Hilo

There are two airports on Hawaii (Big Island). We flew into Hilo yesterday (eastern side), and we're flying out of Kona on Saturday (western side). This morning, we started our day by driving to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The visitor center is currently closed as they are building a larger one, but we were able to get Junior Ranger booklets and badges and a magnet at a temporary welcome station. I'm counting today as our second day of school for 2025-26. We saw steam vents, hiked through a lava tube, and then hiked the Kilauea Iki Trail, which is 3.3 miles long and is a pit crater created through an eruption in 1959. This volcano has erupted many times this year. We would have liked to watch it erupting, but it hasn't erupted for the last four days. It wasn't raining while we hiked those trails, but it started raining a bit later. I had left the umbrella back in our Airbnb. Thankfully it wasn't raining when we parked to see the Holei Sea Arch, but it started raining again so we skipped the Petroglyph hike and the Desolation trail hike. It was raining when we viewed the Kilauea Overlook. I didn't include the larger volcano (Mauna Loa) in our plans. We do plan to visit one more volcano (Haleakala) when we are on Maui next week. Paul and I have been to several volcanos over the years (ex. Mt. Etna and La Soufriere), but the only other ones the kids have been to before are Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier. Mount Rainier is one of my most favorite national parks in terms of natural beauty, but I have to say that the hikes we did on Kilauea were phenomenal - very unique. Today we spotted one mongoose and three wild pigs. I enjoyed seeing some beautiful flowers. We also saw a mongoose on Oahu. 

Our next stop was in Punalu'u where we visited a black sand beach and had dinner at the Punalu'u Bake Shop. At the beach, there were palm trees, and someone was selling them for $10. Paul and I enjoyed one in the Caribbean back in 2021, and when I told Oliver that he wanted to try one. I'm not sure if it wasn't ripe or what the deal was, but neither the liquid nor the solid part tasted good at all. It's a risk you take when you try something new. Oliver wanted to try a poke bowl. He ordered one at the beach on Oahu yesterday and discovered he doesn't like to eat raw fish. Thankfully he usually likes the new foods that he tries. Once we were back in Hilo, we made a five-minute detour to see Rainbow Falls. We weren't there at the ideal time to see a rainbow in the water, but we did get to see a rainbow last week on our first hike of the day on Oahu. 

In the first several months of the year we saw 48 of the 50 states' license plates. We haven't made any progress since May in finding the last two (Wyoming and New Hampshire). When we toured Cedarville in June, a woman in the admission's office said that they had students from 49 states. She was very surprised when I correctly guessed that Wyoming was the state they don't have any students from. She said usually people say Alaska or Hawaii. I made that guess due to playing the license plate game, ha ha! When we were in Ecuador it surprised me that we only saw license plates from Ecuador. Here in Hawaii the vast majority (I'd guess at least 99%) of the license plates are Hawaii plates, but I have seen some from Texas, California, and Oregon. I'm doubtful that this trip will help us find the last two states. We did a fair amount of driving today, but at least the driving wasn't stressful for Paul like it was on Oahu. Neither of us like driving in city traffic, and although Honolulu is very small compared to Chicago or NYC, it still has far more traffic than we're accustomed to dealing with. 

The swimming pool at our first Airbnb was closed due to renovations. It turns out the pool at our second Airbnb is only open from 9-6, and we weren't around to swim at time yesterday or today. The last seven days the kids will have plenty of opportunities to swim in the ocean, and maybe they will swim in a pool at the Holiday Inn in Kona. We're accustomed to eating a free breakfast at the hotel when we're on vacation, but because 8 of the nights of this trip we're staying at an Airbnb, we are only getting a free breakfast five mornings (at the Holiday Inn). 

Many years ago, I bought five t-shirts that were either Larry or Bob (the tomato). We wore them when we were at Sea World in Florida. For the second time in my life, I bought us each a t-shirt. I wanted one that recognized we have visited all 50 states. I would have picked a slightly different style, but I let Nadia pick one on Etsy. When it was time to start packing, I kept reminding everyone to pack their 50-state t-shirt. Ian told me he had packed his, but it turns out he didn't. I was very disappointed. So the pictures today just have four of us. Sometime in Pennsylvania I'll get a picture of all five of us wearing our traveled to fifty states t-shirts. We did bring other outfits that I coordinated for a family photo at the beach (a little dressier). I'm hoping to do that either in Kona or on Maui. The last time we had family beach photos was in 2019. Paul accidentally forgot to pack socks, and the only shoes he brought were sneakers. Since Ian brought sneakers, crocs, and sandals, he loaned Paul some of the socks he packed. We're hoping to buy Paul some more socks while we're on this island.

