Camp Good News

Yesterday the kids had their first day at Camp Good News. I hung out at the library in the same town where the camp is located for about 5.5 hours. Ian participated in this camp in 2016, Nadia and Ian did it last year, and all three are doing it this year. Ian didn't do the full week in 2016 as my mom passed away that week. Ian picked fishing as his activity in 2016, and he picked it again this year. He said that Addi (neighbor) sat next to him on the bus ride to where they went fishing. Ian was very proud of the fact that he was the very first child this year to catch a fish. Oliver had also requested fishing, but too many children picked that activity and so he didn't get his first choice. He was in tears when he told me about it. They put him in crafts instead. Nadia picked fishing last year, but since she didn't catch any fish last year she wanted to do something different this year. She picked sand art this year. If the weather cooperates, the girls will be swimming today and the boys will swim tomorrow. Due to the rain we're supposed to get today, Nadia probably won't actually swim until Thursday.

This is the first year of all three kids being in a camp at the same time. In the past I was trying to find things to do with one or two kids while the other one or two were in camp. Last year our neighbor and I did some carpooling for Camp Good News so that our youngest boys didn't have to make the round trip twice a day. Thus far this year I have opted to bring my laptop and not make the trip twice. The library I stayed in yesterday opens at 9AM on MWF but not until noon on T/Th. This morning I made a trip to Aldi's, called my sister to wish her a happy birthday, and then came to a library only a couple of miles from the other library. This library is MUCH bigger, and it opened at 10AM. I'm hoping by the end of the week to have almost all of my lecture notes and PowerPoint presentations ready for the fall semester. I took the kids to VBS and picked them up the last two nights, but I asked Paul this morning if he would pick them up at 8pm. The other VBS programs were super close to our house (less than 5 minute drive). This one isn't far - about 12 minutes, but still making two round trips there plus a the drive to camp (30 minutes one way) is too much for me. This is the kids last week of VBS this year. I'm glad they enjoy it!

Art in the Park

For months I had planned to take the kids to the annual Star Wars Day at the Children's Museum yesterday, but since I had driven them to Bloomsburg for tennis lessons on Tuesday and Thursday, I didn't feel like driving there again on Saturday. Instead we went to the park in Lewisburg where they were selling crafts and things. The kids got balloons and two of them got their faces painted (for free). I paid $5 per child for them to each paint an 8x10 canvas. Nadia did an owl, Oliver did the Batman symbol (I helped him a little), and Ian did a fish. Ian's took the longest, so the others got their faces painted while he was finishing his painting. The kids lobbied for Paul to take them to the pool later that day, but he stuck with his plan to take them this afternoon.

I have worked a bit more on planning our three day getaway to Niagara Falls (in August) this weekend. My Aunt was talking about how great the Aladdin broadway show is, and I thought I'd check and see if it was touring this year. I found that it would be in Buffalo while we

were up in that area. So I got 5 tickets to the show. Hope they love it! The touring prices are a lot cheaper than seeing it in NYC. I still want to take them to see a show in NYC some year, but this will suffice for now. Our plans for now include visiting Fort George, Fort Niagara, riding the Maid of the Mist, visiting the Cave of the Winds, seeing the falls from the Canadian side, visiting the Buffalo Museum of Science, seeing Aladdin, and taking a two hour Erie Canal cruise. I had originally only booked one night, but I am going to book us one more night in Buffalo.

The kids were a bit nervous because I took two bags full of their stuffed animals with me to church today. The lesson was on Acts 10 - Peter's vision and visit with Cornelius so I had them practice identifying clean versus unclean animals with the stuffed animals.

I passed on the swimming today. They had never been to this pool before. There was a rock wall to climb in the pool and two different slides (no diving boards) and basketball hoops in

the pool. Oliver didn't swim as well as he had in New York. I'm not sure why. I was hoping he'd show Paul what he could do. He didn't try either water slide. Hopefully if I take him there again I can get him to do one of them. It was free to swim there today, and they have several other free days. This evening the kids started their final week of VBS for the summer. The next four days they'll have Camp Good News (through CEF) from 9-3 and then VBS from 5-8. I'm hoping to make a lot of progress with my course preparations for the fall. It's Oliver's first time at Camp Good News. I wonder what activity he'll pick? Both Nadia and Ian picked fishing their first year there. Last year Ian picked painting rocks instead of fishing. I hope they all have a great week! On Saturday we'll be taking Nadia to Camp Susque for the week. Next week the boys have NO plans aside from spending a day at Grandma and Pop Pop's house. This means I get a week off from my chauffeuring duties next week! Woohoo!

