Peak Rut

Somewhere around 1,400 or 1,500 wild elk live in Pennsylvania. We saw elk in Yellowstone in 2021, but we hadn't seen them in our home state until last week. The area where the herd roams around is two hours from our home. One of the best times to see them is in mid to late September, when they are the most vocal and active. Although we saw elk in Wyoming in September 2021, I think the first time I heard them bugling (on and off for two hours) was last week. I had planned for us to go there other years, but this was the first time the plan actually came to fruition. While the boys were in art class last Thursday, we dropped Milo off at the Seibert's. Sadly, Cooper (age 15) had passed away the previous day. Milo kept sniffing and walking around, trying to find Cooper during his 24-hour stay at their home. The boys didn't stay for chess club because we wanted to arrive at the Elk Country Visitor Center by 5:00, as the best times to see/hear the elk are two hours before sunset and right after sunrise. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get tickets for the horse-drawn wagon ride that takes you very close to the elk. When we're empty nesters, Paul and I might go back up there for a wagon ride. Before we saw the elk, we heard their bugling. Wow! I had no idea how loud they can be! We heard a lot of bugling over a period of two hours. We also saw deer, male elk, and female elk. I really enjoy seeing wild animals, so I would give that experience two thumbs up!

We spent the night in a two-bedroom cabin that I booked through Airbnb. Amazon gave all Prime customers a $10 credit last week toward a video rental or purchase. We used our credit to rent the new Minions movie and watched it that night. The boys slept on a bunk bed in the second bedroom. The next morning I woke the boys up at 6:30, as I was hoping we'd leave the cabin by 7:00. There wasn't any fog at the cabin, so I didn't know there was dense fog in the nearby elk viewing areas. I shouldn't have gotten them up so early. We waited a little bit, but we had no idea how long it would take for the fog to lift. So we left earlier than planned for our next stop, Kinzua Bridge State Park. The bridge, which was the world's highest railroad viaduct when it was built in 1882, was partially destroyed by a tornado in 2003. We had lunch in Clearfield, where my sisters and I were born, and then we drove back home to pick up Milo. Oliver worked a shift at the cafe that evening. I wanted to see pretty fall leaves from our view on the Kinzua Bridge, but almost all the trees were still sporting green leaves. 

Today I'm giving thanks for: 

1. I played the piano in the foyer at our church on September 20, and it turns out another one of our neighbors goes to our church. He asked me that evening, when I was walking Milo, if I give piano lessons. I told him I wasn't currently giving any lessons, but I'm thinking of accepting his offer and doing it with Ian so he will get some experience teaching piano lessons (and earn some $).

2. We enjoyed our 24-hour getaway to see elk and the Kinzua Bridge. 

3. I bought two tickets to the Bloomsburg Fair and the Skillet concert last night, and Uncle Al took Oliver. Oliver used some of the money he's earned to buy himself a hot dog, funnel cake, etc. 

4. Co-op continues to go well. On the 22nd, the kids looked at slides under a microscope in biology and discussed views on eternal security. Today, they dissected four perch and discussed three views on the millennium. Some stay for lunch and games. Last week, some played Sorry while others played Jackbox games, and this week they all played UNO. 

5. My niece, Jenna, found out that she passed her board exams (for OT) last week!

6. My nephew, Andrew, got engaged to Laina on Friday. We are very happy for them! 

7. I talked with Nadia on the phone last week (the first time I spoke to her in more than a month), and it sounds like she's very happy to be at Liberty (her statistics professor is definitely her least favorite).

8. Milo turns six years old tomorrow! We love him very much. Nadia trimmed his nails. That was supposed to become Ian's chore once she went to college, but I'm the one who finally bit the bullet and trimmed his nails. He's not exactly cooperative, but I'm hoping that in time it will become easier for me to do. 

9. Enunciation is not usually Ian's strong suit, but he has been working very diligently to have excellent enunciation when singing Modern Major General in preparation for his upcoming Willy Wonka audition. His voice teacher was impressed last night! Way to go, Ian! 

F L E X I B I L I T Y

Last week, Ian worked four hours at the kennel, and Oliver worked nine hours at the cafe. This week, Ian worked fifteen hours at the kennel, and after Oliver completes his shift today, he will have worked eighteen hours at the cafe. Next week, Ian is scheduled to work about twelve hours, and Oliver is scheduled to work about fifteen hours. The very last dog Ian was going to walk on Wednesday morning was a ten-month-old Labradoodle. Unfortunately, he bit Ian's fingers. His boss called me to assure me that the dog had all his shots and that workers' comp would cover any expenses. At the time, I didn't think he needed to see a doctor, but by Thursday night I decided he needed to have his finger seen to make sure it didn't become infected. I'm not accustomed to dealing with workers' comp. Our PCP does work with it, but they said I needed to know if they were on that particular panel. His boss wasn't sure, and I got the adjuster's voicemail. The PCP and boss suggested I take him to an urgent care. The closest urgent care center had a one-hour wait time. I found another clinic just a few minutes farther away that would take appointments and had a wait time under 15 minutes. However, when we arrived there a couple of hours later for Ian's appointment, we found out they don't work with workers' comp. Thankfully, another urgent care facility very close to that one accepted workers' comp and could see Ian immediately. The doctor barely looked at his finger, but she did send a prescription for an antibiotic to the pharmacy. The medical assistant who took Ian's height, weight, temperature, blood pressure, etc. made a mistake when she entered his height into the computer. She took at least 20 inches off his height! I am surprised she didn't notice that she had made a mistake because the printout said his height was below the 1st percentile and his BMI was greater than the 99th percentile. Both are completely inaccurate! Ian is very slender. Walmart delivered his antibiotic this morning, and workers' comp will reimburse us for the medication. 

