Giving Thanks

As a child, we celebrated Thanksgiving with my Aunt Janet on Long Island many times. Since Paul and I got married, we typically celebrated Thanksgiving with Paul's family. Sometimes I hosted, sometimes it was Paul's sister-in-law who hosted, and other times it was Paul's mom who hosted. In the early years the kids at the meal were Paul's niece and nephew and the eldest family who joined us were Paul's grandparents. As various family members have either passed away or moved to Florida, the number of family celebrating Thanksgiving together has grown smaller and smaller. In 2020 we celebrated the holiday with just our immediate family because of COVID and the same thing happened in 2021. I prefer to celebrate the holiday with more than just our immediate family so when I realized we weren't going to be seeing any extended family on Thanksgiving again this year, I invited my friend Cheri (who is 65 and lives by herself) and her uncle who has Alzheimer's and diabetes. Cheri is his primary caregiver and has been doing some remodeling at his house before she moves in with him and puts her house on the market. One tradition that hasn't changed, is that the kids and I each write a list of things we are thankful for in our Thanksgiving journal. It's also fun to read lists that the kids wrote in past years. Paul's brother took this week off of work, which meant Paul worked longer hours than usual Monday through Wednesday, but Paul won't be going to work today or tomorrow. Because we are taking several days off of school in December for overnight trips, I only gave the kids a four-day weekend for Thanksgiving, which is a shorter break than usual in our area. 

28. Thinking of Veteran's Day which we celebrated earlier this month, I'm thankful for all of those in the past who have served in our country's military as well as those who are currently serving. 

29. Although I wasn't exactly happy with the results from the election earlier this month, I am very thankful for the freedoms we have in our country, including the right to vote. 

30. On Sunday afternoon Oliver, Paul, Paul's dad, and I had the privilege of attending Nadia and Ian's concert with the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale. There are three different choirs in the chorale. Nadia is a member of the Valley Singers (HS), and Ian is a member of the Camerata (MS). Some songs were sung by only one choir, and others were sung by all three choirs together. At their concert in 2019 they sang all patriotic songs in honor of Veteran's Day. This year the concert's theme was singing. They sang a wide variety of styles of music including traditional spirituals, a patriotic song, religious anthems, Do-Re-Mi from the Sound of Music, etc. Since they are not in a school choir, I am very grateful for this opportunity. I'm looking forward to their Christmas candlelight concerts in December! Nadia would like to participate in the next semester that starts in January, but I'm not signing them up because she has drama and art at the co-op on Mondays starting in January. I'm planning to sign all three kids up for the Chorale next fall, and since Nadia wants to switch to a different co-op, the kids might be able to participate in both sessions during the 2023-24 season. 

31. A homeschooling family I met at the swimming pool came to our home for dinner on November 5. Two of their three kids are very close in age to Nadia and Ian. Everyone had a nice time!

32. I enjoyed teaching a lesson on Habakkuk as a substitute in our Sunday School class on November 6. 

33. Nadia and Ian participated in a Bible quizzing competition over Acts 1-10 in Ohio earlier this month. Teams typically have four members. Because some team members were on a mission's trip and others were in a dramatic production that weekend, only five of our church's ten team members were able to attend. Ian and Ben came in second place even though they were a team of two! I am very thankful that both kids can participate, and I'm thrilled with how dramatically Ian has improved over the last year. 

34. Nadia and Paul really enjoyed attending a Matthew West concert at Lancaster Bible College on November 17. I had attended a Matthew West concert in 2017 with a friend at our church so I thought Paul should be the one to take Nadia to this concert. I'm thankful we've started this tradition of taking the kids on three dates a year. This was Nadia's second date. She used some of her money to buy a sweatshirt at the concert, and Paul paid for a t-shirt that she will receive as a Christmas gift. 

35. Nadia and Ian enjoyed the Outdoor Adventure Skills class which ended this month. Their final class session included a field trip from Camp Susque to Mansfield University where the eight students spent time rock climbing and bouldering in an indoor gym. Oliver, Milo, and I did some hiking every time they had class. 

36. Aside from our dinner today, the kids and I didn't have anything on our calendar from Monday through Saturday this week. I ran a few errands earlier this week (library, grocery store, and hardware store), but otherwise we have stayed/will be staying at home for six days. I wouldn't want that to be the case all of the time, but I am grateful that is the case sometimes. 

37. We are all healthy at the moment, and none of our relatives have passed away over the last 18 months. I still really miss my mom, my brother, and Paul's mom. I don't regularly communicate with any extended family members, but Nadia regularly talks with her cousin, Rachel, and Ian regularly communicates with two of his cousins (Nathan and Joel). I'm thankful that they can interact regularly even though they live many miles apart. I had a nice conversation with Yvonne this week which was a treat and also talked with Jenna on her 20th birthday. I remember she was an infant at my (doctoral) graduation. I've been Dr. Kennedy for 20 years already! Time flies as the saying goes. We're looking forward to spending time with Jenna and her boyfriend next weekend. 

