Going to Minnesota is NOT relaxing!

My family just returned from an 11 day road trip to Minnesota the other night.  That trip is approximately 2800 miles round trip on top of the more than 300 additional miles driving around while we were there.  Why would did we do that?  My children have asked us that question many times.  The answer is simple:

He graduated, and we took his party on the road!

Why did we take his party on the road?  Because all of our family members live in Minnesota with the exception of my husband’s niece who came back from Nashville to celebrate with us.  We figured it was easier to get four of us to Minnesota rather than bringing so many people to Virginia.

[I told my children taking a long road trip like that gives them stories to talk about at future gatherings.  “Do you remember when mom and dad made us drive to Minnesota?”  J was writing during the trip because there were some very funny moments to be written down.]

We crammed a lot into our trip.  We took 3 days to get to Minnesota.

 

Pastries from our friend's bakery in Ohio.

My husband celebrating Father's Day in Iowa after two days of traveling.  

We toured the University of Iowa….

and I fell walking during the tour.

Made it to Minnesota!

Minneapolis skyline

We toured the University of Minnesota

We attended a Twins baseball game.

We went to the lake for a day of fun.

We attended a family reunion for my mother-in-law’s family.  It was for her siblings and their families.  There were approximately 100 people there. My husband hadn’t seen some of his cousins in 27 years since we had our wedding.  It was fun to visit with everyone.  The next day was….

The reason for the trip:  The Party

J had a creative moment with crayons and Goldfish crackers.

We drove home in two days...two very LONG days!

West Virginia

The western part of Virginia.  We live on the other side of the state.  We were getting closer!

For the Fourth of July weekend, we are doing nothing.  The boys want to stay home and not get in the van.  You will find me on the couch with chocolate or in the pool, depends what the weather is like.

Linking up with:

http://www.lovethatmax.com/

14 Weeks Left - Senior Year

The Senior

S had a busy week and accomplished quite a bit of work.  It had been a challenge for him to focus on his work with his brother having half days of school and days off the previous week.  I thought it would be better since J was back in school for full days. It might have been a more productive week if S had gotten up earlier every day to start his work. When I say get up earlier, I'm not talking about 6:00 or even 7:00. 8:00 would be a nice time for him. That hasn't happened this week. Enough said...

He is more motivated at this point in the week since we told him that when he gets his work done for the week, then he will be able to attend the Super Bowl party with us on Sunday. We are trying to use more positive tones as instructed by the Smart but Scattered Teens book instead of saying, "If you don't ___, then you can't ____." (We have done that A LOT!) 

S told me that wasn't more positive. We asked him what was negative. He couldn't tell us, so we told him it must be positive.

[FYI: S woke up at 5:30 this morning. By 10:00, he finished more work than he has in the past 2 days. His ADD causes him to kick it into hyperfocus when he feels it is crunch time. He felt that today, so he worked super hard. He has a small task to finish after riding, and he is done for the week.]

This week S was assigned two projects - one on Low Vision and one on the book, Fallen Angels.  For his Low Vision project, he will create a Prezi which is a format he doesn't like using that much; that is why he is getting more practice with it.  For the novel, S needed to create a playlist to reflect the theme of the book.  I figured he would like that since he enjoys listening to music.  Because it is something very different than anything he has done before, he thought there was a catch to this assignment.  Nope.  Trying to keep it simple, fun, and out of the ordinary.  It's been interesting to see/hear his music choices because he went down a very different path than I would have taken.  The beauty of this assignment is that it is his interpretation.

He also worked on College Algebra and will take another assessment next week. He also had a writing assignment.  We told him we just need him writing!

He also spent this week editing his daily journal writing from the month of January.  Editing is challenging for him, but he will get it.  That is why he spent the week editing. Practice makes perfect or something like that.

S has horseback riding today.  Tomorrow he is going to the Chiropractor for the first time, and he will volunteer for 2 hours.

The exciting news for the week is that we registered S for the graduation commencement ceremony at the homeschool convention in June!  I have been back in contact with the coordinator about accessibility for S that day.  He decided his wheelchair would be the easiest option for the ceremony.  That day will be here before we know it!  Also, HEAV just announced the commencement speaker.  It will be a good day.

The Sophomore

J had Monday off, so he only had 4 days of school this week.  His new semester started.  It will be a nice change for him.  He is now done with PE and picked up Driver's Ed/Health.  He already has his permit and has been driving for 8 months.  

