First Place!!!

Only three kids from our church's Bible quizzing team traveled to Ohio this past Friday for a quizzing event. Their coach accidentally forgot to register them, so they were unable to compete as a team as planned. Ian was placed on another team from Pennsylvania, and the girls (Nadia and Leila) joined The Branch's team (Indiana). That team won first place in the team competition. Ian earned 8th place in the written portion of the competition. Nadia and Leila tied for seventh place in the finals of the individual competition, and Ian won FIRST place in the individuals!!! Christopher was one of the top quizzers, and he graduated from high school last spring. Ben is typically one of the top quizzers, and he didn't attend this quiz. However, the boy who has won the individuals at the national competition the last few years was Simon, and he was there. Simon came in second to Ian. I was in shock when I found this out!!! Way to go, Ian!! Both Ian and Nadia showed improvement from past years. Here's to hoping that will continue over the next seven months! At this quiz they only covered all of Galatians plus the first two chapters of Ephesians. There will be a wider array of content at the Nationals as they are studying five epistles this year. 

On Thursday night we had our first performance of The Sound of Music. The final performance was sold out, and Saturday's matinee was also very close to being sold out. In general, all five performances went very well. One exception would be the first eight syllables of one song on Thursday night. We nuns sang a lot of our songs acapella, and we were split into two locations for one of the songs. We didn't use a pitch pipe on Thursday night, and that was a big mistake as we started in multiple different keys and sounded hideous for those first eight syllables until we all made it to the same key. Thankfully that never happened again! At every performance the two cast members who got the biggest response during the bows were for Mother Abbess and Gretl. Gretl was just so cute; she turned eight during the production. Mother Abbess has a powerful set of lungs! Maria also did an amazing job. She's our version of Julie Andrews as she also played Mary Poppins a few years ago. Yvonne and the rest of her family who live in Quito were able to watch a livestream of Thursday night's performance. Her son, Andrew, who is in college in Ohio watched the livestream on Friday night. I don't believe any of my relatives watched either of the two performances on Saturday. Paul, the kids, Paul's dad, Cheri, and Tab all came to see the performance on Sunday afternoon. The first photo in this post is of everyone involved in the production - backstage crew, cast, directors, sound technicians, etc. 

In general, we brought our own meals when our rehearsals were long, but on Saturday a meal was provided in between our two performances. If I had been at someone's home and they served chicken and waffles, I. would have eaten it to be polite. In this case I opted to bring a bean burrito, but I did eat the delicious dessert they provided. I like waffles, and I like chicken, but the thought of mixing the two is repulsive to me, especially when gravy is involved as I don't like gravy on anything. The other time they provided food was last night. Pizza, veggies, and chips were available to eat after the show because we were expected to stay and help clean up the rooms we used, tear down the set, put away the props, etc. Last night was the first night in a week that I was able to go to bed prior to 11pm. It was so nice to go to bed at 9:30! Despite the fact that I got to bed at an earlier hour, it was still a long day as I left for church at 8:40 am and didn't come back home from church until 8:20 pm. I have a whole new appreciation for all that goes into putting on a musical!

I'm the one walking across the balcony in this scene.

It was very strange to only homeschool one child on Friday. In addition to doing his schoolwork, he and I worked on a Spiderman jigsaw puzzle that he had received for his birthday but hadn't put together yet. On Saturday afternoon Paul took Oliver to a Stronghold (foam sword fighting) competition that lasted for three hours and included time for a devotion plus some Minecraft competitions. On Saturday morning I made a casserole that Paul and Oliver had for dinner on Saturday night, and he and all three kids had it on Sunday night. 

 

Tech Week

The Sound of Music rehearsals have primarily been held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings along with several Saturday rehearsals. This week we have three long rehearsals (Monday- Wednesday) and then five performances (Thursday through Sunday). I believe this week will be record breaking for me in terms of the number of nights in a row that I am not in bed at home at 11pm. I am eagerly anticipating Monday night when I can resume by normal sleeping habits. The time change this past Sunday hasn't exactly helped as my body hadn't yet made the one-hour transition.

