and the Virgin Islands. The only one that is considered to be remote that we plan to visit is Dry Tortugas (Florida). We're hoping to go to Alaska next year, but I think we'll only make it to two of the eight National Parks found in that state (Denali and Kenai Fjords). There might only be 63 "National Parks" but the National Park system includes more than 400 sites (units) - some are National Memorials others are National Battlefields or Historic Sites or National Seashores, etc. We've been to 113 of the sites so far, and at the moment there are 67 more on my list of ones we have plans to visit in the coming years. Obviously that list could change dramatically with deletions and/or additions. I'm thinking a good goal would be to see if we can visit at least 200 of the National Park sites, which would be a little less than half of them. One of my favorite National Parks we visited when I was a child was Carlsbad Caverns. It was one of the ones I considered including in our big 2021 road trip, but it was just too far south. If I could go back in time, I'd find a way to include the Hoover Dam in that trip. I thought it was just too far west, but it's one I've wanted to see for many years. We shall see if we ever make it out there. We've done a good job of getting our passports stamped at each site like the authors of this book did, but unlike them, we haven't been consistent with getting a photo in front of the brown sign at each site. Maybe we can be more consistent with that in our future trips. They bought each of their kids (who were in their 20's at the time) a postcard at each site. Our tradition is to buy a magnet although we don't buy one at every single site because there won't be room on our refrigerator for that many magnets! 

listening to this book did motivate me to include more National Parks in our trip to Texas/Louisiana in 2025. Originally, I was thinking we'd go in March so we could attend the annual rodeo in Houston, but now I'm thinking of pushing it back later into that year so that we can see the bats emerge from Carlsbad Caverns and/or Bracken Cave and also spend a day at either Six Flags or Schlitterbahn. Instead of flying into Texas, now I'm thinking we could fly into Phoenix and visit Casa Grande, Saguaro, Chiricahua, and Fort Bowie in Arizona, White Sands and Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, and Guadelupe Mountains and Padre Island National Seashore in Texas in addition to the three I had already planned (Jean Lafitte in Louisianna and Big Thicket and San Antonio Missions in Texas). Nadia and Ian left for Indiana early this morning, so Oliver helped me narrow down our choices of what to see in Texas. Aside from the National Park sites some that are included in the current possible itinerary include Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Fort Worth Zoo, Dallas Arboretum, Fort Worth Stockyards, San Antonio Zoo, a rodeo, an amusement park, Natural Bridges Cavern, bats at Bracken Cave, tour of the Toyota plant, riverwalk, Texas State Aquarium, USS Lexington, Houston Zoo, Houston Space Center, San Jacinto, Vermilionville, Tabasco factory tour, Whitney Plantation, Laura Plantation, Honey Island Swamp Tour, National WWII Museum, and the Audubon Zoo. I gave serious consideration to including Big Bend National Park and/or some sites in Galveston, but at the moment those have been excluded. Nadia is the least interested in hikes in our family. In the future if there are some vacations that only the boys join us, I think we can schedule longer hikes during those trips. 

Feed the birds

Today we took our annual trip to Reptiland, which is a small zoo located 3 miles from our home. In previous years, I've only paid for my admission because all three kids got in for free with our PBS membership. Last year the kids joined Tab and her family, so I didn't go last year. This year was the first year that I had to pay for Nadia's admission, and today was the last time that Ian can get in for free. The price for an adult admission has gone up significantly over the years, which probably means Oliver will be the only child I take to Reptiland next year. Reptiland consists of a building that contains reptiles (what a surprise!), a greenhouse for the budgies, a newer, smaller building that houses a Komodo dragon and some large tortoises, outdoor exhibits that feature tortoises, animatronic dinosaurs, an owl, and emus. In addition to seeing the animals in the indoor and outdoor exhibits, we attended a 30-minute show about snakes and lizards, fed some budgies, and attended two animal encounters. The first was with two hissing cockroaches, and the second was with a baby alligator. Usually, I buy each of the kids a feed stick, but in light of the fact that I had to pay for two adult admissions, I only bought one feed stick, which meant we didn't spend as much time in that enclosure as usual. The birds were very interested in our shoes. As we were feeding the birds I was thinking of the song from Mary Poppins because Nadia will be in two performances of Mary Poppins next week. Her rehearsals are scheduled to last 7.5 hours each on Monday and Tuesday, 11.5 hours on Wednesday (seriously!), and the rehearsal + performance will last at least 10 hours each on Thursday and Friday. 

