Nutcracker!

Nadia experienced several firsts today - her first time on a bus tour, first time touring a Capitol building (Senate, House of Representatives, and Supreme Court), and first time seeing the Nutcracker (or any ballet for that matter). Four of us had to get up earlier than usual. I got up at 5:30, and I usually don't get up until 7:00. Paul left for work at 3:30 am yesterday, but today he didn't leave until 6:15 because I was afraid the boys might not go back to sleep. He had planned to wake them at 5:00. They didn't go back to sleep so they slept on the way home (at 6:30pm) as they usually get up between 7:00-

7:15 each morning. Paul dropped them off at his parents' house before he went to the plant. Paul's parents took them to Lowe's and Home Depot to complete two workshops, to McDonald's for lunch, and to Walmart to do some shopping. They let Ian pick out a 20 inch bicycle for his birthday present (his birthday is in 9 days). It's a little big for him now, but we expect by next summer he will have outgrown his current bike and be ready to start using his new green bike.

Nadia and I left the house around 6:20 to drive to the library in Northumberland. We boarded a bus. I wasn't surprised that the bus had tvs and lights and such (those were novel concepts to Nadia), but I was surprised about the free wifi on board. The last time I was on a bus tour there wasn't any wifi. I guess it's been a while since I was on a bus trip! There were 55 people in our group and we knew a couple of the other moms and kids from homeschooling. The bus driver dropped us off at the Capitol building first, and we had a guided tour at 9:00. Then we walked to the State Museum next door and quickly toured two of the three floors of the museum before we watched a planetarium show. We ate the lunch they provided on the bus and then drove a short drive to the Scottish Rite Auditorium where we enjoyed a two hour (including intermission) performance of the Nutcracker ballet. Nadia enjoyed it, but she wished that talking was involved in telling the story. When we got back to the library they gave each of the kids a beautiful Nutcracker book. It was amazing to me that the whole trip was free (funded by a grant from a foundation). I can't remember the last time I had so much one-on-one time with Nadia. It was wonderful!

It had been more than ten years since I had toured the Capitol, but we took the kids to the State Museum and Chuck E Cheese in August 2015 for Oliver's 3rd birthday. I kept thinking as I walked through the museum that this was the last museum I went to with my mom. It's sometimes hard to wrap my brain around the fact that she *seemed* healthy in August 2015 and yet she had less than a year left to live. I do remember she had trouble standing that day. She had no trouble walking or sitting but if she was standing she needed to rest against the wall. I find myself very sentimental about all the "lasts" with my mom - like a stuffed animal Nadia has that my mom got her from the gift shop at the Whitaker Center. I have encouraged Nadia to take extra care with it since she won't be getting any more stuffed animals from Grandma. I feel very sentimental about my kitchen drapes because my mom gave them to me in April -one of the last gifts from my mom. I don't have many regrets regarding my mom. I know she knew I loved her, and I know she loved me. A big regret I have with my mom has to do with photos. I wish I had taken some (with her in it) in December 2015. I didn't take many photos that month, and I had no idea that was the last time I could take her picture. I also really, really, really, really wish I had at least one nice picture of just my mom and me from the last twenty years. I love the photos I have of her with my children. I love the photo I took of her with my dad a couple of years ago, and I love the photo I took in December 2014 of her with Jenna and Maurice. In fact earlier this week I ordered a canvas of that photo. The most recent photo of my mom and I was taken when we were on a white water rafting raft (wearing life vests), and it's more than 20 years old. I can't fix this mistake, but I can learn from it and keep on taking lots of pictures.