Thankful Tuesday

Arlington Cemetery - near the tomb of the Unknown Soldier

I haven't written a gratitude post since August 24. This won't be comprehensive since it's spanning that many weeks, but here are some of the many blessings I am thankful for.

1. Yesterday I took Nadia to the thrift store during Ian's choir rehearsal as she wanted to get some new clothes. I recently was told that I needed to get black lace-up ankle boots for my nun costume in the Sound of Music. They had some there that fit me! As an added bonus, Nadia said she likes them and wants to wear them after the show is over. 

2. We had a great vacation. No one broke a bone, and no damage was done to the SUV we rented. The weather was amazing during the entire trip. We saw some beautiful sights and were able to spend some time with some of my relatives. 

Library of Congress

3. I'm really enjoying listening to Ian practice the piano. He's going to be playing The Waltz of the Flowers from the Nutcracker as a piano duet next month. 

4. We had a nice field trip for a small group of homeschoolers on September 18. First, we had a two-hour tour of Curtin Village, and then the naturalists at Bald Eagle State Park conducted two programs for our group. 

5. We came very close to being a car accident in Lynchburg on our way to Margie's funeral. I'm very thankful for safety during all our travels. 

6. We don't have health insurance. Thankfully, immunizations don't cost us a penny. That was a pleasant surprise! I have still been receiving bills for the mammogram I had last December even though I paid the bill very promptly. I *think* the billing mistake has been fixed. If they stop sending me bills, then I'll be certain that is the case. 

7. Paul was able to help my friend Cheri by driving a U-Haul van to help her mom move on September 30. I'm thankful for his willingness to help! 

8. Paul took Oliver bowling last night for one of his dates for the year. 

9. On September 29 the VanHorns rode with us to the Lumber Museum. We spent four hours at the museum for their Woodhick Day program. We all learned a lot! 

10. Milo was at the kennel during our vacation. Thankfully, a teenager in our neighborhood was able to watch him when we spent a day in DC last weekend. Milo turned three years old on September 30. We are very thankful for our dog (even if it's rather expensive to have him in a kennel for a 16-day vacation). We got him Pupperoni snacks, a squeaky pig (which he barks at), and a banana dog toy that he also enjoys playing with although he quickly destroyed its head. Nadia made him a birthday cake made of peanut butter, honey, applesauce, baking powder, carrots, oil, and an egg. 

11. I am enjoying being in The Sound of Music, and so far, the rehearsal schedule hasn't felt overly demanding for me. I need to finish memorizing all of the Latin songs over the next seven days. 

12. Last Friday evening we drove to Maryland to spend the night at a hotel so that we could do some sightseeing prior to attending a concert in Arlington. We visited the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, Belmont-Paul National Historic Site, Library of Congress, Capitol building, and Arlington Cemetery. The kids earned 2 Junior Ranger badges that day. Nadia currently has earned 200, Ian has earned 202, and Oliver has 186. Not counting dinner at Cheesecake Factory (one of Nadia's favorite places to go) and the concert (Unspoken, Cade Thompson, and JJ Weeks), I think the highlight for most people was the tour of the US Capitol. The line was long to enter the House gallery (where they were deliberating over the budget) so we didn't actually step into either chamber. If we return to that building in the future, we'll do so when we have passes so we can go in the Senate and/or House chambers. I wasn't upset that we didn't end up visiting the Theodore Roosevelt Island on that trip. We'll hopefully see it next May instead, but I was disappointed that we arrived at the Arlington House while on our tram tour through Arlington Cemetery only two minutes before it closed. Oops. The kids had already earned that Junior Ranger badge through the mail, but I wanted to see Robert E. Lee's house in person and also get our passports stamped. I'm sure we won't pay for the tram ride again, but maybe we could walk to that site at some point in the future? We were thankful that we found free parking in DC. On-street parking was definitely easier on a Saturday morning. We had to pay parking three times in Arlington - at the cemetery, near the restaurant where we had dinner, and at the shopping mall where the concert was held.

13. Ian decided to go one month without screen time - meaning no playing Brawl Stars on the iPad or using the Nintendo Switch. If we are ALL watching a movie together, he's allowed to watch, but that's it (aside from World Watch News everyday M-F and the Tuttle Twins once a month). I'm proud of him for being willing to give those up as normally he plays them for almost 2 hours a day. He's been playing with Legos more since he's given up screen time. The only downside has been that he's been reading less as he usually reads to earn screen time. 

14. Something is wrong with our central air. Someone is coming on Friday to hopefully repair it. I'm thankful that although it's unseasonably warm this week, it still cools off at night which has made it easier for us to keep our house at a reasonable temperature. 