Many schools take students on field trips to Reptiland at this time of year, so I usually try to arrive in the afternoon after the school groups have left. We arrived earlier than usual because Nadia had a job interview at 12:00. After helping her fill out the application, the boys and I entered the zoo. The manager said that she doesn't typically hire individuals who are younger than sixteen, but we figured it was worth a try since at the moment Nadia's plan is to major in zoology at Liberty University. The manager said she'll call in the early part of next week to let Nadia know if they will hire her or not. At the minimum, Nadia gained the experience of her first job interview. If she isn't offered a job this year, I imagine she'll reapply there next year and apply elsewhere for a job this summer. We shall see what the manager says next week! If I need to start chauffeuring Nadia to and from work there, I'll appreciate the short commute. 

Memory Lane

I moved to Pennsylvania in 1996. I can't recall if I went to Knoebels that summer, but I do recall going there in 1997. Although I enjoyed riding the Phoenix (an awesome wooden roller coaster), my enjoyment at the park rose exponentially when I was able to start taking my children there. I think Nadia might have been there in 2009, but the first visit that stands out to me with her was in 2010. In those early days, we naturally spent our time helping the kids off and on the kiddie rides. Some of their favorites were the Kiddie Whip, ball pit, big slide, and the fire engines. Then as they got older and grew tall enough to ride bigger rides, we were splitting our time between the kiddie rides and the bigger rides, like the Phoenix and the flume. The kiddie rides are now a thing of the past for our family. The favorite rides include the scrambler, flume, Phoenix, Twister (another wooden rollercoaster), Impulse (metal roller coaster that includes loops), bumper cars, downdraft, and the swings.

This past Sunday was WVIA Day at Knoebels, which meant we would receive six free wristbands because of our PBS membership. We usually attend the first worship service together and then attend classes during the second service, but this past Sunday Paul and I attended the first worship service while the kids went to their classes during the first service. After that we left with five children as Xandir and Faith were joining us at Knoebels. We came home to change clothes, get some food to eat for lunch in the van, and get Milo. Their mom and stepdad joined us along with their large dog, Gunner later at the park. Paul and the five kids each received a free wristband. We were at the park for six hours. I didn't get as many pictures as usual because at one point it started to sprinkle so I put the camera back in the van. Thankfully it only sprinkled for a very few minutes. The park was more crowded than it was on WVIA Day last year, but the lines weren't ridiculous. The kids rode quite a few rides in the first hour when the lines were particularly short. Ian rode the Impulse for the first time, and he enjoyed it. He's come a long way! Oliver rode the Phoenix nine times! He also rode the flume quite a few times. Paul rode the Phoenix twice and the bumper cars once. Since his wristband was free it's not like we wasted any money, but I'm thinking next year we'll invite three kids to join us and Paul can use some ride tickets as a kid will get a lot more use out of a wristband than he did. Milo had a great time. Because we had Milo, we opted to get one large pizza in the park. It would be cheaper to get one at a restaurant outside the park, but we needed to eat outdoors since we had Milo with us. We spent a little less than $30 on snacks and dinner, and aside from the gas to get there and back, that was our only cost for the day. When the kids were younger, we used to give our extra handstamps to Paul's mom or dad and/or our nephew, Shawn. The kids like the idea of inviting three friends to join us next year. 

This year we will spend fewer days at amusement parks than we usually do. At the moment our only plans for the year for amusement parks are: one day at Knoebels in May (free passes), one day at Montage Mountain water park in June (free passes), the boys will spend one day at Delgrosso's in July (passes are 50% off), three days at Six Flags Darien Lake during a music festival, and one day at Kennywood in August. The only park that will be a new one for us this year will be Kennywood, if we actually go there in August. Those plans are somewhat up in the air depending on when the Benners travel to Maryland this summer. The kids have been to twenty-six different amusement parks (including outdoor water parks) so far. I'm hoping that list will grow to at least thirty within the next three years. In addition to adding Kennywood to the list this year, we're planning to add Busch Gardens in Williamsburg and King's Dominion to the list next year. 

Today we were part of a group tour of Eckley Miners' Village, which was a coal mining patch town and was the location for the filming of the movie Molly Maguires in 1970. We watched a movie, the kids did a scavenger hunt in the museum, and then we had a guided tour of the village that included entering a couple of the homes and two of the churches (Catholic and Episcopal). I have scheduled two more group field trips over the next month - the Historic Warrior Run Church and Curtin Village (Eagle Ironworks). 

