Leisurely and then frantically

We are revisiting the roadtrip calendar that I made some time ago. There's a lot to think through about the trip, and many details that were unknown when I first made the calendar. Now there are fixed points- the departure, Islesboro, Williamsburg, and the end date. This is good. If it weren't for these fixed dates, I'd be contemplating the idea of expanding the trip.

At first I didn't want to spend a lot of time doing research about our locations. I figured that we'd get to a place and find things to do. Then Matt and I started talking and learned that we had some different ideas, so some thought was in order. It also made sense to think about what we wanted to do in order to do some more specific budgeting than I had done initially. (Can we ride the Maid of the Mist in Niagara, when it's our first stop? Or should we save our money?) We each started thinking of things we want to do in the cities, especially Boston and New York. This resulted in a list long enough to last us a week in Boston and two weeks in NYC. We also started looking at the map more, which led to wanting to see more (e.g., the Maine coast, Salem, Stonyfield farm in NH- the source of most of Calvin's protein).

In addition to more thought about where we're going, I plan when under stress. I'm not really that stressed about the trip. But I am working on at least one grant proposal due before we go, we're starting to homeschool, and we are going on this trip. So, my planning response has kicked in.

The result is that now I see a leisurely beginning to the trip and then a frantic end in big cities. The schedule is like the planning for the trip- first leisurely and then a little more frantic!

We have friends going on a trip around the world. Last night Lisa told Matt that they are not trying to see everything. Their children are young, they are young, and the cities will be there in the future. She is right. The journey is the adventure and that is why we are going. The cities will be there. In fact, they are driving distance (unlike on a trip around the world!). We can go again during the homeschool year if we want to!

Pastimes

Some people think that kids need structured activities to keep them busy. Our kids find lots of things to do on their own.

Eleanor is enjoying her loom again.








And Calvin loves reading the "Weekend" portion of the paper. He is our movie expert!







Eleanor enjoyed a rainy evening. Sitting on our steps is fun in itself. And it also guarantees that you'll have a playmate in no time (and she did).

Chess anyone?

One of my personal and family goals for the year is to learn to play Chess. We got the game "No Stress Chess" to learn how to play and it worked well. Quickly, the kids wanted to play without the cards. With none of us having experience playing and the kids being old enough to think through the game, the first three matches had the following outcomes:

Eleanor v. Jen (Eleanor wins)
Calvin v. Matt (Calvin wins)
Eleanor v. Calvin (Eleanor wins)

To us, as naive chess players, we all laugh out loud when someone wins. Who could have seen it coming? (Obviously, someone who knows how to play!)

Love of history

Eleanor is really into history. She's also into reading now. American Girl stories provide fictional accounts of girls in different time periods. She's also started reading non-fiction. Yesterday she got really into a book about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. I'm excited for her to have a chance to see many of places where important historical events occurred! And I'm excited that she'll get to spend a year pursuing her interest!

What about Rosie?

We're making plans for other families to take care of Rosie while we're away. Last night we met with the first of them. Calvin was barely holding back the tears a couple times during the visit. While I honestly said that I was more worried about it working out for the people than the dog (she's just a dog!), by the time I went to bed I was worried too. I know she will be okay, but we will miss our pup. And we will worry about her too!

Paper!

I am going to make a newspaper probably. I think it will be hard work. I am copying off some parts of the real newspaper. I think it will be good. It's going to take me like one month or maybe less. Some things I'm going to make up myself with a camera. There's lots of things for it to talk about. I'm going to have to use lots of scissors work. I'm going to make more than one copy of it. Bye.