15. When we got back from vacation, I started working on an approximately 100-page photo book through Shutterfly. At first, it wasn't accepting the coupon codes. A week later I was able to use some codes to order three 8x11 books for less than $30, which represented a savings of more than $200.  

16. Paul is going to church on Wednesday nights for the first time in our 22-year marriage! We are in a Chosen small group (watching and discussing the first season together). What a blessing!

Changing of the Guard ceremony

Transitions

Life is full of many transitions, which vary greatly in terms of magnitude. Earlier this month our bodies needed to adjust to a three-hour time difference. When we traveled to Seattle on August 29, we arrived at the airport a little after midnight PST, which was even later according to our bodies. Although it wasn't pleasant to stay up that late that night, it did assist us in transitioning fairly quickly to the time change. On our way home, we left San Francisco around 9 am (PST), and by the time we arrived at home it was almost 1 am (EST). It was hard to get up the next morning, but otherwise the transition hasn't been difficult. We did two days of schoolwork that week. Last week we had a field trip to Curtin Village and Bald Eagle State Park on Monday, and this week we have a field trip to the Lumber Museum on Friday so the week of October 2 will be the first week of this new school year that we'll have five days of school. 

Paul has been undergoing a more significant transition lately. He and his brother sold the company at the end of July. Al's last day at work was September 13. Towards the end of our vacation there was a problem at the plant which meant Paul had to make a lot of phone calls to try to be of assistance. He went back to work on September 14 and was able to solve the problem the following day. We are very grateful he has been able to sell the company. The two benefits we knew we'd miss were #1 the company paying most of the cost of Paul and I having cell phones and #2 our dental insurance. I took the kids to the dentist on September 14. It was the first time in 20 years that we haven't had dental insurance as I had it as a professor and then more recently, we had it through Paul's business. I had a bit of sticker shock as the bill for the three kids came to a little over $700. I wasn't anticipating it would be that high. We thought that what we would save in gasoline once he stops driving to the plant would cover the additional costs for cell phones and dental care. I was wrong. We're still very grateful that he was able to sell the company. Paul has had very little time to invest in what he plans to make his new career (day trading and such), but he did have success (his biggest to date) right before we left on vacation. Currently, he's receiving a salary from the new owner. 

Yesterday Paul decided not to go to work. In the afternoon I suggested that we go to Verizon so he could close the business account and open a personal account. I was thinking we'd sign up for the plan that would cost $25 per line per month if we had four lines. Well, it turns out it's going to cost more than that partially because the cell phone Nadia has been using for 15 months (which was Paul's mom's phone prior to her passing in 2021) is now too old to be used on a Verizon plan. We were given some $ by trading that phone in. And the phone that had been Shawn's that we were going to give Ian was WAY too old to be used and wasn't worth a dime as a trade-in. We were there for hours because it took time for the guy to make all the changes. Paul kept his phone, but it had to be moved from the business account to our new personal account. What has been my phone for 2.5 years became Nadia's phone yesterday. It's an iPhone 11. We got Ian an Android (Samsung) that was "free" (not really because our plan is costing more per month because we didn't bring in four phones). I wasn't thinking I needed a new phone, but as of yesterday evening I now own my third smart phone. I started with an iPhone 5, went to an 11 in 2021, and now have a 15. We made the mistake of getting the accessories in the Verizon store. Ouch was that expensive! We've never done that before and hopefully won't do it again as it's much cheaper to buy a case on Amazon. Two things we purchased were because they've changed what type of cords are used by phones since the last time any of us got a phone. And we splurged and got screen protectors for my phone and Ian's phone. The kids and I have never had one before and never had a cracked screen, but the salesperson was very convincing. So, we spent about $400 yesterday, and soon we'll start having a monthly cell phone bill, which we haven't had for a little over 7 years. Ian wasn't supposed to receive a phone until December 12 so he's getting his phone 2.5 months early. We have about three years until we will be getting Oliver a phone. 

California take two

The kids' first trip to California was in 2018. Paul's parents joined us for that trip to San Diego. That was also when we began getting our National Park passports stamped and started earning Junior Ranger badges. I think the farthest north we made it on that trip was Disneyland. On this trip we entered the state at the northwest part when we crossed the border with Oregon. We spent the first day in the Redwoods. We saw some sea lions at the harbor near our hotel in Cresent City, and then we did a hike to see some of the trees. After that we drove farther south and went higher up in the trees at Trees of Mystery through walking on nets and riding a skyride. We also drove the SUV through one tree. After driving on a scenic road through another section of the National Park, the kids turned in their Junior Ranger booklets and received their badges. We did another small hike in that part of the park before we started driving toward Redding, California. 