Foto Friday

 On Wednesday the kids were okay with staying home instead of going to DelGrosso's as long as we had lunch in our town's park (Kid's Café) and VBS that night. Yesterday was a really hectic day. We left the house at 8:20am, and they didn't get home until 8:40PM. I was home for about 90 minutes of that time while they were at VBS, but it still was a long day. Today we had a play date at the playground for 2.5 hours but other than that are staying home. Nadia lobbied for me to take them swimming, but I wasn't interested because there would be a one hour (round trip) drive involved. I think Paul will take them swimming either tomorrow evening or Sunday afternoon.

Although part of me is already looking forward to deactivating my FB account again, it has been a blessing this summer to have access to it because I've been able to gain access to pics of the kids playing tennis, Ian at Camp Susque, and also at the VBS they attended this week. I also scanned two of the horseback riding photos today from camp this summer.

 Years ago I had set one of my goals to attend a BSF study for at least one year. I have done ladies Bible studies at different churches over the years and lately have been doing Precepts inductive Bible studies at our church, but that was one of the things I gave up part way through the last school year. They haven't announced yet what Precepts studies they will be offering at our church this fall, but I think I'm going to give BSF a whirl instead. They have a program for the kids also which means the four of us will be studying the minor prophets together during the week as the kids and I do our "homework" in preparation for the next class. I had been planning on doing a study of the book of James with them this fall, but I'm fine with switching to the minor prophets. It will be on Monday nights. Since the kids aren't doing any team sports this fall, I don't have to worry about whether it will conflict with a practice until we hit basketball season.

 

Thankful Thursday

I am far overdue in writing one of these. It's been almost exactly two months since I wrote a gratitude post. Oops! The last nine weeks represent the first 60% of our summer vacation, meaning at the end of this week we'll have six weeks left before we go back to school. Here are some things I'm thankful for from the past nine weeks.

1. It's wonderful to be on summer break! We can officially start counting days as of July 1, and we've logged a couple through field trips, but we won't get back into the "usual grind" until August 27. That will also be my first day back. We are doing pretty well with our summer bucket list! We have completed a little more than half of the items on the list thus far.

2. We had a great trip to the Hans Herr House on May 11, and the fact that Tab and her boys joined us made it even better.

3. We had a great vacation with Paul's parents in San Diego in late May/ early June, and our

neighbors did a great job of taking care of our guinea pigs while we were gone.

4. Paul and I finished hanging the curtains in the basement.

5. We enjoyed a trip to Sesame Place in June with Paul's parents and a trip to Six Flags Great Adventure this week.

6. The kids were able to participate in two nights of VBS at the Alliance Church, three mornings at our church, and tonight will be their fourth night of VBS at the Methodist church. Next week they plan to do five nights of VBS at the Baptist church.

7. The kids have enjoyed the free meal at the Kid's Café in our town several times. Yesterday they served subs from a restaurant in Lewisburg, baby carrots, chips, and bananas.

8. All three kids have enjoyed the free tennis lessons in Bloomsburg. They are eagerly

anticipating their final lesson tonight because there will be water balloons involved!

9. We had a great time at Aunt Janet's house last week. She is such a generous and gracious hostess. She reminds me of my mom who also had the gift of hospitality. My mom would always make sure she had our favorite foods on hand when we were coming down to visit - Paul's favorite soda, the kids' favorite cereal, etc. Aunt Janet had purchased strawberries and blueberries for Nadia, watermelon for Oliver, orange marmalade and Frosted Mini wheats for Ian, etc. She even remembered that I liked egg salad and had already made some for me to use for my sandwich at lunch. She eats a grain free diet, but she buys bread and cereal for us to eat when we visit. She also sent us home with all the left over Cheez-it crackers, cereal, etc. So thoughtful! We enjoyed making use of her beach cabana, indoor pool, and outdoor pool. She treated me to dinner at a Mexican restaurant as she knows that's one of my favorite types of food I can go years

without visiting a Mexican restaurant.

10. The kids were in NYC for the first time as we did National Geographic's Ocean Odyssey Encounter and also walked around Times Square. On July 8 we visited the Long Island Children's Museum. I am thankful for safety on the road!