I recently realized I had totally forgotten to take Oliver's 11th birthday portrait. I have a frame in which there is a spot for a wallet size picture for most years (larger for birth and larger for age 18). The picture here was the one I snapped (3 months late) for Oliver's eleven-year-old portrait. A bigger mistake I made recently was that I *thought* I had bought tickets for Ian and Paul to see Tim Hawkins in Camp Hill. By the time I realized my error, the tickets were all sold out. I felt horrible about this mistake because Ian was really looking forward to seeing him in person. Hopefully in the future I'll be able to get tickets for him to see Tim Hawkins. I do have tickets for us to see TobyMac (all the kids really wanted to see him for the first time), and Tasha Layton is one of the other artists that will be at that concert, and she was on Nadia's "list" of artists she wanted to see whom she hasn't seen yet. I had tickets for a Steven Chapman concert, but that concert was cancelled. Not counting the artists she'd like to see again (Cain, Anne Wilson, For King and Country, and Matthew West are her top four artists I believe), I'm hoping in the next couple of years to be able to get tickets for her to see Riley Clemmons and Steven Curtis Chapman. Riley is on tour with Zach Williams for the next several months, and he's not one of her favorites so it will be a little while until I will likely get tickets for a Riley Clemmons concert. I hope to never make the mistake I made with the Tim Hawkins tickets again. 

Paul finished assembling the foosball table on Sunday afternoon! Some of the kids who come to our co-op on Tuesdays were able to play some foosball this week. While he was working on that I was raking leaves, trimming bushes, cleaning the fence, picking apples off the ground, etc. I was the substitute teacher for our Sunday School class this past Sunday. I taught a lesson on the book of Jude. Paul will have to go to The Chosen Bible study without me tonight due to a Sound of Music dress rehearsal. He took the kids to choir on Monday night and took Ian to his piano lesson yesterday because of my rehearsals. Normally Ian's piano lessons are in the morning, but his had to be rescheduled this week #1 because we had to pick a time that was also good for his duet partner and #2 Ian and Nadia are leaving for a Bible quizzing event in Ohio on Friday morning. He'll have one more rehearsal with Josh next Friday morning, and then their recital is the next day. Nadia can't wait until he's done practicing The Waltz of the Flowers. She's tired of it! Paul is also taking five kids on a field trip tomorrow morning to attend a program about beavers for homeschoolers in grades 6-12 at a state park located one hour away. I'm very thankful he can help out more this week in light of my crazy rehearsal/performance schedule. I'm in six scenes of the musical - five as a nun and one as Frau Zeller. I have VERY little time to change from my party dress (when I'm Frau Zeller) back into my nun costume. On Monday I didn't make it back on stage on time. The director changed what time some of us are exiting the stage from the party, and I made it on time (with assistance) last night. Although I never plan to do this again, it has been quite a learning experience for me!

Trunk or Treat

The last time I wore a costume was when I was in a passion play at a church in Maryland in the early 90's. Last year Nadia and I provided a trunk for our church's trunk or treat, but we went with a Steelers theme, so I just wore a Steelers sweatshirt. This year the kids wanted us to do a Mario theme. We ordered costumes before we knew that the youth group was also doing a Mario theme. Ian and Oliver helped as candy runners. Ian demonstrated an excellent work ethic. Because the youth was doing the same theme, Nadia, wearing a Princess Rosalina costume, helped out inside with the youth group. Most of the teens were toads. Last year we brought Milo, and he became very cold as the evening wore on. This year the temperatures were much warmer on the day the event was held, but we are still glad we didn't bring Milo because the vehicle next to us had a dog, and I think it would have been difficult to keep the two dogs separated. I'm not sure when Paul last wore a costume, but I can say it had to be prior to when I met him in 1997. He was Luigi, and I was Mario riding Yoshi. I am assuming we'll wear these costumes again at some point. 

Our co-op has been meeting on Tuesdays. Usually, the kids bring their lunches and play chess for 90 minutes after lunch. Because Halloween fell on a Tuesday, one mom brought pizza and Rice Krispy treats, another mom brought soda and pumpkins, and I provided chips, plates, napkins, and cups. The kids enjoyed having a special lunch and carving pumpkins instead of playing chess. The temperature was MUCH colder yesterday than it was last Friday night. Paul took the kids and Milo trick or treating for about one-hour last night while I was at a Sound of Music rehearsal that lasted from 6:30-10:40pm. I got home and immediately went to bed. I was bone tired and had an awful headache. I can pretty much guarantee I won't be signing up to be in another musical. I woke up with a headache and really didn't want to get up (which is very unusual for me), but thankfully after I took Milo for his walk and ate my breakfast, my headache went away. Last Saturday the kids and Paul helped pack food at Experience Missions for 3.5 hours while I was at a 6-hour Sound of Music rehearsal. It was Paul's first-time packing food and also his first-time being at Experience Missions. I have five rehearsals and five performances between November 2-12, and then I'm done. Thank goodness!