All in all, things have been going smoothly. We're all healthy. Nothing has been cancelled. The only time rain interfered with our plans so far was today. Thankfully, Nadia figured out that Cafe 100 wouldn't be open tomorrow at the time we planned to go there for breakfast, so we had time to make alternate plans. I wasn't keen on the mattress at our Airbnb in Oahu, but I like the mattress at this one in Hilo just as much as our one at home. We also are enjoying that the boys have one bedroom, we have another bedroom, and Nadia is sleeping on a futon in the living room. 

Farewell, Oahu!

 

In 2000 when Paul and I were discussing where we wanted to go on our honeymoon, Hawaii was high on our list, and at that time I thought we'd spend a week on Kaui. I knew that we could *never* go to Hawaii without visiting Pearl Harbor, so back then I assumed we'd add a few days on Oahu to that trip, but we ended up going to St. Lucia for our honeymoon, and we don't regret that choice. We went to several different Caribbean islands in subsequent years, and St. Lucia remained our favorite. Ironically, when I planned this trip to Hawaii, Kaui wasn't included in our itinerary. Considering we were only on Oahu for four days, we certainly didn't thoroughly visit the island. During our week on Hawaii (aka "Big Island") we will almost completely make our way around the island. When the kids were younger, we stopped at almost every science or children's museum along the way. They outgrew children's museums first, and now it's much rarer for me to include a science museum. We've had an ASTC membership for quite a few years, but ours expires this week, and I'm not planning to renew it. More recently we've been visiting zoos and aquariums far more often than we had in the earlier years, but on this trip, I didn't include any zoos or aquariums. Ironically, we were parked in the zoo parking lot today as it was close to where the kids had their surfing lessons. I figured we would just enjoy seeing animals in the wild on this vacation. 

August 7, which was Oliver's 13th birthday, was definitely the kids' favorite day of our trip to Oahu as they all loved the dolphin boat tour and the parasailing. Surprisingly, Paul said that dolphin experience was his favorite also. In particular, he loved it when a sea turtle swam right up close to his face. You're supposed to stay 6 feet away from sea turtles, but the sea turtles don't seem to know about that rule. Pearl Harbor came in as #2 in his rankings. Nadia and Oliver said their top three for Oahu were the dolphins, parasailing, and surfing. Ian agreed with their top two, but he picked the Kailua beach as his third most favorite. Paul's third favorite was the hike to the summit of Diamond Head. 

August 8 counted as the first day of 7th, 10th, and 12th grade for my kiddos because we toured Iolani Palace and then spent six hours at Pearl Harbor. The kids earned Junior Ranger badges. We visited the USS Arizona Memorial (by boat) and the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum. We had a guided bus tour of the USS Oklahoma and USS Utah Memorials on Ford Island. We had dinner at the Pit Stop Food Truck near our lodging. I *thought* we'd spend time at Waikiki Beach that evening. Our unit was a few minutes' walk away from the beach, but we opted to just relax in our unit after dinner and forgo the time at the beach (and skip seeing the fireworks that one hotel does every Friday night).

Today our day began by hiking to the summit of Diamond Head Crater. This is a VERY popular hike. You have to have paid reservations to do it at a very specific time, and even so it was crowded. We did a total of four hikes on Oahu. None of them were terribly long, but all of them involved significant elevation changes. The least was the first one (about 500 feet), and Diamond Head was pretty similar at 560. I thought the Lanikai Pillbox Trail (613 feet elevation change) was definitely the hardest. Manoa Falls included about 800 feet of elevation change. I purposefully excluded The Koko Head Crater trail although it is located very close to the first trail we did because it has an elevation gain of 1,200 feet in just seven tenths of a mile! After our hike, we had lunch at Barefoot Cafe on the beach. Oliver learned he doesn't like to eat raw fish as he ordered a poke bowl for lunch. Kudos to him for trying many new things! After lunch, the kids had surfing lessons. Oliver was the first to succeed, but all three were successful! After surfing, we began the process of returning the vehicle (we remembered not to get gas right near the airport) and going back to the airport. In hindsight, we should have packed sandwiches for dinner. The prices of food in the airport in Honolulu were ridiculous. Finally, we found some breakfast sandwiches at a Starbucks that weren't as absurdly priced. Our flight on Southwest was very short. The flight wasn't full, and they didn't serve any snacks or drinks due to how short of a flight it is. After we landed in Hilo, we got the van we've rented through Turo. This van was parked MUCH closer than the one in Honolulu. We had a long walk again today (with our luggage) after we returned the van in Honolulu. We stopped and got some groceries and then checked into an Airbnb where we are spending two nights before we head over to Kona's side of the island. 

