Happy Father's Day!

Last June I took the kids to Fort Frederick in Big Pool, Maryland on our way back to PA from a trip to see the Towfighis in Maryland. We had learned about that fort when we visited Fort Ligonier in western PA. The kids enjoyed the Colonial Children's Day program last year so much, Nadia asked if we could return again this year. They have a five year rotation so the activities vary from year to year. Last year the theme was from the viewpoint of a soldier who enlisted during the French and Indian War. This year they were taking on the role of an officer (gentlemen) during that same war. Parents aren't required to stay during the program, but considering the Fort is 2.5 hours from our house, I just stayed at the fort all day although I did sit in our van and talked to my sister during part of the day (which meant I didn't get any pictures of the fencing portion of the five hour program). Last year I only signed Nadia and Ian up for the program. Although Oliver was still technically too young, I signed all three kids up this year. Not as many kids were signed

up this year compared to last year. The activities focused on fort design, battle tactics, drawing and painting, singing, fencing, drills, and playing a game of cricket. Nadia won the cricket game! They played with rules from the 1700's. They had a tasty lunch that included scones, sugar cookies, cheese melted on toast, various meats and cheeses, bread, baby carrots, pickles, etc. If we lived closer, I'd probably take them every year for the full five year rotation, but given how far away we live from Fort Frederick, I am dubious that we will return. Considering it would have taken five hours to drive there and back in one day, we decided to spend the night. The downside of this was that it meant we missed church three weeks in a row. It's been seven years since that happened for me. I missed more than that when I was in the hospital during Oliver's pregnancy. The first two we missed while we were on vacation. I really wanted to attend church today, but since the kids had horseback riding camp M-F, we weren't able to make the trip on

Friday/Saturday. Since we will be studying the Civil War in September, I decided we'd visit Gettysburg on the second day of this two day trip.

Paul worked on Saturday, but he drove down to Gettysburg this morning. The kids and I drove back up into PA yesterday afternoon, had dinner at Dunkin' Donuts, rented a movie from Redbox (for 58 cents thanks to a coupon code), and then watched that movie on my laptop computer in our hotel room. I turned out the lights at 8:30pm as we had gotten up earlier than usual that morning. This morning we had a (free) hot breakfast at the hotel. I had packed drinks and fruit for our lunch today, but unfortunately I accidentally left those in the refrigerator in our hotel room this morning. Oops! I still had granola bars and pretzels in the van. Those sufficed for our lunch today since we had a big breakfast and were able to drink from the drinking fountain in the Visitor Center. Paul *loves* Gettysburg. He has read long books in which each book only covers ONE day of the three day

battle. So it was fitting we went there on Father's Day. We'll be at our church tomorrow setting up for VBS and be there again the next four days for VBS each morning, and we plan to go to church the next four Sundays. We spent five hours at Gettysburg today. We will need to return again sometime in the next year because we only scratched the surface. During our time there we watched the movie, saw the Cyclorama (painting), toured the museum, visited the farm which was used as a hospital during the battle, walked through a small part of the battlefield, completed the Junior Ranger program, and participated in four ranger programs. First the kids participated in an one hour program entitled "Join the Army," another focused on how they sent encoded messages, the third was about how to fire a cannon, and the last one was about the use of signal flags.

Since I knew we'd be gone this weekend, I had the kids make their cards for Paul and Pop Pop on Wednesday and Thursday. Nadia's featured purple

thumbprints that were to look like grapes and it said "I love you a bunch, Dad." Ian drew a dog and wrote "Daddy, I ruff you" with letters that were in the shape of dog bones. Oliver made a pirate that was partially a hand print, and it said "Dad, you're grrrrreat!" Nadia painted a lion for Pop Pop with the caption "King of the Kindle." He does love to read on his Kindle! I bought Pop Pop an 8x10 photo from the vacation that included he, Grandma, and their three grandkids (at Montpelier) and a big container of cashews. I got Paul a big bag of Middlesworth Sour Cream and Onion potato chips. I only buy those on special occasions like his birthday and such as they're never on sale. The plain and BBQ flavors go on sale, but not the sour cream and onion ones, which are his favorite. I also glued shells to three picture frames, and one of the pictures in one of those frames is of Paul and the kids. I'm not generally very artsy, crafty, but I do like the way the picture frames turned out! The shells that I glued on the frames are ones that Nadia, Ian, and I found at

