New school year

 In Pennsylvania, the school year for homeschooling is from July 1- June 30. Looking back at the last school year, we listened to 87 audiobooks together (some of those I read aloud).  During the first few days of July, we finished our first two audiobooks for the 2025-26 school year - Lines of Courage by Jennifer Nielsen and Urchin of the Riding Stars by M.I. McAllister. During sixth grade Oliver read 25 books and listened to 4 audiobooks independently. During eleventh grade Nadia read 12 books and listened to 3 audiobooks independently. Ian read 9 books during ninth grade. We went on 38 field trips. The vast majority of those were during our vacations. The number of Junior Ranger badges earned varied by child, but the maximum anyone earned this past school year was 13. During this current school year I think almost all of our field trips will be during our vacations in Hawaii and Europe and also in conjunction with our trip to South Carolina for Bible quizzing next summer. I think the kids could each earn 11 more Junior Ranger badges during this school year. 

Nadia is beginning her 13th year of homeschooling. She'll only be earning three high school credits with me this year. She's registered to take two theology classes, Developmental Psychology, Astronomy, and Earth Science through Liberty University (13 credits total). I'm planning to register her to take College Algebra through Arizona State University. She plans to learn to parallel park and get her driver's license in September. Nadia is employed by Warrior Run Petcare as well as Camp Susque. She works at the kennel year-round but primarily works at the camp in the summer although she does plan to work there some weekends in October and December. 

I submitted the form to register Ian to take his first college classes this fall. If all goes as planned, he'll be taking Speech and a Bible class this fall, and I plan to have him take Old Testament and a Humanities class in the spring through Cedarville (12 credits total). He takes a 45-minute piano lesson each week and is working on playing Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C# by memory at the next recital. Ian will take the PSAT for the first time this fall.

Math - Math 7 (Teaching Textbooks) for Oliver, Advanced Mathematics (Saxon) for Ian, and College Algebra (ASU) for Nadia, Life of Fred: Trigonometry for Nadia and Ian, and Pre-Algebra 0 with Physics for Oliver (Life of Fred)

Science - Physics for Ian and Nadia (experiments will be done during our co-op on Tuesdays) and Physical Science for Oliver

Art - all three are taking an art class that meets twice a week at Meadowbrook

Drama - Nadia and Ian plan to audition to be in The Little Mermaid. Oliver wants to work backstage. We will also be doing drama in our co-op this fall.

Social Studies - We've gone through a four-year history program that went from Creation to the present twice. Instead of studying history this year, we are doing one semester of government and another of economics. The kids will also finish the second half of Dave Ramsey's Personal Finance class on Tuesdays during co-op.

English - This is the first year that I won't have any kids using a spelling or handwriting curriculum. Most of the writing assignments this school year will be related to our study of government. Ian and Nadia will be reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Perelandra and That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky, and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. They will also complete a literature guide for one of our audiobooks (Born Again by Charles Colson). Nadia will also read Jane Eyre while Ian reads A Tale of Two Cities. Oliver is going to read six books from The Chronicles of Narnia, The Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum, and Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan. Oliver will be working through level 4 of Fix It Grammar.

Bible - All three will be memorizing verses from 1 and 2 Corinthians this year. Bible is the one subject I haven't finished as far as lesson plans.

Thankful Thursday

 

1. Then van repair took longer than expected due to them waiting for parts, but it was finally completed on June 9. Unfortunately, they didn't fix the crack in the rearview mirror that the deer caused, so we're waiting to hear if the insurance will pay for that. I'm grateful to have my van back and thankful it no longer looks awful.

2. The kids enjoyed the cast party on June 6, and Paul and I really enjoyed four weeks of salsa lessons, which began on June 6. Next up will be merengue lessons! Neither of us had learned salsa before, and we both enjoyed it.

3. We saw the musical Into the Woods on June 7. We liked the first half far more than the second half. We had never seen that musical before. It's on the list of one of our least favorites. 

4. Ian and Oliver enjoyed attending Isaiah's graduation party on June 8. Nadia enjoyed working at Camp Susque/attending counselor orientation from June 8-21. She's looking forward to returning on July 4 to work there for four more weeks.

5. Ian picked his song for the next piano recital. He took MANY months to choose last year. I'm thankful it's not a last-minute selection this time around. He's doing a piece by Rachmaninoff.

6. Four of us saw The Play that Goes Wrong on June 12. Now THAT was a very, very funny play. Paul said it was one of his most favorite plays he's ever seen. 

7. Paul and I enjoyed attending a 50th anniversary party for a couple in our Sunday School class on June 14.

8. Paul's dad spent some time with us on Father's Day.

9. The boys and I were volunteers for our church's VBS the week of June 17.

10. The kids did very well at the Bible quizzing competition in Indiana, and Paul and I were able to have dinner with Kay and Allen while we were out there.

11. I'm very thankful I've been able to be Nadia's mom for the past 17 years!

12. It seems highly probable that Ian will be attending Cedarville University as a residential student starting in the fall of 2028. This week I registered him to take two classes through dual enrollment this fall. We spent about 4 hours at Cedarville on June 26.

13. Yvonne said that most of her family would like to join us at Great Wolf Lodge in December to celebrate Ian's birthday! I booked two rooms that together can accommodate 14 people for one night in December through a homeschool group. 

14. We've been watching Season 5 of The Chosen on Prime. We don't usually have Prime, but it was worth it to us to pay for one month so we could watch those eight episodes.