I haven't even looked through all the parasailing or surfing pictures yet, but I've included a few surfing photos in this post. I took pictures, and Paul took some videos.

50th State!

On Monday morning I took the boys to the orthodontist, and once we got back home we started loading up the van, packing our lunches, and left to begin our drive to Maryland. Milo was VERY excited when he saw we had parked at the Seibert's house. Their home is definitely his home away from home. We stopped at a Target on our way to my sister's house to pick up a few things for the trip. We arrived at their home around 3:00 in the afternoon. My dad was also visiting them, so we also got to spend a little time with him. Yvonne very graciously allowed Paul and I to sleep in her very comfortable bed so that we could have a quieter spot to go to bed early in light of our early flight the next morning. Usually we fly out of BWI, but this time we flew out of Dulles, which is in northern Virginia. It's farther from their home, but we didn't have to deal with traffic delays given that we left her house around 4:00 am. I had selected a flight that departed at 7:00, but they had moved up the departure time to 6:30. Everything went smoothly with that departure. I had booked the flight through Alaska Airlines, but after they purchased Hawaiian Airlines, they changed the second leg of our flight to a Hawaiian Airline flight. After we landed, we took a train to the S gate only to find out that our flight had been moved to the N gate. We had to take multiple trains to get from the S gate to the N gate. After we got to our gate, we found out that we had pilots and the plane, but the crew was delayed. Waiting for the crew delayed our boarding by more than an hour.

Since we left Yvonne's house at 4:00, we didn't want to eat breakfast before we left. We brought blueberry Nutri-Grain bars for our breakfast and Ritz cheese cracker sandwiches for our lunch. The food prices at the Seattle airport are ridiculously high, but we were a bit hungry, so instead of buying sandwiches, I spent $16 for two large chocolate chip cookies plus two blueberry scones. Within the past 24 months we've been in the Seattle airport five times! The first time our destination was Seattle, a little less than a year ago we passed through Seattle on our way to and from Alaska, and in May we were in Seattle on our way from Phoenix to Baltimore. We don't plan on taking any domestic flights in 2026 so I think a lot more time will pass before we find ourselves in this airport again. 

I did a LOT of research when planning this trip, but I didn't think to research what food is served on Hawaiian Airlines' flights. I had booked this flight through Alaska, and I knew they didn't serve any complimentary food aside from Biscoff cookies. Hawaiian still serves free food! We got a turkey and cheese sandwich on ciabatta and a small (but very delicious) pineapple shaped cookie made in Hawaii. They also had more choices for drinks. The passion orange guava juice was SO delicious. I had selected our seats for the Alaska Airline flight, but those went out the window when this flight was switched to Hawaiian Airlines. They had Oliver by himself up near the front of the plane, Nadia and I in the middle, and Paul and Ian near the back. Paul took Oliver's seat, Oliver sat with me, and Nadia joined Ian in the back. Nadia and Ian were beside a window. Oliver and I were in the middle of a section of four seats. There was a man sitting on either side of us. This flight had free wi-fi via Starlink. We used our own devices and wireless earbuds on the first flight. On the second flight there was a screen on the back of the seats, but you had to have headphones or earbuds that connected with a cord. The only way to watch the free in-flight entertainment was to buy earbuds that weren't wireless. I bought one pair for Oliver and another for Ian and Nadia to share. Hopefully the next time we fly, we'll remember to bring both wireless and wired earbuds. Considering we left Yvonne's house at 4:00 am EST and didn't arrive in Honolulu until around 3:30 pm (which is 9:30 EST), it was quite an ordeal to travel to Hawaii from the east coast. This is part of the reason decades ago Paul and I kept choosing to go to the Caribbean instead of Hawaii. In light of needing to adjust to a 6-hour time change and how long it takes to get here, I am glad we are staying for two weeks.