38. After I picked Nadia and Ian up from their dress rehearsal last Saturday, I took the kids to Old Mill Creamery, which has recently become our favorite place to buy ice cream. The price of their ice cream is FAR more than what I am willing to pay at a grocery store, but it is SOOOOOOO delicious. I bought a gallon of peanut butter Oreo which cost about the same as if I had bought the four of us each a cone or dish, and the four of us were each able to eat the ice cream four times by purchasing a gallon. Nadia suggested we should make it a tradition to buy a gallon of this ice cream at every holiday. That sounds like a delicious tradition to me! 

39. We are making good use of the chest freezer that I was given two years ago. For example, I buy (expired) bread at Surplus Outlet and put it in the freezer to store until we are ready to use it. I am able to stock up on things when they are available or on sale for a good price.

40. We had enjoyed listening to the audiobooks on Lamplighter through a Christmas gift last year from dad and Margie. We finished listening to them a few months ago, and I intended to check to see if they added any more books before our membership expired at the end of this month. I completely forgot about that plan, but thankfully, we got a catalog in the mail from them last week which reminded me in the nick of time. This week we listened to the two books they had added since I last logged into their website. We listened to over 30 audiobooks through that membership! It was well worth the money spent, but it wouldn't make sense to renew the membership.

41. Speaking of memberships, we have listened to audiobooks from Audiobooks.now, Audible, Hoopla, and Overdrive over the years, but I just recently stumbled upon Scribd. I was trying to access a document on that site and found out that they have a lot of audiobooks. We have a one-month free trial, and I've started making a list of books either the kids and I or just I could listen to that we can't get for free through the library. Instead of paying per book as it is on Audible and Audiobooks.now, you pay per month with Scribd so I might pay for a month there from time to time if there are multiple audiobooks that we can access there that we can't borrow elsewhere for free. 

42. Last Saturday Oliver and I helped at an Operation Christmas Child shoebox packing party at our church. Last year our church only packed 224 shoeboxes, but this year we packed 828 shoeboxes! We are praying for the kids around the globe who will receive these gifts and also hear a presentation of the gospel. 

Thankful Thursday

12. This fall we've shifted the time that I wake the kids to come down for breakfast to 8:00am. I usually get up sometime between 6:30-7:00. Before waking the kids up, I get a shower, take Milo for a walk, and do at least one lesson on Duolingo. I enjoy the fact that usually our mornings aren't rushed. 

13. Although in general I'm not a fan of watching the news these days, the kids and I do enjoy watching a 10-minute news program each day (M-F) through World Watch News. In addition to keeping us abreast on what is happening around the world, we learn about other topics related to science, the origin of words or phrases, etc. 

14. Using resources from public libraries saves us a lot of money. Although I do purchase some of our audiobooks, we also access many for free including ones I listen to while I'm walking Milo. This week I checked out digital audiobooks, books, a DVD, and a STEM kit that contained boxes of rocks and minerals for Oliver to use in science. 

15. Now that our neighbor, Addi, has joined the Bible quizzing team in September, I am only taking Ian, Nadia, and Addi to church at 4:30 on Wednesday afternoons every other week as Addi's mom takes them every other week. Oliver and I arrive at church by 6:30pm, and the four of us ride home together a little after 8pm. 

16. Nadia and Ian have been able to rejoin the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale this semester after a two-year break. I'm looking forward to their concerts in November and December. 

17. So far, we've been able to visit 93 National Parks in person. Nadia has earned 154 Junior Ranger badges, Ian has earned 157, and Oliver has earned 150 so far. I think they should each be able to earn at least 225 total eventually. I told them that when they earn their 200th badge, I will give them $50.

18. I love seeing the leaves as they change colors in the fall. 

19. We've enjoyed 924 books together so far. I've read some of them to the kids, and others we've listened to together. I've told the kids that we will do something special to celebrate when we finish our 1,000th book, and I believe that will happen sometime in 2023. We're currently in the middle of a few books including The Giver and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

20. We've been doing better at completing experiments and other hands-on activities in science so far this school year. It takes time and money to procure all the necessary supplies. For example, this week they needed an Elodea leaf (not easy to get!), Borax, distilled water, Karo syrup, an onion, Saltine crackers, a banana, etc. Oliver is studying earth science, and the other two are studying biology. I've had a goal of being more consistent with completing science experiments for more than one year, and this year we are finally achieving it! 

21. It's less common to include hands-on activities in history, but this week I had the kids try Origami for the first time in conjunction with learning about Japan in the early Middle Ages. We also listened to Gregorian chants after learning about Gregory the Great. 

22. I know that Dave Ramsey says that people shouldn't use credit cards even if they are paying off their balances in full each month, but we use them. One perk of credit cards is that we receive 1-5% back in points. We usually use the points for gift cards to restaurants to use on our vacations. In the last week I used some points for other purposes including two hotel nights for our vacation next April, an AMC gift card to pay for our tickets to see the movie I Heard the Bells in December, and a gift card to Lowe's to buy a new toilet for the kids' bathroom. We had previously replaced the other two toilets in our house. Theirs has been flooding very frequently so it became a priority to replace theirs. I bought the same exact toilet at exactly the same store, but the price had gone up 40%. I still don't buy the theory that inflation is only 8%. I think 25% would be a more accurate estimate if I look across the board. Anyhow, I am thankful we only paid $10 for the new toilet thanks to using gift cards to cover most of the cost. Now I'm just waiting for the plumber to come and install it. I'm also thankful for curbside pickup because the box weighs over 100 pounds, and I would have had a challenge getting that into the van by myself. 

