Bugs, Kisses, and Spooky Halloween Wishes!
World Teacher’s Day
In celebration of World Teacher’s Day, I created this cute cards of appreciation. Green apples, red envelopes, with white calligraphy.
Happy Birthday Monika – Blue Batik and White Calligraphy
I love this batik pattern. I pulled out my calligraphy pen to test out this white calligraphy ink.
Summer Vacation 2024: Family, Friends, Smithsonian, Kennywood, National Parks, and more!
Summer Vacation 2024 was filled with lots of warm and wonderful memories. It was another bittersweet trip home – so wonderful to see everyone, but my mom was not there.
We started with the miserably long trip: 7-hour flight to Tokyo and then a 13 hour flight to the U.S.
We transited through Tokyo/Haneda again and we went straight for the Ramen place. We shopped at the Japanese souvenir shop for some Japanese-style cookies, and then hit up the 7-11 for strawberry Pocky before settling in at our gate. This is becoming our routine.
The trip was uneventful and this time, we stopped in Washington, D.C. for a week-long rest before continuing on to South Carolina. We picked up our rental car and headed to our hotel.
Although I was completely shattered and wanted to sleep, Jackson was desperate to start Summer Vacation 2024 with a visit to the National Air and Space Museum at the nearby Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. This turned out to be a great choice! It helped with the jet lag and the museum was very nice! Jackson and I squeezed into the flight simulator, and he did a great job of not flipping me upside down! We walked around and saw the space shuttle and so many other cool displays. We hit the gift shop on the way out and took an Uber back to the hotel.
We drove from Washington, DC to Pennsylvania and stayed at the 7 Springs mountain resort for a week. This was our hotel of choice when they offered deep discounts for summer stays, as it is near-ish to family and friends, with plenty to do. The discounts aren’t as great these days, the hotel needs refurbishment, and we’re noticing that some of our desired amenities are disappearing (the laundromat is gone, daily room cleaning is gone. Our room was only serviced once, after 5 days – and this is post-Covid). This has become a tradition for us, so we still go. We did get the breakfast buffet included this time, and it was plentiful. However, one day we were given menus to select from; the blueberry pancakes were amazing, and were a nice treat from the morning buffet. We found the summertime activities to be quite expensive, although a lot is included. $66/day: mini golf, Alpine Slide, bowling, etc. My older brother and his family came out to hang out with us. (I can’t believe how fast my niece is growing up!!) We splurged on mini-golf for everyone and then we enjoyed the pool and hot tub. We ordered pizza – and it was really good. Then stopped at the ice cream shop for sweet treats and coffee. It was so nice to get to spend time with everyone.
In looking for an activity that Jackson could do while I visited with a friend, I discovered a flight training school with a simulator. I booked him a lesson. Then I looked at the map and realized that the school was too far out. We ended up stopping in at Oakmont Bakery for breakfast and a good catchup with my friend, whom I’ve known since we were five years old!! We ordered fancy coffees, and I got a delicious breakfast sandwich that I was dreaming about days later. Then Jackson and I continued north to the flight school – High Flight. He had an amazing lesson – the best day of his life, as he tells it.
During this trip, we were so close to the Flight 93 Memorial, we made time to visit. I’m glad we did. We’ve been once before, but Jackson was a baby. This time, Jackson got the Junior Ranger book, and we focused on the items in the book, keeping the visit age appropriate. He picked up the I Survived book in the gift shop on the way out and read it on the road.
We saw signs for a covered bridge, so naturally, we followed them! We stopped at Glessner Covered Bridge for a few quick photos. I was more impressed than my travel companion – who was engrossed in his new book.
He did enjoy lunch at Eat n’ Park, and a visit to the movie theater after our heavy morning.
I had a nice catch-up dinner with my friend Missy. (Another friend from my childhood days.) The jetlag caught up with Jackson, and he slept all through dinner.
Meeting up with my younger brother and his family, we had an amazing day at Kennywood Park. So much good family time. Taking turns riding with each other, sharing a meal together. All the things we miss out on while living overseas.
I love going to my favorite Italian shops when I go home. DeLallo is ‘my’ Italian grocery store. I love to pick up some olives from the ‘olive bar’, and I always grab a pepperoni roll and some pizzelles. Moios Italian Patry Shop is another favorite. I consider the chocolate torte cake my birthday cake – a moist chocolate sponge with chocolate pudding in the middle and topped with fudgy chocolate frosting. So, I must have a slice along with cannoli. Jackson was excited about the Italian ice when he saw the sign advertising it. When he ordered, he was not so excited to hear that they only had the lemon flavor, but once he tasted it, he was all in!
As my time in Pennsylvania was about finished, we met up at Cracker Barrel for a farewell breakfast. The blueberry pancakes were amazing, as always – but it was really so special to spend this time with my family. I got to visit a bit with my son, daughter-in-law, and grandson…who has grown so much since I last saw him!! It was hard to say goodbye, but it was time for me and Jackson to head south to see ‘our dads’.
