Quinceanera!

 

As of today, Nadia is fifteen years old! She completed her first year of high school last month and last week started her first job. After she came home from her first day of work, she selected a one-year-old girl named Abi from the Philippines to sponsor through Compassion. Last month she was in a production of Mary Poppins, and she's trying out next month to be in a performance of The Sound of Music in November. Recently she has been spending more time doing jigsaw puzzles and playing chess. As a family, we recently completed two 1,000-piece puzzles. She's been playing chess more often because she knows that a chess club will be part of our homeschool co-op in the fall. Since she began reading independently, she has read mostly fiction as well as some biographies. Recently she has begun reading nonfiction library books about animals since she is planning to study zoology and wildlife biology in college. In the last month she got rid of all her Disney Barbie dolls and also the large collection of fabric that she used to make new clothes for the dolls. Very recently she started sitting in the front passenger seat of the minivan when she and I are the only two people in the vehicle. In another year she'll be able to be in a driver's seat! She's had a cell phone for one year but not a phone number because we haven't been paying for a cell phone plan for her. She can only use it on WIFI. She's excited about getting cell service next month. 

That's Nadia sitting next to the pilot. She enjoyed the free flight! 

We began her birthday celebrations last Saturday. The Seiberts were already scheduled to come over for dinner, and because it was a day that Faith is with her mom, I also invited Faith and Macey to join us for dinner. Jill, Faith, and Macey had a sleepover with Nadia, and they went to church with us on Sunday morning. Nadia requested that we have fruit pizza for her dessert on the 17th and s'mores pizza today on her actual birthday. I made two fruit pizzas last Saturday which lasted through June 20, and I made a third one on June 21 since I had purchased enough strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries to do so. Nadia worked an 8-hour shift on Monday and then had Tuesday through Friday off which worked out well due to our plans for Montage Mountain and then helping out with VBS at our church on Wednesday through Friday. Nadia is working a 7-hour shift at Reptiland today on her birthday. 

I sometimes think that food could be one of Nadia's love languages. So I've tried to include treats for her over the past month including the following: she and I had a dinner date at Olive Garden last month, string cheese, two big boxes of hot pockets, Pizza Hut pizza last week and today, one gallon of peanut butter Oreo ice cream from Old Mill Creamery (1/2 gallon has already been consumed by the kids and I), fruit pizza (x3), a box of Wheat Thins and a bag of Sun Chips were in her gift bag that she opened this morning, scalloped potatoes last week with lots of cheese, frozen yogurt from Sweet Frog today, and tomorrow morning we'll have donuts for breakfast. 

Here are fifteen of her favorite things:

1. Her pets - Milo and Peppa

2. Her friends - Rachel (cousin), Macey, Faith, and Jillian are her closest friends right now

3. Ice skating and skiing in the snow - She's wanted to try water skiing for several years. Hopefully that will happen before she turns sixteen! 

4. Listening to Christian music - She gets a LOT of use out of her earbuds. Some of her current favorite artists include Matthew West, Cain, For King and Country, Ann Wilson, Stephen Curtis Chapman, and Mercy Me. She loves to attend their concerts and has a growing collection of t-shirts and sweatshirts from her favorite artists. Nadia is looking forward to hearing Matthew West, Ann Wilson, Cain, Katy Nichole, We are Messengers, and We the Kingdom at the music festival we plan to attend at the of July. She's never seen Mercy Me or Toby Mac in person, so she's also excited about attending a concert featuring those two artists and also Zach Williams in November in Buffalo. Nadia is determined to improve my skill at being able to identify artists when we are listening to a Christian radio station in the van. 

5. Produce - blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, cherries, plums, peaches, nectarines, red grapes, and romaine lettuce. One of her favorite things about Camp Susque is that she typically has a salad at both lunch and dinner. Her idea of the perfect salad is one that contains romaine lettuce, croutons, cheddar cheese, and ranch dressing. 

6. Snacks - Wheat Thins, Cool Ranch Doritos, Nacho Cheese Doritos, Sun Chips, potato chips, pretzels, tortilla chips, Motts fruit snacks, and string cheese.

7. Candy - Tropical Twist Trident gum, Sweet Watermelon Extra gum, Swedish fish, gummies

8. Staying up late and sleeping in the next day

9. Authors - Karen Kingsbury, Karina Yan Glaser, Kate Albus, and Chris Grabenstein

10. Color - blue

11. Language - Most of the last year she was learning Spanish on Duolingo, but for the last few months she's been learning some French.

12. Restaurants - Red Robin (macaroni and cheese), Pizza Hut (stuffed crust pizza), Old Mill Creamery (peanut butter Oreo ice cream), and Olive Garden (five cheese ziti al forno, salad, and breadsticks)

13. Activities - She enjoys reading, drawing, riding roller coasters, visiting zoos and aquariums, going to camp, singing in a choir, participating in drama, playing Quiplash, and zip lining. She has already requested to go sky diving when she turns eighteen. 

