Winter arrived!

It started out as a beautiful snowy morning. The kids eagerly got outside.

However, in Cincinnati, at the freezing/not-freezing line, things can change quickly while you're outside playing. Snow changed to rain, but they played on. They came home from playing with friends very wet! (There's a pic of E actually crying as she walked up the driveway, but I didn't choose it (for her sake).)


Can you see how wet their shirts are? They were wet to their underwear!

Some hot chocolate really turned things around!

Calvin is funny...

As part of a science project, we brought some dirt in from the backyard. Calvin's job was to put it back out there, but he was crabby about having to go to the basement to get shoes to wear into the very wet backyard. After laying on the floor resisting his job for a while, he popped up with an alternative that didn't require going downstairs.

Those are newspaper bags on his feet. More than anyone in the family, he finds the funny in surprising places.

This is for you (you know who!)

Some people complain that the last entry was too depressing. They want puppy dogs and smiles if they are going to keep coming to our blog. Here you go! We don't want to lose the friendship to honesty!

"How is the homeschooling going?"

Everyone asks how the homeschooling is going and some people have encouraged us to keep blogging now that we're home. It's hard to blog now for lots of reasons. In explaining them, you will learn how homeschooling is going. First, homeschooling is a routine now so it doesn't seem like there's much to say. In the mornings the kids have their routine work. They have their various activities as well--gym, swimming, parks programs, etc. I'm with them in the mornings three days, late afternoon two days; Matt has the rest of the daytimes. Second, lately there's been a high level of family stress. While on the trip we could write about the occasional meltdown and tension with less seriousness. Every situation was temporary, which made it easier to laugh at. Now I don't want to write about the troubles for all the world to see. I will say, however, that things have been better lately, and I hope that we're on the right track now. Third, I feel like I can't find enough time to work, be a homeschooling parent, and have time to do my own things, so blogging doesn't fit into my routine well anymore.

All of that said, I am really happy with what we're doing. We live at our own pace most of the time. The kids get dressed when they want to most days. They do their work and play and chat on their own schedule. (Things do have deadlines, but they get them done in time.) We all stay up later and sleep later and have lots of time to cuddle in the morning (even with Rosie in the bed now!). They don't mind their school work and they are proud of what they do. Eleanor says that she "loves algebra!" Calvin's love of popular culture is being more fully realized (am I happy about that?) as he simultaneously reads Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and comic books. Eleanor is reading more than ever in her life, mostly about being a girl her age (which is now the beginning of adolescence?!). Both kids are playing the piano happily and beautifully. Eleanor practices for 45 minute or more with no prompting. The kids bake and make soup with me, and I really love that.

So, to answer the question that I think most of you are really wondering, my dream of homeschooling has been harder than I expected since we got home. But still, I have no regrets and no ideas of changing course. I love homeschooling my kids as much as I thought I would.

P.S. And now I feel like I spent too much of "my" time making this entry and not working!

Sign Collection- Marc's entry

Thanks to Marc, we have a new entry in the funny store names/signs collection.

Some new pictures

Eleanor had a food drive again. She got 110 pounds of food for FreeStore/FoodBank.Notice that Calvin is lurking under the table.









The kids took apart a VCR for a science lesson.








Calvin is watching the big game with Matt on a big screen with Matt. Eleanor had a chance to play with friends and didn't come home for the game. Thanks to UC's media lending library, Matt has a data projector for the weekend. The flash ruined the movie theater effect.

November 8, 2007

C is sick today. Not really that sick, but he does have a fever. Being C, he was taking his temp before Matt or I were out of bed. Since he's sick, he doesn't have to do schoolwork. I do have him graphing his fever. True, I'm reinforcing his neurotic desire to monitor his temp. But I am also sneaking in schoolwork to a child who is well enough to be playing. :-)

E was bummed about the injustice of it. That is, C is not really that sick but doesn't have to do his work.Plus, she gets blue about not going to school. So, I invited her to join me in my "office" today. Here's a pic of her reading in Sitwells. We've been here for 2 hours or so. I am surprised that she's enjoying being here so much. And I'm surprised how well she's just doing her own thing.