He went to the chiropractor on Monday.  His hip has been bothering him, and it feels much better now.  He has a fabulous chiropractor who has taken good care of him for a number of years.

J practiced 17.5 hours this week.  

On the Homefront

We made it home from our trip to New York City on Sunday night - right before the big storm and just in time for my husband to turn around and leave for Kansas on Monday.  We had some snow here Monday night but not enough for a delay on Tuesday morning.  J was a little disappointed about that.  Extra sleep is always nice for a teenager (and mom).

I had drop off and pick up duties Monday and Tuesday night for J's practice since my husband was gone.  I spent time hanging out at Starbucks.  I had uninterrupted time to read and write.

I went to the chiropractor on Monday also.  It had been a while since I had gone in for an adjustment.  It was long overdue.  I feel much better and won't wait that long to go again.

We had a great time on our weekend getaway.  Seeing Casting Crowns at Carnegie Hall was AMAZING!!!!  J is our trip photographer when we travel.  He has over 400 pictures from our trip.  I posted a few pictures here. Can I just add how nice it was to have a third driver for our trip?

We were the first ones seated.

What have I written this week?

Our New York City Experiences

The Importance of Stretching

Linking up with:

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Our New York City Experiences

My family had the pleasure of visiting New York City this past weekend.  This was our second trip there.  Our last visit was in July 2010, so it has been a while.  

Our First Visit

We had a nice visit the first time we were there.  Our niece was with us.  We walked a lot, saw some different things, ate some great food, and our niece was able to meet up with a high school classmate.  The thing that sticks out in our mind from that trip was our surprise at how many subway stations were not handicap accessible. When we were done visiting with our niece's friend on that trip, she pointed out the nearest subway stop to us.  She was astonished when we told her we couldn't go there because there was no elevator.  She quickly became aware of the challenges we had on our trip.

Preparation for This Trip

This time we knew that subway transportation would be a challenge.  We did more research at home to familiarize ourselves with the needed accessible stops near things we wanted to do. We were also there for a specific purpose -  to attend the Casting Crowns concert at Carnegie Hall.  Anything we did above and beyond that was a bonus to our trip.

Our Visit

Because we drove from our home to the area, we stayed in Jersey City which is easier to get to by car.  We have stayed at the Doubletree Hotel both trips.  It's close to the PATH which is accessible (lucked out the first time because we didn't know to check for that).  The hotel staff was wonderful about giving us information, maps, suggestions, etc.  One desk clerk clued us into hopstop.com which will give subway directions and has a filter for accessible routes. Thank you!

We made it around the city just fine.  We did a lot of walking (over 17 miles in 2 days) because sometimes it was just easier.  Also, we had the opportunity to see some really cool things.  J took over 400 pictures on the 2 days we spent in the city.  

We visited Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, the 9-11 Memorial, Times Square, Grand Central Station, Rockefeller Center, ate at Junior's (didn't feel guilty about the delicious piece of devil food's cheesecake since I walked so many miles), consumed some Jamba Juice, had cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery, some goodies from Carlo's Bakery, and attended a concert at Carnegie Hall which we were able to admire and enjoy by ourselves for a while since we were seated early.  

Lasting Impressions

People of New York:  You have outdone yourself on your helpfulness and politeness to this visiting family!  Kudos to you!  We were all amazed at how helpful everyone was to us.

*We rode on a water taxi, and the workers were very helpful to ensure that S made it on safely.

*Statue Cruises:  The staff was amazing!  They were incredibly helpful in clearing paths for S to safely get on and off the ferry and helping lift his wheelchair when necessary.

*People who were willing to answer questions and offer help and assistance wherever we were.

*When S's front caster became lodged in a raise in the sidewalk, multiple people came forward to help my husband.  

*Security guards helped with doors at various buildings.

*On our return trip to Jersey City, the elevator was out at the Hoboken PATH station.  A worker came by to confirm with us which stop we needed since we would have had problems there.

*Any time we were on public transportation, the other passengers helped make room for S's wheelchair, offered up seats to our family, helped clear paths if we needed to get off, etc.

A Few Memories of Our Trip

A photograph of our trip photographer

View from our room

We will have fun looking at pictures from our trip and reminiscing.  However, there will always be an overriding memory of this trip that will stick in our minds - the people and their willingness to help.  Thank you!