14. TV shows - The Cosby Show, Full House, Wonder Years, Saved by the Bell, Sabrina, Family Ties, Boy Meets World, Brady Bunch, and 7th Heaven

15. Games - her two favorites at the moment are Quiplash and Spontuneous 

Thankful Thursday

1. Nadia had her first day of work at her first job on June 12. She worked 17 hours last week over three days, and she worked from 8:45-5:00 this week on Monday. She's scheduled to work seven more hours on Saturday. 

2. I hadn't had routine blood work done in quite a few years. I took care of that on June 15, and I'm thankful that even with us paying cash (no insurance) the bill was less than $30 and all of my results were normal. 

3. Oliver attended a birthday party at a trampoline park on June 16. Nadia and I did some shopping together and picked up some pizza from Pizza Hut, which we typically only visit in June each year as it's a birthday treat to get stuffed crust pizza from Pizza Hut for Nadia's birthday.

4. All three kids were able to participate in a free Young Eagles flight on June 17. Ian flew in a red airplane from the 1950's that is similar to my grandpa's airplane which I flew in many times. Oliver went up in a helicopter, and Nadia flew in a sleek airplane. 

5. We had nine people join us for dinner at our home on June 17. Three of the girls spent the night with Nadia, and we took them to church with us in the morning on the 18th. 

6. Paul's dad came up to spend several hours with us on Father's Day. Ian, Nadia, Paul, and Pop Pop had steak for dinner.

7. I took my three kids plus three of their friends to Montage Mountain water park on Tuesday. Our admission was free due to our WVIA membership. 

8. Yesterday and today Ian and Nadia helped with the 2nd graders at our church's VBS, and I helped with the four-year-old girls. Tomorrow morning will be the last day of VBS. Oliver has been attending as a participant. 

9. On Tuesday Margie decided to do one more radiation treatment to try to alleviate the pain in her ribs. Today she began three new medications that she will take as long as they help with the quality of her life. If they don't help, she will switch to hospice. One of the drugs (Ibrance) would have cost them $2,643 every month out of pocket, but they have been approved to receive the medication for free!

10. They recommend having your first colonoscopy when you turn 50. Paul had his first in 2020. I "should" have had my first one last year. I didn't because of our gigantic ankle surgery bill. The Christian medical sharing program doesn't allow members to request reimbursement for screening measures. We had to pay in full for the mammogram I had last year.  Because I don't have a family history of colon cancer and a colonoscopy costs thousands of dollars, I opted to go the Cologuard route instead. The test is much easier to complete than a colonoscopy (no prep for one thing!), and because we prepaid, the company gave me a $299 discount which brought the cost down to $381. It's definitely not the most exciting way to spend money, but I'm thankful for the prompt pay discount and as long as I get good results from the Cologuard analysis, I won't need to have a colonoscopy. 

11. Things are still progressing well for Paul at work. Closing is supposed to happen the week of July 10. PTL! 

12. The drought has ended! The grass is green again! 

13. I made a LOT of pulled pork last Saturday. Five pounds of potatoes wasn't enough for leftovers on Father's Day, but I've been enjoying leftover pulled pork. I make a salad that rivals the one I love at Panera. Mine contains their poppyseed dressing, strawberries, blueberries, romaine lettuce, pulled pork, and sometimes I also add pineapple. YUM!!!

14. I've seen a lot of animals on my walks lately! I usually see birds, chipmunks, rabbits, squirrels, and groundhogs. Lately I've seen a black bear, deer (that allowed me to walk rather close to them), and a mink! 

Ian was in this airplane.

13.5 years old!

Ian's shirt was white when he arrived at church last night.

Ian has been a teenager for six months (and three days)! Here is a brief description of what he's been up to lately. 

1. He finished Algebra I at the end of May, took one week off, and then started Algebra II. I decided to have him take Algebra II before Geometry so that he and Nadia would both be doing Algebra II this coming school year. Since the beginning of Algebra II is just a review of Algebra I, he has already completed eight lessons and the first test. 

2. For a few months he had been studying German on Duolingo, but I asked him to switch back to Spanish for the time being because we're planning to visit Ecuador in less than eight months. 

3. He has been waiting for more than a year for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to come out on the Switch. He purchased it as soon as it came out. Oliver chipped in $20 toward the game. 

4. Although most of his screen time is used to play on the Switch, he also plays Brawl Stars on the iPad.

5. Not counting the books that he read for school, over the last six months he read three Harry Potter books (two of which were 752 and 896 pages long) as well as The Winter War by Priscilla Shirer and the newest Diary of a Wimpy Kid book. Ian listens to far more audiobooks than his siblings do. 