23. I got a haircut yesterday for the first time since May. The woman took *forever* to cut my hair, but I think she did a good job as I got a compliment on my hair today. It certainly wasn't from Nadia because she thinks I should let my hair grow longer not get it cut shorter, ha ha! 

24. We visited a wolf sanctuary today. Given how long we had to drive to get there, it definitely wasn't my idea, but the weather was gorgeous, we had a very informative tour guide, and the wolves came up close, so we got good views of them, which isn't always the case. We went because my friend really wanted to go there. She's been caring for her uncle who has Alzheimer's and diabetes, and she really appreciated the reprieve from those duties and the ability to just be a passenger in our vehicle. 

25. Achieving goals or making progress towards them is a good feeling. I'm thankful that I lost 20 pounds this summer, that we've been able to visit 41 states so far with the kids, and that we've been inviting more families over to our home for dinner this year (our tenth for the year is scheduled to come over this Saturday). 

26. I put money in the parking meter before taking Oliver to his orthodontist appointment on Tuesday. Unfortunately, the appointment went 5 minutes longer than the time frame I paid for, and someone came through the lot and gave parking tickets at that time. I drove to the parking administration office, and thankfully they gave me a one-time forgiveness which meant I didn't have to pay the $10 ticket. The orthodontist moved to a new location a few months ago. They had a parking lot at their previous location. Now I know to err on the side of caution and put extra coins in the meter rather than risk a $10 ticket. I'm thankful that the vast majority of the time I park my car I don't need to pay to do so. 

27. The second season of the Mysterious Benedict Society has begun to air. We enjoyed the books and now are enjoying the show before our membership with Disney+ expires. 

New month

I haven't written a gratitude list since September 12, and for several years I've had a tradition of trying to include gratitude lists in every post in November. I'm not sure how many posts I'll write this month, but I am going to try to include a long list of blessings over the course of the month.

1. I'm eternally grateful for the gift of salvation made possible through Jesus Christ.

2. We live in a country where we can still worship Him freely. Given what has happened in recent years elsewhere (such as in Canada), I'm assuming that pastors won't always have freedom of speech in the pulpit in the future in our country, but so far, they still do. 

3. Although we haven't yet taken our kids on a mission trip to a third world country, we are able to participate in service projects locally that benefit those in need around the world. In the last several weeks we have been packing five shoeboxes for kids through Operation Christmas Child, on two occasions have packed meals for kids in Uganda, Dominican Republic, and Ecuador, and have also packed hygiene kits for refugees and persecuted Christians around the world. 

4. Although I've never forgotten our babies that went to Heaven before we could hold them in our arms here on earth, I'm eternally grateful for the three children I have had the privilege to parent for the past 10-14 years. 

5. I also treasure the opportunity to homeschool our children. Including field trip days, today was our 62nd day of school for this school year. We technically hit the 45th day on October 10, but in terms of completing our curriculum, today was the end of our first quarter. I am not actually going to give Nadia a report card until next week because Nadia and Ian are taking their first quarterly exam in Biology on November 8. It will be Nadia's very first report card. I think at this point her goal is to earn a B in Geometry and an A in everything else. 

6. Field trip opportunities are back to what they were prior to COVID. We've been on 21 field trips so far this school year. We are headed to the Wolf Sanctuary this Thursday, but we don't have many planned this month. However, in December (2022) and April (2023) our calendar contains many exciting plans!

7. I've fully recovered from my ankle surgery last fall. I typically walk 3-4 miles a day with Milo. 

8. I've been more specific in my expectations for what Ian and Nadia need to do each day in their preparation for Bible quizzing on the book of Acts this year. Ian's coach said he's a completely different quizzer this fall! I'm very pleased to hear how well he is doing and hoping that Nadia will also do better than she has in the past. Their first competition is in Ohio next week.

9. A few days ago, it was below freezing when I took Milo for his first walk in the morning. Thankfully, the weather has been much warmer since then. I didn't even need to wear any kind of coat on some of my walks with him today! I'll take unseasonably warm weather in November any day of the week! 

10. I raked the leaves at the right time this year so that they were able to be sucked up by a truck that went around our neighborhood on Monday. 

11. I never aspired to own a dog, but I love Milo very much. He's MUCH better behaved now, and it's such a blessing that our neighbors can usually watch him when we're gone too many hours in a day or are on a weekend getaway or a longer vacation. 