Nadia with two of her closest friends at LU - Rayne and Sam (two of her five suitemates)

Both boys having jobs means we need to be very flexible. First, we are flexible as to when we do our schoolwork. Yesterday, Oliver worked from 8:30-2:30, and normally he'd be doing schoolwork then. Ian worked from 4:00-6:45, so we did the subjects we do together in that window of time in between their shifts. Oliver wasn't able to finish all of his schoolwork yesterday given how many hours he worked at the cafe, but I knew he could finish it this weekend. Second, we are flexible about meal times and also whether we eat our main meal of the day at lunch or dinner. Our default is to have lunch around 11:00 am and dinner around 5:00 pm, but when Ian works the 4:00 shift at the kennel we don't eat dinner until 6:00 at the earliest. If Oliver is working the 4:00-8:30 shift, then we have our main meal at lunch. This is also true on Wednesdays because of Bible quizzing and youth group taking place from 4:30-8:00 pm. On Wednesdays, we have our third meal rather early (about 3:40 pm) because we are out the door at 4:10. Third, we are flexible with the time we walk Milo. If I'm taking Ian to work at 7:20 am, then we don't walk Milo until after we drop Ian off at work. Paul and I like to walk 2.4 miles in the morning, but if Oliver needs to be taken to work at 8:20, we usually do a much shorter walk so I have time to make sure he's up, make his lunch, etc. I'm glad we have two cars because sometimes both boys have to be at work at 4:00 so Paul and I each give one of the boys a ride to work at the same time in that instance.

Another area where we recently have shown flexibility is with Ian's coursework. His computer programming class was consuming an INSANE amount of time each week. The amount of time it was taking him to complete the assignments was rapidly increasing, and his grade in the course was also quickly going down. This past Sunday, Paul spent hours helping Ian with one of his C++ assignments. After many hours, the assignment was completed, but they could not figure out how to submit it. Earlier this month Ian had already come to the conclusion that he wanted to switch majors (away from computer programming). Paul had wanted him to switch majors because of AI, but Ian more recently decided this field wasn't the best fit for him. This is exactly why I had him take the class. I thought it best to test the waters sooner rather than later, which is why I signed him up for a cybersecurity camp at Messiah in June and this introductory programming class through Cedarville this fall. At this point, he has no idea what he'd like to pursue instead, and that's fine as he's only a junior in high school. I will just have him take general education classes through dual enrollment until he selects a new major. He emailed his advisor and dropped the class. We felt badly to waste the money, but our sanity was not worth trying to get the money's worth out of that class. I think Paul and I were more stressed out than Ian was. We didn't even have time for a family fun night last weekend due to Ian's course. Because the trust paid for that class, Paul and I will pay for another class (probably through Grand Canyon University) that Ian will take to earn the credits that were dropped. I've given him several choices (history, general psychology, economics, sociology, etc.). Last fall and spring, he took six credits at a time. Since he dropped the programming class last Monday, he has only two credits. Neither Paul nor I have ever dropped a class, and neither of us likes to quit, but I am 100% convinced it was the right choice to make in this instance. Many kids change their majors, and sooner is always better than later. I had students at BU who sadly didn't figure out they had chosen the wrong major until they were seniors, and that was heartbreaking. One of my nieces switched from animal science to engineering after her first year, and she graduated in four years (after taking some classes in the summer). 

Today I am giving thanks for:

1. Oliver's first job

2. Our homeschool group resumed meeting at our home on September 8. We are down to twelve kids who are in grades 8-12. The kids have done two dissections so far: earthworm and crayfish. In theology, we've discussed dispensationalism vs. covenant theology and Calvinism vs. Arminianism. Abby is teaching ASL. Four boys play chess instead of taking ASL. We are also working on a play (Pinocchio). Ian will be the cricket. Nadia will be able to see the performance because it's taking place when she'll be home for Thanksgiving break. Milo LOVES co-op. Once he sees me start setting up the folding table and chairs, he goes to the front door and eagerly awaits the kids' arrival!

3. We were able to meet up with nine of the Towfighis at the Army Expo in Carlisle last Saturday. Jenna couldn't stay long as she was attending a wedding in Hershey, but twelve of us had dinner together at a pizza place before heading home. Paul especially enjoyed watching a WWII tank demonstration that involved them driving around and firing blanks. 

4. Ian's voice lessons resumed on September 14. The school will be doing Willy Wonka instead of Newsies in the spring. The auditions are in three weeks. Ian is preparing to sing the solo "Pure Imagination" and is working on a Willy Wonka monologue, as that is the part he'd like to have. His voice teacher lives very close to our home, which is very convenient. 

5. For several months, I've been making plans to begin a small group Bible study at our church on Wednesday nights. As of eight days before the start date, there were only six people signed up, including Paul and me, and two of those said they'd only stay in the group if there were at least twelve people in the study. However last week more joined the group, and we had sixteen people attend this week. One woman wasn't able to attend due a worship team meeting, so it seems we have seventeen in our group. We are studying Isaiah. I am very grateful for this opportunity!

6. Last week MCS sent out an SOS for a microwave as one of theirs stopped working. Within a few hours of the email, we brought them Maurice's microwave. He had used it for only 6 months, but it had been sitting in my basement for 7.5 years. At one point, we thought Nadia and her suitemates would use it in their apartment at LU, but shortly before the start of the semester, LU announced they would be installing microwaves in the apartments. I'm happy it could be a blessing to other people rather than just collecting dust in our basement.

7. Last weekend we had Cooper at our house. His cancer is getting worse, so this was probably our last time dog-sitting him. I'm very thankful we've been able to swap dog-sitting duties the last two years. For about a week prior to Cooper's arrival, Milo had been crying when he was in Ian's room at night (for some unknown reason). Because Cooper was sleeping in our room, I was unwilling to "rescue" him when he cried. This meant Oliver, Paul, and I lost a lot of sleep (ironically, Ian can sleep through the dog crying in his room), but it was worth it because it brought an end to Milo crying at night. He didn't cry at all this week. PTL!

8. Ian's boss is a very nice woman. She was a great employer for Nadia, and the same is true now for Ian.

9. Nadia has gotten a very part-time job caring for the mice in the biology laboratory.

10. Nadia's roommate and one of her suitemates each has a car, so she can easily get to church on Sunday.

11. I'm very glad we decided to drop Ian's C++ class. It was like an albatross around our necks. For example, this week we had time to watch the 1971 Willy Wonka movie together over a two-day period in preparation for Ian's audition. We would not have had time if Ian was still taking that class.

12. Paul was able to help his Dad out of the apartment he's lived in for 4+ years and back into the home he built more than 50 years ago. Paul's brother and sister-in-law have been living there for the last 4+ years. It's a four-bedroom home, so there is plenty of room for Paul's dad. 

13. I'm grateful for companies like Pinwheel that help parents limit their child's access on a smartphone. If I could do it over again, I'd have gone that route with his siblings. Live and learn.