6. He enjoyed learning more about coding (Python) over the last few months. 

7. In March Ian had four baby teeth extracted by the dentist at the request of the orthodontist. He's been wearing his retainer for two years now. 

8. He took a weekly art class at the homeschool co-op from January through May and ten weeks of ice-skating lessons from January through March. He spends a fair amount of time drawing each week.

9. He has continued to attend the youth group on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights and Bible quizzing on Wednesday afternoons. The Bible quizzing team is headed to Indiana in two weeks for the national competition over the book of Acts. Ian did very well at the practice quiz in Indiana last month. 

10. I think Ian is now willing to ride any ride at an amusement park as he rode the Impulse at Knoebels for the first-time last month.

11. Currently, his favorite musical artist is Toby Mac. 

12. He's gained two pounds over the last five months. I looked online, and he's still underweight, as his BMI is at the 2nd percentile. The doctor wants his BMI to be at least at the 5th percentile. He's currently 5 feet tall and weighs 78 pounds. Hopefully we can get more weight on him before his next physical.

13. Recently he has been enjoying creating rules for new games using Lego minifigures and existing game boards such as Sorry, Clue, and Labyrinth. Oliver and Paul have played some of his new games with him. 

Thankful Thursday

Life is full of twists and turns. Some represent little bumps in the road, and other times major changes. Rolling with the punches is an important skill to have, and we had more opportunities to refine that skill than usual in 2020. Awhile back I had signed my kids up for a (free) 4-hour fishing/kayaking trip. They were originally scheduled to do this from 1-5pm next Monday. The director of the program emailed me last week and asked if they could come on June 6 from 8:00-12:00 instead. We had very little snow this past winter, and then the last few weeks we've been in a significant drought. The lawns around here usually look lush in June, but now they mostly are brown. The historic low water level wasn't helpful for kayaking, but the kids still had a good time. On Monday and Wednesday, I took five kids to the Kid's Cafe (free lunch) in our town's park. One of our neighbors is teaching summer school so I also took her two kids with us. Her kids also hung out at our house for a few hours this week on those two days.

Today I thought that I'd be driving those 5 kids plus Cheri and myself to a field trip located one hour west of us. This morning as I was walking Milo around 7am, I received a text from one mom who was backing out because of the poor air quality due to the fires in Canada. I called another mom who I knew was on the fence because of the same issue. When she also decided to back out, I decided to reschedule the trip because those 11 people represented half of the group. Cheri was on her way out of her driveway when I texted her to tell her that we were going to reschedule. She had lined up an aide to watch her uncle and really wanted to go somewhere with us today. As I ate my breakfast, I tried to come up with another idea. I remembered that the Rodale Institute offered tours on Thursdays in the summer. I went on their website and paid for a tour at 11:00 for the five of us. Cheri had also mentioned a couple of weeks ago that she hadn't toured a cave since she was a child (and she's 66 years old). She asked that we schedule a tour of a cavern. I had previously taken the kids to two other caverns in Pennsylvania, but we hadn't been to Crystal Cave which is about 15 minutes from Rodale Institute. These places are 2 hours from our home. To be honest I wasn't thrilled with the idea of driving for more than 4 hours today, but my friend has been dealing with some really challenging situations as the primary caregiver of her uncle who has Alzheimer's. The kids and I left our home at 8:45 and picked her up at a meeting spot at 9:10. A little after 10:00 we found out from the Rodale Institute that they had cancelled the tours for today because of the air quality. At that point we were only about 20 minutes away from the site, so we opted go in the Visitor Center to get a map and take the self-guided tour. Several other individuals showed up for the 11:00 tour, but it didn't happen today. Air quality was not an issue in an underground cave. I wasn't impressed with Crystal Cave. It definitely wasn't a great field trip, but Cheri was very grateful, and I enjoyed having hours to talk with her in the van. I also am very grateful that we plan to stay at home sweet home tomorrow and Saturday. Actually, over the next seven days I don't plan to drive farther than 15 minutes away from our home which is fine with me! Since Paul enjoys history, I've decided to reschedule the tour of Curtin Village for some time when he will be able to join the group. 

Nadia is starting her job at Reptiland on Monday at 10:00am. We only found that out a little before 5pm today. The school district is closed on Fridays in the summer, and I need to get her a work permit. Hopefully I can get that taken care of prior to 10:00 on Monday morning. I'm hoping that this will be a good experience for her! It's much easier to get a job when you are sixteen years old. I am grateful the manager was willing to hire her albeit she will only be turning fifteen on June 24. 