15. Similarly, I paid (with a 50% discount) for one month of the Angel app so that we could watch The Last Rodeo, Rule Breakers, and King of Kings. 

16. The boys and I were able to help spread the word about Operation Christmas Child through a 4th of July parade in Lewisburg on June 28. 

17. Cheri came over for dinner on Tuesday night. 

18. I was able to help at Experience Missions yesterday. I've also been preparing to teach Sunday School the next two weeks. 

19. Milo was able to stay with some of the Seiberts while we were in Indiana. Today Cooper is coming over here to spend a little over a week with us. This swapping of dog sitting is working beautifully!

20. I've continued to make progress with sanding, priming, and painting the wooden trim (baseboards and around the windows/doors). We have also made progress in painting walls in the foyer and upstairs hallway.

21. Nadia only goes to the doctor once a year - for her physical. I declined the vision/hearing screening as that costs an additional $50. Thankfully, we don't have to pay for their vaccines. She got the meningitis vaccine on Monday. 

22. A friend told me where Nadia can take College Algebra online at a very reasonable price. Thanks, Jen!

23. We've been enjoying the delicious foods we usually only have in the summer - corn on the cob, peaches, cherries, honeydew, watermelon, etc. I made two fruit pizzas last Saturday - one for our family and the other for our Sunday School class. Yum! The kids and I picked blueberries at a farm very close to our home on Tuesday so that I could serve blueberry crisp for dessert when Cheri came over. 

Bible Quizzing Finals

Nadia joined our church's Bible quizzing team in December 2019. The meets with our churches were naturally cancelled in 2020. The first time she attended Nationals was in 2021 in Oklahoma. Ian joined the team in the fall of 2021, and his first Nationals was in South Carolina in 2022. Paul, Oliver, and I have attended the Nationals in New York last year and this week in Indiana. We're hoping that all three kids will participate next year when they quiz on 1 and 2 Corinthians in South Carolina. This year they studied Luke, which has the most verses of any book in the New Testament (1,151). I and II Corinthians have 694 verses put together. Next year will be Nadia's last year, which means she won't be quizzing when presumably Ian and Oliver will be studying John (2026-27).

Nadia had her best year of quizzing. In 2022 and 2023 she was on the team that won the B division. Last year her team placed 4th in the A division. She was the captain of her team last year and this year. This year after the preliminary competitions on Monday and Tuesday, her team was ranked as the 3rd seed in the A division. They beat the 2nd placed seed during the finals, which meant their schedule was adjusted so that they would play in the championship round against the first seed. However, in between those two matches they lost to Milton C (the 4th seed) whom they had beaten in the preliminary rounds. In the finals today, Milton A (Ian's team) was undefeated, and the other three teams in the A division all ended up with the same record. The tie breaker is the score on the writtens, and North Rome had the better score with their writtens. So, Nadia's team ended up in 3rd place. Nadia has never placed in the top ten in either writtens or individuals. This year she was tied for 10th place in the writtens with Xandir, and she was tied for 9th place with Lucy in the individuals. They recognized 10 students in the individuals and 11 in the writtens. She and Xandir were the only two with a tied score in the writtens, but there were four ties in the individuals. We are very proud of how well she did! 

Ian was on the team that won the B division in 2022 and 2023. He was on the team that won the A division in 2024 and 2025. Last year and this year his team was undefeated at the Nationals. Last year he finished in 8th place for both the individuals and writtens. This year he finished in 7th place in the individual competition and 9th in the written competition. 

Ian and Nadia rode out to Indiana in the church's bus on Sunday. Oliver rode with Paul and I in our van. Oliver, Paul, and I have stayed in an Airbnb that is within walking distance of IWU. Nadia and Ian have stayed in the dorm. Last year Oliver, Paul, and I only ate one meal on campus. Because I served as an official this year, my meals were free. We opted to buy a meal pass for Paul and Oliver this time. Oliver did spend some time playing games and hanging out with the kids in the dorm prior to bedtime. I was a scorekeeper in one room. The only time I was able to attend a match in which I wasn't an official was the championship match. Paul bounced around between the rooms so he could see Nadia and Ian's matches. On Monday night Paul and I didn't eat dinner on campus because we drove about one hour south to spend about 3 hours with Kay and Allen. They are in their late 80s and had moved from Pennsylvania to Indiana last fall. It was a delight to see them. Tuesday was Nadia's birthday, and the team went out for ice cream. If it were up to me, I would have chosen to drive to Ohio this evening so that we wouldn't be in the car for as many hours tomorrow, but the kids wanted to spend the night with their friends even if it means we have to leave by 6:30 tomorrow morning so that we can arrive at Cedarville in time for Ian's college visit. It's been VERY hot while we've been out here, but the university and the Airbnb have air conditioning. I'm very thankful the kids can participate in the Bible quizzing program. They have made wonderful friends through this, and more importantly have spent many, many hours studying and memorizing God's Word. I hope that they put what they've studied into practice because that's FAR more important than doing well at a quizzing competition. 

Seventeen Years Old!