Nadia and the youth pastor's wife

Four times a year there are five Sundays in a month. When that happens, all the children and youth are expected to attend the worship service with their parents. Our kids do that all the time so it just means Paul and I can't attend our Sunday School class on a fifth Sunday. We usually attend the 9:00 service together, but since we could only attend one service, we attended the 10:45 service this past Sunday. After having lunch at home, we saw the play Cheaper by the Dozen in Williamsport. On Saturday night it was my pick for family fun night. I chose for us to play the card game hearts. I didn't know how to play ANY card games when I went to college, and I don't want that to be the case for my kids so I'm trying to teach them several card games over the next few years. On Saturday afternoon while I was at my rehearsal, they had started watching the movie "A Man for All Seasons" which I was requiring them to watch as we recently studied King Henry VIII and Thomas More in history. Paul enjoyed it the most, and Nadia disliked it the most. Paul chose finishing the movie for his family fun night on Sunday night.

Nadia with two friends from their Bible quizzing team

 

Our trunk

Welcome, Lily!

In December 2016 we got the kids their first two pets - two guinea pigs whom they named Jenna and Patches. Guinea pigs were on the main floor of our home until December 2020 when Milo joined our family. Patches passed away in February of 2020. We had two rabbits for a couple of months after she passed, but when that didn't work out, we got two new guinea pigs which meant that for about 20 months we had three guinea pigs. Jenna is the only one of our guinea pigs who has made it to the age of five. Patches is the only guinea pig who has been to a vet, but all he did was put her to sleep when she was a little shy of 3.5 years old. The reported average lifespan for guinea pigs varies from 3-5, 4-7, and 5-8 years. The record holder lived to be fifteen. The first guinea pig the kids and I got to know was one named Mickey, and he lived to be more than ten years old. Buttercup passed away last week. She was a little shy of 4 years old. I had to retrieve the bodies of Buttercup and Jenna from the cage which was highly unpleasant. Paul has been the one to bury the bodies of all three guinea pigs who have passed away. There was a brief period when Jenna was our only guinea pig, but most of the time we've had 2 guinea pigs at a time. Unfortunately, it seems that Peppa is a bit of a bully, so we haven't been able to put Lily in the cage with her. We've been keeping them separate, but Paul is planning to make a divider so the two can share the same (large) cage. I ordered a second water bottle and second house which are supposed to arrive on Friday. Nadia thinks we should get another young guinea pig so that Lily will have a companion. We haven't made a decision on that. If we do, she's naming the next one Rose. I never would have guessed we'd buy five guinea pigs over a span of seven years! I'm hoping Lily lives until Nadia graduates from high school. Once Nadia goes to college, we won't be buying any more guinea pigs. Considering she graduates a little bit more than 2.5 years from now, Lily should make it that long. 

Today I'm giving thanks:

1. That Paul and Oliver were able to help with the set construction for Sound of Music last Friday evening while Nadia, Ian, and I helped to set up for the OCC shoebox packing party.

2. That the kids and I were able to work with other volunteers to pack 339 shoeboxes on Saturday.

3. That Xandir and Faith were able to spend about five hours at our home Saturday afternoon before their parents came over to join us for dinner. They helped decorate the house because it was Melinda's birthday. When I invited them, I had no idea it was her birthday, but once I found out I planned the menu around her favorite foods. The kids put up a boatload of birthday banners around the house and blew up at least 30 balloons. She appreciated it! After dinner eight of us played Quiplash together, and then Faith, Nadia, and the four adults played Taboo together.

4. I've really been enjoying our Scribd membership lately. We just pay for a month from time to time, but it's such a great service for audiobooks. I really enjoyed The Last Exchange by Charles Martin, and now I'm listening to Evidence Not Seen, which Margie and my friend, Joanna had both recommended to me awhile back. I enjoy being able to listen while I walk the dog, and also while I drive to and from Sound of Music rehearsals. 

5. The kids have really been enjoying hosting a co-op at our home. They wish it wasn't ending in three weeks. Two of the families have agreed to resume it in March, and that session might last as long as twelve weeks. We haven't worked out the details yet. Paul led a dissection of six clams this week. 