Margie had an appointment with her oncologist today. She had planned to request to be switched to hospice, but she changed her mind and is going to have one more radiation treatment and try some other medications. We are praying that these will not result in difficult side effects and will be helpful in improving both her quality of life and possibly extending the length of her life here on earth.

Last August I purchased four tickets for a Christian music festival to be held at a Six Flags in NY in July. I purchased four at first because Nadia was at camp, and I didn't know if she wanted to go. At first, she said she didn't want to go because she thought she had a schedule conflict, but then she changed her mind, and I bought a fifth ticket (and there actually wasn't a schedule conflict). Then a few months later Paul found out that he won't be able to attend with us as his brother will be on vacation that week. Cheri was telling me today how she really wanted to be able to get away with someone for 3 days. She had tried to work something out with one of her sisters. Long story short, she found someone who will care for her uncle and her dogs for the three days of the music festival, and she is going to use Paul's ticket! She hasn't been able to travel away from home for quite a while because she is her uncle's caregiver. I am thankful that she will be able to enjoy the Christian music and also the rides with us for three days in July!

Although Paul can't go with us to Darien Lake, it seems he will be able to travel with us a lot more in the future. He is scheduled to sell the company to someone at the end of this month. This is a HUGE answer to prayer. It feels like a miracle to us. Provided this actually comes to fruition in three weeks, he will continue to work FT until the end of July and then will work PT for the new owner for an undetermined length of time, but the end goal will be for him to transition to a job that he can do from home which will be fabulous because he currently drives 100 miles a day (round trip) to work six days a week. He also will have more flexibility in terms of taking a day off for a field trip or taking a week or two off for a vacation. The kids and I are very excited about the idea of spending more time with Paul starting in August!!! Thank you, Lord!

Cousins and a concert

Ian is 18 months older than Joel, but Joel is much taller than Ian!

 Although May 8th was officially our final day of school, in some ways it didn't feel like summer started until after Nadia's play was over at the co-op. We definitely felt like we were on summer break last week as we spent about 74 hours at Great Wolf Lodge with my sister's family. The only other times we've been to Great Wolf Lodge it has been in December which means we've never been in their outdoor pool or used the high ropes course. That is still a true statement because the resort is undergoing massive construction, and the outdoor activities were closed. In the past we've only stayed one night, which typically translates to us being there for about 29 hours. Just as we have done in the past, we went with a homeschooling group from New Jersey because we pay less than half of the usual rate. Another family from the co-op where Nadia did drama was also at Great Wolf Lodge last week. Paul didn't join us on the trip, but Jenna's boyfriend did. The Towfighis paid for two rooms, and we paid for a third room. There were fifteen of us altogether. Five females shared one room, and the ten males shared the other two rooms. I shared a bed with ten-year-old Julianna. We ate breakfast and lunch before we arrived on Tuesday, and we all went to Taco Bell for dinner that night. Because it was Joel's 12th birthday, I made him a carrot cake with cream cheese icing which everyone ate for dessert. Some kids spent a lot of time in the indoor water park. Some of them spent very little time in the water park although between the hours of 11-4 on Friday they didn't have many options because we had to check out of our rooms by 11:00. Nathan broke his nose and two bones in his arm on Memorial Day, so he was unable to get wet the first two days we were there. He was wearing a splint on his arm and saw an orthopedic doctor today to get a cast. We're praying he won't need to have a surgery on his arm. Toby wasn't feeling well for a majority of the time, and Yvonne and Joe were dealing with unpleasant cases of poison ivy, but the rest of us were doing well physically. We had brought food from home to eat for our breakfasts and lunches on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Yvonne and I ran to Domino's for pizza on Wednesday and to Subway and Dunkin' for subs and donuts on Thursday. My kids and I got food from Wendy's for dinner on Friday during our drive back home. Milo wasn't a fan of our trip to Great Wolf Lodge because he was home alone by himself far more hours than usual, and Paul was the only one here at home in the evenings. My kids love to spend time with their cousins, and that was the main reason we spent a few days at Great Wolf Lodge! I had promised the kids a special treat once we listened to 1,000 books together. This was their reward albeit we still have five more books to go to reach our goal. 

Yesterday Nadia spent six hours at Faith's house, and her brother, Xandir, spent 4.5 hours at our home. Today was a normal Sunday with the exception that we attended a free outdoor concert by the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra this evening. They performed music from a variety of movies such as Star Wars, Frozen, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Spiderman, etc. The vast majority of the concerts we have attended as a family have been of Christian contemporary music. I'm grateful for opportunities to expose them to some other types of music. Naturally I was thinking of my favorite violinist, Wendy. 