I rented vans through Turo for all three islands. We had to walk farther than anticipated to get from our gate to where he had parked the Honda Odyssey outside a Starbucks. Our first stop was Ray's Cafe which looks like a hole in the wall, but the food was delicious, and the prices (for Hawaii anyhow) were very reasonable. Some locals were eating at another table. They could tell we were tourists, and they asked how we found out about the place. I guess not many tourists frequent this establishment! We don't usually bring much cash on vacation, but I knew there were some places (like this one) that were cash only, so I visited the ATM to get more cash before we left our home. The owner was very nice. He gave Oliver a free ice cream novelty, and when I tried to include a tip, he gave me some of the money back. Oliver's portion was so large, that he only ate half of his meal. He finished the other half for dinner on Wednesday night. Because we were behind schedule and tired, the kids asked if we could skip the hike to the waterfall we had planned to do before we checked into our Airbnb. We only stopped at Safeway to buy some groceries. We bought bread, turkey, cheese, ice cream, some fruit, cookies, one box of Poptarts (for Ian and Paul), and one bottle of reef safe sunscreen. Our bill was $109! We basically bought food for the 5 of us for 3 lunches, breakfast for 2 of us for 2 days, dessert for 4 of us for 3 days, and sunscreen. We had packed oatmeal packets for Nadia, Oliver, and I to eat some days for breakfast. I cannot fathom what families must spend on groceries per year if they live in Hawaii. Even at those high prices (ex. we paid $14.27 for 6 nectarines), we still saved money compared to eating out.

Our first Airbnb is a unit in a 38-story building near Waikiki Beach. We have three queen size beds, a dining room table that seats 8, a couch, and a patio. There are many things here in the unit for use at the beach (snorkels, life vests, beach chairs, beach towels, flippers, beach umbrellas, flip flops, sand toys, boogie boards, etc.). Parking in the garage is also included. We went to bed at 8:00 pm on Tuesday, which meant we had been up for 22.5 hours straight. Everyone except me was able to sleep until a reasonable time the next morning. I woke up at midnight and got very little sleep over the next 5 hours that I stayed in bed. I had a bad headache due to sleep deprivation two nights in a row. Thankfully, I got more sleep on Wednesday night. I still work up too early this morning, but I didn't wake up *as* early, and I had again gone to bed at 8:00 pm. Hopefully by tomorrow my body will have completely made the six-hour time change. I am determined to stay up later tonight.

The plan had been to go snorkeling at Hanauma Bay on Wednesday morning, but my attempts to get us reservations when they became available at 1:00 pm on Monday had been unsuccessful. This was disappointing at first, but in light of our flight delay in Seattle, it made it easier for me to rearrange our schedule. I moved our visit to the National Memorial Cemetery from yesterday to today and moved the visit to the Tantalus lookout and hike to Manoa Falls from Tuesday to Wednesday. Yesterday our first stop was Makapu'u Point Lighthouse. This was a very easy trail to hike although there was a significant elevation change. It ended up being our favorite hike of the day. The views were gorgeous, and at the beginning there was a beautiful rainbow! 

Next, we drove to Kailua Beach Park. Originally, I had planned for us to swim at Lanikai Beach, but due to the fact they don't have parking or a bathroom, we opted to do the Kailua Beach instead (they are very close to each other). We walked from the Kailua Beach Park parking lot to the Lanikai Pillbox trailhead. This hike was *much* harder. The views were beautiful, but if I had to do it over again, I would have skipped it. Ian was the only one who did the entire trail. I came extremely close to passing out at one point due to heat exhaustion. I fell twice, and the second time I skinned my knee pretty badly. The beach was gorgeous. The water wasn't cold, and the view was lovely. The boys had fun riding the waves with the boogie boards. 

We ended the day by driving to two lookouts and doing one last hike. The second lookout (Tantalus) gave us a gorgeous view of Diamond Head. Our final hike of the day took us through a rainforest to Manoa Falls, which was where scenes for multiple movies (including Jurassic Park) were filmed. The third trail was harder than the first trail we did and much easier than the second one. At the end of the day we decided that our two favorite parts of the day were the first hike and swimming at the beach. We got our dinner from Rainbow Drive-In and brought it back to eat in our unit since Oliver was reheating leftovers for his dinner. Ian had a meal that consisted of two eggs, coleslaw, fries, and Arabiki sausage (Japanese). 