Rock walls, pond, stream, and more

Last Wednesday the kids and I spent 5+ hours at the Waterdale Environmental Education Center. During that time the kids collected macroinvertebrates in a stream and then worked together to identify what they had collected, toured a water treatment plant, went on a tree identification hike, did a chromatography experiment with leaves, and participated in other lessons that focused on watersheds and wildlife. There were five presenters, one of whom is a biology professor at Lycoming College. When I posted the field trip, there were fifteen kids who were signed up for it, which is a smaller group than they typically offer this program to. Thankfully, they were willing to conduct the program with a smaller group. Two days before the trip, four more kids were added to the roster. One day before the trip, one mom informed me that another mom wouldn't be bringing her three kids because one of them was sick. On the day of the field trip, I was expecting that we'd have sixteen kids participate, but only ten showed up. This meant we had five moms, ten kids, and five presenters. For four of the sessions, the kids were split into two groups of five. During the hike and tour of the water treatment plant we were altogether. This field trip was free and was located less than 30 minutes from our home. One perk of homeschooling is that we moms are given many opportunities to learn new things (or in some instances like helping Nadia with Geometry I am relearning things I haven't used for 36 years). I definitely learned some new things during our tour of the water treatment plant. 

In the afternoon on Thursday, we went to Camp Susque for another session of Nadia and Ian's Outdoor Adventure Skills class. They went on a 2+ hour hike up Lookout Mountain with the Camp Director and his dog, Sawyer. Nadia is not a fan of hiking, but she did admit the view was very beautiful at the top. The last three sessions of the class will be focused on climbing a rock wall and doing a ropes course, which is more her cup of tea. Oliver, Milo, and I did some hiking on our own, and Oliver also enjoyed playing on the playground and in the sandbox with two other boys who also have older siblings in the class. 

On Friday we drove to Messiah University, which is a little more than 90 minutes from our home. Unfortunately, Jenna was on fall break, so we weren't able to spend time with my niece, who is a sophomore there. We went on a hike, visited a room where they keep many of the specimens not currently on display in the natural history museum, participated in a lesson on skulls, and then took a guided tour of the museum. Natural history museums are not usually our favorite type of museum. We'd rather see live animals at a zoo or an aquarium than preserved ones, but having a guided tour made it far more interesting. They did have a few live animals on display from the biology department such as a shrew and bearded dragon. The last two activities were our favorites partially because the second activity was FAR too crowded whereas we were in a very small group for the third and fourth activities. I thought it was worthwhile to do once, but I don't think we'll return. I would consider some of the other classes that they offer homeschoolers if we lived a lot closer. We had packed our lunches and ate dinner once we were back at home. We stopped for a treat on the way home. Two of us opted to get ice cream at an ice cream shop we had never been to before that we passed on our way home. I had noticed on the way down that they were selling peanut butter and chocolate twist soft serve, which is one of my most favorite desserts. Oliver and Nadia opted to use a gift card for Auntie Anne's for some cinnamon sugar pretzel nuggets. 

This is the building where Jenna has many of her classes.

The weather was very nice on Friday and again on Saturday. This school year Nadia hasn't wanted to start her school day as early as she had in past years. Since I don't want to take Milo for his first walk in the dark, sometimes the kids sleep until 8:00am. Last Saturday I got the kids up at 7:00am because we were in the van at 7:35am to drive to a service project. We spent six hours at Experience Missions with about 30 other people where we packed 30,024 meals for kids in Uganda, Ecuador, and the Dominican Republic. We plan to return there again this Saturday morning. The goal is that over the course of seven packing sessions 150,000 meals will be packed. After our session last Saturday, there were about 62,000 left to be packed. After we got home from the meal packing session, I mowed the lawn and then took Milo, Ian, and Oliver to a trunk or treat event at a church very close to our home where the kids used to go on Wednesday nights for AWANA. Ian went as Spiderman, and Oliver went as Batman. Oliver asked me to take them to another trunk or treat event last night put on by our local school district. Ian was wearing a Lego Ninjago costume, and Oliver was Batman again. When we saw how LONG the line was, we just came back home. The kids and I are signed up to help out at our church's event this week on Friday night. Hopefully the weather won't be too cold.

On Sunday the only time we left our house was to go to church in the morning. I had invited one of our church's nine pastors and his wife over for dinner at our home. We shared a meal together and played Code Names and Uno. I had set a goal to have 12 different couples/families over for dinner at our house in 2022 (not counting any of our relatives), and I think we will achieve that goal as we've had 9 over so far and I have scheduled three more in November. On Monday morning the only "schoolwork" that the kids did at home was to watch the daily 10-minute World Watch News program and Nadia and Ian took a biology test. The kids and I then spent about 26 hours at our first ever homeschool retreat at Camp Susque, which included eating two lunches, one dinner, and one breakfast there. The kids painted rocks and played outdoors during the opportunities for free time. The classes included a nature hike, a bird walk, a pond study, rock climbing, and a class on reptiles and amphibians. We also participated in a devotional time around a campfire that concluded with roasting marshmallows to make s'mores. The kids found MANY animals in the pond - not as many macroinvertebrates as they had last week but many tadpoles, salamanders, newts, etc. They also found some red efts during the hike. 