Myrtle Beach. The first time I gave Paul a father's Day card was in 2005, during my first pregnancy. We didn't feel like parents in 2006 or 2007, but Father's Day 2008 I was pregnant with Nadia. She was born nine days after Father's Day. My kids love their Daddy very much, and I'm thankful he was able to stay home with them two days a week during the weeks I was teaching this last school year. Unfortunately he hasn't been feeling that well so he was in bed before 8:00 this evening. Hopefully my Dad, Pop Pop, and Paul each had a special day today! I printed an 8x10 of the boys wearing Steeler shirts for my Dad's gift. I had packed the shirts for that reason and told the boys to smile for Grandpa when I snapped the photo. Tomorrow we will have the first of three birthday celebrations for Nadia!

P.S. This shell that Nadia is holding above her head was actually fired by the Confederates during the battle of Gettysburg!

9.5 years old!

Although I definitely am making progress in moving back towards feeling "normal," I definitely haven't arrived there yet. For example, I had zero desire to take our traditional wearing green pics on St. Patrick's Day this year, but I did take a Memorial Day picture of the boys wearing red, white, and blue. Well today it hit me that I missed Ian's half birthday two days ago. Yesterday I received some unpleasant news, and when that happens I typically take a break from blogging, but when I realized I was two days late in writing about Ian, I didn't want to be any tardier than I already was. Considering for years I used to write a post about each child far more often than twice a year, I'm not ready to cut back to just once a year. I looked through the post I wrote about him six months ago. Most things haven't changed - Legos and stuffed animals are still his favorites.

Since Uncle Maurice passed away, he's been playing on Maurice's Nintendo Switch instead of the iPad. He still loves Magic Tree House and Imagination Station books, but

lately his favorite author has been Dick King-Smith. He's also read Paddington Bear books and books by Andrew Clements recently. One other thing that changed from the list is that his favorite food at lunch these days is a bologna sandwich on honey wheat bread with mustard. He likes the sandwich to be warmed a few seconds in the microwave. He still likes peanut butter and marmalade sandwiches or hotdogs, but bologna is his current favorite. Over the past six months his typing speed really improved, and over the last school year he learned to write in cursive. He's switched to wearing sneakers that have shoe laces (no more Velcro); he's doing well with tying his own shoes. Although his fear of heights still pops up now and then (ex. refused to try the zipline last month), he's making progress as he did climb all the stairs up to the crown of the Statue of Liberty and he also climbed farther up the rock wall than he ever had before.

I can't believe in just six months he'll hit double digits. EEK! Although Oliver loves snuggling just as much as Ian does, of my

three kids Ian is definitely the one who is "Mommy's boy." He'd be content to just stay home with me most of the time. The other two have much stronger desires to be with other people and be out and about. He'll be spending seven nights at Camp Susque for the first time later this month. Hopefully he'll have a great time. He has a beautiful voice, and I'm hoping that he'll continue using that for the Lord for years to come. He hasn't been baptized yet because he is intimated by the interview (that is shown on video prior to the baptism). Hopefully he'll overcome that fear as well. I love our middle child to pieces. I treasure every day I get to spend with him. When he says he wants to live next door to me when he grows up, I don't argue with that! Heaven knows what will actually happen, but living close to my children when they are adults sounds lovely to me. Happy belated half birthday, Ian! We shall see if Ian starts saying he is 9 1/2 years old. Oliver certainly never says he's 6; he always says he's 6 1/2 years old. That 1/2 is important to many kids!

Thankful Tuesday

1. The kids had their last gym class for this school year on May 24, and Nadia had her last art class that same day. I am very thankful that Nadia is able to take this class at Meadowbrook and that there are multiple organizations that offer gym classes for homeschoolers in our area.