6. The kids have already been asking when we can visit Aunt Janet again. Since we are planning to go to Ecuador and Alaska next year, I can't picture us also going to Reno. Even though she sold her home on Long Island two years ago, she still spends part of the summer out there. I asked her if we could spend a few days with her this summer at her cabana at the beach if we stayed at a hotel. She thinks that will probably be possible! It's much easier (and cheaper) for us to drive to New York than fly to Nevada. The kids would also like to see Ziggy again. If Brent, Robin, and Ziggy spend some time on Long Island next summer, maybe we can overlap our trip so that we can have at least one day with Ziggy. We still have some National Park sites to visit in New York so a trip to Long Island would also help us with that goal. 

7. On Monday night as I was driving Nadia and Ian home from their choir rehearsals, Ian asked Nadia and I to rank our day on a scale of 1-10. When I turned the question on him, he said that lately all of his days have been tens. What a great attitude! I was feeling rather exhausted that day due to running a lot of errands (orthodontist, shopping, choir, etc.), so his comment was a good reminder about having an attitude of gratitude. 

8. Although the kids aren't too keen on chorus class at MCS thus far (new teacher this year), they are really enjoying the art class. 

9. I wasn't keen on the last two musicals that MCS did; I'm thrilled that they are doing Music Man in April. I hope that Nadia and Ian will both be able to participate in that musical!

Go, Bears!

 

Several years ago, Paul and I stopped watching football. It's been a while since we have had cable tv, so we don't watch any sports. Last year I asked the kids a variety of questions to determine what sort of experiences to include on a first-time experience bucket list. Some of the questions related to sporting events such as whether they'd like to see a PSU football game. The kids said "no" to most of the athletic events I asked them about, but the exception was that they said they wanted to see a hockey game. When I was their age we lived in Maryland, and I remember going to NHL hockey games to see the Washington Capitals. It would be a longer drive if we drove to Pittsburgh or Philadelphia to see the Flyers or Penguins, so I decided that we'd go to a Hershey Bears game. Three nights a year they give out free tickets to HersheyPark at a Bears game. It's been seven years since we've been to HersheyPark, and the last time we went (May 2016) the water park wasn't open, so the kids have never been on the water rides there. The kids attended their first hockey game on Sunday evening, and we received 2024 HersheyPark tickets that we plan to use when we go to the park with the Towfighis next year in June. Our seats were above the goal that the Cleveland Monsters were defending for two of the three periods, which was a good place to be to see a lot of the action as the Bears defeated the Monsters 5-2. We had an early dinner at Pizza Hut before the game, and we visited Chocolate World before driving home after the game. We rode the free ride (which also means everyone gets a small piece of chocolate), and the kids also received a few extra pieces of candy as we walked throughout the building. Nadia was the least enthusiastic, but the rest of us really enjoyed the game, and I think all five of us are looking forward to going to HersheyPark in June! 

Here are some things I am thankful for today:

1. The boys were able to take a Safe Babysitter course on Saturday that was offered by a local hospital. They received their American Heart Association certification at the end of the day as they learned CPR and other first aid. 

2. While they were at that class, Nadia and I spent four hours working with other volunteers to pack 43,000 meals for people in Uganda, Ecuador, and Haiti. 

3. Saturday evening the VanHorns came over to our home for dinner. My kids enjoy spending time with Julianna (who is in 9th grade) and Nathaniel (who is in 8th grade). All of us played Big Picture Apples to Apples together. The four adults plus the two girls also played Taboo.

4. We enjoyed our time in Hershey on Sunday evening. Thankfully, it's only about 90 minutes from our home. 

5. Our second meeting of our little co-op went well yesterday. One family brought a second microscope which was helpful for the marine biology lab. I haven't taken any photos of our new co-op yet. Hopefully, I'll take some next Tuesday! 

6. Yvonne's body is finally acclimating to the high altitude in Ecuador! 

7. Although I had to make more trips today because of Nadia took the PSAT from 8:00-11:00, Nadia and Ian are now staying longer on Wednesdays so that usually I don't make as many trips to church on Wednesdays. Usually, I drop them off at 1:15 for art/chorus. They have a break for 90 minutes before they attend Bible quizzing (4:30-6:00), midweek meal (6:00-6:30), and youth group (6:30-8:00). This has meant Oliver has stopped attending Bible quizzing. He'll most likely rejoin it next fall. Paul, Oliver, and I return to church at 6:30 for Bible study. We all go home together after 8:00. Chorus was cancelled today because of a pep rally so Nadia and Ian had a longer break than usual in between art and Bible quizzing. Had we known about the pep rally, I would have had them skip art class today and just brought them at 4:30 for Bible quizzing. 