Lassen Volcanic National Park

The next morning, we explored Lassen Volcanic National Park for a couple of hours before we drove to Reno. After spending three days in Nevada, we drove back to California as the final portion of our vacation was in San Francisco. On our way into the city, we stopped at the Jelly Belly Factory for a tour and also had dinner at Panera Bread. My cousin, Brent, had warned us that it has become a prevalent problem for people to break into vehicles to steal things in San Francisco. When we noticed the surroundings of the Rodeway Inn, we were even more nervous. I had chosen the hotel because our room had three beds (one king and two queens) and was a reasonable price. Although I had paid for two nights at the hotel, we only ended up staying one night. We did however leave our belongings in our room there until about 7pm since we saw many signs around the city saying not to leave anything in a parked vehicle. Evidently, they don't prosecute people who break into vehicles. Never in my life have I paid for lodging for the five of us at two different hotels on the same night. Hopefully it will be the only time I do that! We viewed that as better than dealing with our belongings being stolen or the rental car windows being smashed. 

On our first full day in San Francisco, we started our morning by watching our church's 10:45 service online. Then we drove to the Oakland Zoo. We would have driven less if we could have gone there on Monday as planned, but it turned out the Zoo was closed on September 11 for maintenance. Part of the zoo was closed on the day we went, but we still were able to walk through most of the zoo. After we came back into the city, we parked our vehicle in a garage near Pier 39. We visited the San Francisco Maritime National Park (one more Junior Ranger badge for the kids), saw more sea lions, shared one chocolate milkshake from Ghirardelli Square, explored the Exploratorium (great science museum that we got into for free with our ASTC membership), and had pizza at a restaurant at Pier 39. After we got our vehicle, we picked up our luggage from the hotel we weren't fond of and then drove to where we had planned to spend the following night. The hotel we switched to was MUCH nicer although Nadia only had a sofa bed. She actually just slept on the couch. This was one VERY spacious though with a full kitchen and living room so we actually had room to blow up our air mattress for Ian so that he and Oliver didn't have to share a queen size bed. We got some ice cream at Safeway for our dessert. The kids opted not to swim in the heated pool or sit in the jacuzzi the first night we were here, but the boys did make use of them the second night. Neither hotel offered a free breakfast. The first morning in the city we ate donuts and bagels that we brought from Reno. The second morning I made a run to McDonald's for some egg McMuffins. 

On our second full day in San Francisco, we started the day at Fort Point which is very close to the Golden Gate Bridge. The previous two days we hadn't been able to see much of the bridge due to smoke from fires in northern California. Thankfully on Monday the smoke had cleared. We had gorgeous views! The weather has truly been amazing for our entire trip. The temperature was quite different today. If you travel 30 miles the temperature can be up to 50 degrees different according to the park ranger! It wasn't that big of a difference on Monday, but it was much hotter as we traveled east. The kids earned a second Junior Ranger badge at the Presidio (for the Golden Gate Bridge's 50th anniversary), a third at Rosie the Riveter, and a fourth at John Muir's home. John Muir is considered to be the father of the National Park Service. We had dinner at Golden Corral before the boys went to the pool at our hotel. 

On our last full day of the vacation, we started our morning at Muir Woods. Parking reservations are required. I had paid $9 that allowed us to enter between 8:00-8:30. This national park features redwood trees. When we were in Redwoods National Park, we were allowed to walk off the trail. At this park the trail is smoother and there are fences to keep you on the trail. Also, many of the trails were closed due to a construction project involving the stream. All that to say, of the two parks we visited that featured tall trees, we liked Redwoods better. More people come to this one due to its proximity to San Francisco. The kids each earned a Junior Ranger badge. Due to all of the signs warning us not to leave any belongings in a parked vehicle, we left our luggage at the hotel that morning since we could visit Muir Woods before the check-out time. Our next stop was Marin Headlands. I had printed out the Junior Ranger booklets at the hotel that morning because no park rangers are there on Tuesdays. We drove around the park and stopped at various locations. It would have been nice to walk to the lighthouse and the Nike missile site, but those two can only be visited when a park ranger is there. When we walked toward the lighthouse, we saw some harbor seals which was exciting as the other times we only saw sea lions. It was very foggy when we were driving to Muir Woods. The fog continued to lift and we were able to see the Golden Gate Bridge from a different side at Marin Headlands. Of the four days we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, the day it was the clearest was definitely on Monday. I am so thankful we had one very clear day when neither fog or smoke impaired our view. 