Halloween

We miss you Sean, Dianna, Quinn, and Maggie. This is your holiday! We paused for a moment of silence at your house. (seriously)

Baking at our homeschool

We made cookies described in the American Girl magazine. (Those are homemade cut-out sugar cookies with Jolly Ranchers melted in the center to create a stained glass effect.) We've also made homemade soup, homemade smoothies, two kinds of bread, chocolate chip cookies, granola, and other things yummy treats. Part of it is not having the ability to cook for a while. Part of it is letting the kids make things that they are interested in. Scones, popovers, and muffins are on deck for later this week!

Homeschooling at home- the first "real" week

Homeschooling at home has gone suprisingly well this week. The kids have done regular work and creative projects. All the ideas that the kids have read about or we have had on our own, but with no time to do them, are starting to happen! This is what I imagined when I imagined homeschooling.






Eleanor experimented with different boat designs.


Calvin experimented with freezing, thawing, dying, and refreezing water.


The kids built a bridge of paper.


We went to the pumpkin patch.

And, YES, we're in our pajamas for much of the day!

Calvin's collection- The final installment

NYC- Cinnamon Tic Tacs



Philadelphia- Wintergreen Tic Tacs


DC- Hubba Bubba


Williamsburg- Frankenstein Gumball Machine


Cincinnati- Mango Sour Altoids

We're Home!

We're home. 4000 miles and 45 days of a very good trip.

We were welcomed home by our good friends here, which was much needed as we, save Eleanor, were not sure that we wanted to come home. Thanks to Lisa and Therese the sign, the mums, the pumpkins, and cards made our vacant house feel like a home. We also got our Rosie back, who seems smaller and cuter than we remember. Many thanks to all of the people here who helped us be away and welcomed us home.

Today we drove through West Virginia where the leaves are changing. It is so beautiful there that I wondered aloud why they can't do a better tourist business. I told Matt that it can't be more beautfiful in Vermont, the traditional leaf-viewing location. He responded, "And where are you going to have dinner after looking at leaves? Biscuit World?" True enough. West Virginia's poverty is a barrier to a booming tourist industry. (If you have known me a while, you know that I am fascinated with Biscuit World and that we have eaten their buscuits. Though, one trip was enough to satisfy me for the rest of my life. I'm serious.) (Dee, I revise my statement made in VA about the limited beauty of the Appalacians.) The pic includes a reflection of a banana, the phone, and my foot!






We went to Williamsburg before coming home. We met Matt's parents there, who made the full Williamsburg experience financially possible. I hope Matt blogs about it, because I didn't do the activities. The kids had a great time and learned a lot. Here's one picture of them there.

DC- the final day

Today was our last day in DC. We went to the Holocaust Museum. It is a really powerful museum. The main take-away for the kids was that the Holocaust was not that long ago—they believed it ancient history. I wondered why the Freedom Center can’t improve by taking some ideas from it.

We also went to the top of the Washington Monument. It was cool, mostly just because it was the Washington Monument. The main floor is beautifully tiled, which was surprising. Then, the observatory area was not decorated—you could see the stone from the inside. So fancy or plain, it was cool to us.

Now we’re in Colonial Williamsburg—the last stop on our journey.

DC- another day

Today we had INCREDIBLY bad luck getting the day started. We drove to four different Metro stations before finding one where we could park. Then the Metro track we rode on was having maintenance, so we had to wait. In all, it took us more than three hours to get to the city!

We went to the Air and Space Museum. I thought that it was boring when I went the first time and it still was to me. The kids thought so too. Calvin said that it should just be for adults and wondered why everyone suggests it. Some artifacts from the Smithsonian American History Museum are temporarily there during renovations and this turned out to be the highlight of the visit (at least for me). We saw popular artifacts—the Seinfeld "puffy shirt" Mr. Roger's sweater, Dorothy's ruby slippers--and historical artifacts like an actual suit of George Washington's and the stools that the Woolworth’s lunch counter Civil Rights Protestors sat on. Looking at the items, it was amazing to us to see how much the kids had learned about American history on this trip.

After a very quick trip to the National Archives, we headed to a grad school friend’s for dinner. Despite a tough start, it was another fun day! I can’t believe how soon we’re coming home!