2. In May one day when we walked to the playground we saw went inside a Amish restaurant/shop that opened last year. It so happened that they were having customer appreciation day and were giving everyone a cup of free homemade ice cream! Nadia hadn't joined us for our trip to the playground, but when we got back and told her, she rode her bike and also got some free ice cream.

3. We had a nice vacation from May 28-June 9. I am thankful that we were all healthy, that we were safe during all our travels, that we were able to visit a variety of interesting places, and that the weather was really nice during the days we were at the beach. The homeschool programs at Yorktown and

Jamestown were nice, and those tickets were much cheaper than if we just purchased the standard tickets. I like the photo we bought at the USS Wisconsin. I passed on the ones we were offered at Luray Caverns and USS Yorktown because they weren't as good as the Wisconsin one. It was also wonderful to have so much time together as a family of FIVE.

4. I'm also thankful for the pictures I was able to take at the beach last Wednesday night! A few random strangers helped with snapping the photo when all five (or seven) of us were in the5.  picture. Paul or Nadia took the pics that I am in. I regret I don't have a nice photo of my brother and I. When we visited him in November I took pictures of the kids with Uncle Maurice, but I didn't think to pass the camera to someone else so I could have a picture of my brother and I. Since I am usually the one taking the pictures, I am not in the pictures very often. I have recently made more of an effort to be IN more pictures. I don't want my kids to some day in the future wish they had a picture of me with them that

doesn't exist.

5. I'm thankful I've lost at least 28 pounds. That is also helping me be more willing to have my picture taken. I'm hoping to reach my goal weight sometime in July.

6. I sang with the choir on May 26, and now we're on summer break. I am thankful that when we go to church in the summer (we missed the last two weeks due to our vacation), we don't have to be there by 8:15 like we do when the choir is singing. Also, I'm looking forward to helping more in Kidzway. I'm scheduled to teach five out of six weeks from June 23-July 28.

7. The kids are enjoying horseback riding camp. Oliver is riding a horse this year, not a pony. The weather wasn't that great for camp on Monday, but they had gorgeous weather today which meant they were able to go swimming and spend more time riding horses. I am very thankful that Tab and I are sharing the driving to and from camp this week.

8. My friend, Cheri, resigned from her job a few months ago. I am so glad that she is now retired as it's easier to make plans to get together with her. Today we walked for a little over 6 miles and had lunch together and talked a lot. We spent almost four hours together, which was heavenly. Tomorrow I'm planning to walk with Tab. Yesterday I was able to have a nice, lengthy conversation with Yvonne.

9. I have finished signing the kids up for everything this summer. Today I sent in their registrations for the baseball/softball clinic at Sunbury Bible Church in July. Before we went on vacation I finally decided to send them to history camp the week of July 29 (3 hours a day for 5 days focused on WW1 and WW2) rather than art camp. I'm determined to make art more of a priority during the upcoming school year, but I decided to forgo any art classes/camps this summer.

10. We have been enjoying listening to a variety of audiobooks via the Philadelphia

library on Overdrive and Hoopla.


11. It's summer break!!! I am so thankful not to be juggling a job right now aside from completing some reference checks for former student teachers from time to time. I was able to read on vacation - leisure reading! WOOHOO!

Madison, stalactites, and stalagmites

When we were in Virginia at the beginning of our trip it was HOT and humid. By hot I mean the high actually. reached triple digits not counting the humidity. It was quite a different story when we returned to Virginia on June 8. It was in the 60's and 70's, and on our last day it also rained most of the day. Over our 13 day trip it didn't rain too terribly much. The times we experienced the most rain were on May 31st in the evening on Roanoke Island, NC, in Charleston, SC on June 6, and on June 9 in Charlottesville, VA. All three times it would have been very helpful if we had brought rain jackets and/or more umbrellas. We only had one umbrella, and I used it to shield my camera. Hopefully the next time we go on vacation I'll remember to pack those! On Sunday since it was in the 60's and raining we also would have enjoyed wearing warmer clothes, but we pretty much had just packed shorts. We took at family friendly tour of Montpelier (home of James and Dolly Madison)