Our third stop was the California Academy of Sciences. Paul didn't end up using his ticket. Instead, he drove over an hour round trip to deposit our luggage at the airport we stayed in near the airport on the last night of our trip. The reason we did this was to protect our vehicle from being broken into while we were at Alcatraz. Although we've had a good visit, I really doubt I'll ever want to return to the city given the fact that they don't prosecute things like breaking into vehicles. Paul had trouble checking in because the reservation was in my name. I couldn't assist Paul while the kids and I were watching a planetarium show about coral reefs, but after that show ended, I contacted Priceline, and they were able to add his name so Paul could deposit our luggage in the room. Our ASTC membership wasn't any help at the California Academy of Sciences. It wasn't really what I would call a science museum. It was a planetarium, aquarium, and natural history museum. The rainforest area that usually features a variety of birds and butterflies was closed due to renovations. We enjoyed seeing some dinosaur fossils, gems and minerals, fish, penguins, etc. The planetarium was featuring three different shows. The one that worked best for us schedule wise was also best for Nadia since she's studying marine biology this year. 

After Paul picked us up from the California Academy of Sciences, we attempted to find parking near where the cruises to Alcatraz left. I made the same mistake I have made in the past. I didn't make a specific plan for parking. I knew of one garage where it was only $10 after 4pm. I had a coupon code for another lot, but we ended up back where we had parked two days earlier. The difference was that the previous time I had prepaid for our parking which was $25 for the day. This time we paid $10 per hour, which came to $40. Ouch. Hopefully I've learned my lesson and won't make this mistake again. We had dinner at the same pizza place where we ate on Sunday. The pizza wasn't cheap by any stretch of the imagination, but it was tasty and still probably the cheapest option for buying dinner for five people at Pier 39. Our last activity for the vacation was visiting Alcatraz. I chose an evening tour. They cost a bit more as they offer some additional things on that tour than they do on the daytime tours. We didn't really take advantage of those extra activities, but I did it because very little is open in the evenings. I had originally planned for us to tour Alcatraz on Saturday evening. but on Friday I discovered I had never actually purchased the tickets (oops!), and they were all sold out. Thankfully, that Friday night while I was in Reno, I was able to buy tickets for Tuesday night. Whew. Honestly, our dinner and tour of Jelly Belly would have been very rushed if we had gone on Saturday night. I think it all worked out for the best. 

During our time here on the west coast, we drove the SUV a total of 2,390 miles. The next time we plan to rent a vehicle is in February in Florida. We plan to get a minivan that time, and I know we won't drive anywhere near as many miles on that trip as we'll only be in southern Florida not driving through four different states. This morning we had breakfast at the hotel (a rare treat on this trip). Nadia slept on the air mattress last night. We aired on the side of caution and arrived at the airport much earlier than we actually needed to. Paul dropped us off and returned the SUV while the kids and I checked our three suitcases and went through TSA. I'm thankful that because I'm traveling with kids, we didn't have to go through the newer kind of screening. I like the older type of metal detectors better than the newer ones that seem like you're being x-rayed. Speaking of technology, when I was driving to our hotel last night, I encountered vehicles beside me that were self-driving (no humans in the front seats). It's strange to think that at some point in the future those might become the norm. How will we board an airplane if driver's licenses become obsolete? We had a great trip, and we're all ready to go home. We miss Milo for one thing! I'm going to pick him up tomorrow morning bright and early even though that will be a challenge given our adjustment to the three-hour time change. 

Nevada

We have spent the last three days in Nevada - our 47th state! I have a goal of visiting at least one National Park unit in every state. That didn't happen during our time in Nevada, so I hope we visit the southern part of Nevada at some point in the future as I'd love to visit Hoover Dam. The main draw for us this time in Nevada was my Aunt Janet, Ziggy, and two of my cousins. We arrived around 2pm on Wednesday as we cut our time short at Lassen Volcanic because the kids were more interested in having more time with Aunt Janet than doing another hike. We saw Janet's new home in Reno that she moved into about three months ago, which is on the same property as Brent's home. We had dinner on her outside patio. The kids had a blast playing with Ziggy after he came home from daycare. The next day we spent time at her home and also took the kids to an indoor bouldering gym in Reno. The indoor ice-skating rink didn't have any open skating sessions on Thursday. We contemplated doing that on Friday but opted to have more time at Lake Tahoe. We were going to have the kids experience go-karting for the first time in their lives, but we had to provide proof of their age which I didn't have with me and honestly couldn't even have produced if we were at home because I had to mail their birth certificates to the Department of State to get their passports. Eleven of us went out to dinner that night at Mexcal where we ate a variety of tacos and other Mexican food. Oliver tried shrimp for the first time in his life. He liked it although the particular shrimp taco was too spicy for him. I tried something new as well - an al pastor taco which contained pork and pineapples. It was delicious! Robin's youngest daughter had tres de leche cake for dessert whereas most other people at the table had a few churros. My kids definitely liked the churros! Aunt Janet had started a tradition of taking me out for Mexican food once each time we were on Long Island. It was so sweet of her to continue that tradition here in Reno! We drove a total of 53 miles around Reno that day. 