I have a frame for each of my children that has spaces for a total of 19 pictures of them from birth through age eighteen. I used one of Nadia's prom pictures for her seventeen-year-old picture, which means there is now only one empty spot in her frame. Time has just flown by. With her spending six weeks at camp this summer and presumably doing the same next summer, we have less than a year of her living at home with us before she starts living in Lynchburg, Virginia. Honestly, it's very bittersweet. I want our kids to be independent and fly from the nest. I don't want them to be part of the growing epidemic of young adults who are unemployed, not in school, and still living with their parents. However, I'm really going to miss her! Since she's already earned 34 credits through GCU and LU, she technically could have received her high school diploma from the state of Pennsylvania last month, but she is looking forward to her last year of doing a high school musical, last year of co-op, last year of Bible quizzing, etc. She's kind of a high school senior and a college sophomore at the same time, ha ha! The tuition is much cheaper as a dual enrollment student so that was another reason not to have her skip the twelfth grade. The subjects I still want her to complete for me during her senior year include physics, 12th grade English, one semester of economics, and one semester of government. 

She had her birthday celebration early to accommodate the schedules of her friends. Since she's in Indiana for Bible quizzing nationals on her actual birthday, we are treating she and her teammates to ice cream at Ivanhoes this evening. She received her birthday gifts early from her friends, Pop Pop, and Uncle Al and Aunt Millie. I brought one gift for her to open today (a book). Our other two gifts to her for her birthday are some money and a laptop that she can hopefully use for the next four years (until she graduates from college). She already knows that her main birthday gift next year when she turns eighteen will be a new cell phone, and her main Christmas gift will be a roundtrip ticket to visit Rachel in Chicago in the spring. I don't usually plan gifts this far in advance, but knowing she will be headed to college in about 14 months has made gift planning easier. 

Seventeen ways Nadia has changed over the last six months:

1. She has really been into baking and cooking! I'm thrilled to have those experiences with her, and I think the experience is helpful for the day in the future when she's on her own.

2. She visited Louisiana, which was her 49th state! She hadn't been looking forward to the state. She kept comparing it with Kansas (which is one of the lowest on her list), but after we were there, she decided it wasn't anything like Kansas, ha ha.

3. She completed three more courses through Liberty worth a total of 7 credits.

4. She's been working more hours at Warrior Run Petcare. Her boss is extremely kind. She gave Nadia a box of chocolates on Valentine's Day and an Easter basket filled with various goodies on Good Friday. She's also been accepting of Nadia taking weeks off for vacations and working at Camp Susque. Nadia has been making great progress toward saving money for her first car, which she plans to buy around the time she graduates from Liberty. Paul and I said we'd match whatever she saves towards that first car (within a certain limit of course).

5. She hasn't been driving nearly as much the last six months as she did the previous six months. She needs to learn how to parallel park, and then she plans to get her license this fall. She delayed doing it because we told our kids they have to pay for their car insurance.

All of the summer staff at Camp

6. She took the SAT. She was pleased with her reading/writing score but not her math score. She's going to need to take College Algebra before she takes Calculus at Liberty due to her math SAT score.

7. She attended her first prom. She went with a group of friends from our co-op. They plan to attend again next year. I thought she looked stunning in her purple gown! I love some of the pictures I took that night.

8. She is spending a total of six weeks at Camp Susque this summer. The week of June 8 was for counselor orientation. She'll be serving as a staff member (cooking, cleaning, etc.) for 1.5 weeks and serving as a counselor for 3.5 weeks from June 15-21 and July 5- August 2. The pictures in this post are from her time at Camp Susque earlier this month.

9. She and Ian have been in the habit lately of going on walks together 1-2 times a day. They often share a pair of earbuds and listen to the same music when they're in the van together or walking. Some of Nadia's newest favorite artists are Josiah Queen, Forrest Frank, and Joseph O'Brien. She hasn't heard any of those in person yet.

10. She and Ian have also been in the habit lately of watching VeggieTales together once a day. I'm not the only one who is going to miss Nadia when she goes away to college. Ian is also really going to miss her.

11. She earned a 4.0 in her homeschool classes as a junior, which was a first for her. 

12. She used to absolutely hate reading books on an electronic device. She vastly preferred reading a physical book. Recently she got multiple library cards and has been using them to check out audiobooks and also books that can be read on a Kindle app on her phone. 

13. If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, then Nadia shouldn't need to see a doctor because the last couple of months she's gotten in the habit of eating at least one apple a day. 

14. Of the five of us, Nadia is the most likely person to skip breakfast. Lately, if she eats breakfast her preference has been to have a Cinnamon Toast Crunch bar. 

15. For many years her favorite ice cream flavor was chocolate chip cookie dough. Her current favorite is peanut butter ice cream with Oreos mixed into it.

16. She has been officially accepted as a residential student at Liberty University for the fall 2026 semester! Woohoo! 

17. She doesn't have bangs, but when she got her haircut this spring, she had the stylist cut some of the hair around her face much shorter than the rest. 

Thankful Thursday

1. Our spring session of our co-op came to an end on May 6. We ended the day eating lunch in our town's park and most of the kids playing a game of Whiffleball. 

2. My grandpa paid for my bachelor's and master's degrees. I paid for half of my doctorate, and the school where I was principal paid for the other half. Paul and I paid for Nadia's college tuition for the last two years, but the trust (consisting of money from my grandpa) has paid for her tuition at Liberty for the upcoming school year. 

3. We finished our school year on May 8. Some homeschoolers do their schooling year-round. I understand the benefits of going that route, but we enjoy having the summer off. Nadia finished her government class through Liberty on May 9. She earned another A. 