from 10:15-11:20. I had planned for us to participate in the slave community tour at 11:30, but in light of the rain and our lack of umbrellas and/or rain jackets, we skipped that since it was an outdoor tour. It took us about 75 minutes to drive to Luray Caverns from Madison's home. The rain didn't effect our tour since we were underground, and having already spent time in the cool, rainy weather, we were ready to enter the cooler caverns even though we were wearing the wrong clothes. I had planned on the kids doing a high ropes course at  Caverns, but we skipped that due to the rain. Oliver wanted to do it even though it was raining, but Nadia wasn't interested (partially because she was hoping we might make it back to the house by 6:00pm so she could attend the Middle). If I could do it over again, I would have let them do Go Ape in either Williamsburg or North Myrtle Beach. Nadia loved doing Go Ape (ziplining and ropes course) in Williamsburg in 2015. The ropes course at Luray was much cheaper, which is why I had picked that one over Go Ape. Hopefully another opportunity

will present itself in the next year for those two to do a high ropes course (and Ian if he is interested).

We had first planned to visit Luray Caverns in August 2017 on our way back from my Dad's wedding, but we were very sick during that trip and cancelled that plan. I hadn't been there since I was a child. I can't recall if I've ever been to Mammoth Cave, but I remember visiting both Luray Caverns in VA and Carlsbad Caverns in NM. The kids had only been to one cave prior to Luray, and that was Penn's Cave near Penn State. Penn's Cave is much smaller, but it's a bit unique in that you take that tour by boat. In Luray Caverns you walk for 90 minutes throughout the cave. My mom tried to include an amusement park and a factory tour in most of our summer vacations. We didn't have either of those in this trip, but last month we did visit Crayola and also toured a guitar factory. This summer we are going to FAR fewer amusement parks than we have the last several summers. Hopefully we had a nice blend of activities thought - "fun"

things like seeing Aladdin at the movie theatre, the Lion King Broadway show, two nights of miniature golf, swimming pools, and renting two DVDs of movies they hadn't seen yet from Redbox. We also enjoyed the beauty of nature- beaches in NC and SC, skyline drive in VA, and Luray Caverns. And hopefully they learned a little history at Jamestown, Yorktown, USS Wisconsin, Williamsburg, Roanoke Island, Wright Brother's Memorial, USS Yorktown, Fort Sumter, Montpelier, Highland, and Monticello.

On our way home yesterday I made a quick trip into our local grocery store to buy things like bread, milk, and bananas so that we would be prepared for breakfast today plus packing lunches for horseback riding camp. It took me awhile last night to unpack the suitcases, put away everything that was in the van, go through the mail, clean the very smelly guinea pig cage, etc. I don't usually use candles, but I burned a smelly one last night to try to get rid of the yucky smell. I also was cleaning the sea shells more

after I discovered some of them were stinky. I took five kids to horseback riding camp this morning. Tab and I are sharing the chauffeuring duties, which is a huge blessing. After dropping them off I bought a lot more groceries at Aldi, went to the library, and got gas for the van on my way home. I had a nice long chat with Yvonne and made calls to schedule mani/pedis for Nadia and I on her birthday (6/24), a tire rotation for this Wednesday, and scheduled a massage for myself for the end of July using a gift certificate Paul gave me for my birthday in 2018. It was raining for most of the day today, but thankfully there was a time when it stopped raining for a bit. It usually takes me about 75 minutes to mow the lawn. It took me 2.5 hours to mow it today because the grass was tall (hadn't been mowed in 2 weeks) and wet. I was grateful it was cool out today (in the high 60's) but despite that cool weather I was sweating like crazy while mowing. My arms are very sore. We shall see if I have trouble getting out of bed tomorrow morning due to back pain. I had to bend over and clean out the mower umpteen times and stop and restart the mower many, many times. I also did two loads of laundry, made a batch of brownies, and made tuna noodle for dinner. Even though the kids were at camp for 6 hours, I was still a very, very busy lady. I made plans to walk with two different friends this week. I am looking forward to that - getting exercise and catching up with a friend sounds heavenly to me! Despite the fact I ate too much at the Golden Corral on Friday night, I managed to lose 3 more pounds over the past two weeks bringing my total weight loss to 28 pounds thus far. At this point my goal is to lose seven more pounds.