On Friday we packed food for lunch and dinner and headed off to Incline Village, which is where Vanessa and Niko live with their three cats. We ate our lunches at a picnic table near where we began our hike. We hiked part of a trail up to monkey rock, and then we cut across to another trail that took us to Hidden Beach. For Lake Tahoe the water temperature was on the warmer side (62 degrees). Oliver was the only one who wore his bathing suit. He submerged his entire body under water. Ian didn't bring his bathing suit, but he ended up getting all but his head wet. Oliver had brought a change of clothes. Ian hadn't, but his clothes mostly dried off as we hiked back to the SUV, and we threw his clothes in the dryer once we arrived back at Nessa's home. Aunt Janet, Paul, Nadia, and I only got our feet (and in some cases calves) wet.  The boys had fun climbing some large rocks around Lake Tahoe. It's certainly a beautiful lake! We visited the two deepest lakes in North American on this trip - Crater Lake and Lake Tahoe. Lake Tahoe is much bigger than Crater Lake although Crater Lake certainly isn't tiny. We had hamburgers, hotdogs, fries, raw veggies, and ice cream sandwiches for dinner. Oliver and Niko also had some shrimp. Nessa and Niko have three indoor cats which created an allergic reaction in most of my family. I gave Ian Benadryl, and Vanessa passed out Claritin to a few others. Aunt Janet drove our SUV a total of 70 miles on Friday. 

I'm so thankful that Aunt Janet was able to move out here to Reno two years ago to be with two of her kids and also her only grandchild. We have missed not being able to spend a week with her on Long Island last year or this year. We certainly won't come out here as often as we went to Long Island as there is a lot more time and money involved in getting here, but the kids are already talking about making future plans to spend a week here. We shall see! Paul and I slept in her guest bedroom. Nadia slept on the couch in her living room. Oliver and Ian slept upstairs on two air mattresses in Brent and Janet's offices. Her home is in the flight path for the Reno airport so that took a little bit of time to get accustomed to. She also has only one bathroom, so it was at times a little challenging for six people to share one bathroom, but her new home is lovely. The first day we were here, I did two loads of laundry which was very helpful. We had packed a combination of shorts and pants for the trip but hardly had any need of wearing the shorts. The weather has been incredible during our trip. The only time we encountered a little rain was while we were in the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park. The temps have mostly been in the 60's and 70's, and we did experience the 80's a few times on our trip for at least part of a day (such as here in Reno). 

Nadia has done a little bit of work for her General Psychology class on our trip - mostly making comments on the discussion boards. So far, she has a 100% average in the course, although we know she won't be able to maintain that as we opted to have her skip posting in one of the discussion boards as it was about gender. She won't need to do much for the course while we're in San Francisco, but she'll have to get busy again once we're back at home on Thursday. She's been spending a lot of time playing Crossy Road on her Chromebook on this trip. Although we definitely prefer our minivan in general, there are some nice features in our SUV. The kids like that they can plug in devices in the middle row. I like that it has a navigation system that relies on satellite which is most helpful when there isn't any cell service. They also like that it came with Sirius XM radio. We listen to music half of the time and a story the other half of the time. We finished The Ogress and the Orphans (which is 13 hours long) and The Adventures of Hercules Beal on this trip. We also have listened to the 9th season of the Brinkman Adventures. As we drive to San Francisco today, we're going to start Nothing Else but Miracles by Kate Albus. 

Oregon

We spent two days in Oregon, which means we are now down to four states. Our first stop on Sunday morning was Multnomah Falls. I had a reservation for the parking lot, but we showed up at the free parking lot accidentally, and that lot was full. The kids and I walked halfway up the falls. We didn't go to the top since Paul was waiting in the SUV. The kids were given Columbia Gorge Junior Ranger booklets, but since the park ranger wasn't coming until 10:00 am, we will need to mail them in. Our next stop were the Japanese Garden and International Rose Test Gardens in Portland. We then took a free shuttle up to the Oregon Zoo. Our final stop for the day was the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. We paid full price for the Japanese Garden, 50% off for the zoo with our AZA membership, and got into the OMSI for free with our ASTC membership. We received our AZA and ASTC memberships through the WNC Nature Center. I had chosen a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant for dinner because it was close, but I hadn't thought to see if there was parking available. We had to pay to park in a parking garage in Portland to eat at the restaurant. Thankfully, it was only $4 because it was after 5pm on a weekend. After dinner we drove a couple of hours farther south into Oregon. Nadia slept on the floor as there wasn't room for the air mattress. We drove 245 miles on September 3.