First job and phone

Oliver turned fourteen last month, so he is eligible to get his first job. On Tuesday, I took him to a few local restaurants to look for a job. One Italian restaurant told him that their minimum age is sixteen. A pizza place asked for his name and phone number. A cafe located 1.3 miles from our house posted on Facebook that day that they were hiring dishwashers. We submitted his online application on Tuesday night. On Wednesday morning, a woman from the cafe texted me to set up an interview. As I had a dentist appointment, Paul drove him to the cafe for his interview yesterday afternoon. He left with the T-shirt that he is supposed to wear at work. He is working his first two shifts today and tomorrow from 4:00-8:30 pm, during which time he'll be taught how to do this job. He's scheduled to work two shifts next week. Ian only started his first job at the end of May when he was almost 16.5 years old. Nadia started her first job at Reptiland a couple of weeks before she turned fifteen. Nadia worked at the kennel where Ian currently works from November 2024 to June 2026. The kennel is 2.7 miles from our house. Reptiland is 3.4 miles from our house, so Oliver's employer is the closest. Nadia was paid $10/hr in 2023 at Reptiland, but since then, all three kids have been paid $12/hr (except at Camp Susque, where Nadia was paid a weekly salary). On Tuesday, I took Oliver to the public school to get his work permit. This was my third time in a little over three years to complete that task, and unless we lose a permit or move, it will be my last.

Nadia got her first phone when she turned fourteen, but she didn't have a phone number for the first year. Nadia and Ian both got their first phone numbers when we got Ian his first phone in 2023 (a few months before he turned fourteen). Nadia's first two phones were hand-me-downs. She got her first brand-new phone earlier this year. In hindsight, I feel like we gave Ian his phone earlier than we should have. The Family Link app has helped a lot. We planned to delay giving Oliver his first phone, but he got his first job one month after he turned 14. It turns out his acquisition of a cell phone hasn't been delayed that much after all. Yesterday I ordered his first phone from Pinwheel, which has even more robust parental controls than Family Link. I paid about $500 total for his phone, one year of cellular service, and one year of their monitoring service. This is a big week for Oliver - his first work permit, first job interview, first job, and first phone. My baby is growing up too fast! At co-op on Tuesday, other kids pointed out that Oliver is taller than Ian. Although it's been an adjustment with Nadia living in Virginia, I was eased into it by her absences for weeks at a time in the summer when she worked at Camp Susque the past three summers. I think it's going to be a bigger shock to my system when Ian leaves for Cedarville in 23 months because I don't think I will ever have been separated from him for more than a week, except for the months I spent at the hospital in 2012. 

Thankful Thursday

So much has happened over the last month since my most recent gratitude post. There have been some very challenging moments along the way, but as always, much to be thankful for. 

1. We were on vacation from August 5-16. Everyone was healthy during the trip. Aside from us eliminating a few things from the itinerary, almost everything went as planned. In general, the weather didn't interfere with our activities. The kids' favorite parts of the trip were the tidal bore rapids/mud sliding, kayaking with seals, and the boat trip in Gros Morne National Park. Other highlights included a couple of the hikes on Newfoundland and seeing many puffins. Paul really enjoyed some of the historical aspects of the vacation. 

2. On August 7, Oliver turned 14 years old. We are very thankful that he's part of our family! He grew over four inches in the past year. He's almost 5'9" tall.

3. On August 11, Paul and I celebrated our 25th anniversary. A couple in our Sunday School class celebrated their 58th anniversary a few days ago. I don't think Paul and I will live long enough to celebrate that many anniversaries together, but maybe we can make it to our 40th or 45th anniversary. Time will tell. Grateful for the twenty-five we've been given so far.

4. A family had us over for dinner on August 17 so that their daughter could spend time with Nadia one more time before she left for college. Aside from my sisters, this family is the only one who ever invites us over for dinner, so we don't take it for granted. 

5. We were able to spend more time with the Towfighis from August 18-20. The boys spent three nights at their home. Nadia spent one night, and Paul and I spent two nights with them. 

6. On August 19, we were able to get Nadia moved into her dorm room, meet her roommate and her roommate's parents, and have dinner with my dad and Karen. Nadia seems to be making a lot of friends, and she got 9/10 on her first chemistry quiz. Woohoo! She's picked up a VERY part-time job of being one of six students who care for the mice in the biology laboratory. 

7. On August 21, we were able to stop at York Barbell to pick up some weights for Ian, and I was able to have lunch with my friend, Tab, to celebrate her birthday. 

8. I played the piano in the foyer at church on August 23, and Ian played hymns on the piano after both the first and second services on August 30. I would say hearing him play that morning was the highlight of my month. It was a priceless moment for me.

9. We attended a picnic for the Bible quizzing families on August 23 at a park. The kids had their meeting (John 1) yesterday. There were a LOT of new kids, and Faith came back! We shall see how many kids stick with it over the next nine months, but our church may have 4-5 teams competing. Ian has memorized chapters 1-3 of John so far. I'm trying to get him to memorize 3 verses a day so he can memorize the whole book. Oliver is doing a better job so far at memorizing the required memory verses from the book of John. 

10. Ian's classes at Cedarville began on August 24. So far the physical activity class has been very easy. Ian is really into exercising and eating more protein these days so it's easy for him to complete his exercise reports. The C+++ programming class has been a bit problematic in terms of how many hours a day that one (3-credit) class is taking. I think part of the problem is that it's easy for Ian to be distracted on a laptop. 

11. Ian picked a song, "Ride of the Valkyries" by Wagner, for his next piano recital. His teacher teased that the song is TOO hard, but he's really motivated to learn it. 

12. Our new homeschool year began on August 25. I'm very thankful for the opportunity to homeschool my boys this year. I had the boys draw their self-portraits and write goals for the year, as is our tradition.

13. It was a bit sad to have a family fun night with only four of us, but that's how it will need to be the majority of the time over the next two years. It was my turn to pick on August 29, and I chose the game Azul, which we hadn't played in quite a while. I think Paul will probably pick to watch The Mandalorian and Grogu movie on Disney+ this weekend. 

14.The boys have had two art classes (August 27 and today). Evidently, the school changed the plans and won't be doing Newsies in the spring. They haven't revealed what they will be doing instead yet. I'm thankful the boys can have art and therefore participate in the spring musical. Starting next Thursday, they'll also be in a chess club after art. 