Some days, like yesterday, the activities don't cost any money. Today was our biggest splurge for this vacation in terms of the cost of activities. For quite a few years Nadia has wanted to swim with dolphins. I had asked Aunt Janet where the best place would be to do that, and years ago she told me off the coast of Oahu. Since today is also Oliver's 13th birthday, I asked him what special activity he wanted to do during our vacation, and he picked parasailing. The kids (to Paul's chagrin) picked the highest height (1,000 feet). Our day started with going to Liliha Bakery to try their famous Coco Puffs. Paul had a cheese Danish, and the kids and I shared six Coco Puffs. Our next stop was a three-hour boat tour off the west coast of Oahu that departed from Wai'anae. This trip was amazing. They located three different large pods of spotted dolphins. The first was the largest pod, and it was a nursery pod that included baby dolphins. Each time we jumped in the water and snorkeled around the dolphins. Our boat went near two other pods of dolphins. One was a pod of spinner dolphins. It's illegal to swim with them. They were very close to our boat, and some of them jumped out of the water. The third species of dolphins we saw were false killer whales. It would have been legal to get in the water with them, but they were swimming way too fast. Our last snorkeling spot featured several sea turtles and a few different kinds of fish. All in all, it was an amazing tour. On our way back to Waikiki Beach, we made a brief stop at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific located in Punchbowl Crater. We had dinner at the Steak Shack located right on the beach. All of the meals come with rice and a salad. Four of us had chicken, and Paul had steak. The meals were delicious. Ian and Nadia usually avoid eating rice at all costs, and they even ate some of their rice. Paul said it was the best meal he'd had on the trip thus far. It was cool having the waves crashing very close to us while we ate our meal. We ended the day with parasailing, which the kids thoroughly enjoyed. We have 1.5 days left on Oahu as we're flying to Hawaii (aka "Big Island") on Saturday. 

Our third teenager!

My baby is a teenager today. Since my kids are close together in age, it seems I'll have about 23 years of having kids in the house (2008-2031). That means 17 of those 23 years have already passed. If Oliver hadn't repeated fourth grade, I'd only have five years left. I want to savor the moments over the next six years! In Pennsylvania children aren't supposed to sit in the front of a vehicle until they are at least thirteen years old. Ian refuses to sit in the front. Nadia has been sitting in the front for a couple of years, but she didn't start doing that when she was thirteen. Oliver has been SO excited about being able to sit in the front. The photos in this post were taken yesterday. Since he is going to be wearing a bathing suit most of the time today, I had him wear his birthday t-shirt one day early. The rainbow on our first hike was an added bonus for the photo! 

Because he's turning thirteen in Hawaii, he's not having a birthday party this year. However, he asked to go parasailing for the first time on his birthday. He and his siblings are doing that this evening. He received most of his birthday gifts two months before his birthday. Pop Pop got him a bicycle. We got him rollerblades, a book, and Minecraft bedding and drapes for his bedroom. His bedroom has had a jungle theme for the last almost 13 years. At some point Nadia and Ian had changed the theme of their bedrooms. Ian's has been Mario for several years whereas his was vehicles when he was really young. We also gave him $13 which he used toward the purchase of a larger skateboard. He hasn't used the skateboard much, but he already read the book and has already logged many miles on those rollerblades. I made him wait until last week to open his gift from Aunt Yvonne. I figured he should open at least one gift closer to his actual birthday. He loves the set of 200 dominos she gave him for domino toppling and such. A birthday tradition in our family is to have donuts from Dunkin'. This morning we're going to stop at Liliha Bakery for their famous Coco Puffs (pastry not cereal). 

In many ways Oliver hasn't changed in the last year. He still wraps the same blanket around him throughout the day, even in the summer! He still loves to try new foods, especially seafood. He's already had shrimp and mahi mahi on this trip, and he wants to eat a lot more seafood over the next 12 days. He is still very generous, and he gives the best hugs. 

Here are some ways he's changed over the last year:

1. His favorite way to use his screentime turns the last few months has been to play with the Oculus. He's definitely used it far more than anyone else in the house has ever used it over the years we've owned it.

2. He now wears a ring all the time even though Paul is not a fan.

3. He's been attending the first service with Paul and I, and then he helps out in a kids' class for 4-year-olds and Kindergarteners during the second service. Multiple times Paul and I have had adults come to use and tell us what a big help he is.

4. He started regularly attending Bible quizzing practices on Wednesdays from 4:30-6:00, but we didn't feel he had put in enough effort to compete at Nationals. He did participate in other practice quizzes. We've already started working with him on memorizing verses from I and II Corinthians. I'm hopeful that next year he will compete with one of our church's teams at Nationals.

5. Oliver loves the fact that he has passed Nadia out in height. If the height charts are accurate, he will eventually pass out Ian, Paul, and I by several inches. Time will tell!

6. He got a new pair of glasses, and he wears them almost all the time. He chose an "aviator" style because of having seen the Mission Impossible movies.

7. He rarely asks me for help when he's doing his math lessons on Teaching Textbooks. This is a big change. He still doesn't have all his multiplication facts memorized. This summer he started getting a head start on his seventh-grade math. He completed more than 20 lessons plus some quizzes during the summer. 

8. He likes to buy fireworks with his own money.

9. Sometimes he stays up until 10:00 pm. 

10. He has now spent time in all 50 states! We visited the last three while he was twelve years old - Alaska, Louisiana, and Hawaii.