4. The kids had a good practice quiz in Indiana on May 9-10.

5. Paul and I enjoyed spending time with Andrew, Brendan, Jenna, and Toby at Jenna's graduation on May 10.

6. We enjoyed hearing the kids sing at the spring program on May 13. Paul's dad also attended. We also brought home some of their artwork that was on display that night. 

7. It was a blessing to be able to stay at my sister's house in Maryland on May 13 and again on May 28. The first time one of their neighbors gave us a ride to the airport early the next morning. The second time Joe picked us up and then we were able to enjoy some time with Yvonne's family. 

8. Milo was well taken care of by the Seiberts while we were away. 

9. We were all healthy during our trip. Almost everything went smoothly. We were able to visit new places, see different animals, try different foods, etc. It never rained during the trip. 

10. Nadia has been able to work almost every day since we've been back from vacation. 

11. The boys enjoyed spending the night at Xandir's house on May 31.

12. Nadia and four of her friends enjoyed painting pottery and spending time at our house to celebrate Nadia's 17th birthday.

13. Oliver is enjoying the early birthday present (new bike) that he received from Paul's dad. 

14. We enjoyed spending time with Jenna and Toby on Sunday. They only live 90 minutes from us. We shared a meal, played games, and did an engagement photo shoot. They have asked me to be their wedding photographer for their wedding in February. I took a little less than 100 photos of them at a park near our home, and I sent them about 50 photos. 

15. A deer ran into the van at the end of March. The van has been at the shop since Monday morning. We're supposed to be able to pick it back up tomorrow. I am very grateful as I haven't enjoyed driving in a dented van. 

16. The Schrecks plus one niece and nephew came over for dinner at our house on Monday night. 

17. Tomorrow night Paul and I are beginning a ballroom dancing class in salsa and merengue! The kids are looking forward to a Wizard of Oz cast party that's happening tomorrow night. 

18. Paul had begun spackling/sanding in the living room the week of April 14. He had to take a break while we were on vacation, but he finished on May 30. We started painting the room on May 30 and finished it in the morning on May 31. I think it looks great! My sister said it makes the room look larger. Paul's dad doesn't usually make comments about the house, but he gave positive feedback on that room when he was here last Saturday. The changes in the room included new paint color (orange to grey), baseboards and windows went from stained wood to painted white, from miniblinds to curtains, and one chair (that was hardly ever used) was replaced with a plant. 

19. Nadia continues to help me with almost all the cooking and baking. Some things she does on her own, and some things we have been making together. 

20. Yesterday I ordered a gallon of paint from Lowe's. I had no idea that they would do a same day delivery for free. In addition to saving me a trip there, I used a Capital One browser extension that had a $40 rebate so the gallon of paint will end up costing me a little over $10 after that rebate. I chose a beige color for the foyer and upstairs hallway. From the time I ordered it until it was delivered was less than two hours, not that I needed it that quickly, but that service is impressive!

21. Submitting Nadia's preliminary high school transcript to Liberty was far more complicated that necessary. I had to submit a letter from Meadowbrook stating they would not be issuing her a transcript for art, drama, or chorus because she's a homeschooler. I also had to request that LU send LU transcripts two different times within the last month. Seriously?!? Anyhow, they are finally satisfied that we have submitted everything necessary for them to make an enrollment decision. Considering she has a 4.0 at LU at the moment, I can't imagine why they wouldn't accept her. 

22. It won't work out for us to use our six free passes at Montage Mountain water park later this month. Thankfully, a family involved in our co-op is planning to use them. Their daughter who is Ian's age, has never been to a water park before so I'm happy they can make use of them. 

Home Sweet Home

While we were at my sister's house, I did three loads of laundry. On the way to our house on Thursday evening we stopped and got some groceries, dinner, a new phone charger for Paul (the one he and Nadia had been sharing was accidentally left at the hotel in Phoenix the morning we flew back to BWI), and got Milo. Although he really loves the Seiberts (which is such a blessing!), he was thrilled to see me when I went in to pick him up. Once we got home, it was time to unpack and mow the lawn. I had paid one of the kids in our development to mow the lawn once, so it wasn't ridiculously tall. I also did two more loads of laundry. Paul got back to working on spackling and sanding in the living room, which was a project he started 6+ weeks ago. I was thrilled to sleep in my own bed. In general, I got a decent amount of sleep on the trip, but the last two nights that wasn't the case. As proof that Oliver also didn't get enough sleep the last two nights, he fell asleep in the van on the drive home (in the middle of the afternoon), slept until after 9:00 am the next day (very late for him), and took another nap on Friday afternoon! When he woke up from the nap on Friday, he thought it was time for breakfast even though I was actually cooking dinner. 

Nadia worked the afternoon shift on Friday and the morning shift on Saturday. After Paul finished sanding and spackling on Friday evening, we both began painting the room. We finished the first coat on Friday night and the second coat on Saturday morning. I also finished sanding, priming, and painting the trim (going from stained wood to painted white). We managed to finish and get the room mostly put back together before some of Nadia's friends came over for her 17th birthday party. Paul's dad came over to deliver Nadia's sugar cookies from Aunt Millie's bakery and also to take Oliver shopping at Walmart for an early birthday present of a new bike. He played chess with Ian and Oliver. When we bought this house all the walls except for the ones in Nadia's room were painted some shade of white. During the first several years I painted many of the rooms a non-neutral color (green in Ian's room, yellow in Oliver's, blue in our bedroom, orange in the living room, green in the dining room, etc.). Lately I've been reversing the trend and going back toward a neutral color - various shades of grey. This year we painted the living room and dining room the same color, and I changed the trim from stained wood to painted white in both rooms as well. I also went from miniblinds to sheer curtains and drapes in both rooms. I really like the new look! I also recently got navy blue room darkening curtains for our bedroom because I was waking up too early. I love them!