(No pics. Blogger has a pic bug right now.)

DC

Now we’re in DC. We are seeing the sites here and having a really great time. Yesterday we arrived in the city in the afternoon and saw the White House, Washington Monument (see how big Eleanor has gotten on the trip?!), the new WWII Memorial, and Lincoln Memorial. Today we went to the house where Lincoln died (Ford’s Theater is closed for renovations), the Supreme Court and toured the Capitol Building.

We had a great day of chance activities today. We wandered into the Supreme Court and ended up spending a lot of time there looking around and even having lunch!


And then when getting tickets to go in the Senate Gallery, we were offered a personal tour by one of Sherrod Brown’s interns. It was really great. Our family got a tour that lasted more than two hours and included seeing a Senate vote, a ride on the Senate subway, time in the House gallery, and all the other sites. I wouldn’t have thought that Calvin would engage with it, but he did, making the tour a unanimous success.


Tonight Matt’s Aunt Jane had four of her five sons and their families for dinner. It was fun to see them. They are all easy to talk to, the food was good, and it was fun for Matt to see the cousins with whom much mischief seems to have been made as kids.

Philly

We didn’t write much in Philadelphia. There are many reasons, not the least being we had poor internet access. Also, we’re winding down the trip and growing tired of posting. And we did a lot of hanging out, so not as much to write about.

In Philadelphia, we had a cool impromptu trip to see coins being made at the Philadelphia mint. (No cameras allowed, so no pics.) We saw the Liberty Bell, which I finally realize is only a symbol and was not ever used at any important moment. We went to Independence Hall and the kids really seemed to have listened on the tour because they have been able to recall various factoids about it since then. We also went to the Philadelphia Art Museum to see more Impressionists, Rodin sculpture, and armor. And finally, we went to the “Italian Market,” which included Italian foods as well as people and goods from other parts of the world and “fart bombs” too (we got 6 for $1.00). Now that I write it all down, I see that we did a lot while in Philly. The best part for us all was visiting Kim and her family, and Joan, David, Daniel, and Nicholas.

Our site seeing was not as enthusiastic as it had been elsewhere. I’m not sure why. Maybe less prepping of the kids. Maybe that we’d been there in the last couple years. Maybe because the focus was on the visiting and the site seeing seemed like a dull pastime during the days. Maybe because visiting people in their regular lives reminded the kids that they are missing their regular lives. Maybe because visiting people in their regular lives reminded Matt and me that regular adults lives are more work than this life on the road. For whatever reason, we all felt less enthusiastic about seeing sites in Philly than elsewhere. But it is was fun for other reasons.

Pictures of playing light sabers with Jasper, Kim’s son, and cousins Daniel and Nicholas.

NPR Geeks

We love NPR. Love it. Our days begin with Morning Edition and end with BBC World Service. It’s gotten both Jen and me through lots of crappy days at crappy jobs. In fact, if we pledged an appropriate amount for how much we listen, I’d have to get a job. Whoa, whoa, did I just write that? Let’s not get crazy here. Anyway, both of the kids are NPR fans, especially Eleanor. She LOVES it. She idolizes Lynne Rossetto Kasper from “The Splendid Table” and has been known to ask to go to bed early so as not to miss her favorite show that begins at 8:00pm. No, I’m not kidding.

Having said the above, it should come as no surprise that our list of sights to see on the trip included WHYY in Philadelphia. For NPR fans, WHYY is Mecca, or maybe Medina (and not the “funky cold” kind). Jen emailed a couple of weeks ago and got information about a tour and we went on Thursday.



It was great. Great great great. We were the only four on the tour, and were lead around by Ellen, a computer support person. I thought that was a bit odd, and guessed she had drawn the short straw or owed someone in the PR department a favor. While that may be true, having a tech person lead us around turned out to be a good thing, because she either (1) didn’t know to limit the access of the tour-goers, or (2) didn’t care. Who knows, maybe it’s just a laid-back place.