I will be on the couch with chocolate and my memories of the goodness in people.

School, Midterms, NYC

The Senior

S has been continuing to work on his schoolwork. He found out he received an “A” on his Human Eye Lesson 4 which he was happy about.  He worked hard and finished up Lesson 5 this week.  That course is complete!  He is going to work on a Low Vision research project to complement the course and help him in his understanding of how Low Vision impacts his life.  

Although S focused on his Human Eye course, he also worked on Daily Journaling, College Algebra, and History.  His workload was lighter this week since we left on Thursday for a little trip.

We are still going through his research paper word by word to help prepare him for the next paper, topic unknown at this point.  He will start it the end of February.  

There has been some frustration this week since S has not been getting up in the morning which means he is working later in the evening.  That wouldn’t be an issue except he thinks it should be very quiet in the house when he’s working.  The problem is that other people live in this house.  As we told him, “We are going to talk and not tiptoe around since you didn’t want to get up and get started on your work.”  

S had Youth Group on Wednesday night.  There isn’t horseback riding for him this week because we are out of town.  

It’s hard to believe that there are only 15 weeks left of school for him.  As I look at the plans I laid out for the year, I am still tweaking some of them.  Love the freedom to do that!  He will still finish the things we had laid out, but we are going to do some fun projects for some of his assignments.  Looking forward to that.  It will be a nice change of pace for him since he has been working so hard all these years to make it to this point.

The Sophomore

J made it through exams!  There was no school on Monday.  He had Chemistry and Spanish exams on Tuesday, PE and Photography exams on Wednesday, and Math Analysis and English exams on Thursday.  Because it was exam week, the high school students had half days which meant they were dismissed at 10:40 (That just tells you they start really early.  One more reason S is glad to be homeschooled.)  J is now ready to start his second semester next week.  

J had practice for 10.5 hours this week since he missed Thursday and tonight.  

On the Homefront

At the time of this posting, we are in New York City for a weekend getaway and a concert at Carnegie Hall.  Looking forward to that!

This past weekend included a VBS planning meeting,  S volunteering, church and Sunday School, and attending a college gymnastics meet (It’s a lot less stressful when my son isn’t competing.)

On Monday, my husband had the day off.  The first thing on our schedule was a couples massage.  That’s a good day!

Otherwise, it’s been fairly routine - school, work, gymnastics.  

What have I written this week?

Brielle and Me:  A Review

Benefits of Therapeutic Horseback Riding

Enjoy your weekend!  I will enjoy my time in New York City.  We have a suite, so I can be on the couch with chocolate (and some goodies from some yummy bakeries).

Linking up with:

http://www.lovethatmax.com/

Christmas in Minnesota

We flew to Minnesota for Christmas. We spent 12 days there enjoying time with family and friends. We were "in the moment". We didn't worry about posing for pictures. We didn't stress over things that needed to be done at home. We enjoyed what life gave us at each moment.

When it was time to write my Christmas wrap up post, I looked through my family's shared photos to see what everyone had taken pictures of on their phones.

This was our trip to Minnesota.

J hanging out at the airport.  We had a 30 minute delay.

We had to make a connection on our trip. Our preference is the non-stop flight; however, it was $800 less to make a connection.  We connected!

Two of our favorite restaurants!

It snowed on Christmas Day.

J had the opportunity to drive in snow.

My family lives in a rural area of Minnesota.  

J went sledding with my nephew.  S stayed home because….

it was cold.

Because S wants to eventually go to college in Minnesota, we made him go out when it was cold to see what it might be like on a college campus.  He thought it was cold, and he got stuck “but only once”.

We spent a weekend at a hotel with my husband’s family.  My husband ran around the hotel one evening in his elf pajamas.  He received many strange looks and compliments.  Two kids asked “Mr. Elf” for help with a pop machine.

My nephew, J, and I had to cut the center pieces out of the pan of Special K bars since they had the biggest globs of chocolate frosting.  We were hoping to get my sister excited about it; however, she said she prefers the outside pieces.

This pretty much sums up our trip - cards and chocolate.  Do you like the Christmas dishes from Poland and Germany?

Celebrating New Year’s Eve in the Charlotte airport.

We had a great time on our trip. Although this was the most relaxing Christmas trip we have ever had, we were tired when we made it home. There will be some resting on the couch with chocolate.