Memorial Day weekend

 Aside from wearing red, white, and blue clothing, we don't usually do anything special to celebrate Memorial Day. Paul usually goes to work that day, and the kids and I usually stay at home all day. That will still be the case tomorrow, but if we are talking about the entire three-day weekend, we attended a military air show on Saturday and a picnic this afternoon. I saw the Blue Angels perform when I was a child, and for several years I've tried to make plans for us to see them. The airshow that they were supposed to participate in in 2019 in Wilkes Barre was cancelled. Then I planned for us to see them in Annapolis in 2020, and that obviously didn't happen. A show at the Naval Academy would have been free, but this year I opted to attend one at the Pocono Raceway instead. I thought paying the $ for the tickets was worth it because of the fact that the drive would be much shorter. I imagine it must be just as bad when they hold NASCAR events there. It turns out it's an absolute nightmare to drive to or leave that venue as the road can't handle the volume of traffic. We are spoiled where we live in that we almost never deal with traffic of any kind. Paul occasionally encounters a traffic delay on I-80 when there is a significant accident, but that's about it. On the way there the traffic added 40+ minutes to what was supposed to be a 75-minute drive. The police officer wouldn't allow us to turn right out of the venue, and this created a much longer delay. Paul had only been to one other air show in his life - a WWII one we attended at an airport in Reading two years ago. He really enjoyed the F-22 Raptor demonstration as well as the Blue Angels. Other performers included a aircraft called the Vampire and two pilots who performed a wide variety of stunts. Rob Holland's were particularly impressive! I think the kids enjoyed at least parts of the air show, but I don't think they were as enamored with it as Paul and I were. 

Some of the activities that I anticipated for years experiencing for the first time with my kids they DID love as much as I thought they would (ex. circus, Disney on Ice, Sea World, Tran Siberian Orchestra, amusement parks, seeing their first Broadway show, Stars on Ice, and skiing). Other experiences that I greatly anticipated were not nearly as special to the kids as I thought they might be. The two things that would fit that description from the past six months would be seeing the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall and seeing the Blue Angels yesterday. Paul often comments when I say that I want the kids to experience xyz before Nadia graduates, he will add "and Paul" because in most cases they are also new experiences for him. I'm glad Paul and the kids were able to see the Blue Angels for the first time, and I never plan to return to the Pocono Raceway! 

This morning we allowed Nadia and Ian to attend the youth service at 9:00. Oliver joined us in the 9:00 worship service. We left at 10:20 which unfortunately was a little bit before the prayer time ended at the conclusion of the service because we were attending the 10:30 service at another church so that we could see the kids' friend, Micah, be baptized. After that service, we came home to let Milo out and change our clothes prior to going to a picnic with other friends and family of Micah at Montour Preserve. The weather was gorgeous! The kids had fun playing with Ean, Ivan, Micah, and Isaiah. This I believe the first time we attended a picnic near Memorial Day or Fourth of July in I'd guess more than 15 years. I am extremely grateful to those men and women who have given their lives in the service of our country. 

Nadia has been offered her first job! We have no idea what her salary will be, but the manager is willing to hire her. If Nadia does well during her probationary period, she can work as many as 30 hours in a week and can continue to return as an employee in the summers for years to come. I am thankful that Reptiland is less than 4 miles from our home since Nadia is too young to drive herself to and from work. She will be doing a wide variety of tasks - helping in the gift shop, cleaning, etc. Probably the only time her responsibilities will involve animals will be if they need her to sell feed sticks where the budgies are located. She could have started work this Tuesday, but the kids and I will be spending four days at Great Wolf Lodge with Yvonne's family and Toby. The manager hasn't told us yet what her start day will be. I hope that this proves to be an excellent experience for Nadia. She's had a phone for a little less than a year, but she doesn't have a phone number so she can only use it where there is Wi-Fi available. In light of this job offer, Paul and I are planning to start paying for a monthly plan for her phone. Paul and I have only been paying $5 a week (total) for both of our cell phone plans through his company, but that will likely be changing in the near future. In doing a little shopping, it seems that it's cheaper to go with a family plan, but we need four phones for a family plan. Ian would have been due to receive his first phone this December, but he might be getting his first phone sometime this summer if we choose a plan that involves having at least four phones on the plan.

New co-op taking shape

The homeschool game days have morphed into a new local co-op. Twenty-one adults and children attended our first field trip at Eckley Miners' Village on May 9. Yesterday about forty adults and children attended our second field trip at the Historic Warrior Run Church. The church was first formed in 1769, but the first two buildings were burned down. The current structure was built in 1835. We also visited the cemetery and a home near the site of the Battle of Fort Freeland. A retired schoolteacher graciously conducted the 4-hour program at no charge. During the last hour of the day the students had two hands-on experiences with making rope and using a loom. Our third field trip has been scheduled for June 8. This Friday afternoon I am hosting the fifth game day for the group (second time we've had it at our home). I'm working on planning more field trips for the group over the coming months. 

