Sherds from a jar of clay

This past week my husband took a week of vacation. Instead of going away anywhere we decided to stay home and do some area road trips and spend some relaxed family time together. Here is some of what we did:

-Monday was the kids first swim lesson and since the weather was great we spent the morning at the pool and then went home to read, clean, eat, relax, return books to the library and plan the rest of the week. We had been to Brooklyn and back the day before to see my husbands niece Emma, make her public profession of faith. It was fun to be with everyone but a long day (just over 2 hours in the car each way and a 2 plus hour church service followed by potluck lunch in the church hall) so we all needed some lazy time.

-Tuesday we went "down the shore" to Ocean City, NJ . Paul's sister-in-law Trish and her kids were down there too (visiting friends with a family beach house there) so we met them at the 46th street beach. The kids had fun playing with their cousins and as a result I actually got to relax and chat and do a crossword for a part of the time. We also built sandcastles, flew kites, collected shells and seaweed and jumped in the serf. Then we showered off at Trish's friends house (Thanks, Linda you were a true blessing) and had dinner on the boardwalk, ice cream, rides and souvenirs too. Got home late.

-Wednesday was more swim lessons, rest, recovery, errands, reading games etc. One high light for the kids was their first trip through the car wash, lots of fun!

-Thursday we went to the Crayola Factory in Easton, PA. The town is a cute little town. The factory is fun though it is actually not the actual factory but rather a museum/art creation facility and add for crayola products with an area that reproduces what part of the factiry looks like and shows you how the crayons are made. You get tokens that you can redeem along the way for a box of 4 crayons, markers or modeling clay. You can also draw, cut, paste, paint, model, do intaglio and other creative things along the way. The kids loved it and Paul made lots of neat things (very artistic man) I felt creatively impaired by comparison but at least I could carry and keep track of all the goodies and creations for everyone. Your admission also gets you into the National Canal Museum which had some interesting exhibits on canal boats and canal boat life. The are going to be redoing this already interesting display next year with a new more interactive exhibit designed by the Science Museum of Minnesota. I have worked with the SM of M before and they do some of the best work in the industry when it comes to this sort of thing so I am already planning a Pennsylvania History Unit on Canal boats that will include a return trip with some other homeschooling friends. It also inexplicably included a room with some railroad stuff and a room with info. about the local silk weaving industry. Paul and Andrew checked out the trains while a very nice docent taught Vicky how to use a lap loom.

-Friday morning I listened in on a care conference meeting for my Dad who is moving from skilled nursing care into a semi-independent living situation with my mom. We then packed up the care with a cooler, tablecloth, water, binoculars and fieldguides and headed off to Ridley Creek State Park. My husband used to go here with his family as a kid and it is fast becoming a family favorite for us too. We hiked a fun trail that went down along the river and though we could hear distant thunder and some sprinkles the tree canopy kept us dry. We saw lots of different kinds and colors of mushrooms on our walk, a number of black winged dragonfly like things, a dead but intact Promethia Moth and heard lots of birds. We later grilled steaks and zucchini while the kids played on some swings and a slide. On the drive out of the park at dusk we saw 8 rabbits by the sides of the road, one doe and a toad that Paul screeched to a stop to chase around and remove from the road lest it get squished, much to the kids delight it peed in his hands when he picked it up almost causing him to drop it.

One of the highlights of the week for me was some down time with my husband, even though we were home we managed to shove aside at least some of the normal routines, ruts and chores and spend a little more time together, we played some "Lost Cities" a two person game he bought me years ago because it features ancient civilizations as part of its theme. We also watched at least one episode of the DVD's for the canceled TV show "Firefly". I friend had lent them to us and we love them and are sorry it was canceled. It's sort of a western set in space and though there is violence and adult themes it is not for the most part gratuitous. The best part is though the ability of the crew to escape from anything can stretch credulity it is wonderfully written, deals intelligently with complex moral themes, has character development (ie they are not just stereotypes the western genre rolls might indicate) and is funny (at times we had to pause while we stopped laughing).

Hope all of you are also enjoying your vacations and remember if you can't get away (like we couldn't, you can probably find fun with your family just a few hours away)