8. The repairman returned and finished cleaning our heat pump. We haven't gotten the bill yet, but I'm sure it will be a much smaller charge than it would have been if they had to replace the motor like they thought at first. We're thankful it's working again. It will be many months until we'll need the air conditioning again, but we will want to be able to heat the house! 

Thankful Thursday

1. Last week was the first time that I felt overwhelmed by the Sound of Music rehearsal schedule. Thankfully, this week on Tuesday our rehearsal ended an hour early (at 8:30 instead of 9:30), and that same night our director said that the nuns only need to be present from 6:30-8:00 tonight instead of 6:30-10:00. Including tonight's rehearsal, we have twelve rehearsals and five performances between now and November 12. 

2. The kids and I enjoyed the annual free lunch in our town in honor of breast cancer awareness last Tuesday. My kids have lost three grandmas to cancer - one to breast cancer, one to ovarian cancer, and one to lymphoma. 

3. Six of us enjoyed a Micah Tyler concert at our church on Friday night. My friend, Cheri, had purchased a ticket and planned to sit with us, but she injured herself that day. We invited Pop Pop to join us since she gave us her ticket. Naturally, Nadia asked me to buy her a Micah Tyler t-shirt, which I set aside and will give her at Christmas.

4. On Saturday morning I was at our church bright and early helping set up for a food packing event. Paul and the kids arrived a couple of hours later. Paul was a food runner which involved carrying fifty-pound bags of rice and lentils. I supervised about forty volunteers. The kids packed meals. In about two hours the three hundred volunteers packed a little over 120,000 meals for people in Uganda, Haiti, and Ecuador. 

5. Saturday night I took Nadia to another concert. It was my second date with her this year. Our first date was at Olive Garden in May. Paul will be taking her on her third date to a concert at Lancaster Bible College next month. This time we drove to Penn State to hear Andrew Ripp, Crowder, and MercyMe. She had been wanting to see MercyMe in person for the first time. Crowder was our least favorite of the three groups. She used her own money to buy a MercyMe t-shirt and an Andrew Ripp sweatshirt. We waited in a long line that resulted in Andrew Ripp autographing her sweatshirt and also taking a picture with Nadia.

6. Months ago, I volunteered to help with prep work for the children's classes. Ironically, the first time the children's pastor gave me something to do was last week. I say ironically because I was already signed up to help with other service projects every week this month. Pastor Chris had given me 600 pop it keychains to attach to 600 post cards. They are going to pass them out at a parade to advertise another campus of our church. Thankfully, I received help with the project. I brought them with me to the Sound of Music rehearsal last Thursday, and some other "nuns" helped me complete the project. 

7. We had the first meeting of our new co-op at our house on Tuesday. There were ten students in health, speech, and chess club. There were twelve students (two groups of six) in the marine biology lab. Paul and Dave are leading the chess club, and Paul is teaching the biology lab. The lesson this week was on sponges. In future weeks they will be dissecting clams, sea stars, and dogfish sharks. I facilitated two book clubs - three kids discussed the first three chapters of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and four boys discussed the first five chapters of The Prince and the Pauper. Three girls discussed the first act of Much Ado about Nothing.  I slipped out during the 90 minutes allotted for chess to get a haircut. 

8. At the beginning of this month, we discovered our heat pump/AC wasn't working. The man who installed it four years ago said he isn't doing service calls. Someone came on Tuesday, and he thought we needed a new motor (which would be very expensive if not under warranty). His son came out yesterday and discovered it was something else that was easier to fix. 

9. Nadia finished her first college course last week. She earned an A in General Psychology and started a class in U.S. History on Monday.

10. I received a $50 gift certificate to a science company where I had recently ordered specimens for the dissections because I was one of the first 25 people to complete a survey. I used the money to buy additional specimens of clams and sea stars, and I also started buying things we will need for Paul to teach the chemistry lab next year. 

11. On Sunday afternoon the five of us began assembling 300 hygiene sets for Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. We plan to finish the project tomorrow in preparation for the packing party at our church on October 21.

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.