15. It's been almost five years since we have had health insurance. It turns out we qualify to receive free health insurance. It will be effective October 1. The only downside is that now I probably should schedule my first dreaded colonoscopy, ha ha. We've been paying $800-900 a month for a Christian medical sharing program plus dental insurance, so I'm really looking forward to NOT paying those bills starting next month. 

16. Yesterday I took Oliver, Ian, and Xandir on a field trip to a state park. They were having a homeschool program for grades 6-12 on maps and compasses, and the boys are studying geography this year. Perfect! We were going to hike to the waterfalls after the program, but due to a thunderstorm, we didn't hike. 

17. My side of the family has decided to celebrate Christmas at an Airbnb in Virginia. My dad generously offered to pay for the reservation. My sisters and I will pay for the food for everyone. The drive won't be as far as going to Chicago, and it's much preferred over having 27 people stay at my house at one time. The Seiberts think that they will probably be able to watch Milo while we're at the Airbnb. 

18. Although they weren't as good as The Chosen, Paul and I enjoyed watching six episodes of The Chosen in the Wild with Bear Grylls. 

19. I recently scheduled Ian’s voice lessons for the school year. She gives lessons at MCS and her home. We live closer to her home so I’m grateful the lessons will be taking place there on Mondays at 5:00 PM starting on September 14.

Back to School

When I started homeschooling Nadia in 2013, she was my only student. Starting in 2015 I had two children I was homeschooling, and from August 2017 to May 2026, I was writing lesson plans for three students. Nadia moved to Virginia last week and started her college classes on Monday. Ian worked at the kennel Monday morning and started his college classes that afternoon. Yesterday was the first day of school for Oliver and for Ian's homeschool classes.

Nadia is taking 18 credits this semester. Four of her credits will be completed within the first 8 weeks of the semester (History of Life and University Seminar), and three of her credits will be completed during the last eight weeks of the semester (Technology). The remaining three classes (11 credits) will last the entire semester - biology, chemistry, and probability and statistics. She doesn't have any classes on Wednesdays or Fridays. She only has labs on Mondays. She had originally registered to take the University Seminar at 8:00 on Mondays, but this past weekend she asked me to switch her to an online section. She also chose an online section for the technology class. The rest are in person.

Ian is taking two classes through Cedarville (5 credits) - a C++ programming class and a health class. On the way back home on Friday we stopped at York Barbell to buy 210 pounds of weights as Ian wants to do more weightlifting. We split the cost with him. Other goals I have for him are preparing to take two CLEP tests and the ACT in the spring. He's studying calculus in math this year and also taking piano and voice lessons. He plans to be in the spring musical (Newsies), continue working at the kennel, and get his learner's permit.

Both boys will be studying biology (doing the labs in co-op). It's been a LONG time since they had science together. For social studies they are studying geography together. They are also doing a Career Discovery class together (Dave Ramsey). They are both studying John for Bible quizzing. Ian has already memorized all of the first two chapters of John plus part of chapter three. Some parts of English they will have the same assignments (reading some of the same books and doing some of the same writing assignments). Ian got a head start in English this summer by reading Screwtape Letters and Dr. Jeykll and Mr. Hyde as well as part of Joni. Both boys will also be taking art at MCS and participating in a chess club here.

Oliver is taking pre-algebra through Teaching Textbooks and working through Easy Grammar Plus and Wordly Wise 7. Both boys are using different books of Life of Fred. Oliver is also doing an Entrepreneurship class through Dave Ramsey. The first book I am having Oliver read for English is Five Children and It, which was one of my favorite books I read to the kids, but he was very young when I read it to them. He had his physical on Monday. He weighs 112 pounds (49th percentile) and is 5 ft. 8.75 inches tall (91st percentile) which puts his BMI in the 11th percentile (same as last year). In the past year he gained 17 pounds and grew 4.25 inches. He's 6.25 inches taller than Ian was when he turned fourteen, and he weighs 22 more pounds than Ian did at that age.

Maritime Provinces

I usually have my laptop with me on vacation, but I haven't been able to close my lid since it was broken in August 2025. So instead of writing a post for each day of our recent trip to Canada, I'm going to just summarize the whole trip in one post.

On this trip we went to many National Parks. Our pass had expired in May, so we purchased a new annual pass at the Vanderbilt Mansion. Our purchase paid for itself on the first day we had the pass because the tours at Vanderbilt and FDR's home cost money for those over the age of fifteen. No tickets were needed to tour Eleanor Roosevelt's home. The kids each earned seven Junior Ranger badges during the trip as we also visited Saint Croix Island International Historic Site in Maine on the way to New Brunswick as well as Salem Maritime, Saugus Iron Works, and JFK's birthplace in Massachusetts on the way home. I had included an eighth US National Park site in the itinerary (Frederick Law Olmstead), but we skipped it so we could get home a little earlier on Sunday night. We didn't need to buy an annual pass for the Canadian national parks because they are free for everyone from June 19- September 7. The only exception was we did pay for a guided tour at the Fortress of Louisbourg. While we were in Canada the kids also earned some Xplorers dog tags. This is the Canadian version of the Junior Ranger program. In 2018 the kids completed the Xplorers program at Fort George in Ontario. On this trip they earned one at Fundy National Park (New Brunswick), Alexander Graham Bell (Nova Scotia), Signal Hill (Newfoundland), and Green Gables Heritage (Prince Edward Island). We had to pay $4 each for the kids to do the one on PEI. There have been a few times over the years that we've had to pay for the kids to do one in the US. At several sites the Xplorers program has been eliminated in Canada so the kids were not able to earn a dog tag at the Citadel in Halifax, the Fortress of Louisbourg, or Gros Morne National Park. We didn't end up hiking at Terra Nova National Park or Cape Breton as planned, and we were at Cape Spear before the visitor center opened. Of all the National Park sites we visited, Gros Morne was my favorite. We went on several hikes there and also took a two-hour boat tour of the Western Brook Pond, which is a gorgeous site (reminded us of Alaska). On one of the hikes we were walking on the mantle. Just counting US National Park sites, our family has now been to 182 of them (out of 433 total). Nadia has earned 238 Junior Ranger badges, Ian has earned 237, and Oliver has earned 226. 