Nadia and Ian first attempted the harder side of the rock-climbing wall. Ian made it farther than Nadia did, but he didn't make it to the top on that side. All three kids tried the easier side. Ian made it to the top, and Oliver stopped literally inches away from the top. When the kids camp there in the summer, they stay in a tent or cabin. We stayed in a room in a lodge. Ian was on the top bunk above me, which wasn't the best arrangement for me as when he would move it would move the bottom bunk which would wake me up. Ian and Nadia went up in the observatory to see the stars on Monday night. Oliver and I had already gone back to our room to go to sleep because it was past his bedtime. Paul put one of Ian's pillows on my side of the bed, and Milo slept there with Paul on Monday night. The one downside to us going on more field trips has been Milo has been at home by himself more than usual. Thankfully we no longer have to leave him in the crate when we're gone. We don't have as many field trips scheduled in November, but we do have quite a few planned for December. Hopefully in addition to learning, the kids are making fond memories along the way. 

Fall Field Trips

Some of our plans have fallen through due to the weather, but we've been able to enjoy a variety of field trips so far this school year. One that we backed out of at the last minute due to rain was a school program at the Renaissance Festival. On October 7 we went on a local history tour with the director of Camp Susque in what used to be a mining town in McIntyre. The changing leaves is my favorite part of fall, and they were very pretty at that location that day. Nadia and Ian attended an overnight retreat with the youth group that same weekend. This past Friday after doing some schoolwork and eating lunch at home, we left for an overnight getaway. Our neighbors were camping this weekend, so they were unable to care for Milo. Thankfully the friends who watched him for us in 2021 were able to watch him for about 33 hours this weekend. They had gotten a younger dog since the last time Milo was with them. Both of their female dogs are large, and Tab was concerned about whether the younger dog might be too rough with Milo, but thankfully he and Dublin got along very well. 

Our first stop was ZooAmerica, which is owned by HersheyPark. We were able to visit for free because of our AZA membership. At first, they were only going to let me in for free because my name was the only name on the membership card even though it said "household membership" on the card. We've never had that problem before, and hopefully we won't again. In the end, they let all of us in for free. Oliver had never been to this zoo before, and the other two were so young they had no memories of it. It had been decades since Paul had been there. The zoo isn't large, but it's also not as tiny as the one in Delaware. Ian was very happy to see two large bears, which is something we hadn't seen at the larger zoos we visited in the last couple of months. Oliver also wanted to visit Chocolate World, which is always free, but we didn't end up having enough time to do so. We had dinner at Applebee's and then went to the stadium for a concert. We only had to pay parking because the five of us were volunteers with Compassion. Ian, Nadia, and I have done so multiple times before, but it was the first time for Paul and Oliver to do so. The artists were Cain (two sisters and a brother), Ann Wilson, and Casting Crowns. We had all seen Casting Crowns in concert before. I am the only one who had previously seen Cain, and none of us had seen Ann Wilson before. During the meeting for the Compassion volunteers, we realized that Yami and her daughter, whom we know from church, were also volunteers. They sat with us during the concert. We all really enjoyed the concert although Oliver and I were both very ready for bed before it was over. Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of the five of us wearing our blue Compassion vests. I did get a photo of Nadia wearing a t-shirt I bought her at the concert. 

Usually, the only time we'll stay at a hotel that is less than three hours away from our house is when we are at Great Wolf Lodge. Hershey is less than two hours from our home, but we spent the night at a hotel because the concert went past 10pm and we already had plans to travel farther south on Saturday morning. The hotel had some features that the kids would have enjoyed using such as an indoor miniature golf course and a heated indoor swimming pool with a large slide, but the only things we had time for at the hotel were sleeping and eating breakfast. In May we had planned to visit the C&O Canal National Park in Maryland and the Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Park in Virginia, but they changed their hours and weren't open on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, which were the days we could have stopped on our way down or our way back from Florida. Paul loves visiting battlefields, and Cedar Creek was one he had never been to before. Once I realized we couldn't go in May, I had decided we'd go during the anniversary of the battle in October when they have a lot of special activities. The kids have now been to 93 National Park sites in person. They each earned three Junior Ranger badges this weekend which puts them at around 160 total (each). While we were driving, we listened to A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. It will take us awhile to complete that book. We finished a biography about Ida Scudder before we began the book by Mark Twain. 

We spent four hours at Cedar Creek and Belle Grove, but Paul still wants to return some day to walk around more of the battlefield sites. There is a large range as far as how long it takes to complete a Junior Ranger badge. This one wasn't the hardest one ever, but it certainly wasn't the easiest. There also is a large range in terms of how carefully the books are inspected when they are completed. Some park rangers literally don't even open the booklets, and others pore over every response. They were stricter at this location. The kids had done enough of the activities, but it turned out they were supposed to do a certain number of particular activities, and they hadn't quite met that requirement. Thankfully, in the end the Ranger gave them their badges. We had dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, which was a first for all of us. Ian selected a sauce for his wings that was too spicy, but in general we had a good meal. Milo was very, very excited when we picked him up. The poor guy was left at home alone for 6.5 hours today because we were at church for 6 hours straight due to the fact that we helped with a service project for Voice of the Martyrs after the second service. 