We couldn’t get into the first studio because they were on the air and had the curtains drawn. So Ellen said, “Let’s go in this one.” We walked in and there was a woman doing some editing, and we heard Terry Gross’ voice. “This is the Fresh Air studio, and Audrey, one of the producers of the show, is doing some editing for tomorrow’s show,” said Ellen. Here’s where it gets a little geeky. I leaned over to Jen and excitedly whispered, “Jen, that’s Audrey Bentham, one of the producers.” Her eyes lit up and we laughed. What dorks we are. We learned about the show – it’s done a day in advance of airing, and rarely is there a guest in studio.

We left that studio, and turned the corner. I could only get out “Oh my gosh, there she is –“ to Jen before Ellen walked into the office on the right and said, “And here’s Terry Gross. Terry, this a family from Cincinnati I’m giving a tour to.”

And there she was. Terry Gross. The Pixie Queen of NPR. “Hi,” she said as she got out of her seat to welcome us. Terry Gross had stopped what she was doing and was getting up to talk to us. Jen, struck so hard by the power of Terry, took a step back. I managed to get the typical “We really love your show” out of my mouth. Of course she was gracious. We made a little more small talk before thanking her and walking on. Later, Jen said, “I was watching this woman talk and Terry Gross’ voice was coming out.” That really sums up the odd feeling. It’s one thing to see her on TV or at appearance, but here she was in her office (which is not big and lacks windows), two feet from us.

Before you ask, no, we didn’t get a picture. It seemed too weird. We weren’t at a book reading or appearance. We were in her office. I thought about it in the moment, as did Jen, but it seemed weird and somehow rude. I don’t know.

Anyway, we then met Danny Miller, the Executive Producer of the show. Jen and I had fun pointing out the names from the show on their cubicle walls as we passed. I will say it takes a little away from the coolness of whole thing to realize the people getting named credit at the end of the show are plain old cubicle-dwellers. Not that I love Ann Marie Baldonado and Monique Nazareth and any less. By the way, if you know any of the names I’ve dropped here, I urge you to come out and proudly proclaim your love of Fresh Air. Don’t be afraid.

The rest of the tour was really interesting, and the kids now both say, “I’ll never listen to the radio the same way again.” As for Jen and me, we are now obsessed with using this “we’re just a home-schooling family from Cincinnati” schtick to get into lots of places you don’t usually get into. Our next stop is DC – anyone want odds on my next entry including a picture of Dick Cheney’s man-sized safe?

A final NYC entry

We arrived in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. Before moving on to Philly in the blog, however, we need to “finish” NYC. On the last day, we went with Marc to the Met, the Guggenheim (thanks to Marc), and a playground in Central Park. After saying goodbye to Marc, who had to go to work, we went to Harlem and had lunch. Freezing, because the temperature had dropped all day, we did a little shopping (“The shoes!” Matt says.) and headed back to our car (with a new pair of shoes for Matt).


At the Met—with a nod to Maggie’s Rodin pose on Matt Mullaney’s blog. C liked this statue because it’s how we was feeling.

The Guggenheim—that’s E high above


The E train

The C train

I make this final entry about NYC really to say how much the kids enjoyed NYC. The last day was not the best day. In fact, it was one of harder emotional days of the trip—the weather turned cold after we’d left our coats behind; Calvin didn’t want to go to an art museum, and really didn’t want to go to two; Calvin and I, at least, were really down about leaving—but we still managed fun. Calvin was able to rally and enjoy the “arms and amor” in the Met and the architecture of the Guggenheim. Eleanor, who enjoys art museums generally anyway, was excited to eat yummy food for lunch. And, unlike her brother, found a way to enjoy a sandy playground without taking off her shoes (it’s an obstacle course—don’t touch the sand!). “How can other children SURVIVE this?” asked Calvin. He also cried, “I’m crying because we’re leaving New York and you won’t even let me take my shoes off!” I think it was more the former than the latter.

Toward the end of the day as we were walking down the sidewalk, Calvin said with a smile on his face, “Goodbye, New York. I’ll move back here when I’m a grown-up, if I can afford it.” With more immediate hopes of getting back to NYC, Eleanor asked if we could stay at our New Jersey Hampton again sometime in the future.