While we had breakfast on Monday morning, I asked the woman at the front desk to print out 3 Junior Ranger booklets for Crater Lake because I realized we weren't going to be driving past a Visitor Center. I also found a coupon for the Wildlife Safari as I waited for the booklets to be printed, and that saved us $50 as we received a 50% discount for the red panda encounter that I had signed the kids up for. Our first stop was the Wildlife Safari, which was less than 15 minutes from the hotel. The red panda encounter lasted about 30 minutes. The kids fed the two red pandas some bamboo leaves. There were some animal exhibits that we visited by walking, but the majority of the park was accessible through driving. Highlights, aside from the red pandas, were two four-month-old male cheetah cubs who were adorable, watching some hippos eating very close to us as we drove through the safari, and Paul really liked one pig. Next, we drove to Crater Lake National Park. We hiked 1.1 miles (going down 700 feet) to get to the boat dock for our 2-hour tour of the lake. Naturally, it was a lot more work hiking back up that 700 feet of elevation change after our tour! The views were incredible. It was a bit chilly out on the boat, but otherwise the weather was gorgeous. We stopped for pizza near Diamond Lake and then drove 3.5 hours to Crescent City, California. Our room had three queen size beds. Breakfast wasn't included. We drove 330 miles on September 4. We checked into our hotel later than usual, but it was worth it to have fed red pandas and taken a tour of Crater Lake.

So far, my top three experiences of the trip have been Olympia National Park, Crater Lake, and Mount Rainier. The kids top four experiences include the same three as me plus the Wildlife Safari (the red pandas and cheetah cubs in particular). Although not stopping at a Visitors Center didn't prevent the kids from receiving their Junior Ranger badges, we weren't able to buy a magnet from Crater Lake. I had skipped getting one at Multnomah Falls because I thought Crater Lake was more significant. The bottom line is that we didn't get any magnets from the state of Oregon. Bummer. I can always make a magnet using one of our pictures.

Washington

 On August 29 we left our home around 11:30 to drop Milo off at the kennel. I hate to take him there, but neither of our neighbors who have watched him previously could watch him during this trip. Hopefully, he will not be too upset during our absence. After a stop at the bank, we drove towards Pittsburgh. We had dinner at a Bob Evans restaurant that was thirty miles east of the airport. On Tuesdays, kids eat for free at Bob Evans, so our $50 gift card covered all of our meals and the tip with a little bit left over! Unfortunately, we hit a lot of rush hour traffic on our drive from the restaurant to the airport, but thankfully we made it to the gate well before the time the boarding began. We didn't have to wait at all to check our three suitcases or to go through TSA. The last time we flew was in May 2018, so Oliver didn't even remember that experience. There were many empty seats on the plane. Oliver and I sat in one row, and Paul, Ian, and Nadia sat behind us. We were served a snack and a drink. 

On August 29, we drove 223 miles and flew 2,314 miles and crossed three time zones. We were taken by shuttle to our hotel. We were so exhausted that Nadia didn't even want to take the time to inflate the air mattress. A few hours later, we had breakfast, and Paul took the shuttle back to the airport to get the rental car. Although Thrifty did give us an SUV that had three rows of seats, it was much smaller than the one we thought we'd be getting. We definitely prefer our minivan! Thankfully, the cost to rent vehicles is much cheaper in Florida so we plan to rent a minivan in February.

After Paul got the SUV on August 30, we drove to Pikes Place Market. The kids enjoyed walking around the market and doing a lot of window shopping. We watched men throwing fish around and visited the gigantic gum wall. We bought a Space Needle magnet, earrings for Nadia for Christmas, a cookie for Oliver, and pizza for Ian and Nadia. Then we walked a mile to the Space Needle. Those tickets were pricy. We spent a couple of hours at the Space Needle and Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum. We had seen some of his work at the Children's Museum in Indianapolis in April. It was beautiful! 

After walking a mile back to our SUV, we drove to the Museum of Flight. Paul would have liked to have had more time to spend there. It is a VERY large museum. He wasn't able to visit the floor that focused on WWI. Oliver and Ian rode in a flight simulator. Nadia paid for Oliver's admission as an early Christmas present. In hindsight, we would have driven fewer miles if we had flipped the order of what we did that day. I had made the decision based on thinking we would leave the hotel around 8:30 am, and the Museum of Flight didn't open until 10:00. I do my best when planning vacations, but there are always things I realize afterwards that I would have done differently.

We had dinner at KFC. A little less than half of the meal was covered by a gift card Paul got at Christmas. It was cheaper to eat at Bob Evans than KFC. Paul loves KFC and we go there maybe once every two years. Nadia and I ordered from the Taco Bell portion of the menu instead of the KFC side. After we finished eating, we got in line for the Bainbridge Ferry. I was hoping that we might see some orcas although the best time to see them is from October to February. Still, it was the first time the kids experienced driving a vehicle onto a ferry, and it saved us some driving time. We only drove 47 miles on August 30. We spent the night at the Poulsbo Inn after buying some groceries. Due to our sleep deprivation the previous night, we skipped the pool and went to bed early after eating some ice cream that we got at the grocery store. Nadia did use her air mattress that night.