At 1:00 today I drove Leila, Jillian, and my three kids to Xandir's house. Ian and Oliver stayed at his house, and Faith joined the other three girls as we went to Centered Earth. Julianna had planned to also join us, but she was recently diagnosed with Chron's disease and was admitted to the hospital earlier this week. Abby joined us a bit later as she had ballet at 1:00. The girls each picked what bisque they wanted to paint with a glaze. Nadia chose a stack of turtles, Leila chose a mermaid mug, Jillian chose a vase, Abby chose an ice cream bowl, and Faith chose a yard bowl. When we got home after I walked Milo and finished putting the living room back together, I served chicken wraps and fruit for dinner as well as cookies or ice cream for dessert. The girls played games such as Wits and Wagers, Quiplash, Apples to Apples, and Spontuneous. Jill left around 9:30. The other three girls stayed for a sleep over with Nadia. Ian and Oliver are spending the night at Xandir's house. We'll meet back up at church tomorrow morning. Three of the girls who came are on the Bible quizzing team, and Abby is planning to join the team next year. Tomorrow afternoon Jenna and Toby will be joining us for a meal, and I'll be doing an engagement photo shoot for them. Nadia will be working tomorrow afternoon. On Monday morning we will be dropping the van off so it can be repaired. I am very excited about that as it has been dented since the end of March when the deer ran into me. 

Phoenix

 

Tuesday morning, we began our day driving from Tucson to Phoenix. After driving a little less than an hour, we stopped at Casa Grande National Memorial which was constructed by Native Americans in the 1300s. We watched the video, explored the museum, and the kids each earned a Junior Ranger badge. Nadia and I enjoyed watching a great horned owl who was preening himself on a high spot in Casa Grande. Keeping with the Native American theme, after we drove another hour, we had lunch in Phoenix at Fry Bread House. Nadia didn’t order any Native American food, but the rest of us did. I ordered a native taco which consisted of cheese, lettuce, and refried beans on fry bread. Ian was brave as he ordered a spicy beef taco on fry bread. Paul and Oliver just had cheese on their fry bread. We spent more on food on this trip than we usually do, but we were able to try new foods, and I used credit card points toward Airbnb and Turo (rental car) for our trip to Hawaii in August. I also used credit card points to have one free night at a hotel on this trip. We did use some gift cards for meals on this trip. On Monday night we had dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Tuesday night we had a free dinner at Drury.

After lunch we drove 30 minutes to the Musical Instrument Museum. It’s a BIG museum that contains many instruments from all over the world and from many different time periods. It was interesting to see how creative people can be in creating instruments from a wide variety of objects – even garbage! We saw the very first Steinway piano. I played an upright Steinway piano when I was growing up. The kids also enjoyed a room in the museum which contained instruments anyone could play. When I plan vacations, I try to plan a wide variety of types of activities in part because the five of us have diverse interests. Museums that primarily feature things you just look at with your eyes don’t usually pique the attention of any of our kids, but they actually enjoyed this museum. I take after my mom in my vacation planning. If she were alive, I know she’d like that I even include things like industrial tours (Tabasco factory this time) in our family vacations. Paul loves military history; we visited two battlefields, a WWII museum, and one aircraft carrier. The kids love amusement parks; we went to two Six Flags parks. We all enjoy the beach, zoos, aquariums, and National Parks. Paul and I enjoy guided tours; we toured a Creole plantation. I think my top four activities on this trip were Chiricahua, the bats at Bracken Cave, the swamp tour in Louisiana, and Carlsbad Caverns. My favorite foods on the trip were the beignets in New Orleans and the salad I had at Bon Temps Grill in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Because our flight was leaving at 6:00am on Wednesday morning, I wanted to pick a hotel that was very close to the airport and offered a free shuttle. We checked into the Drury around 5pm on Tuesday night. We forgot the lesson we’ve learned in the past not to buy gas for the rental car at a gas station that’s too close to the airport. We paid a little over $4 per gallon. Hopefully we’ll remember in the future to get the gas a little farther away. When we left Pennsylvania, gas was right around $3 per gallon. Throughout our trip we typically paid somewhere between $2.40-$3.00 per gallon. I chose the Drury because it offered a free shuttle 24 hours a day. The first couple of hotels I considered didn’t start their shuttle service early enough for us to be able to use it. When I checked in, I told the woman I was disappointed we couldn’t take advantage of the free breakfast as we had seen in San Antonio that Drury has a nice breakfast. She told me to see her during the free dinner. She prepared a bag for us that contained ten mini blueberry muffins, three oranges, two apples, spoons, napkins, and five small yogurts. I was very grateful! It took me back to the 2020 and the “grab and go” breakfasts that hotels offered due to COVID. Honestly what she packed was better than what was typically given in those bags. There were four other nights on the trip that Paul and I could have gotten 2-3 free alcoholic drinks per night at the hotel. Each time I considered asking if they had non-alcoholic options, but I didn’t end up asking. It’s been quite a few years, but in the past, I’ve enjoyed drinking either a virgin pina colada or a virgin strawberry daquiri. Last night I asked if there was something I could drink that was fruity flavored without alcohol. She made me a sour cherry without the whiskey. It was delicious so I had a second one and shared some of it with Nadia. She didn’t even mark my drink card because it didn’t have any alcohol in it.