Last night some parents gathered to discuss ideas for our new co-op. Nadia says we need to come up with a name for our co-op. We haven't figured that out yet. Our first session will last six weeks in the fall (October/November) and will include Health and Nutrition, Speech, Marine Biology lab, a chess club, lunch and a book club. I gave a list of 15 different books to some of the moms in an attempt to narrow down the list to probably 3 choices. The kids will be able to choose which group to be in based on which book they have chosen. Nadia and Faith already chose Much Ado About Nothing because Faith hasn't read any Shakespeare yet. I want Oliver to read one of the books from the Chronicles of Narnia. Ian is leaning towards either joining Oliver or reading The Hobbit. We're waiting to see what the other students choose. So far we have 13 students planning to join us, and more are considering joining us. The students are between 5th-12th grade, and 69% of the kids currently planning to attend are in 8th-10th grade. Ian will be one of five eighth graders. Eight of the kids will also see each other on Wednesday evenings at Bible quizzing as three younger siblings (Xandir, Lucy, and Oliver) plan to join their older siblings (Faith, Ben, Jill, Ian, and Nadia) in September. We haven't chosen the dates for the next session (winter/spring) because some of us are hoping to go on a mission trip to Guatemala, and the dates for that haven't been chosen yet. As of now we are planning to meet in our home. If the group outgrows our home, we'll see if a local church will allow us to use their facility. Even though we are adding this co-op to our plans for the upcoming school year, it doesn't mean we'll discontinue what we have been doing. Nadia, Ian, and I have scheduled auditions to possibly be in a performance of The Sound of Music that is to take place in November. I'm also probably going to sign the kids up for art and chorus at the Christian school at our church (if we don't do drama at the CHEF co-op again next year). Whether I sign the kids up to be in the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale again in the fall will depend on whether we are participating in Sound of Music and also what days/times those rehearsals are held. 

Nadia spent some time making crepes today with Tab. I had a long overdue physical today. I haven't had a colonoscopy and given how expensive those are (and our medical sharing plan doesn't cover them), I have opted to go the Cologuard route instead. The physical cost $50, and she said that the bloodwork she ordered will total less than $50. The Cologuard will cost more than that, but it still will be far less than a colonoscopy. Today I also signed the boys up for a babysitting class the local hospital offers. Nadia took it four years ago. I don't know if the boys will do any babysitting, but I think it's worthwhile for them to learn how to do CPR and such. 

Step in Time

This week has been tech week for Nadia, which translates to spending about 50 hours at the church where the homeschool co-op meets. About forty of the students in grades 8-12 chose to participate in the spring drama program this year. They invited one seventh grade boy to play the part of Michael Banks. His sister, who is in high school, played the part of Jane Banks. Nadia was in three of the twenty-four scenes of the musical - Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, Step in Time, and Anything Can Happen. She wore the costume of a chimney sweep and star dancer for the latter two scenes. The students who played the parts of Bert, Mary Poppins, Miss Andrew, and the four members of the Banks family all did a particularly excellent job. This semester I was the chair of the hair/makeup committee and a member of the publicity committee. This week I primarily was helping in the kitchen as we served about 100 people one meal a day plus snacks throughout the day.  I brought in a batch of brownies and a batch of Rice Krispie treats and also applied foundation to some of the boys on Wednesday for the dress rehearsal and yesterday for the first performance. Nadia had four people in the audience last night who came to see her - Tab, me, Mia, and Macey. One of our pastors was surprised to see me there last night as he didn't know that Nadia was in the show. Tonight, I believe there will be ten people who are coming to see her - five Kennedys (including Paul's dad), Jill, Faith, Xandir, Lucy, and Melinda. Last year fewer were able to come to one of her performances because they conflicted with a Bible quizzing event. 

Last year the boys also spent the week with us during tech week. Ian was on the stage crew, and Oliver played with other kids. This year I made other arrangements for the boys. They spent Monday and Tuesday at Tab's house. Because they spent the night at their house, I took Nadia out to dinner at Olive Garden on Monday night for a mom/daughter date. On Tuesday the boys joined some other families at a state park. They had a blast and needed to take showers before I took them home as they had been playing in the mud at one point. Paul dropped Milo off on Monday morning when he took Ian and Oliver to their home. Unfortunately, Milo was not a good boy on Monday, so Paul had to pick Milo up on his way home from work on Monday night. Milo spent many hours at home alone on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Today he'll have far fewer hours at home alone because Paul's dad is coming up to spend several hours at our home with the boys before going up to see Nadia's show. The last two days the boys spent the day at Xandir and Faith's home. Each morning I dropped them off at their home. Paul picked them up at church at 6:30 on Wednesday after the Bible quizzing practice, and he picked them up at Melinda's home last night. The boys were already in bed by the time Nadia and I got home after 10:00 pm last night. Although I'm glad that Nadia had the opportunity to participate in this musical, I'm also very, very glad that today is the last day as this is a very exhausting week for me which translates to headaches, etc.