The Total NYC Experience

Sunday was the perfect day. No, I’m not talking about the weather, although it was a beautiful 82 degrees and sunny. I’m not talking about the sights, either – in New York, those go without saying. I’m talking about the people. The local color. The individuals. Those who march to beat of a different drummer. Okay, the nutjobs, hotheads, and just plain funny people you find in the big city. Even my brother who has lived here for nearly five years now had to admit that in terms of wacky NYC encounters, we were having a banner day. Consider the following:

1. While walking through Central Park in the middle of the day we witnessed a man with his trousers down taking a dump right on the road. I mean right on the road. Jen pointed out later that he was kind enough to pull over to the side a bit. As we passed my brother looked at me and gave me that look that only siblings can understand. That look in this case said, “That..was..AWESOME!”

NYC crazymeter: 5 out of 5

2. Later in the day, we decided to take the Staten Island Ferry over and back to see Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. The subway route to take us to Battery Park was closed at Chambers Street, but they had free shuttle buses to get people the rest of the way. The bus came and the crowd pushed a little to get on. Right in front of us an African-American woman with a stroller and a baby began shouting at an Eastern European (maybe Russian?) man about pushing her on the bus. He, too, had a stroller, but just a stroller and not, as she pointed out, “any m-----f------ babies in it.” This is where it gets hard to convey. The woman kept yelling and swearing as she got on the bus. The man, now directly in front of me, starts swearing back at her, but because of his accent, the intonation was all wrong. He said (and you have to say this out loud as you read it, to get the full effect), “Who the FUCK are you? Why do you TALK to me this way? YOU bitch! YOU bitch!” You really have to run the “are you” together fast to get it right. The first part should have the “are you” emphasized, the second part sounds a bit like something Borat would say, and the last part is just plain funny. Anyway, the driver ends up telling them to stop it or he’s calling the police. The woman then urged him to “go on and call the m-----f------- police, but I ain’t stopping.” She did stop eventually, but it was funny – the bus was packed with people standing, but no one sat on either side of the man. “Aw, it’s not really fun until someone gets kicked off the bus,” said my brother.

NYC crazymeter: 3 out of 5

3. On the subway we saw an old woman with one giant helmet of matted hair. It was one of the creepiest, grossest things I’ve ever seen. I and practically everyone else on the train stole five-second looks at it. Any longer and the old crazy woman who clearly had not washed her hair in YEARS might get offended, right? My brother said it looked like one giant dreadlock. I thought it looked like an ancient coonskin cap that had fallen in wet concrete. You could see bits of dried grass in it. There were little tufts of what looked like normal hair sticking out here and there. The odd thing was (okay the whole thing was odd) that she’d made up her face and was wearing a slightly worn but totally normal raincoat. She was an otherwise normal old woman. I couldn’t help but picture her putting her make-up on in the mirror, and wondered what she thought (and thinks) when she looks up at her hair. Maybe she only has a tiny mirror, and that’s how the whole thing got started.

Obviously a photo for this entry would be great, but even I am not that big of a jerk.

NYC crazymeter: 3 out of 5

4. At the end of the day we were at Port Authority to catch our bus back to the hotel. Calvin needed to go to the restroom. As you can imagine, the restrooms at Port Authority are just dandy. Perhaps you’ve experienced them yourself. In fact, I could stop this entry right here, and just let your imaginations run wild. But I won’t because it’s what we witnessed in there that’s contributed to the true NYC experience. While we were waiting for a urinal to open up the Port Authority custodian came in said to me, “Now for the part of my weekend night job I hate the most.” Oh boy. He proceeded to use his mop handle to bang on the stall doors and shout “Wake up! Everybody wake up! It’s Saturday night! There’s lots of pussy out there, time to go get some!” Oh. My. God. Every part of that is funny. There then came some voices from in the stalls, all pretty much unintelligible, except for “blah blah blah, showtime.” “Showtime? Is that you in there?” said the custodian. “Time to get up and get on with your night, Showtime. Go on and get some pussy.” The custodian then looked over at me and then at Calvin and said, “Oh. Sorry, man.” What’s funnier: That the men sleeping in the stalls were actually going out in search of, um, females, or that one of them was named “Showtime?”

NYC crazymeter: 4 out of 5.