11. He took art and chorus at Meadowbrook Christian School for the first time in his life. He sang in the choir in two school programs (December and May), and he participated in a musical (Wizard of Oz) for the first time. 

12. Although he doesn't have a phone yet, he learned that he can use the Echo dot to call his friend Xandir. Some days this summer he has talked for hours with Xandir.

13. He's started playing with James, who is a friend from church who lives within walking distance of our home. He also has been spending more time with Ian, particularly while Nadia was working at Camp Susque.

Thankful Thursday

1. On Friday afternoon Paul rented scaffolding for finishing painting in our foyer. This was nerve wracking for both of us to put it mildly, but thankfully he wasn't injured while he painted on Saturday and Sunday. There was a very tiny section near the top of the steps that he couldn't reach even when we had the scaffolding on the stairs, but he should be able to reach that part with just a ladder. He was also able to clean the chandelier and one side of the window while he was up there. If we ever move to another home, I don't want to live in another house that has this high of a ceiling. I love the new paint color. The part Paul painted hadn't been painted in 26 years. We had originally planned to hire a painter due to the difficulty, but we saved a lot of money by doing it ourselves. Paul returned the scaffolding on Monday morning. 

2. Last Friday I decided not to walk for 3 hours during the boys' Stronghold camp as I had the previous four days. Instead, I bought some clothing for myself and Nadia at Salvation Army (2 skirts and 2 pairs of shorts for less than $11 total) and had my first pedicure in more than a year. The boys enjoyed the camp last week. The last day (Friday) they stayed an extra hour. Afterwards, I treated them to a trip to Rita's. Yum! 

3. The boys enjoyed swimming at a pool party hosted by our church on Saturday night.

4. Last Friday evening the tickets to tour Ford Island (at Pearl Harbor) on August 8 became available at 9:00 pm. I logged in a little before 9:00 pm and tried to buy five reservations (only $1 each) right when they became available. I wasn't the first person to click "purchase" as some were already gone, but thankfully I was able to get 5 of the 40 reservations available for that day. They were gone in minutes. Paul would have been devastated if I hadn't been able to get them. Thank you, Lord! I am going to attempt a similar feat on Monday at 1:00pm when I will attempt to get reservations for Hanauma Bay. If I'm unsuccessful it won't be as devastating as there are many places to snorkel but only one USS Oklahoma and USS Utah. 

5. Shopping for bathing suits isn't exactly my favorite activity. Although I was never one to spend a lot of time in shopping malls, I definitely prefer trying shoes/clothes on before buying them. I know in some places shopping malls still exist, but they have become a thing of the past in our area. I had planned to try to buy a bathing suit at Kohl's prior to our merengue lesson last Friday night, but Paul was so exhausted from setting up the scaffolding, he just wanted to stay home last Friday night. On Sunday I decided to order a bathing suit on Amazon. I was thrilled to discover I had chosen the right size and liked it, especially since it only cost a little over $20. I'll be wearing a bathing suit more than usual while we're in Hawaii, so I'm thankful I have one I like and isn't one I inherited from my mom after she passed in 2016. 

All the counselors for girls' camp

6. I *think* our first vacation in 2026 will be to Europe in May. I can't plan that trip yet because I'm waiting to find a good airfare deal. We think our other trip in 2026 will be to the northeast part of Canada in August 2026. I can start planning that trip because we will be driving our own vehicle to get there. I am not going to be making any reservations for lodging or activities anytime soon, but I have begun to flesh out an itinerary. I like to do it well in advance and then revise and tweak it. I sometimes feel like it's a massive jigsaw puzzle as certain places are only open certain days of the week. I have us visiting some National Park sites in New York on the way up to Canada and some others in Massachusetts on the way back home that I hadn't been able to include in previous trips to that area due to the dates they were closed (or in the case of JFK the whole site was closed for renovations the last time we were in MA). I have a tentative initial itinerary (places to eat and places to spend the night are generally TBD) that is for 11 nights/ 12 days. Two days are in the US, one day each in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, and 4 days each in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. When I was growing up, we went on several vacations in Canada. I had expected to like Prince Edward Island the best due to my strong affection for Anne of Green Gables, but my favorite province was actually Nova Scotia. I've never been to Newfoundland. It was tempting to exclude Newfoundland again due to the time and expense involved in taking a ferry to get there from Nova Scotia, but it looks like there are some amazing sights to see in Newfoundland, and we doubt we'll be in that area again in the future, so Paul and I decided to include Newfoundland. So far, the kids have only been in Ontario, but I'm hoping over the next few years that we can visit all the other provinces. I doubt Nadia will visit all of them, but I do think she can join us to visit these four provinces. I enjoy learning more about different places through all the research I do prior to planning a vacation. Did you know that the only place on earth where you can walk on the earth's mantle is in Gros Morne Park in Newfoundland? The Bay of Fundy has the highest tidal range in the world. We're planning to visit Hopewell Rocks, and Oliver is hoping it will work out for us to go on a tidal bore rafting trip in Nova Scotia at high tide. If this trip does happen, I'm planning to buy a photo map of the provinces of Canada that I can hang on the wall and fill like I have done for the states of the US over the last several years. Since there are only ten provinces in Canada, the kids will have been in half of them after this trip since they've already been to Ontario. 