11. All three kids loved the five day horseback riding camp! Nadia also loved the five day Adventure Camp at Bloomsburg University. Ian had a good first experience with overnight camp at Camp Susque.

12. The kids enjoyed the fireworks at Freedom Fest on June 26 and Isaiah's birthday party on June 30.

13. We all enjoyed seeing Incredibles 2 at the theater on Father's Day!

14. We had a nice getaway to Rochester in June to the science museum, Strong Museum of Play, and Genesee Country Village Museum.

15. Nadia had her first surprise party and her first sleepover and got her ears pierced in May! We had one trip to Urgent Care over an ear lobe, but her ear has healed nicely. Hoping for smooth sailing from here on out with those two little holes.

16. The show "Jesus" at Sight and Sound was absolutely amazing!

17. We were able to celebrate Andrew's 13th birthday with him in Maryland. Our time in Maryland included ice skating, visiting Fort McHenry, Port Discovery, and an excellent program on being a soldier in the French and Indian War at Fort Frederick.

18. Oliver and I plus Tab and her boys were able to enjoy Montage Mountain (water park) on June 21.

19. Oliver has made tremendous progress with his swimming skills (and courage in the water)!

20. I'm thankful for my princess! It's been such a gift to be her mom for the last 10 years.

21. I'm grateful to be an American. Happy birthday, USA!

22. I'm enjoying teaching the K-2 and 3-5th grade Bible lessons on the Sundays when we're around. This coming Sunday I'll be teaching the lesson four times (both services); usually I just teach it twice.

23. Although I wasn't happy (that's putting it mildly) with the rank/step I was offered for next year, I am grateful for the job. I am also thankful it's not a last minute hire like it was last year. I haven't signed

a contract yet, but I saw yesterday that one of my four courses has already shown up in the course management system. I am so grateful I won't be scrambling to put that together the first week of the semester like I had to the last two semesters. I'm also thankful that three of the classes I am teaching are ones I taught this past semester, and the fourth is not a totally new prep (like two of the classes were last fall).

24. I purchased an online fifth grade math class for Nadia. She asked if she could start it yesterday (she has never asked to start math early in the past). She did two lessons! I think I made a wise choice with choosing this curriculum for her this year. Here's to hoping that this will lead to her having more confidence (and hence a better attitude) about math this year!

 25. I booked our 3 bedroom unit in Williamsburg for less than $300 for a week in September. That's much cheaper than what we paid for our Airbnb in San Diego.

26. All three kids are at a one day history camp today. I'm grateful for opportunities like this in our area! Our neighbor also took their two kids to the camp today. She and her husband are having a date today - going biking and such. I brought my laptop and am getting some work done while sitting in a comfy chair in the library really close to the

history camp. The theme for today's camp is the Middle Ages and the kids are "exploring baroque music, making mosaics, making shields and then using them to joust.  They are learning about crime, punishment, diseases and defenses and making a scarecrow knight to draw and quarter, a bubonic plague mask and demonstrating a trebuchet."

27. Although my mom's longing to go on a cruise to Alaska was never fulfilled, my Dad and Margie were able to experience that recently.

They are in Chicago with Wendy's family right now. We're thankful that they had a safe trip and that Margie's ankle has healed from her injury last August. Now we're praying for Andrew's wrist to heal. He had surgery last week and is finally getting the hard cast today after wearing a splint for three weeks.

28. I'm thankful for a reliable vehicle. The kids thought I was crazy when I snapped a photo with my phone when the odometer hit 100,000 miles. That number had no significance to them. The van is the only vehicle I've ever purchased new in my life, and I have driven it for *most* of those 100,000 miles. The notable exception would be that Paul's dad drove the van for about 4,000 of those miles (two round trips to Orlando). I got two new tires and two rotors and front brake pads over the past month or so. Hoping the van doesn't need anything aside from oil changes and tire rotations for awhile now. I'm very thankful for the safety we experienced on the road during those 100,000 miles! We have three road trips planned for August - a weekend in Pittsburgh, a weekend in Niagara Falls, and a weekend in Maryland with all the cousins.