I hope I’ve conveyed these great NYC experiences adequately. Otherwise, this whole entry will be renamed “Had to Be There.” Oh yeah, we sat by a creepy-looking woman dressed like a clown on the train who kept trying to talk to Eleanor and Calvin. They weren’t having any of it, and we didn’t blame them.

Brooklyn

We went to Brooklyn this morning and met my brother for breakfast. We hung out in Greenpoint and went to a cool Polish candy store -- Calvin is always in search of new and exotic candy. We then went to a new park in Williamsburg right on the banks of the East River. A man there came up to the kids and said, "Look, you can dig for crabs right here on the shore." My brother replied, "Yeah, and the best part about them is they're pre-oiled for cooking!"


This picture sums it up well. Yep, thats a car bumper that washed ashore.

Did we mention that a bird pooped...

Did we mention that a bird pooped on Eleanor? She was walking down the sidewalk and it got her right on the forehead and ran down her nose, right between the eyes. She screamed. I thought she'd been stung by a bee. Matt thought that the miniscule amount of bird poop on her arm was the problem. Then we both noticed that she had bird poop smack in the middle of her face.

I laugh out loud just writing this.

Eleanor says, "I thought someone put a wet papertowel on my face, I was so shocked."

Today in NYC

I'm too tired to write much. Today we went up the Empire State Building. It was the most expensive thing we've done so far. It was fun and we're glad we did it.














We ended up in Times Square again. There is a lot that Calvin wants to see and do there, but either it gets too late or Matt and/or I reach sensory overload and insist that we leave. I took this brief video inside the M&M's store before Matt and I both experienced a breakdown. Poor Calvin *loves* Times Square. I think he's hurt by our not sharing that with him.

Matt, Marc, and the kids also went to the TV and Radio Museum. I went to Astoria in Queens and walked aimlessly for an hour or so.

Another good and exhausting day in NYC. At least we had the kids home by 8:30 tonight!

New York City

We went to the Disney Place. We are going to Toys R Us. We went to Lindt. (I pronounce it L'Tet!) This is a picture of me at L'Tet. After that I got Mister Softie.

We went to the Hersheys Store yesterday. It was really loud. Today we are going to M&M's World.












We are going to the Television and Radio Museum today. I think it will be fun.

People say I am like Uncle Marc.

NYC!

I took this brief video when we got off the bus that took us into Manhattan. I was attempting to capture how excited they were. They were much more animated before I got the camera out, but the video does show their joy.

Twelve hours in the city is too much?

We got a late start today, leaving our hotel at 10am. We had another fun day and arrived back here at nearly 10pm. Needless to say, some breaking down was in order. It looked like we'd make it, but then there was a crisis, which I will omit for the sake of privacy.

Today we saw more sights, starting with the Union Square "green market" with many vegetables we'd never seen before, including many colors of carrots. We saw the Flatiron Building, NYC Public Library, and Grand Central Station. Then after lunch, we split up. Matt and Eleanor went to Central Park. Calvin and I went to a branch of the public library where he could browse the kids' books. (He loves libraries and book stores.) We then met up with Matt and Eleanor at the Central Park playground. We also met Marc there and all went down to ride the Staten Island Ferry and see the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn, and Manhattan skylines. THEN, we headed to Times Square. We had planned to do a few stores, but only went to the Hershey's Store. Calvin loved it; Eleanor couldn't take the noise. It was a long day with no dinner (though we weren't hungry).

Basic reactions to our time in NYC- The kids were thrilled to arrive here- Calvin almost cried when we saw the Manhattan skyline. The kids don't care about buildings too much, unless they were in a movie. They both loved seeing the Statue of Liberty in person. Calvin loves the Times Square vibe- the energy, the lights, and the stores. Eleanor enjoyed MOMA more than we expected, mainly because there was a lot of art there that she recognized and knew things about. They both have a lot of energy for the time here. While we're going, it usually feels like we could go and go. One of them is usually excited enough to give the group energy.

We're in NYC!

We need to get going on our next big day. So, I post a some pics of our first day in NYC. American Girl Place, Toys R Us, Disney Store (no pic), Central Park, MOMA, and cupcakes. A great day! Calvin said maybe the best day ever. We really need to write more about it later.