Jefferson and Monroe

Yesterday morning we were up bright and early as our goal was to be on the road by 6:30am. Not counting stops it took us 6 hours to drive from North Myrtle Beach (SC) to Monticello (VA). Friday night we had gotten the new Lego movie from a Redbox for free thanks to a coupon code. Yesterday the kids watched the movie during our drive, and we also listened to the radio and about half of By the Great Horn Spoon. We had packed a lunch and had filled up the gas tank Friday night. This meant our only stops were for bathroom breaks. Our first stop was Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. We watched the movie and the kids explored the discovery room at the visitor's center. Then we boarded the shuttle up to the top of the mountain where we explored the area where the slaves lived and worked, did another activity center for kids, and took a 50 minute family friendly tour of Monticello at 3:00. In hindsight, I should have booked the 2:00 tour. I picked the 3:00 in case we hit traffic during our drive. The downside of having picked the 3:00 was that we were

rushed at our second stop - Highland, the home of James Monroe. Their site had said to allow 90 minutes, and they close at 6pm. I thought we were fine as we arrived at 4:20, but it took awhile to get set up with the augmented reality tour (in part because there was only one man working in the visitor center) and you can't hit pause or resume on that tour. We completed about 75% of the augmented reality tour before we had to return our devices so that we could take the 5:00 guided tour. Today we plan to tour Montpelier, the home of James Madison. That will be our fourth Presidential home tour in eight months. It would have been our fifth if we had made it to Wheatland, the home of James Buchanan last month, but that tour will probably be rescheduled for sometime in 2020.

After visiting Highland, we stopped at a Burger King near our hotel for some dinner. When we were checking into the hotel we discovered that although I had reserved two rooms that each had two queen beds, they only had one room like that available. They offered us a third room for free. Pop Pop and Grandma had a room with one bed, Nadia and I shared a room with one bed, and Paul and the boys had the room with two queen size beds. Tonight we should be sleeping in our own beds!

Swimming, Dinosaurs, and Fort Sumter

Wednesday was very similar to Monday in that our morning was spent at the indoor and outdoor pools at the resort where my in-laws were staying, after lunch in our unit we spent time at the beach and outdoor pool at our resort, and after dinner in our unit (leftovers) five of us went miniature golfing. The boys picked the place to play that night. They picked a dinosaur themed one. We also took a lot of pictures on Wednesday after dinner. I knew Thursday wouldn't be a good day due to our scheduled trip to Charleston, and I didn't want to wait until Friday to take them in case there was a thunderstorm and our picture session was rained out. In hindsight, I picked the wrong day because although this section of North Myrtle Beach is called "Windy Hill," Wednesday was the windiest day of our week here. I took a shower and blow dried my hair right before dinner that night, but that was pointless because the wind wreaked havoc on my hair. I had a few other poses in mind that didn't happen for various reasons, and sometimes I forgot to take off my glasses. When my glasses aren't tinted I don't mind wearing them when my picture is taken, but when they've turned grey, I'm trying to remember to take them off. I also need to work with Oliver on what to do with his hands when his picture is being taken. All that said, some of the photos that were taken that night I really, really love. I have taken a lot of pictures on the trip and only shared a small portion of them thus far. 

Thursday morning we picked Nadia up at 8:30 and drove to Charleston. The weather was less than ideal due to lots of rain that day, but at least it was a lot warmer than when we were in New Jersey last month and it poured during our field trips and the high was only 45 degrees. We took the ferry to Fort Sumter, the kids completed their Junior Ranger Badges, and then we drove to Patriots Point which includes the USS Yorktown (aircraft carrier) plus the Laffey (destroyer) and a submarine. There is a large aquarium right next to the Fort Sumter Visitor Center, and the kids were really disappointed that we didn't visit it. Nadia is not a fan of zoos, but even she likes aquariums. However it took us 6.5 hours to visit Fort Sumter plus Patriots Point (and we only scratched the surface at Patriots Point) so I really think it would have been a very long day had we also added an aquarium into our agenda that day. And since it's a 2 hour 20 minute drive from North Myrtle Beach to Charleston, we didn't want to make two trips. To help pass the time on the drive, we got the newest How to Train Your Dragon movie on DVD from a Redbox and also finished listening to the second Penderwicks book. I think the submarine was the kids favorite part of the day. Poor Paul is bummed that none of the kids are anywhere close to being as interested in military history as he was when he was a child. I enjoy history, but I have to say walking through ships and such isn't my most favorite thing to do. Monticello and Mount Vernon are more up my alley.