After dinner Paul returned the van to the airport and then took the shuttle back to the hotel. He passed an integrity test that night. Multiple times he was told by a rental car employee that everything was fine, and he could go. But he persisted in telling them how the plastic engine splash guard under the vehicle had been cracked several days earlier when we drove over on object on the highway. We shall see how much they charge us for that. The part costs about $150. We did purchase rental insurance through Priceline when we rented the vehicle through Dollar. It seems the way it works is that we pay Dollar whatever they say we owe due to this damage, and then we submit a claim to the rental insurance and hopefully get reimbursed. The rental insurance was much cheaper through Priceline that buying it directly from Dollar. Hopefully that decision won’t come back to haunt us. I already know it was a mistake to pay for the toll charges through Dollar. We only were on toll roads one day out of the two weeks we had the van. Ouch. Paul and I have rented vehicles a variety of times over the years including in other countries (France, Spain, Italy, Mexico, etc.), and this is the first time we have had to report any damage. We have only paid for tolls through a rental car company twice. We didn’t have a choice in Florida last year in February. In the future I’ll try to research that ahead of time so I can make a better decision. The next time we plan to rent a vehicle is in Hawaii in August, and we’re using Turo, so we won’t have to worry about toll charges that time. Also, I always get the rental insurance directly through Turo when we go that route. Even without this damage claim, the rental car was definitely the most expensive part of our trip. We had a 2022 Pacifica and drove a total of 2,882 miles over a period of two weeks.

Look how large a octobasse is!

We had requested the 4:30 shuttle. Considering the driver took us at 4:20, we could have requested the 5:00 shuttle and left at 4:50. Our plane started boarding at 5:20, but we weren’t checking any bags and due to TSA Precheck went through security very quickly. Leaving by 4:30am was a case of better safe than sorry. We flew from Phoenix to Seattle and then Seattle to Baltimore on Alaska Airlines. That definitely wasn’t the most direct route, but we paid a grand total of $30 for our five tickets so it was worth it to have our trip take a bit longer. Paul had the window seat on both flights, and we had some beautiful views of Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, and Rainier. We could have checked our bags for free on these flights, but that wasn’t the case with our flights to New Orleans via American Airlines, so we just went the carry-on route again. It takes less time to get to the gate if you aren’t checking any bags, and you know your luggage won’t get lost. We had very little time between deboarding and boarding in Seattle and had to take a train to get to a different terminal, but we made it on time with a few minutes to spare.

Over the decades there have been changes in the SOP of hotels and airlines. Some seem like improvements, and others do not. I miss the free meals they used to serve on flights that exceeded a certain length of time. I considered ordering a meal from Alaska Airlines, but it would have cost $62.50 before tax to order each of us a breakfast. In addition to bringing the breakfast food from Drury, we brought some granola bars and other snacks to serve as our lunch. We’re had dinner with my sister and her family at their home. It’s rare to be in a hotel that gives the tiny little bottles of shampoo. On this trip that happened two out of fourteen nights. I think having large bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash in the shower is a positive improvement as it has to be more environmentally friendly. Airlines used to provide the screens and also the headphones for watching movies and such. Now you need to bring your own. The boys forgot to bring earbuds. Nadia shared one of her earbuds with Ian, and I let Oliver use both of my earbuds on all of the flights. Ian forgot to pack toothpaste, but between the rest of us we had enough to share with him. Because we brought five small carry-on suitcases for a two-week trip, Nadia didn’t bring a sheet like she has many times in the past. Thankfully, almost every hotel we stayed in provided an extra set of bedding for the sofa bed. She typically just uses a blanket and a pillow from the set provided. I will really, really miss her when we have our first vacation without her, but it will definitely be simpler and cheaper to choose lodging because two queen beds are much more common than two queens plus a couch. This was the first flight Paul had to bring a passport for a domestic flight. I've had a "real ID" for five years. The last time Paul renewed his license, he tried to get a real ID, but they wouldn't accept his social security card because it was too tattered. He got a new SS card but hasn't needed to renew his license again yet, so he used his passport as his ID at the airport.

We’ve now been to 49 out of 50 states! After we visit Hawaii in August, I hope that in 2026 we make more progress with visiting all of the Canadian provinces and more of the continents. Two women sitting next to Paul and I at Bracken Cave had been to Antarctica and were trying to convince me to not exclude that one. I still have no desire to go to a place that cold! There are about 13 states I’d like us to return to so that we could visit some places we haven’ been to before. We spent the night at my sister's house. We are driving home this afternoon. I miss Milo and my own bed very much. It's wonderful to be able to visit new places, see different animals, and try new foods, but there's nothing like home sweet home.

Tuscon

Our bodies had adjusted to the two-hour time difference, but adjusting to a different time in Arizona due to them not following DST has proven more difficult. We all woke up earlier than we wanted to this morning. Our first stop was McDonald's for breakfast. I could not believe how expensive the breakfast sandwiches were! I remember when you could get two egg McMuffins for $3 and later two for $4. At the restaurant in Willcox, they were over $5 each!  Thankfully, we had a gift card that covered our breakfast. I'm grateful we usually get a free breakfast at the hotels. Drury have excellent breakfasts. We're planning to get a free dinner at the Drury in Phoenix tomorrow night, but we won't be able to eat breakfast at Drury on Wednesday morning because our flight leaves too early in the morning. 