7. It's been very hot over the last week. I'm thankful for air conditioning, and I'm thankful it's not as hot today as Paul and I have only been walking Milo once a day lately due to the heat.

8. Even though the warehouse isn't air conditioned (it was 90 degrees inside while we were there), we didn't let that stop the three of us from volunteering at Experience Missions yesterday morning. We were packing kits for Voice of the Martyrs. Thankful for an opportunity to serve. 

9. Our separation from Nadia is *almost* done! I will be picking her up on Saturday evening. I'm looking forward to talking to her later today. I haven't talked to her in eight days. I'm thankful she's been able to work at a Christian camp this summer. 

10. The mirror cover is going to be replaced on our van at 1:00 today. Thankful!

11. On Monday night Oliver asked to go on a date with Paul to Bonanza. We hadn't eaten there since December 2022. Monday is family night, which means the adult and children's prices are reduced a little, and Oliver will only qualify for the kids' rate for a few more days as he turns 13 next week. They enjoyed their meal. Oliver is the most proactive of our three kids when it comes to requesting to have a date with one of us. 

Thankful Thursday

1. Our new refrigerator was delivered on Tuesday morning! 

2. I got to talk on the phone with Nadia for a little over 30 minutes yesterday afternoon!

3. I had an appointment more than a month ago for an oil change, inspection, and tire rotation. The shop went out of business, and the other shops in that chain weren't able to do inspections for more than a month. I went elsewhere for the oil change prior to our trip to Indiana, but I was finally able to get the inspection done on July 22, and they didn't charge me anything for the tire rotation, which was the reason I didn't get that done in conjunction with the oil change last month. The insurance has been dragging their feet as far as approving the replacement of the cover for the driver's side mirror that was cracked by the deer in March, but they finally approved that this week. 

4. The boys have been involved in a Stronghold (foam sword fighting) class from 9-12 this week. It's their third year to participate. The camp only costs $10 per kid! Since it's been held at a location that is a little over 30 minutes from our home, I've been walking during the camp. I've been walking over 10 miles a day this week! I also have talked on the phone with some friends and family while I've been walking. Tomorrow I'm hoping to treat myself to my first pedicure in more than a year. 

5. Oliver and I had a date on Saturday afternoon. I took him to see a performance of the musical Annie. The director was the same pastor who directed the performances of Sound of Music that I was in.

6. I had my annual mammogram on July 9, and they called me yesterday to tell me the results were normal.

Thankful Thursday

 1. Paul and I had our first merengue lesson on July 11. So far, we prefer salsa, but maybe the next three lessons will change our opinion. 

2. Ian and Oliver came home on Saturday!!! They had a good week at camp, and I am very grateful to have them back at home. We saw Nadia for a few minutes before we left, and we talked to her on the phone a little on Monday. I loved hearing all the boys sing (very boisterously) "Victory in Jesus" at the closing ceremony of camp on Saturday morning. 

3. The Seiberts picked Cooper up on Saturday evening. I'm so glad we can swap dog sitting services. I would estimate the dogs spend about 3 months a year together (some of that at our house and some at theirs). 

4. I received a lot of positive feedback after I taught a lesson on Titus on Sunday morning. 

5. Ian enjoyed participating in the youth group's talent show on Wednesday night. 

6. The boys and I were able to help at Experience Missions this morning. One of the projects we were working on was packing aid for moms/newborn babies in Zambia.

7. We've lived in this house for seventeen years, and we've never had the house pressure washed. One side in particular was needing to be washed. The house was pressure washed today. Given how much it costs I don't want to do it frequently, but I have a feeling it's the first time it's been done on this house, and the house is 26 years old. The exterior of our house looks much better now!