Today was our last beach day. We again swam in the pools at the other resort before lunch and spent the afternoon at the beach and pools at our resort. Because the kids were fairly cooperative during our photo session on Wednesday, I told them we'd visit Sugar Life. A store that advertises itself as an ice cream and candy bar. We stopped there on our way back to our resort before lunch. The kids picked candy over ice cream. It was by no means an economical way to buy candy, but they had fun picking a piece of this and a piece of that and putting an assortment into each of their bags. Paul's parents had eaten at Golden Corral while we were in Charleston, and since they had a good experience and the kids love buffets, we all went there for dinner this evening. I have been following my diet closely since the end of January, but I definitely deviated from it this evening at dinner. I will say I ate a lot less than I would have at a buffet prior to the diet, but I'm certain I ate more today than I have in any one day over the past 4+ months. After dinner Nadia and Ian went for another swim in our outdoor pools. Paul sat on a chair at the pool. Oliver watched tv and went to bed before they got out of the pool. I spent 2 hours packing, cleaning, and making lunches for tomorrow. I used the dryer on our floor (only $1) to dry all of our wet bathing suits and towels from today. If we had a washer/dryer in our unit I'd have done another load of laundry, but I'll just do it on Monday at our house.

We amassed quite a collection of shells while we were here. I'm thinking of using some of them to decorate some picture frames that I'll use to display some of the photos from this trip. A woman found an amazing large conch shell and gave it to Ian! Hopefully our shells will make it back home in tact. 

A volcano and Aladdin

After being out and about a lot from Tuesday through Saturday, I was happy to stay put on Sunday and eat all three meals in our unit at the resort. I know some people probably enjoy eating out three times a day on vacation, but I don't. The cost of doing so really gets to me for one thing. Secondly, although they have been getting better as they have gotten older, there were many times in the past that it was stressful for me to eat in a sit down restaurant because the boys weren't always on their best behavior. Thirdly, since I am still for the most part trying to follow my diet, it's harder to do so when we eat out. I have found that a bowl of soup is usually the best way to keep my meal under 450 calories at a sit down restaurant. Last week when we ate at Denny's, I had a bowl of potato soup. We went to Denny's again tonight because kids can eat free on Tuesdays, but my only choice of soup tonight was chicken noodle, which is not one of my favorites by any means. I didn't order anything to eat, but thankfully Ian had pancakes and bacon, and he was too full to eat all the pancakes. I ate one of his

pancakes. On Sunday we didn't spend any money anywhere.

Monday morning we spent a couple of hours at the indoor pools at the resort where my in-laws are staying. Then we came back to our unit for lunch and to spend some time at the beach and pools at our resort. I brought back two large carry-out pizzas for dinner for the seven of us. Then we all went to play miniature golf. Nadia picked one called Hawaiian Rumble. The boys are going to pick where we go miniature golfing the next time we go this week. Today we had another day of not spending any money. Paul's parents paid for Paul's meal. I didn't order anything, and the kids' meals were free. Paul took Nadia and Ian to see Aladdin at the movie theatre. That was free because I had coupons for free popcorn and two free drinks plus I had used points from a credit card for an AMC gift card that we used $15 of toward the three tickets. Tickets are $5 all day on Tuesdays at AMC theatres. They went to the 6:15 showing. Oliver and I walked along the beach for at least one mile from Paul's parents' resort

to our resort. We collected some beautiful shells. I took some photos of a family who was getting their family picture at the beach. The woman had the same camera that I have so that was easy enough. Oliver wasn't allowed to see Aladdin because he had a tantrum last Friday night. Ian said he loved the movie! Paul dropped Nadia off at her grandparent's resort after the movie so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to hear what she thought of it. She doesn't like many princess stories any longer. She thinks she's too grown up for most of them, but she still likes Mulan and Aladdin.