Margie had surgery to place a pin and rod in her hip and femur to prevent those bones from breaking. She's very thankful to be back at home as she ended up spending several days at the hospital following the surgery. Her PET scan this week revealed the good news that although she has innumerable tumors in her skeletal system (primarily near her pelvis), the cancer hasn't spread to any of her vital organs. We are praying that the radiation treatment that she will have in the near future will be helpful in greatly reducing her pain, and we are praying for wisdom regarding other treatment decisions. 

Dear Bob and Sue

Most of my life the only way I consumed a book was by reading one that was printed on paper. During my lengthy hospitalization during Oliver's pregnancy, the doctors and nurses kept giving me grief for the massive stack of library books that were in my hospital room. I was frequently asked why I didn't use a Kindle instead. Shortly after that, I did purchase a Paperwhite Kindle. Similarly, when I first began reading chapter books out loud to my kids, I was unfamiliar with audiobooks. In 2017 I began using Audible from time to time, and in 2019 a friend shared about getting audiobooks for free through the public library. For the first several years that we accessed audiobooks, I only got children's books that we would listen to together. I've been walking regularly for over a year, and I have been enjoying listening to audiobooks while I walk. I've never purchased an audiobook for myself. I either listen to ones I can get for free through the library or ones that are included in the "Plus" portion of Audible. I never pay full price for a subscription to Audible. I only renew my membership when they offer it at least 50% off, and we only have it a few months a year. I've also used AudiobooksNow to get books for the kids from time to time, but the service I learned about more recently was Scribd. If you are the kind of person who wants to own an audiobook for months or years to come, Scribd is not for you. However, if your family listens to several audiobooks a month, and there are books you want to listen to that aren't available through the public library, Scribd can be a very good deal. It costs $12/month. I just pay for a month when I know there are several books we will listen to that month. It ends up costing us $1-2 per audiobook between the books that the kids and I listen to together plus the ones I listen to on my own when we have Scribd for a month. 

Although I've still been listening to some fiction, I've been listening to more nonfiction this year. Some of the nonfiction books I've listened to so far in 2023 have included: Essentialism by Greg McKeown, I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai, Unoffendable: How just one change can make all of life better by Brant Hansen, Find Your People by Jennie Allen, Effortless by Greg McKeown, Boys in the Boat by Daniel Brown, Educated by Tara Westover, All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvaat, Win the Day by Mark Batterson, The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath, Don't Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table by Louie Giglio, All My Knotted-up Life by Beth Moore, and Shakespeare Saved my Life by Laura Bates. Right now, I'm getting near the end of Dear Bob and Sue which details one middle-aged couple's journey through the national parks. The first and second books in that series are included in the plus catalog. All three books in the series are included in Scribd. I am enjoying the book because of the fact that we've been to over 100 National Park sites so far, and I've done research regarding some of the others that we plan to visit. The couple really likes to drink beer and margaritas which isn't something I can relate to, but the foods they mention the most often are pizza and peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, which are two foods at least some of us eat regularly (Paul and Nadia don't eat PB&J). The first book is about them visiting all of the 59 parks that were called "National Parks" (ex. Acadia, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, etc.) at the time they started this journey. There are sixty-three now. Of those sixty-three, we've been to fourteen so far, and we plan to visit five more in August/September (Redwood, Crater Lake, Mount Rainier, Olympic, and Lassen Volcanic). During that trip I'm going to purchase a National Park pass for the very first time as without a fourth grader we can't get one for free. 

I'm hoping that the five of us will visit all 50 states (6 left) and all ten of the Canadian provinces. If we visit my sister's family in Ecuador, Paul and I will have been to four continents. I'd like to visit Africa and Australia at some point. I have no desire to ever go to Antarctica. I have no desire to visit all 63 National Parks in part because some of them are very remote (have to take a flight or a boat to get to them) such as Gates of the Arctic and Katmai in Alaska, Isle Royale (Michigan), Channel Islands (California), North Cascades (Washington), Voyaguers (Minnesota), Apostle Islands (Wisconsin), American Samoa, and the Virgin Islands. The only one that is considered to be remote that we plan to visit is Dry Tortugas (Florida). We're hoping to go to Alaska next year, but I think we'll only make it to two of the eight National Parks found in that state (Denali and Kenai Fjords). There might only be 63 "National Parks" but the National Park system includes more than 400 sites (units) - some are National Memorials others are National Battlefields or Historic Sites or National Seashores, etc. We've been to 113 of the sites so far, and at the moment there are 67 more on my list of ones we have plans to visit in the coming years. Obviously that list could change dramatically with deletions and/or additions. I'm thinking a good goal would be to see if we can visit at least 200 of the National Park sites, which would be a little less than half of them. One of my favorite National Parks we visited when I was a child was Carlsbad Caverns. It was one of the ones I considered including in our big 2021 road trip, but it was just too far south. If I could go back in time, I'd find a way to include the Hoover Dam in that trip. I thought it was just too far west, but it's one I've wanted to see for many years. We shall see if we ever make it out there. We've done a good job of getting our passports stamped at each site like the authors of this book did, but unlike them, we haven't been consistent with getting a photo in front of the brown sign at each site. Maybe we can be more consistent with that in our future trips. They bought each of their kids (who were in their 20's at the time) a postcard at each site. Our tradition is to buy a magnet although we don't buy one at every single site because there won't be room on our refrigerator for that many magnets! 