29. As of today my mom has been in heaven for two years. I'm grateful for the little physical tangible reminders I have of her life, such as her watch that I've been wearing for almost the last two years. Although I have gotten accustomed to life without her, I still miss her. I miss talking to her on the phone, miss her warm hugs, miss hearing her voice, seeing her smile, reading her emails, miss her attending my kids' concerts, sporting events, and birthday parties, and so much more. I'm very grateful to have had a mom who loved me and my three children SO much. Her four children were such a very high priority in her life and that was still very true when we were adults. Just like people writing letters has practically become a thing of the past (mostly just get junk mail and bills in the mail these days), it seems the same has happened with email. It's rare to get a personal email these days. My email inbox resembles my mailbox - almost exclusively advertisements and bills (not including my work email). I wonder how many thousands of emails my mom wrote me over the 20+ years she emailed me so faithfully? I miss you, mom! I love you, and I can't wait to see you in Heaven again some day.

Water Balloons

Infants and toddlers are usually oblivious about their birthdays, but then as they become preschoolers they start to eagerly anticipate their next birthday. Older children usually don't talk about it as incessantly as the younger ones do. Oliver is in that stage where he has already been talking about his birthday for months. Last year I remember feeling like his birthday was a failure because he had been looking forward to it for so long and then we were sick with the stomach flu and such while my sister's family was here on his birthday. I had forgotten to get him the traditional birthday shirt (got him one after the fact), and the weather didn't cooperate for his pool party. I have always struggled to come up with ideas for what to get Oliver for his birthday and Christmas because he's the third child and the second boy and because he as of yet doesn't have something he's really "into" like the other two did when they were his age (princesses, Legos, etc.). I always get him a big box of goldfish crackers and some peanut butter cups, but that doesn't seem like its enough for his sixth birthday. Last year I had a good idea for him (for once!) of the spinning seesaw that his grandparents got for him. I haven't had any inspiration yet this year, and his birthday is less than a month away. I did order three birthday t-shirts today (one for each child). Nadia wore the same one the last two years, but I think it will be too small next year. I also ordered Ian another pair of sandals since he left his pair in the hotel in Baltimore the end of May. The only thing I have on my "gift shelf" that I could give to Oliver are three Mandisa cd's I got from the bookstore's clearance rack in May. He does love to listen to music!

I know Oliver wants a Yoda birthday cake. I will ask Aunt Millie and Uncle Al to help us with that. I got  him some Star Wars plates, napkins, etc. at Target for less than $5 total. He has been talking about having water balloons at his party; I got a bag of water balloons at a dollar store. He has invited everyone and their brother to his party including random people we ran into in California, New York, New Jersey, etc. I haven't actually invited anyone yet in part because I'm embarrassed to host a party at our house given we have a partially removed deck and only one half of a door in front of the washer and dryer in the kitchen (party guests wouldn't see the master bathroom so I'm not concerned about the fact the floor is still partially ripped out in that room). The other reason is that Ian hasn't had any friends at a birthday party yet, and he's about to turn nine. I should have invited friends to his birthday last year because Nadia began inviting a couple of friends starting with her eighth birthday party. Would it be fair to invite friends to Oliver's 6th birthday party if Nadia didn't do so until she was eight, and Ian hasn't yet had that experience? Throwing parties is not my forte in life. I did throw Paul two surprise parties over the past 17 years of our marriage, but that's about it. I've never given a baby shower or a bridal shower or anything like that. Nadia's first two birthday parties were easy because I had them at the swimming pool, but we aren't members of a pool this year. Considering his birthday is on August 7 I had better start making some party plans and figure out what to buy him for his gift!

When we were at a birthday party for a five year old the end of July, I was rather overwhelmed. It was a pool party at the boy's grandparent's house, but there were MANY people there. When I was growing up none of my birthday parties were anywhere near that large. Thankfully my kids seem satisfied with the small celebrations we've had thus far. I hope they never expect a party as big as that one was! Ian (my introvert) would never ask for a party that big. Although Nadia is an extrovert, Oliver takes the cake in that category. He wants to strike a conversation up with everyone he passes by no matter where we are. He doesn't have a shy bone in his body! If everyone he invited to his water balloon birthday party actually came, it would be a gigantic party! Of course given most of the people he invited don't even know our names or where we live, I am not worried, ha ha! I love the fact that Oliver doesn't have the "gimmes" (Ian could take a lesson), but I can't believe he's almost six years old and I still have no idea what to get him for his birthday. With Nadia and Ian it's a case of trying to pick between a variety of ideas. Today Nadia asked me how expensive seasons 5 and 6 of the Brinkman Adventures would be. This means I succeeded with her birthday gift this year as I got her seasons 1-4 for her birthday (stories on CD). Yay!