We also enjoyed some beautiful places that were not part of a National Park. We hiked to the Hopewell Rocks. Unfortunately, it was at high tide. I wish it had worked out to visit there at low tide like we did when I went with my family 25+ years ago. We walked on the rocks near the lighthouse at Peggy's Cove, saw the sea arch and Spillars Cove in Bonavista, walked between Cavendish Beach and the Cliffs on PEI, and hiked the gorgeous Skerwink Tral in Port Rexton. That hike was one of my most favorite experiences of the vacation. In terms of animals, the highlights were seeing many puffins, seagulls, and cormorants near the shore of Newfoundland and also kayaking near a harbor seal colony off the coast of Nova Scotia. Paul has the most diverse interests of anyone in our family, so I think he enjoyed almost all of the activities. Some of his favorite historical sites were the Maritime Museum in Halifax, Halifax Citadel, Fortress of Louisbourg, Signal Hill, and Saugus Iron Works. 

We were gone for twelve nights. Two of those were spent on an overnight ferry going between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Seven nights we stayed at a hotel, and five of those mornings we enjoyed a free breakfast. Two of us could have had a free breakfast at The Guv'nor in St. John's, but since it was only for two people and the restaurant didn't open until 8:00 am, none of us had breakfast there. Three nights we stayed at an Airbnb. The mattress that Paul and I found to be the most comfortable was the one in Rocky Harbour, NL. At two of the hotels, I was able to book a room that had three queen beds, which was nice as typically Nadia sleeps on a couch. One Airbnb I booked had three bedrooms, so Nadia got her own bedroom that night, and Oliver slept on a couch so downstairs so that he and Ian didn't need to share a bed. On Cape Breton I had to book two separate rooms, so Nadia got her own bed that night as well. Ian slept well on the ferry going in both directions, but most of us got more sleep on the ferry back to Nova Scotia. I definitely got more sleep on the ferry than I do on a red-eye flight. I was able to do two loads of laundry at the Airbnb in Bonavista on the evening of our 25th wedding anniversary. 

Not counting the two ferry rides, we had three other outings that involved being on the water. The first was a four-hour kayaking trip off of Nova Scotia. The second was the boat tour of the Western Brook Pond that was almost cancelled due to fog. I'm very glad it actually took place. The third was what Oliver chose since we were on vacation on his 14th birthday. We took a two-hour tidal bore rapids tour that included mud sliding. I wish I had photos of the kids covered in mud. I was especially surprised that Ian changed his mind and participated in that part of the outing because since he was a toddler he has never liked getting dirty/messy. The tides change more dramatically in the Bay of Fundy than anywhere on the planet. Thankfully the titanium in the sand keeps the water nice and warm. 

Since we were traveling in our own vehicle, we were able to bring along more food from home. In general, we tried to save money when it came to food expenses. Some highlights included the soft ice cream that we had near the entrance to Fundy National Park, eating a donair in Halifax (I was the only one who tried one), getting sandwiches from a grocery store multiple times, getting breakfast sandwiches and/or donuts at Tim Hortons and Robin's Donuts multiple times. eating pizza twice (Paul's favorite) and eating a meal at Market Family Cafe in St. John's. The food there was amazing and reasonably priced. Four of us thought we had our best meal on the trip at that restaurant. The boys really enjoyed eating at A&W one time as they loved the root beer served in a chilled glass mug. The most frustrating evening for eating was on August 10 because a crow damaged a transformer and caused a power outage that lasted 44 hours. The restaurants were all closed, and everyone was buying the food at the gas station and pharmacy so there wasn't much available. 

In general, my least two favorite aspects of a vacation are #1 not getting much sleep due to all different mattresses and #2 how exhausting and unpleasant it is to spend many hours in an airplane, ferry, or van. Not counting the nights on the ferry, I think the night we had the hardest time sleeping was the Airbnb we stayed in on August 7 because it was way too hot inside. I slept on the couch because I couldn't sleep upstairs due to the heat. As far as time spent traveling, we drove a little over 4K miles in 13 days. Eek! Then when we came home, we were home for less than 48 hours before we drove to Yvonne's house in Maryland and then on to Virginia to take Nadia to college. That round trip was a little shy of 1K miles, so we drove a little over 5K miles in 17 days. Our odometer turned over to 100,000 miles near the end of our trip home from Maryland this morning. We've had the vehicle for 5 years. I'm hoping to do VERY little driving in the coming months. I had finished the license plate game at the end of July, but Oliver wanted us to start again. So far in the month of August, we saw license plates for all ten provinces of Canada. Nine of the provinces we saw multiple license plantes, but we only spotted Saskatchewan one time. By the end of our vacation, we had seen plates from 40 of the 50 states (plus we saw DC). By the time we came home from taking Nadia to college, we had seen 46 of them. The ones we are still looking for are Arkansas, Kansas, North Dakota, and New Mexico. Paul and I shared the driving. As was the case in Europe, we encountered a lot more roundabouts than we do here in the US. We were in three different time zones. Atlantic is one hour ahead of Eastern, and Newfoundland is 1/2 an hour ahead of Atlantic. During the drives Nadia read many books (some on her Kindle as well as some physical books that she brought). Ian, Oliver, Paul, and I listened to all of Priest and part of Warrior by Jared Dodd. Ian played a LOT of chess on his phone. Both boys also played with the Nintendo Switch. Thanks to a free trial of SiriusXM, we also listened to some music although it was challenging to get a signal on Newfoundland. 

I have now been to 8 of Canada's 10 provinces as I went to 7 of them with my parents. Paul and the kids have now been to 5 of the provinces as they've spent time in Ontario on more than one occasion. If all goes as planned, we will travel to British Columbia and Alberta next summer with Nadia after she finishes her internship. Our next vacation will probably be to Utah (with a little time in NV, CA, and ID) without Nadia in the spring. We're planning to fly for both of those trips, so I hope those trips involve a lot less than 4K miles of driving, but I'm glad I finally made it to Newfoundland for the first time. It's my favorite province of the five that the kids have visited. 