Field trip plans for next few weeks include: a five hour program at the Waterdale Environmental Education Center that includes a tour of a water treatment plant on October 19, two more three-hour session of Outdoor Adventure skills for Nadia and Ian at Camp Susque on October 20 and 27, a six-hour program at the Oakes Museum of Natural History at Messiah University on October 21, a two day homeschool retreat at Camp Susque on October 24-25, a tour of the Wolf Sanctuary on November 3, and service projects packing meals at Experience Missions on October 22 and 29. Attending the concert on Friday lead Nadia to ask us to attend a Matthew West concert. There weren't any volunteer slots available, but she has only had one of her three annual dates so far this year. Today I bought two tickets for the Matthew West concert at Lancaster Bible College next month. Probably Paul will take her. I did sign the five of us up to be Compassion volunteers at a For King and Country Christmas concert in early December in Hershey. We enjoy the concerts and also love to assist with getting more children sponsors through Compassion. 

Connecticut

In September 2016 we stopped in Connecticut on our way to and from Cape Cod. On our way to Cape Cod, we visited Mystic Seaport, and on our way home we spent time at the Discovery Museum and Planetarium. On our last day of this September 2022 vacation, we spent our last night in Connecticut, toured the PEZ factory, and visited Weir Farm National Historic Site, which is the only National Park site in Connecticut. On this trip we visited the only two National Park sites that are about artists - Saint Gaudens in New Hampshire (sculptor) and Weir in Connecticut (painter). At the PEZ factory we bought some candy for the kids (and Paul) and also for our neighbors who were watching our pets. Ian wanted to do a hike to a pond at Weir Farm, but we skipped it because Nadia really wanted to get to Bible quizzing that starts at 4:30pm. I drove straight from the Weir Farm to our church and dropped Nadia and Ian off at Bible quizzing about 15 minutes late. After dropping them off, I also ran into our local grocery store to buy milk, bananas, and eggs. Milo was THRILLED when I walked in the door although it was obvious that he was wondering where the rest of the family was. I started a load of laundry, helped unpack the van, delivered gifts to our neighbors, and made grilled cheese sandwiches for Oliver and I to eat before we headed back to church for Bible study at 6:30pm. Paul stayed home with Milo. Milo was very happy when the four of us came home from church as it was the first time that he had seen Ian and Nadia since we went on vacation. 

The kids have done something in 41 of the states, and they've visited at least one National Park site in 35 different states. The states they have been to but not been to a National Park in yet would include Idaho, Texas, Alabama, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Illinois. We plan to visit National Parks in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Hawaii, Texas, Louisianna, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana, and Illinois over the next few years. At that point, the states that we wouldn't have yet visited a National Park in would include Nevada, Idaho, Wisconsin, and Alabama. Maybe by the time Oliver graduates from high school we will have visited at least one National Park site in every state plus the District of Columbia. There are also National Park sites in Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the US Virgin Islands, but we haven't made it a goal to visit any of those locations. 

It would have been nice to stay at home all day today, but Nadia and Ian had a three-hour class at Camp Susque from 1-4pm. Because we had just come home from vacation, I decided we should take Milo with us. At first Milo, Oliver, and I went on a hike, but then Oliver played with some other boys whose siblings were in the class Nadia and Ian were in. Ironically, one of the other boys was also ten years old and named Oliver! Milo had a great time exploring the grounds of Camp Susque and meeting two other dogs. During their class, Nadia and Ian rode mountain bikes, built fires, and played a game that involved guiding other people who were blindfolded. At their next class in two weeks, they will be doing a ropes course and climbing a rock wall. They missed the first class (kayaking and canoeing) because the instructor rescheduled the date to one that fell during our vacation. This morning I homeschooled the kids, folded a load of laundry, and began making dinner. After lunch we stopped at the library on the way to Camp Susque. On the way home we stopped at a grocery store. I finished making dinner, the four of us ate, I unloaded the dishwasher, and then I mowed part of the lawn. I had to stop when it was too dark to see the grass. Hopefully I'll be able to finish mowing tomorrow as the grass is taller than I typically let it get which makes mowing more challenging. I would have been able to stay home all day tomorrow if I didn't need to take the van to have the rear passenger tire repaired. Tomorrow is Milo's second birthday! We bought him a few small toys at Surplus Outlet today, and Nadia is planning to make him a special cake tomorrow following a recipe made for dogs. We love Milo very much! 

Rhode Island

Yesterday we spent our time in Boston, Salem, and Cambridge before driving to spend the night in Providence. Our first stop was the New England Aquarium which was something I added to our itinerary when I had to eliminate two other National Park sites. It definitely isn't one of the biggest aquariums that we have visited, but the kids enjoyed it. The highlight was watching the penguins being fed. We also felt some sharks and sting rays in a touch tank, watched some seals and sea lions, and witnessed Myrtle, a sea turtle, being fed lettuce. The last time we saw an IMAX movie was at a science museum on our vacation in October 2020, so we decided to splurge and see one at the aquarium. We watched a 20-minute movie about predators. We were the only five people in the theater! Unfortunately, we made a mistake and parked in a parking garage in Boston. It turns out if you stay more than an hour, the charge is $43! Ouch! 