8. Last Friday we discovered that the ice cream in our freezer was melting, which led to the discovery that both sides of the refrigerator were not at the correct temperatures despite the fact they were set to the correct temperatures. On Saturday Paul began to try several different things to see if he could fix it. Once he figured out at least one of the problems, we decided it was better to just get a new refrigerator because there was no guarantee replacing one part would be sufficient. The refrigerator is nine years old, and it seems the average lifespan for one is 10-15 years. In light of that, it seemed it wasn't worth it to put significant money into one that was 9 years old. Thankfully, we have a freezer in the basement, so we were able to move everything that had been in the freezer side of our refrigerator downstairs. The trickier part was keeping what had been in the refrigerator side chilled. We moved some things to the freezer side. I did research on Saturday and chose a freezer from Lowe's. I paid for two-day delivery. On Sunday night we were told they would deliver it between 1-5pm on Monday. At 2:11 on Monday I got a text saying we were their next stop. We unplugged the refrigerator, emptied it, and put Milo in the crate as instructed. Two hours later I called to ask where they were and was told that I had requested the delivery be rescheduled. What?!?!? After several phone calls with the delivery service and also with Lowe's, I found out that the soonest they could deliver it now was Wednesday. Given I had paid extra for two-day delivery and that I had narrowed my search to those available for delivery on Monday, I cancelled my order. I also wasn't wanting to give my business to Lowe's if the delivery service they use was going to outright lie to me. On Tuesday I called a local (small business) appliance store. I selected another refrigerator. It was supposed to be delivered tomorrow, but he called me this evening to say that the delivery truck was missing three items, and my refrigerator was one of them. Now it's scheduled to be delivered on Tuesday. Wow this has been an ordeal. Thankfully, a family member has generously offered to pay for our new refrigerator, which was unexpected and greatly appreciated as aside from a tax refund from the IRS, we haven't had any income for 9 months. I'm also thankful that our refrigerator is partially working. We have our milk in the section that's supposed to be the freezer. I'm hoping that it will continue to at least partially work until our new one comes, and hopefully there won't be any more delays. Patience is a virtue, right? 

9. The last several days we've been playing games together. The four of us played monopoly three times (I won twice, and Oliver won once). The boys and I have also played Quiddler, Connect Four, Milles Borne, and Backgammon multiple times. Ian and Paul played chess. 

10. Today is my sister's 49th birthday. We typically go many months without touching base, so it was nice to chat with her today for about 30 minutes. 

Thankful Thursday

1. As our country celebrated its 249th birthday last week, I'm thankful that I'm an American. We were together as a family of five on July 4th with one extra dog (Cooper). We had corn on the cob, hot dogs, baked beans, hamburgers, etc., played Skyjo, and watched a movie together. Oliver used some of the fireworks he had recently purchased. We were not celebrating the "big bill" that Trump signed that day (and we certainly don't want to use the adjective "beautiful" to describe it), but we are very grateful for the freedoms we have as citizens of the USA. 

2. I have received some text messages from Nadia while she's at Camp Susque. I am looking forward to picking up the three boys on Saturday morning. I sent Ian and Oliver each one email a day for the last five days. The staff print out the emails and deliver them to the campers at lunch. I'm thankful the camp posts pictures that they've taken of the kids so I have gotten some small glimpses into what they've been doing this week.

3. I enjoyed teaching a lesson on Titus 1 on Sunday. I am looking forward to teaching on Titus 2-3 in three days.

4. While the kids have been away Paul and I have enjoyed having time for just the two of us. We played Scrabble, watched 6 episodes of The Testament, etc. I also have had the time for some lengthy phone conversations with Tab, my dad, and Joyce. 

5. Yesterday I was able to help at Experience Missions for a few hours. We were working on preparing supplies for babies in Zambia. 

6. Last year my mammogram cost me $300. I was pleasantly surprised that my mammogram yesterday "only" cost $200 because I had it in a mobile unit. Given most things have gone UP in price a lot over the last few years, I'm always thrilled when something comes down in price. 

7. I was able to make our reservations for the Diamond Head trail today. I have to wait until July 25 to make our reservations for Ford Island and until August 4 for Hanauma Bay. Hopefully I will also have success with those. 

8. It wasn't beastly hot or humid when I mowed the lawn early this morning. PTL! 

9. I get a haircut about three times a year on average, and it was nice to take care of that today while Paul was away helping his dad and the kids were all at camp. 

10. I found another legal thriller author whose books I enjoy - Rick Acker.

11. I sanded, primed, and painted two more doorframes in the upstairs hallway this week. Progress.

12. We haven't received any bills related to the plastic shield that was damaged under the van we rented. Since it's been more than six weeks since we returned the vehicle, I'm hoping that means we're not going to receive any bills. That would be wonderful.