Fifty Nifty

 

In July 2017, I started keeping track of license plates I saw to see if I could spot one from every state. Some years I have achieved the goal. Some years I found 47-49 of them. I usually start over at the beginning of each new year. Last year I didn't find my last one (Wyoming) until the end of December, when we were driving in Illinois to celebrate Christmas with my extended family. Because our vacation in May was in Europe, I had decided in January to take the year off. Then in the spring I saw a Hawaii license plate when I was parking for the boys' orthodontist appointment. Hawaii is typically one of the hardest ones for me to find (not counting last year when we traveled there). I thought maybe I should play the game this year after all, but then again didn't actually start making a list. Over the next couple of months I continued to spot some of the hardest ones (North Dakota and Wyoming), so at that point I felt I must play the game again this year. Even though I didn't start until late in the spring, I was down to only needing eight more states by early June. The last seven were Kentucky, Kansas, Colorado, Arkansas, Alabama, Montana, and South Dakota. I figured the hardest one would be South Dakota, and that was my 48th one to spot. Ironically, I saw that one in our church parking lot when I was picking up Nadia after she attended a camp at Messiah University with our youth group in July. I knew at that point it would not be hard to see all fifty this year because I've never had trouble finding Arkansas or Alabama before. I spotted the last one (Alabama) on our drive down to Maryland on July 31, so this was by far the quickest I finished the game, considering I didn't even start in January as I usually have. On the way home from Maryland on August 2, Oliver decided to start playing the game again. Time will tell if we really do try to see them all again over the next five months. It's funny how something so simple can bring me such joy, but spotting those last few really puts a big smile on my face. 

It's been almost four weeks since I wrote a gratitude list, and I won't have a laptop while we're on vacation in Canada, so I will write one today. 

1. The boys enjoyed their free slurpees at 7-Eleven on July 11. I also enjoyed a lunch date at Panera with Ian that day before he played D&D at the library with some friends from church. 

2. My favorite ice cream is chocolate/peanut butter twist (soft serve). I never had any in 2025. I was thrilled to discover in July that a place in Lewisburg was selling it. I had it twice last month after not having any for two years. Yum! One of the visits was with Ian, and the other visit was with both boys. Oliver's top choice is a peanut butter milkshake. Ian's favorite is a peanut butter cup "blizzard" (every place has a different name for that type of treat). 

3. I enjoyed teaching from Zechariah 5-10 in our Sunday School class on July 12 and 19. 

4. Everything went pretty smoothly when we watched Cooper for about a week in July. 

5. Paul only had to spend one day at the courthouse for jury duty since he wasn't one of the 14 chosen for the jury. Cheri helped out with bringing Paul home when we only had one car due to Nadia having the Subaru at camp. 

6. The boys enjoyed doing Stronghold camp for the fourth year in a row. They'd like to join a club. We shall see if Ian actually has time for that or not.

7. The boys and I were able to go Christmas caroling in July at a nursing home. I was the pianist. 

8. Ian has been enjoying his voice lessons. I enjoy hearing him practice at home. He's had five lessons so far. He wants to continue taking lessons during the school year. We haven't worked out what day/time those will take place yet. 

9. Nadia enjoyed spending time with Faith and Abby at Generate Camp. We paid for 50% of the cost. Nadia was supposed to cover the other 50%, but someone else paid for her portion of the cost.

10. Paul took the boys bowling on July 22. 

11. Dad and Karen got married on July 18, and they had a lovely honeymoon in North Carolina. Paul, Oliver, Milo, and I met Karen at Yvonne's house on August 1.

12. Yvonne gave birth to Trevor James (her 8th son) on July 16. We met Trevor on July 31.

13. Ian had fun at Toby's grandparents' river house from July 31 - August 2. Joel and Nathan were also there in addition to some of Toby's siblings and friends. 

14. Nadia worked at Camp Susque for six weeks this summer. She came home on August 1 while the rest of us were in Maryland. She served as substitute head cook for a day a few times and did well at the job, so they asked her if she'd be willing to serve as head cook in the future. The head cook is paid more than the other support staff. She said she would be willing to be head cook for the winter camp Ian plans to attend in December, and if she ends up working at Camp Susque next summer, she is willing to be the head cook then. She's not sure at this point if she'll have an internship next summer or work at Camp Susque one last summer. She received a free hat as that is the gift they give staff who have worked there three years. A different gift is given to those who work there for five years, but I doubt she'll work there five years in a row. 

15. Our van barely passed the annual inspection this summer because the tires were very close to the minimum tread depth. I had seen that Bastian would periodically have a special where if you buy three tires, you get one free. I was hoping to take advantage of that deal, but I also knew we needed to get new tires before our trip to Canada, as we'll be driving thousands of miles. Thankfully, they issued the deal last Tuesday, and I was one of the first 25 customers to claim it. We got our four new tires yesterday and only paid for three of them (which meant we saved a little over $200). Paul took the van to the appointment because I had a committee meeting at MCS yesterday morning. 

What a week!

 Last Friday, while Nadia and Ian were at work, we learned two things. First, Paul needed to show up for jury duty on Monday morning, and Oliver discovered that our basement had flooded. This meant that the boys and I had to leave at 8:00am on Monday morning to take Paul to the courthouse in Sunbury before I took the boys to their Stronghold foam sword-fighting camp in Danville. Although Paul had to stay at the courthouse until 4:00, we were very grateful that he wasn't one of the fourteen people selected to serve on the jury for a murder trial. 

The boys enjoyed their camp. It was the fourth consecutive year that they participated in this half-day camp. The first two days, I walked while the kids were in the camp at a playground. The director decided that they should spend part of the time indoors on Wednesday because the temperatures got above 90. So we were told to take the kids to a church that morning. Cheri planned to spend time with me on Wednesday and Friday while the boys were at the camp. Typically we've walked in the past, but this year we had a late breakfast at one of her favorite restaurants on Wednesday due to the heat. On Thursday, the campers stayed inside the entire time because the air quality was awful due to the fires in Minnesota and Ontario. The air quality was much better on Friday, but it still wasn't normal, so the campers were inside for at least 2/3 of the time on Friday. Cheri asked me to come to her house on Friday due to the air quality. She lives about 15 minutes from where the camp was held. On Thursday, I read The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau in the public library while waiting for the boys. It wasn't as good as Theo of Golden (best book I've read so far this year) or The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife, but I did like the book. 