We all appreciated that we didn't have any lengthy drives today. Our first drive was a little less than one hour long. We stopped at the San Xavier del Bac Mission which was founded in 1692. The first one was demolished by an Apache raid in 1770. The structure we visited today was built from 1783-1797. Paul and I would have enjoyed taking a guided tour, but the kids don't enjoy guided tours anywhere near as much we do so we just did a quick self-guided visit. Next, we drove about 30 minutes to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. It's a rather unique site as it's a combination of a zoo, botanical garden, aquarium, and natural history museum. We spent more than two hours there. When we were driving out of Chiricahua yesterday, we had to stop twice so we wouldn't hit animals that were on the road. The first time it was on account of two wild turkeys. The second time it was due to a group (maybe 10?) of what we thought were wild pigs. At the Desert Museum we learned that they were javelinas which aren't pigs but are peccaries. We skipped the exhibit where you could touch a stingray because that cost extra, and we've done that many times at no additional fee at many aquariums. 

Our next stop was Saguaro National Park, which was only seven minutes from the Desert Museum. We watched the video in the Visitor Center, the kids completed their Junior Ranger books, we explored the cactus garden, I stamped our passports, and we bought a magnet, t-shirt (for Paul), and hoodie (for Nadia). We drove the Bajada Loop, which is mostly on dirt roads. We hiked three short trails. We saw many different kinds of cacti and on the last hike we saw petroglyphs. The temperatures were in the 90's while we were there. We had dinner at Texas Roadhouse that was extremely close to our hotel. The kids wanted ice cream from Sonic afterwards. We had discovered on Saturday night that shakes are 50% off after 5pm at Sonic. Oliver's peanut butter shake was only $1.84, for example. When I checked into the Days Inn, I discovered the room I had reserved couldn't be occupied because of an electrical problem that was discovered in that room this morning. The kids had been looking forward to it because it contained three queen beds plus a sofa bed. Nadia was going to sleep on something other than a couch for the second time on this trip, but due to the issue, they ended up putting us in a room with the standard two queen beds and a sofa. Paul and the kids took a dip in either the pool or hut tub after dinner. We've had a good vacation, and we are ready to go home in the near future. I miss Milo and also my own bed. The Seiberts have been doing an excellent job caring for Milo in our absence. 

So very beautiful!!!

Yesterday morning our day began at White Sands National Park in New Mexico which is located close to an Air Force base and an Army missile range. If they are testing missiles, the road into the park is closed. They weren't firing anything yesterday. Our first stop was the visitor center where we got out junior ranger books and badges and purchased a magnet and a t-shirt (for Nadia). I also rented a sled and purchased some wax for the sled. The plan for the day included a hike in the park, but we opted to give the kids more time to sled down sand dunes. The first part of the road is paved; the rest of the road in the park is packed sand. We stopped at two different locations in the park for the kids to sled down some sand dunes. Ian said he liked White Sands as much as the Badlands, and the Badlands has been his favorite National Park for the last almost 4 years. Thankfully, it wasn't as hot when we were at White Sands as it was the previous day. 

After we left White Sands, we drove over four hours across New Mexico and into Arizona to visit Chiricahua National Monument. As Arizona doesn't follow daylight savings time, we gained one hour as we drove. We passed Fort Bowie National Historic Site. In my earlier itineraries, I had us stopping at that site as well, but somewhere along the way I eliminated that one from our plans as there doesn't look like there's much to see, and getting to the visitor center involves driving on a dirt road and then hiking for 1.5 miles each way from the parking lot. Chiricahua is absolutely stunning. If I were to rank my top ten National Park sites, I would absolutely put it in the top ten and most likely in the top five. I think my top five (in no particular order) would be Olympic, Bryce Canyon, Mt. Rainier, Chiricahua, and Big Cypress. Others that would be in my top ten would include Kenai Fjords, Redwoods, Carlsbad, and Crater Lake. We stopped at the visitor center for junior ranger badges and books and purchased a magnet, t-shirt (for me), baseball cap (for Paul), and cactus candy (Oliver bought). I was already impressed as we drove along Bonita Canyon Drive, but then I was in awe as we hiked three trails that together form a 3.3-mile loop. It took us a little less than two hours to hike that trail partially because I stopped and took pictures many times. I could have spent an entire day hiking in that park. Thankfully it was "only" in the 80's, and there was some shade which meant the experience was much better than at Guadalupe Mountains where it was about 100 degrees out. The pictures won't do it justice but let me say if you are ever in Arizona, I highly recommend a stop at Chiricahua! I liked it better than the Grand Canyon or Petrified Forest, which are the two National Parks in Arizona. I think this one should also be a National Park. Arizona has asked for that change, but they were told it's too small. That doesn't make sense to me as it's not a tiny park, and the Gateway Arch in Missouri is a MUCH smaller site, and it's a "National Park." Anyhow I give this park 5 out of 5 possible stars. The pictures don't do it justice. 

We had dinner and spent the night in Willcox, Arizona. We ate at a Pizza Hut, which was more expensive than the other pizza place we ate at on the trip but much cheaper than most sit-down restaurants. We bought some food for lunch today at Safeway. The prices at the grocery store were alarming! We spent the night at Rose's Motel. I picked it because it was a reasonable price and also had a room with three queen size beds. Nadia has slept on a couch every other night on the trip. The downside was this one is the only one on the trip that doesn't include a free breakfast. We went to McDonald's for breakfast. Today and tomorrow, we'll be in Arizona (Tuscon and Phoenix), and we begin flying back to Maryland early on Wednesday morning and lose three hours while we fly.