listening to this book did motivate me to include more National Parks in our trip to Texas/Louisiana in 2025. Originally, I was thinking we'd go in March so we could attend the annual rodeo in Houston, but now I'm thinking of pushing it back later into that year so that we can see the bats emerge from Carlsbad Caverns and/or Bracken Cave and also spend a day at either Six Flags or Schlitterbahn. Instead of flying into Texas, now I'm thinking we could fly into Phoenix and visit Casa Grande, Saguaro, Chiricahua, and Fort Bowie in Arizona, White Sands and Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, and Guadelupe Mountains and Padre Island National Seashore in Texas in addition to the three I had already planned (Jean Lafitte in Louisianna and Big Thicket and San Antonio Missions in Texas). Nadia and Ian left for Indiana early this morning, so Oliver helped me narrow down our choices of what to see in Texas. Aside from the National Park sites some that are included in the current possible itinerary include Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Fort Worth Zoo, Dallas Arboretum, Fort Worth Stockyards, San Antonio Zoo, a rodeo, an amusement park, Natural Bridges Cavern, bats at Bracken Cave, tour of the Toyota plant, riverwalk, Texas State Aquarium, USS Lexington, Houston Zoo, Houston Space Center, San Jacinto, Vermilionville, Tabasco factory tour, Whitney Plantation, Laura Plantation, Honey Island Swamp Tour, National WWII Museum, and the Audubon Zoo. I gave serious consideration to including Big Bend National Park and/or some sites in Galveston, but at the moment those have been excluded. Nadia is the least interested in hikes in our family. In the future if there are some vacations that only the boys join us, I think we can schedule longer hikes during those trips. 

Feed the birds

Today we took our annual trip to Reptiland, which is a small zoo located 3 miles from our home. In previous years, I've only paid for my admission because all three kids got in for free with our PBS membership. Last year the kids joined Tab and her family, so I didn't go last year. This year was the first year that I had to pay for Nadia's admission, and today was the last time that Ian can get in for free. The price for an adult admission has gone up significantly over the years, which probably means Oliver will be the only child I take to Reptiland next year. Reptiland consists of a building that contains reptiles (what a surprise!), a greenhouse for the budgies, a newer, smaller building that houses a Komodo dragon and some large tortoises, outdoor exhibits that feature tortoises, animatronic dinosaurs, an owl, and emus. In addition to seeing the animals in the indoor and outdoor exhibits, we attended a 30-minute show about snakes and lizards, fed some budgies, and attended two animal encounters. The first was with two hissing cockroaches, and the second was with a baby alligator. Usually, I buy each of the kids a feed stick, but in light of the fact that I had to pay for two adult admissions, I only bought one feed stick, which meant we didn't spend as much time in that enclosure as usual. The birds were very interested in our shoes. As we were feeding the birds I was thinking of the song from Mary Poppins because Nadia will be in two performances of Mary Poppins next week. Her rehearsals are scheduled to last 7.5 hours each on Monday and Tuesday, 11.5 hours on Wednesday (seriously!), and the rehearsal + performance will last at least 10 hours each on Thursday and Friday. 

Many schools take students on field trips to Reptiland at this time of year, so I usually try to arrive in the afternoon after the school groups have left. We arrived earlier than usual because Nadia had a job interview at 12:00. After helping her fill out the application, the boys and I entered the zoo. The manager said that she doesn't typically hire individuals who are younger than sixteen, but we figured it was worth a try since at the moment Nadia's plan is to major in zoology at Liberty University. The manager said she'll call in the early part of next week to let Nadia know if they will hire her or not. At the minimum, Nadia gained the experience of her first job interview. If she isn't offered a job this year, I imagine she'll reapply there next year and apply elsewhere for a job this summer. We shall see what the manager says next week! If I need to start chauffeuring Nadia to and from work there, I'll appreciate the short commute.