Nadia dissected the frog and took her final exam for Biology. We read about Idi Amin today. Tomorrow we'll read about Fidel Castro, and on Thursday we'll finish up with Hosni Mubarak. Nadia is getting near the end of her 1,500-word report on sharks and her Pilgrim's Progress literature guide. Oliver is chipping away at his missed word spelling list, and the boys are continuing to work towards the completion of their math courses. Ian and Nadia are headed to Indiana for a Bible quizzing competition on Friday.

Almost done

According to my log, we reached our 180th day of school on April 30. In Pennsylvania, homeschoolers are required to log at least 180 days, but there is no guidance given as to what constitutes a day so truly, I think the 180-day requirement is meaningless. For me, a day is one in which either we do all our usual subjects at home OR a day in which we spend multiple hours at museums, zoos, National Parks, or the like. Tomorrow will be our 183rd day. We're taking Thursday and Friday off because Nadia and Ian will be doing an Outdoor Adventure Skills class at Camp Susque that will include sleeping in tents, hiking, kayaking, mountain biking, etc. I have invited one of Oliver's friends from church to spend about 26 hours at our home during the time Nadia and Ian are camping. May 8th will be our 184th and final day of the 2022-23 school year although we have other educational field trips planned for the month of May. Nadia will spend about 50 hours in drama rehearsals/performances the week of May 15. Ian and Oliver will continue to do math lessons for at least part of the month of May. I expect all three kids to read almost every day. Oliver will also continue to work on his missed word spelling list which is currently extremely long. Nadia and Ian will hopefully put more time into preparing for the Bible quizzing competition, and I'm hoping Ian will practice the piano more. Between now and May 8th Nadia needs to dissect a frog, finish her 1,500-word research paper on sharks, take two Biology tests, and finish her literature unit on Pilgrim's Progress. 

As of July 1, my kids will be in grades 5, 8, and 10. We are planning to start a new homeschool co-op. I gave my kids the choice of also taking classes next year at the co-op we've been at the last two years OR attending some classes at Meadowbrook Christian, and they have chosen Meadowbrook. I'm not sure yet what courses they'll take there, but at the minimum Nadia and Ian will take chorus which means they can participate in the school's spring musical. We're hoping to visit Ecuador and also go on a short-term mission trip to Guatemala in 2024 so hopefully, we will make good progress in Spanish over the coming eight months. All three kids will have Renaissance History, Bible, Spanish, and English.

• Nadia will also take Marine Biology and Algebra 2. She will also be taking 12-15 credits of college classes through either Boyce College, Grand Canyon University, or Bluefield University. The plan is that she will take 15 credits online through Liberty during her junior year of high school and then 3 credits (Calculus) through Liberty when she's a high school senior. She will hopefully enter college having already earned 30-33 credits, which should enable her to finish college in three years. Yvonne had this idea and has already implemented it with her son, Andrew, who will be starting at Cedarville this fall. College is expensive and reducing the time spent there by a year seems like a wise course of action! I'm planning to do the same with Ian. The reason I have Nadia completing more credits during her sophomore and junior years is so that she can attend Meadowbrook Christian School during her senior year of high school if she would like. 
• Ian will finish his Python text, finish General Science, and take Algebra 2.
• Oliver will finish the Land Animals book and 4th-grade math and study Anatomy & Physiology and 5th-grade math.

Maryland, day three

On Sunday the weather was similar to what it was on Friday - cooler and rainy. When we got home we found out that it rained the entire weekend up here, so we are very thankful that we didn't see any rain on Saturday and actually saw the sun for part of the day that day. On Friday night we stayed in a room at a hotel in Ocean City, Maryland, but due to the rain we never ventured out to the beach. That night our room had a sofa bed, and unlike the vast majority of hotels, this Best Western actually provided bedding for the sofa bed! The complimentary breakfast was very nice at that hotel. On Saturday night we stayed at Red Roof Plus. Nadia had to use our air mattress that night, and they didn't provide any complimentary breakfast, so we used a gift card to get breakfast at McDonald's instead. I wasn't even allowed into the lobby to check in or check out at that motel. I think that was a first. After eating breakfast, we drove to Oxon Cove Farm. We've been to 113 NPS sites so far, and I think this one was the least impressive to me. I left there wondering why it was made a National Park. However, despite the rain, the kids were able to feed some chickens and earn a Junior Ranger badge while we were there. 