We walked a little over a mile from the Aquarium to Boston Common where we were meeting our Freedom Trail tour guide. I remember following the red line on the sidewalk with my family when we were on vacation when I was a child. Our tour guide spent more time in a Burying Ground than I would have expected and didn't include stops at some sites I did think would be included such as Paul Revere's House and the Old North Church. We could have taken a freedom trail tour with a park ranger, but the park sites in Boston are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays at the moment. So, we paid for a tour with another organization. Our tour guide did a very good job during our 90-minute tour. After our tour was over, we walked back to the parking garage. There was a lot of traffic in both Boston and Salem, so it took us longer than expected to drive to see a play about the witch trial of Sarah Bishop. It was also very hard to find parking in Salem. Paul ended up dropping the four of us off, and he missed the production due to how long it took him to find parking and then walk back to the venue. There are many things to do in Salem, but we chose not to spend more time there in favor of other options elsewhere. Our fourth stop on Monday was at Longfellow's House in Cambridge, which was also used as George Washington's headquarters for several months. This was the only place where the kids earned a Junior Ranger badge yesterday. We saw quite a few wild turkeys in Cambridge. Thankfully the parking in Salem and Cambridge was MUCH cheaper than in Boston. 

From Cambridge we drove to a Cheesecake Factory. Last September we ate at one for the first time as a family, and I think yesterday's dinner might be the last time we eat at a Cheesecake Factory. Nadia and I ordered an appetizer as our meal (to save $), and the boys ordered off the kids' menu. Paul's meal cost twice as much as an appetizer. We also got two slices of cheesecake that we shared among the five of us. We realized that the gift cards weren't going to cover the entire meal plus tip, but then it turned out that one of the gift cards the credit card company sent us didn't actually have any value which meant we spent even more on our credit card for the meal than we had anticipated. The food was tasty, but I just don't think it's worth it to spend that much on one meal.

After dinner we drove to Providence, Rhode Island. The kids have technically been to Rhode Island before as we spent time in the Providence Children’s Museum on our way home from Cape Cod in September 2016. Six years later we spent a bit more time in the state. We had planned to stop at a place that had go karts and bumper boats before going to the hotel, but everyone (except Oliver) just wanted to go straight to the hotel. The kids have never gone go-karting or been in a bumper boat. We will have let them try those experiences some time, but it won't be in 2022. The Hyatt we stayed in near the airport in Providence was very nice. It had an indoor pool and an outstanding breakfast. I took Oliver to the pool. He swam for an hour. The other two preferred to have screen time in the room with Paul. 

This morning our first stop was the Roger Williams Zoo. Our schedule today was rather flexible, so we spent almost three hours at the zoo. Oliver used $12 of his money to ride a Zip rider. We got in for 50% off because of our AZA membership. We saw a rather active sloth (which is a rare thing in our experience), the kids petted goats, sheep, and armadillos, and saw a wide variety of other animals. Oliver wasn't too thrilled when a tamarin peed on him. Oops! In general, most of the animals were pretty active while we were at the zoo. Our second stop was the Roger Williams National Park site. The visitor center is closed Monday through Wednesday so we couldn't get our passports stamped. I am planning on mailing in the kids' Junior Ranger pages so they should still receive their badges eventually. Thankfully the parking was free at all the places we visited in Rhode Island today.

We then drove for over an hour (included two large bridges) to get to Newport. We toured Breakers, which was a summer home for the Vanderbilts. There are many mansions in Newport that can be toured. We only toured one. Financially, it would have been better to pay a grand total of $3 more for a family membership for the year, but since we don't plan to return and didn't want to visit more than one mansion today, we didn't go that route. After we toured the mansion, we walked along a portion of the Cliff Walk, which is 3.5 miles long. We had pizza for dinner, which thankfully was NOT overpriced like the one we ate at in Philadelphia was. Over the last eight days we purchased dessert three times, first we had ice cream at Ben and Jerry's in Vermont, the second time was the two slices of cheesecake, and the third time was when we stopped at an ice cream place on our drive from Newport, Rhode Island to the Econo Lodge where we are staying this evening in Connecticut. My caramel apple sundae was delicious! I have been trying to be careful about how many calories I have eaten each day. I am very curious to see what the scale will say when I weigh myself on Thursday morning at home. Unfortunately, we will be only receiving a grab and go breakfast tomorrow. On our trip so far, we've had the full range of no breakfast (once), continental breakfast, grab and go breakfast (once), and hot breakfasts. Four of the mornings we had an above average hot breakfast. We had to put more air in the one tire again today, but other than that everything has gone smoothly with the vehicle, and the weather only altered our plans twice (eliminated miniature golfing the first night and the whale cruise in Maine last week). We spent one night in Vermont, two nights in Maine, three nights near Boston, one night in Rhode Island, and tonight we're spending one night in Connecticut. We plan to sleep in our own beds tomorrow night. We're coming home, Milo, Jenna, and Buttercup! 