After we finished our walk, I had him change clothes to take some pictures at the beach. I love the pictures but I wish his shirt wasn't so wrinkled! Also, if I had to do it over again, I would have packed two polo shirts for him. The pink one was selected to match Nadia's dress, but for his individual portraits I would have preferred a different color. Still considering he's generally not the most cooperative with taking pictures, I am very, very happy with what I got as I got

quite a few that I really like! I hope we get good family pictures later this week. Nadia accidently ripped her the bodice of her dress (not on a seam) last Thursday night when she was putting the dress on - the only dress she brought and the one we all brought things to match her dress. Grandma is going to try and repair it the best she can with a needle, thread, and some scotch tape. Since Oliver did such a great job taking pictures and since I had such a small dinner, I made each of us an ice cream cone and then let him swim in the pool a little before I put him to bed. Unfortunately we had to wake both boys up at 10pm because the fire alarm was going off at the resort. We exited the building until the fire fighters said it was safe to return. The sound was deafening. I have no idea how the boys could sleep through it! The same thing happened during our one night stay in Jersey City last month before we visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I remember my sister, Yvonne, sleeping through an alarm that went off right by her bedroom door even though it woke me up and I was sleeping two floors below the alarm in the basement of our house.

It had been awhile since we had taken the kids to play miniature golf, and I have to say that the boys improved quite a bit since the last time we went. Oliver actually had more than one hole-in-one! It was the first time we actually kept track of his score. He and Nadia tied for last place, but the fact that he tied Nadia shows he had drastically improved. Grandma and I tied for third place. Pop Pop ended in first place, Paul in second, a nd Ian in fourth place. The scores from we four adults were very close together. The cost of playing miniature golf seems to have really escalated or maybe it's just that it's more expensive at a beach. Just for the five of us it cost $55 to play one round of put put! Oi vey! Considering we generally only play once a year, it's a special splurge.

Fun in the Sun

The weather here in South Carolina has been perfect for a beach vacation. The highs are only in the low 80's, so it's not as blistering hot as it was when we were in Virginia last week, but it's warm enough to enjoy the beach and swimming pools. One of our neighbors is feeding our guinea pigs while we're gone. She said they have had heavy rains almost every day while we've been gone. Thankfully our basement is still dry. The only time rain has affected us on this trip thus far was when we were on Roanoke Island. It rained while we were in the Visitor Center. Then there was a break from the rain and we explored a little bit of the park. It didn't rain during most of Act 1 of the Lost Colony production, but then it started pouring so we left during the intermission. The vacation that rain was the biggest problem was in 2012 when the six of us (I was pregnant with Oliver) went to Grand Cayman.

The boys have been waking up early every morning, even when we've been out way past their bedtime. Thankfully they slept in this morning! Wooho! I was the first one up, and I didn't get up until 7:30. Thank you, boys!!

Prior to having kids, Paul and I took all of our vacations just as a couple. Starting in May 2009 (when Nadia was 10 months old), we have invited grandparents to join most of our vacations. This vacation is the ninth one in eleven years that Paul's parents have done with us. The only years they didn't go on a vacation with us were 2010 and 2017, which was the year Paul also didn't go on vacation. The kids and I spent a week in Chicago and a week on Long Island that year. From 2010-2016 we went on five vacations with my parents (and in some cases my siblings, nieces, nephews, etc.) - two trips to Florida, one to the Poconos, one to Williamsburg, and one to Ohio (that one was taken after my mom passed away).

Today will be another relaxed day where we spend most of our time at the swimming pool and beach. I think we might go miniature golfing this evening. That is one of my favorite memories from when we visited Myrtle Beach when I was a child - SO many miniature golf courses! In addition to playing in the ocean, the kids also like playing in the sand and collecting shells. I loved collecting shells when I was a child, but I don't recall every finding as nice of a conch shell as Ian found yesterday!!!