Our second stop was Fort Washington. We watched the ancient movie (I'm guessing it was made in the '60s), had a private tour with a Ranger, and the kids each earned a Junior Ranger badge. Our final stop was at Thomas Stone National Historic Site. Stone was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He stepped out of politics shortly after that because he was caring for his wife for eleven years after she became an invalid as a result of her smallpox vaccination. He died shortly after his wife died. There wasn't a lot to do at the Visitor Center. I thought we'd be attending a talk at 1pm and taking the house tour at 3pm, but we showed up at 1:01 and the other four guests who were at the site at that time all preferred to have a house tour at 1pm so the talk was canceled. We joined the tour a few minutes late because we had to walk from the Visitor Center to the house. The Ranger had MANY Junior Ranger booklets available. Many of the ones he had on display were ones that either our kids had already earned OR were ones that don't result in the child being given a badge or patch. The boys each earned three badges (the extra ones were for Junior Paleontologist and George Washington's Birthplace), and Nadia earned four because she hadn't done the Eclipse one which the boys had done previously. So at this point, Oliver has earned 172 badges, Nadia has earned 176, and Ian has earned 179. The kids know that when they earn their 200th badge I will give them $50. I think they can achieve that goal sometime in 2023, but if not, they definitely can in 2024. 

We had dinner at Denny's on Friday night. In general, I've noticed that restaurant prices have gone up on average by about 20%. Thankfully the prices at Denny's were not nearly as high as they were at the IHOP we went to in Kansas City earlier in April. On Saturday night we had dinner at Panera Bread. That is a place where we can still get dinner plus a few cookies for a $50 gift card. At other places, I usually have to pay a little part plus the tip as a $50 gift card doesn't cover three adult entrees, one soda, and two kids' meals. I love their strawberry poppyseed salad. Unfortunately, Paul didn't like the flatbread pizza he ordered.  On Sunday evening we tried a new restaurant - Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen. The prices were similar to Denny's, and most of us really liked the complimentary croissants that they serve with the meal, just like we enjoy the breadsticks at Olive Garden and the rolls at Texas Roadhouse. I imagine it won't be the last time we eat at Cheddar's. 

Thomas Stone's home

The last time we were away, Milo had to spend the first six days of the trip at the kennel. This time we asked a girl in our neighborhood who is one year older than Nadia to watch Milo so that if our other neighbors aren't able to care for him during an entire vacation, between the two neighbors, he can avoid the kennel. Madeline charges $30/day which is more than we pay our other neighbor, but most of the time that would likely be less than what we'd pay the kennel because she's more flexible with the definition of what constitutes a day. Also, Milo was able to sleep with her, which definitely doesn't happen at a kennel. A dog is expensive to own, but I sure do love our dog. The next "getaway" is scheduled for the end of May into early June with Yvonne's family at Great Wolf Lodge. Paul won't be joining us for that trip so although we might need a little help from a neighbor with Milo, Paul will be able to at least partially care for him. 

Assateague and Annapolis

Yesterday it rained most of the day. Thankfully today we didn't see any rain, and the sun even came out partway through the day. It was also a little warmer out. After eating the complimentary breakfast, we drove to Assateague National Park and picked up Junior Ranger booklets for the kids. Soon after we drove onto the island, we saw six wild horses. We assumed we'd see more throughout the day, but those ended up being the only ones we spotted. While we were kayaking, we saw a few different species of birds and also a horseshoe crab. From 2017-2021 we went to the beach on Long Island every summer. Last summer we went to the beach in Delaware, Georgia, and Florida. We kayaked on the bay side and walked along the ocean side. In September we will see the beach in San Francisco, but I don't think we'll be swimming at a beach this summer. 

Our second stop was at the Naval Academy. The first entrance we tried wasn't one we could use. We took a wrong turn trying to find the correct entrance and ended up driving through a very crowded part of Annapolis because of an arts festival. Eventually, we found the correct entrance, found a place to park, and went through the screening to walk onto the Naval Academy property. Unfortunately, by the time we walked across the campus to the Museum, there was very little time left before it closed. I don't think the kids were exactly brokenhearted that we couldn't spend oodles of time in the museum. The chapel was closed for a wedding, so we weren't able to see the crypt of John Paul Jones. I had seen it more than once in the past but wanted to take the kids inside the chapel. I taught in Annapolis from 1994-1996 and had been to Annapolis many other times during the time I lived in Maryland. We had dinner at Panera in Annapolis and then drove to our motel, which is located very close to the first of three National Park sites we plan to visit here in Maryland tomorrow before we drive home.