We spent August 31 at the Olympic National Park. We planned to start our visit at Hurricane Ridge, but a lightning strike on August 28 started a fire which led to that area being closed until September 2. To be honest, our day was full without visiting that section. It's a huge park! After getting the kids their Junior Ranger booklets in Port Angeles, we did a hike to Marymere Falls. We saw a banana slug! Our next stop was in the Hoh Rainforest where we took the Hall of Mosses trail. We had dinner in that area on the way out at the Hard Rain Cafe before visiting Ruby Beach and stopped at an ice cream place on our way to our hotel. Buying ice cream at the grocery store is DEFINITELY the cheaper way to go, even if the food prices at the grocery stores up here are much more expensive than what I'm accustomed to paying. The kids earned one of two possible Junior Ranger badges. Ruby Beach was gorgeous!  Nadia used her air mattress again. We drove 317 miles on August 31. 

On September 1 we spent the day at Mount Rainier National Park. Wendy gave me hiking boots for Christmas, and I've been getting good use out of them on this trip! As beautiful as Olympic National Park was, Mount Rainier has been my favorite place so far on this trip. We did two hikes near the Visitor Center. We saw two black tailed deer on our first hike. Nadia wishes that we skipped the last hike to Snow Lake because of the 700 feet of elevation change involved in the hike. After we left the park, we went to a pizza place in Eatonville. I scheduled us to eat a several pizza places on this trip because we like pizza and it tends to be a much cheaper option. The pizza wasn't overpriced, but they didn't have an option to get a free cup of water. We had to spend $10 plus tax to buy five drinks. Still, it was cheaper than KFC or Bob Evans. We stopped at a grocery store near our Airbnb to get a box of ice cream sandwiches for the kids and I and a candy bar for Paul. Nadia slept on a twin sized loft bed. The boys slept below her on a queen size bed. Paul and I slept on a queen-sized bed in the living room. Paul played one game of chess with Ian and another game of chess with Oliver. We drove 136 miles on September 1. 

The host of the Airbnb left us a $25 gift certificate for the cafe located under our unit. The waffles and such were $11 or more per person, but we were able to buy five breakfast sandwiches for a little less than $25, and they did provide free cups of water. Due to a landslide earlier this summer, we weren't able to visit one part of Mount St. Helens, but we still stopped at two visitor centers, the kids earned a Junior Ranger badge, we visited a lake, and we hiked the Hummocks Trail loop. Mount Rainier is certainly more beautiful, but Paul and I remember when Mount St. Helens erupted so it was something that was a high priority for Paul. Our last stop in the state of Washington was Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. I thought it closed at 5:00, but it actually closed at 4:00 so we didn't have much time to spend there. Thankfully, it's a pretty small site, and the Junior Ranger badge program was extremely easy. If we had more time, the kids could have earned a second Junior Ranger badge at the Pearson Air Museum, but it closed at 4:00. We had dinner at Red Robin. Usually, our $50 gift card covers our meal there aside from the tip, but that wasn't the case last night. We enjoyed our meal. It's the only restaurant where Nadia still orders from the kids' menu. The boys and I spent about 15 minutes in an outdoor hot tub at the Comfort Inn in Oregon where we spent the night. Our room had three queen sized beds, and I'm not talking about a sofa bed. We drove 197 miles on September 2. 

We're spending today and tomorrow in Oregon. Washington was the kids' 45th state, and Oregon is their 46th. In three days, we plan to be in Nevada, which will be their 47th state! 

Thankful Thursday

 

1. Monday was our first day of school for the 2023-24 school year and Nadia's first day of General Psychology through Grand Canyon University. Ian also had his first piano lesson with someone other than me on Monday. He is working to play Waltz of the Flowers by Tchaikovsky with Josh as a piano duet at a recital in November. I'm so grateful that I have the opportunity to homeschool my three children and that we have the money to pay for Ian's piano lessons. In light of the fact that Nadia might attend Meadowbrook for her senior year of high school, it seemed wise to have Nadia start taking college classes in her sophomore year of high school. Most colleges only offer dual enrollment for juniors and seniors. A few months ago, I had narrowed it down to Boyce, Grand Canyon, or Bluefield. After we applied to Bluefield, we found out that sophomores had to have taken the ACT or SAT prior to applying. Boyce's course selection was rather small, so she submitted an application to Grand Canyon. I'm hoping she'll take five general education classes through Grand Canyon this year, take her Bible classes through Liberty next year, and take only one class (Calculus) through Liberty during her senior year.