Boston

The first time the kids were in Boston was in September 2016 when we stayed in Cape Cod for a week on a vacation with Paul's parents. The two things we did in Boston on that trip were the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum and the Museum of Science. Yesterday morning after another delicious breakfast at the hotel (the best breakfast I've ever seen at a hotel), we listened to our pastor's sermon on the lukewarm church in Laodicea as we drove into Boston. Our first top was a visit to the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) and Bunker Hill. We attended a program that Paul really enjoyed about the battle of Bunker Hill, and then the five of us climbed the 294 steps up the monument. We went in a visitor center, museum, and also the USS Cassin before leaving that area. The kids each earned two Junior Ranger badges as prior to coming here they had completed the Boston African American book, so they also received those badges. We then drove to Quincy to have a guided tour of the three homes that comprise the Adams National Historical Park. We learned more about John Adams, Abigail Adams, John Quincy Adams, and other members of their family during the two-hour tour. In preparation for this trip we had listened to a biography about John Adams. We also watched the movie at the visitor's center, and the kids each earned another badge. This park was the 89th National Park that the kids have earned a Junior Ranger badge at in person. They have earned around 150 badges each, but the rest were earned online or through the mail. Although including this park in our trip meant I had to eliminate two others because of the fact that many parks are no longer open seven days a week, I think I made the right call in this instance.

We had dinner at Red Robin, which is the only restaurant where Nadia still orders from the children's menu.  The Red Robin was located in a large mall in Braintree; in our area, malls are pretty empty and a thing of the past, but we've noticed more than one mall on this trip that still looks to be thriving. After we ate, we drove back into Boston to walk through the Boston Lights: A Lantern Experience at the Franklin Park Zoo before driving to our hotel. Nadia has slept on either an air mattress or a sofa bed every night so far on this trip, but last night at a Comfort Inn our suite had three queen beds. Her bed was actually in a separate room. We will be spending today in Boston and Salem and then driving to Providence. We have had to add more air to one tire twice over the last few days. Hopefully that tire won't give us any major grief before we can properly address the situation back at home. We haven't heard anything from our neighbors, so we assume no news is good news regarding our three pets.  We miss them and look forward to being reunited with them on Wednesday!

Acadia, Lowell, and Minute Man National Parks

Thankfully, the weather was much nicer on Friday during our second day in Maine. We needed to wear winter coats for part of the day for the first time in months, but it didn't rain at all. We spent about seven hours in Acadia National Park. It was the first time in Oliver's life that he spent the night on an island as our motel was in Bar Harbor which is also on Mount Desert Island. After we got the Junior Ranger booklets from the Visitor Center, we first went to Sand Beach and then walked to Thunder Hole. That site is best to visit at high tide, which wasn't possible for us as we were asleep during the first high tide and eating dinner in Augusta during the second high tide of the day. Our next stop was Jordan Pond. I thought that Acadia wouldn't be overcrowded since it was September. Well, it took a very long time to find a parking spot anywhere near Jordan Pond. It honestly felt like a miracle that we finally got a spot. We weren't able to try a popover from the restaurant there due to really long lines, but we were able to hike the 3.2-mile trail around the pond. Some parts of the trail were easy to walk - walking on boards or a pretty smooth trail. Other parts of the trail were far more challenging - scrambling over rocks, etc. After that hike, we drove to Cadillac Mountain as I had a reservation to go up the mountain at 2pm. The views from the top of the mountain were breathtaking. We hiked short trail around the summit. We probably would have spent more time up there, but it was VERY windy up there. After we came back down the mountain, we returned to the Visitor Center to get the kids' Junior Ranger badges. According to my phone, I took over 20,000 steps that day. We then drove to Massachusetts. We had dinner at Texas Roadhouse in Augusta on the way. Oliver and I both ordered a sweet potato, Ian had chicken nuggets and applesauce, Nadia had a salad and pulled pork, and Paul had a steak dinner. We all enjoyed the complimentary rolls. 

I used credit card points for our two-night stay at Hampton Inn. The breakfast was excellent. On Saturday morning we didn't leave until about 9:40am to head to Lowell National Historical Park. Nadia was hoping to sleep in, but she couldn't because the five of us share a room. I usually am up before 6am, but I am quiet until at least 7am. The boys are not quiet once they get up. The kids earned a badge at Lowell, and we rode a trolley and also a boat ride in the canal during a 90-minute tour. Because of COVID, our boat wasn't able to go through the lock because no one is manning the lockhouse. Our second stop was at Minute Man National Historical Park, which was one Paul was particularly looking forward to visiting. First, we took a guided tour at the site of the North Bridge Battlefield in Concord. Then we attended a program at the other visitor center in Lexington. This site had an extremely easy way to earn a Junior Ranger badge. Our last stop was at Louisa May Alcott's Orchard House where we had a guided tour. Nadia had requested that we include that stop in our trip. I certainly didn't object as she was one of my most favorite authors when I was in fifth grade. Of all the places we've visited on trips in May through the present, it was the first place where we were required to wear face masks. We then attempted to have dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, which would have been a first for us, but the restaurant was SO understaffed that we were waiting for a long time in the lobby (along with many other people) and during that time an employee never came to put anyone's name on a waiting list. There were many, many empty tables in the restaurant, but they were so short staffed that they weren't seating anyone at the tables. We opted to have dinner at Subway instead. Now that we have a gift card for Buffalo Wild Wings, we'll definitely have to go there at some point in the future. It was nice not to spend much time in the van today. We'll be doing more sightseeing in and around Boston tomorrow and Monday.