Every year while he's in this camp, Ian talks about joining a Stronghold club. This year is no exception. We discussed purchasing more equipment so it could be one of the electives in the co-op that meets at our home, but Ian really wants to join a club so he can learn more from Sir Estivan. Paul and I are not sure this is a good idea because Ian wasn't successful in keeping up with all his schoolwork in tenth grade, and he's already added three new things to his schedule for the upcoming year: voice lessons, chess club, and a job. Ian has no lack of ideas about what he'd like to do. For example, in the last couple of weeks, he asked me to get him some books so he could learn more about other religions (I got him three books on Mormonism, Islam, and Jehovah's Witnesses). He also mentioned he wanted to get back to learning a second language (which is a wonderful idea, but again I think he might be biting off more than he can chew). I don't plan on signing him up for a Stronghold club until I see he can successfully keep up with everything else. He's gotten off to a good start with John as he's memorized all of the first chapter (51 verses) and has started memorizing chapter two. He's also finished one book from his list for 11th grade English (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) and has begun reading Screwtape Letters, which is also on his list for next school year.  He's also been practicing for his piano and voice lessons as well as playing a lot of chess and Fall Guys, which is currently his favorite video game. He has improved a LOT in chess over the last several months, but he still hasn't beat Paul. 

Last Saturday I enjoyed a lunch date with Ian prior to taking him to the library to play D&D with some friends from church. On Monday night, the boys joined me in singing Christmas carols at a nursing home. I was the pianist for the group. Another mom brought four of her kids along, but mostly it was adults from the choir at our church who were singing Christmas carols (Christmas in July). On the way home, I treated the boys to some ice cream. Yum! Oliver enjoyed attending youth group on Wednesday night while Ian was at work. On Thursday, our new garage door openers were installed. We also enjoyed a movie together through Prime that I would recommend - Sheep Detectives. Wendy had suggested that one. I assisted a doctoral student with the survey instrument she's going to use in her pilot study, and I was asked to join the board of a local homeschool organization. 

All this to say it was a busy week. It was definitely busier than normal and involved more driving than normal. But for two members of my extended family, it was a VERY special week. My sister gave birth to her eighth son (Trevor James) this week. All ten of her kids have either a first or middle name that starts with "J." And my dad married Karen today. Wendy played a violin duet with Karen's daughter. Yvonne and I weren't able to attend the wedding. Paul and I are looking forward to meeting Karen next month when we help Nadia move into her dorm.  Not counting Karen or Margie's grandchildren, my dad now has 17 grandchildren from his three daughters. My mom never met three of her grandchildren (Wesley, Brendan, or Trevor). We'll probably also meet Trevor that same week because we are planning on dropping the boys off at Yvonne's house before heading down to Liberty.

Thankful Thursday

It's been exactly one month since my last gratitude post so here are some things I've been thankful for over the last month.

1. Ian enjoyed the cybersecurity camp at Messiah University as well as the time spent with Nathan, Jenna, and Toby.

2. Oliver enjoyed having time with Micah, Julianna, and Wesley at our house for several days. Micah, Julianna, and Oliver enjoyed bowling with our youth group on June 10. 

3. I was very relieved that the it was a simple fix to eliminate the strange noise the van was making that week.

4. Ian has been enjoying his job at the kennel and earning money. He spent most of what he made the first few weeks when he bought himself a Nintendo Switch 2. 

5. The boys and I enjoyed helping with VBS at our church from June 16-19. 

6. I am grateful to be able to serve on the board of Meadowbrook Christian School. My first meeting was on June 16. 

7. In June I managed to escape the bug that the rest of the family had. Nadia had the mildest case. Oliver and Paul were each sick for about two weeks. Thankfully we're all healthy again.

8. Paul was able to attend his Aunt and Uncle's 50th anniversary vow renewal ceremony and lunch. 

9. I'm very, very thankful that Nadia was born eighteen years ago on June 24! Four of Nadia's friends joined her at an art studio to celebrate Nadia's birthday on June 23. The staff member was so impressed with Faith's artistic skills that night that they hired her and she started working there on July 6!

10. I'm very thankful that Milo is fully recovered from his anal gland problems. It was such a relief when he finally ate some dog food (after 4 days of not doing so) and started walking again. The vet bills were over $600 which we weren't anticipating, but we've saved a lot of money over the years by me being his groomer and trading dog sitting duties with the Seiberts. Hopefully it will be a long time until we enounter another large vet bill.

11. Bible quizzing went well in New York last month. Ian's team finished in second place. They won seven of eight matches. Nadia's team finished in third place. They won four of eight matches. Nadia finished in 10th place in the individual competition, and Ian finished in seventh place. Ian has been listening to the whole book of John two times every day he works at the kennel. He's also memorized the first 40 verses of John chapter one so far. Hopefully he will continue to stay motivated!

12. Amazon offered us a deal of paying $3.50 per month for three months of Amazon Prime and then it is $6.99/ month after that. We usually only have Amazon for a month every now and then throughout the year, but at $3.50/ month I plan to keep it for at least three months. 

13. I found out rececntly that the place where I've had my mammogram done lately isn't doing them any more. I picked them because they only charged $200, which is much less than most places. Thankfully, I found a place in Williamsport that does them for $55 for two days in October. I'm hoping to get an appointment on one of those days.

14. Our kitchen sink faucet has been leaking for a few months. Paul replaced it last week. This new faucet has a lifetime warranty. I was happy to see that because our last one only lasted nine years.

15. On Sunday morning we weren't sure we were going to make it to church because we couldn't get the garage door to open. Thankfully, Paul was able to get it open eventually. We parked the van in the driveway when we came home. We got new garage doors in September 2020, but the garage door openers are about 27 years old. Lowe's delivered new ones today, and they are supposed to be installed next week. Since our other car is at Camp Susque right now, I've been parking the van where we usually park the Subaru since that garage door opener is still working. 

16. Oliver and Xandir had a great week of camp at PMBC. 

17. Ian has enjoyed his first two voice lessons. He's been working on Olaf's song "In Summer" from Frozen. Thankfully, his voice teacher lives only five minutes away from our home.

18. Ian really enjoyed playing cornhole with the Creegers at Ben's graduation party.

19. In light of Amazon offering us a deal on Prime, Paul and I watched the movie Sarah's Oil last night. Movies based on a true story are typically my favorite genre, and this one did not disappoint!