2. I had my first Sound of Music rehearsal on Tuesday night. Tonight, those who are nuns will be rehearsing our music for three hours. I'm grateful for this opportunity and hoping I have the stamina for rehearsals that end at 9:30pm. Next year they will be doing Anastasia. We shall see if Nadia, Ian, and I audition for that one.

3. Yesterday we had an appointment at the Post Office to submit the kids' passport applications. Both parents need to be present. Between the fees to the US Department of State and the Post Office, we paid a little over $700 for five passports. Ouch! The kids' passports will only be good for five years since they are all under 16 years of age, but the other two will be good for ten years. We shall see what passport stamps we get in those books over the next 5-10 years! It's Oliver's first passport. Ian and Nadia got their first ones when they were babies, so they've been expired for many years. I'm thankful we have the money to pay for these passports and look forward to traveling to other countries with our kids in the coming years! We think the first stamps will be in February in Ecuador. 

4. We had a safe trip to Lynchburg and back on Sunday. If Nadia goes to Liberty for three years, we will be making that trip many more times in the years to come. Hopefully, we won't typically make the round trip in one day. We were in Lynchburg for 3 hours as we arrived 90 minutes before Margie's funeral, and the funeral lasted 90 minutes. We didn't get to spend much time with anyone, but the Towfighis (minus Andrew), Benners (including Drayton's parents), Lisa, Joel, Michael, Nate (and his family), and Aunt Tina were also in attendance. Becca also made a very brief appearance prior to the funeral. I'm very thankful that Margie's suffering has come to an end and that she is with her Savior.

5. Yesterday we had our third field trip of the 2023-24 school year. Our first stop was George's Furniture where we had a one-hour tour. The handmade furniture was gorgeous. None of the furniture we own compares to what we saw there. The kids really liked this one very unique "Do it all" desk. What interested me the most was the tables that had the ability to add MANY leaves and become VERY long, and there were also benches that had leaves and could be expanded. The prices were much higher, so I doubt we'll actually ever buy anything, but it was interesting to see them working and learn about the company. The primary reason we headed down to that area was to see Moses at Sight and Sound with Paul's dad. Originally, I thought we wouldn't go to Sight and Sound this year because we had seen Moses before, but I changed my mind because we saw it in 2014. 

6. It was looking like we wouldn't be able to take a boat tour of Crater Lake, and then finally in the middle of August they began to announce what dates tours would be available this summer. We have tickets for a tour on Labor Day! I recently discovered that the Oakland Zoo is going to be closed on the day we planned to go there, but thankfully I was able to modify our plans for our time in San Francisco so that we could go there on a different day. We are looking forward to our upcoming vacation and praying things will go as smoothly as possible.

7. Ian wore his retainer for a little over two years, and then it was accidentally thrown away on August 8. Thankfully, the orthodontist said it was fine for him to stop wearing a retainer. He's thrilled to have a break from that! Oliver still sees the orthodontist every month for an adjustment on his braces. While Yvonne was at our house, she adjusted Ian's eyeglasses, and they are no longer sliding down his nose!

8. Our home was built in 1999. All of the rooms that had carpet in them had an off-white Berber carpet. Over the years we've been gradually replacing that carpet. Earlier this month we replaced the carpet in Oliver's bedroom, the hallway, and the stairs. We love it! It's definitely the plushest carpet we have ever had in this home or any other that we've lived in over the last 22 years. The only area in our house that still has the Berber carpet is our master bedroom closet. The next project I think we'll do on the house will be to waterproof the basement. We had water in the basement again recently. 

9. Due to Paul selling the company, his days of driving down to Gordon to work six days a week are numbered. Because of that, I asked him if he'd like to join us in attending church on Wednesday evenings. I showed him the options for adults, and he chose The Chosen small group. The group will be watching and discussing episodes of the show on Wednesday evenings from 6:30-8:00 starting on September 20. This will be the first time in our 22 years of marriage that we've attended church together on Wednesday evenings. I had been in a Bible study on the book of John which hadn't quite finished, and the group was going to start a study on Romans after finishing John, but I'm excited about being in a study with my husband. 

10. On our first day of school I continued the tradition of having the kids each draw their self-portraits. Oliver showed VAST improvement over any he's done in the past, but he asked me not to post it anywhere, so I didn't include it here. Last year I also started a tradition of having the kids write their goals for the year, and we did that again on Monday. Hoping that we all make a lot of progress toward achieving our goals! 

11. Last week when the Towfighis were here I forgot to take out the recycling. It only goes out once a month, so this was a problem. When I realized it this week, I called the garbage company and thankfully they made an exception and picked up our recycling this week. I was very appreciative of their kindness! Thankfully we live less than a mile from where they keep their trucks.