Fort Worth and Guadalupe

 On Friday morning we had a short drive from Arlington to Fort Worth, Texas. Our first stop was the Fort Worth Stockyards. We had a guided tour and also watched a cattle drive. If the schedule had permitted, we would have seen the rodeo that night, but when I was planning the vacation, I couldn't figure out a way to include that in our itinerary. Thankfully, the kids did see their first rodeo last year in Pennsylvania. Nadia and Ian bought Oliver a cowboy hat as an early birthday present. Oliver got himself a ring. He has wanted a ring for more than a year. Paul was opposed to this idea since he himself doesn't like to wear jewelry of any kind. It was a compromise on his part to agree to wear a wedding band. I didn't have any issue with Oliver buying a ten-dollar ring with his own money. Our second stop in Fort Worth was the zoo. This zoo has cheaper admission rates than the one in New Orleans, and they also participate in AZA reciprocity, so we received a 50% discount on all five tickets which meant it was much cheaper to visit this zoo. I thought it was a better zoo. A few years ago, USA Today had a list of the ten top zoos in the country. The Audubon Zoo was 7th on that list, and the Fort Worth zoo was 2nd. US News and World Report also has both zoos on their top 27 zoos in the country list. We didn't see any kangaroos in New Orleans, and they are one of my favorite animals. In Fort Worth one of the highlights were watching a baby elephant play in the water. When he trumpeted, his mom came a running to him! We also enjoyed watching a giraffe interact with his parent. Paul especially liked seeing the rhino in the water. 

After we left the zoo we began the long drive to Carlsbad. We stopped for dinner at a family-owned pizza place along the way. Pizza is definitely the most affordable option for dinner. Paul wouldn't mind if we had pizza every single night. Oliver would object the most strongly to that notion, and I'm also not a fan of having it anywhere near that often, but this was the first time we had pizza on the trip. I had driven from the zoo to our dinner stop. Paul was driving from dinner to our hotel. We gained one hour on the drive as we left CDT and entered MDT. We were in Texas for most of the drive, but near the end we entered New Mexico. At one point Paul got in a passing lane to pass a few vehicles, and it turned out there was a large metal object on the road in the passing lane which we ran over. The rest of the drive was rather stressful as we didn't know what damage had been done. All Paul could see was a plastic guard under the vehicle had been damaged. The vehicle has been running fine, thankfully. Since it happened on a Friday night and shops are usually closed on the weekend plus Monday is Memorial Day, we haven't figured out yet if we need to do anything before we return the vehicle on Tuesday evening. I'm very thankful it's still been running fine as many times out west you can go for many, many miles without seeing any businesses of any kind.

Our first stop on Saturday was Carlsbad Caverns. My top three caverns that I've been to are Luray, Mammoth, and Carlsbad. I think Carlsbad is my most favorite. At one point my grandparents lived in Artesia, New Mexico, which is not far from Carlsbad. Unfortunately, a couple of months ago they announced the indefinite suspension of all guided tours due to a lack of park rangers. That was very disappointing. You still need a timed ticket to enter the cave. Thankfully I did get five of those for us. There were many people at the park yesterday who didn't have reservations and therefore weren't able to enter the cave. There was a bat flight last night, but again that didn't fit in our itinerary, and I think the one we saw at Bracken Cave is more impressive (plus they don't allow any photos or videos to be taken of the bat flight at Carlsbad). We opted to take the elevator down to the cave rather than climb down and up the equivalent of a 75-story building by way of the natural cave entrance. We spent about an hour down in the caverns. It was just as amazing as I remembered. The kids each worked on two Junior Ranger booklets after our tour. The one booklet that was for 13+ took Nadia awhile to finish, and Ian eventually threw in the towel on completing it. Nadia and Oliver earned two badges at Carlsbad, and Ian earned one. Carlsbad Caverns are underneath the Guadalupe Mountains.

I often use the term "National Park" loosely to refer to all of their sites whether they are monuments, historical sites, battlefields, preserves, seashores, etc. There are 433 national park units, but only 63 of those are actually designated National Parks. Some people make it a goal to visit all 63 National Parks. I don't have that as a goal because some of them are located in places like Guam or are really difficult to get to (like many of the ones in Alaska). On this trip we will have visited four of the 63 National Parks - White Sands, Carlsbad Caverns, Guadalupe Mountains, and Saguaro. We plan to visit two more in August in Hawaii, which will put us at almost half (30/63). It was about 100 degrees when we were hiking at Guadalupe Mountains. We had planned to hike a trail that was a little over 4 miles round trip. In light of the heat and how much of the trail involved scrambling over large rocks, we didn't make it to the end of the trail, which was a disappointment to me as I had also missed the slot canyon in 2021 due to my broken ankle. We hiked for a little over two hours altogether. At one point Ian got lost and started climbing the trail up to the peak (which is a 9 hour round trip hike). Thankfully he figured out his error and rejoined us. Hopefully he learned his lesson not to hike alone. We had dinner at the only restaurant along the highway for more than an hour - Cornudas Cafe. Thankfully we got there before it closed at 6:00 pm. We were their last customer for the day. We ended our day driving to Alamogordo, New Mexico in preparation for visiting White Sands National Park today.