20. I *think* we've done all the paperwork and such for Nadia to start at Liberty this fall. Recently her PCP signed the immunization form for LU, and I requested that LU send LU her transcript (for the third time in 13 months) as ridiculous as that might sound. I also had to remind them that MCS doesn't issue transcripts for homeschoolers (as they requested that again, even though MCS sent them a letter last year saying that ). She got her ID, requested a loft kit for her bed, and completed a new student orientation course online. The only thing I'm not positive that she has completed is the technology assessment. It's all very, very bittersweet. We want our kids to become independent, but at the same time it's hard to let them go! I'm very thankful I'll still have two boys at home with us. 

Travel Agent

Ian with most of the employees at Joyful Petcare

Years ago, the earliest I would begin planning a vacation would be about one year in advance. Once I had the goal for our family to visit all fifty states, I started sketching out possible future vacations much farther in advance. In 2021, we had our longest vacation (25 days), and I tweaked the plans for that vacation many times over a few years. A month ago, I only had planned out two more trips for the future - one to four of the eastern provinces of Canada for August 2026 and a short trip to Quebec that I was thinking we'd take in August 2027. Over the past month, I've sketched out some more trips to possibly take in the coming years. If these trips actually happen, we will have visited all ten Canadian provinces and visited at least one National Park site in all fifty states. At the moment, the kids have only been to Ontario, and we've been to an NPS site in forty-five states (plus DC) so far. If we visit the Apostle Islands in Wisconsin, City of Rocks in Idaho, Little River Canyon in Alabama, Lake Mead in Nevada, and Indiana Dunes National Park, we will achieve the goal of visiting an NPS site in all fifty states. These plans also include almost all of the national park sites that caught my attention while I was listening to the Dear Bob and Sue books. I *think* the only two national parks that aren't included in these plans that I had hoped we could visit together sometime are Big Bend in Texas and Glacier in Montana. I went to Glacier with my family decades ago, but I don't think I've ever been to Big Bend.

I think that for most members of our family, a ten-day vacation is the ideal length. With that in mind, I have come up with several vacations, five of which are about ten days long. These are listed in no particular order, as I'm not even sure which of these we might go on next year. Ian and Paul's first choice includes Michigan. Nadia's first choice is Western Canada, and Oliver's first choice includes Utah. If there's a chance Nadia will join us for a vacation next summer, I'll probably have to wait longer than usual to plan the trip, as I need a better idea of what she'll be doing next summer. For quite a few years we've been going on a trip in May, and many times we've gone on another one in August or September. If we end up picking Michigan and Western Canada for our trips next year, I don't think we would go in May because the insects are really bad in the Upper Peninsula in May and June, and some of the lakes are still frozen in British Columbia and Alberta. Time will tell. Ian's request for several years has been to go to Japan in 2028. I'm still not sure about that.

Years ago, I used to take the kids on about 80 field trips a year. That number has drastically decreased for a variety of reasons such as having more weekly commitments (co-op, art at MCS, piano lessons), there are more programs available for elementary students than high schoolers, the naturalist at R.B. Winter state park retired, and we've now visited many different sites in Pennsylvania. That doesn't mean we've been to every possible field trip site in the state. The Harley Davidson tour has been closed in York ever since COVID. I keep hoping that one will reopen as my students enjoyed going there decades ago. I didn't take the kids prior to 2020 because I was waiting for Oliver to be old enough to participate in the tour. Two state parks have been on the back on my mind - Kinzua and Sinnemahoning. I could have made it a goal to visit every state park in Pennsylvania, but I've not done that. I think I've only taken the kids to seven state parks (Black Moshannan, Bald Eagle, R.B. Winter, Ricketts Glen, Nescopeck, Milton, and Leonard Harrison). Not counting places we will visit on vacation, I only have four field trips planned so far for the 2026-27 school year - Army Expo in Carlisle on September 12, Elk Country Visitor Center on September 24, Kinzua Bridge State Park on September 25, and seeing a performance of Treasure Island in Lewisburg on October 11. I am particularly excited about hopefully seeing the herd of wild elk during mating season. I booked one night at an Airbnb so that we could go to a viewing area at dusk one night and at dawn the next morning. That is something I've wanted to do for quite a few years, and I'm happy I finally made a reservation (which greatly increases the odds it will actually take place). 

Ian, Ben, John, Randy, Julia, Leila, and Nadia in an individual round

1. Western Canada - Granville Island, Stanley Park, Vancouver Aquarium. Capilano Suspension Bridge, Butchart Gardens, Pacific Rim National Park, Wild Pacific Trail, Cathedral Grove, Peak 2 Peak Gondola, Banff Gondola, Yoho National Park, Columbia Icefields Skywalk, Mistaya Canyon, Emerald Lake, Moraine Lake, Abraham Lake, Maligne Lake, Peyto Lake, and Lake Louise- flying and renting a vehicle

2. Michigan - Sleeping Bear Dunes, Mackinac Island, Sault Ste. Marie, Picture Rocks, Apostle Islands, Perry's Victory (OH), Milwaukee, Chicago, and Indiana Dunes (if we wanted to visit Isle Royale National Park, this would be the trip to do it, but I'm leaning against including it at the moment) - driving in our vehicle

3. South Dakota/Saskatchewan/Manitoba - Hy-Wire Zipline, Tunnels of Moose Jaw, Stone Hall Castle, Mount Rushmore (again), Crazy Horse, Wind Cave, Jewel Cave, Custer State Park, Minuteman Missile, Badlands (again), and Falls Park  - flying and renting a vehicle

4. Quebec (less than a week) - Watkins Glen, Women's Rights, Harriet Tubman, Parliament buildings in Ottowa, Byward Market, Canadian War Museum, Rideau Canal, white water rafting and zipline tour in Quebec, La Citadelle, Plains of Abraham, Terrass Dufferin, Montmorency Falls, Montreal Botanical Garden, Saint Joseph's Oratory, Mount Royal Park, Notre Dame Basilica, Utica Zoo, and Fort Stanwix - driving in our car 

5. California - Joshua Tree, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Yosemite National Parks - flying and renting a vehicle

6. Utah - Las Vegas, Death Valley National Park, Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, Valley of Fire State Park, Grand Staircase Escalante, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, Arches, and City of Rocks National Reserve - flying and renting a vehicle with 4WD

7. If the Nationals for Bible quizzing are held in South Carolina in 2027 or 2028, I'd like to visit these places either before or after the quizzing - Billy Graham Library, Biltmore Estate, Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, Andrew Jackson's Hermitage, and Little River Canyon National Preserve - driving in our car