We drove back to Dulles airport, returned the rental car and flew to South Carolina.
In South Carolina, we grabbed our bags and another rental car, and off we went to see Grandpa.
The next day, I drove Jackson to Greenville, SC, for his two-week visit with his dad. This is tougher on me than it is on Jackson.
I spent the next week hanging out with my dad. Running errands, cooking, cleaning, squeezing in a Hallmark movie here and there. I did my best to fill up on Starbucks and Chick Fil A, and I enjoyed the flora and fauna on the Lane.
Life has a strange serendipity and I ended up in Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and Assateague Island National Seashore during the pony penning festivities.
From there, I continued back south and visited Aunt Darlene for lots of hugs, planning for our trip next summer, and remembering my mom and Uncle Wilson. These visits are never long enough.
As I traveled further south, I popped into Buc-ee’s for some gas, fudge for my dad, and a quick shop around. This felt like Disneyworld for grownups. I immediately felt the excitement when I walked through the doors!
Back in South Carolina, I went for a morning visit of Congaree National Park. After battling all the golden webbed spiders, I was treated to a sighting of a Barred owl. I’ll be honest, the spiders had me freaked out. They were EVERYWHERE. I ended up turning back on the path and I found another visitor with a tri-pod set up – viewing/filming something in the trees. He pointed to the owl! I would have never found it on my own…I was too focused on the spider webs.
When Jackson returned, we went to Edventure children’s museum. One of his favorite places to visit. He loves the airplane built into the wall, and Eddie!
For our very last adventure, Jackson and I flew to Washington state to visit Josh and see Olympic National Park. We had a wonderful visit! Lots of catching up and exploring the beauty of the national park. This visit was much too short!
That’s a wrap on Summer Vacation 2024. We had to head back to SC for our flight home early the following morning.
Jeep Retirement Party
A colleague of mine was retiring, and he purchased himself a Jeep Rubicon to celebrate. He envisions himself doing a lot of off-roading in his retirement.
It was the perfect opportunity to plan a Jeep retirement party for the office!
I don’t have many Jeep items at home to reuse – I used a little metal Jeep leftover from our Wild Kratt’s party and a Jeep blanket that I’ve had for years…it came with my circa 2008 Jeep.
We had a large room with 3 long rectangle tables, and 8 round ‘high top’ tables – each with white tablecloths. I created a few printables and a digital sign to build some ambience. The printables were used in wooden picture frames and placed on each table. The digital sign was displayed on the computer monitors in the conference room.
A local balloon merchant came in and created two balloon stands, and I packed up my wagon with a few decorative items from home.
I designed stickers, and had a local printer print them up for me. They were stuck to short brown paper bags filled with popcorn and placed on each table.
We had a potluck lunch, so for my food contributions I provided chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, “Jeep” style sugar cookies, popcorn – flavored with Trader Joe’s Elote seasoning, and fresh squeezed lemonade. Other colleagues brought pizza and KFC. We also had a local dish called Tumpeng. It is a mountain-shaped cone of cooked rice accompanied by side dishes. It was so delicious!
We had loads of fun celebrating our colleague and sending him off in style.
Independence Day Celebration – 2024
We celebrated Independence Day on June 11this year with a Hawaiian theme.
My job was to organize party favors and pass them out at the end of the event.
Typically, U.S. companies donate merchandise that we pass out as our guests are leaving. Unfortunately, this year, we did not have many items to give away. I had some food coupons, highlighters, and cookies.
I recommended items such as macadamia nuts (that would not melt in the heat), post cards, silk leis, Kona Coffee pods, and foldable, reusable shopping bags.
Due to budget constraints, we purchased only the bags – hoping for additional donations. I ordered the bags from a local company, and I designed the artwork for the front of the bag. It had to be simplified to meet our budget constraints, but I’m proud of my work! I even incorporated the event slogan – Spirit of Aloha.
I organized a team of twenty summer hire students, and taking shifts, we managed to give out over 1000 ‘thank you for coming’ gifts!
It was so hot, and so humid. I’m glad it is over…and we don’t have to do it again until next year!!
Cub Scouts – End of Year Awards and Blue and Gold Breakfast 2024
The end of the Scout year has arrived.
As Webelos assistant den leader, I planned the activities and kept a record of attendance throughout the year. I ensured that all scouts received credit for the adventures that they had completed. I went back through WhatsApp messages to make sure I credited those scouts who sent photos of the work they completed at home, and I worked with parents to help scouts wrap up adventures that were still outstanding.
Then, as awards coordinator, I followed up with the other den leaders to ensure an accurate accounting of the adventures their scouts had earned. Honestly, that was the biggest challenge.
Once I made sure my tallies were correct, I organized the belt loops, pins, badges, and awards by den. I attached all the “bling” to card stock and paperclipped the cards to an envelope. The envelope listed all the adventures earned, so the Cubmaster could read off the envelope during the awards ceremony, and afterwards, the scouts had a safe place to store all of their “bling”!
Once the cards and envelopes were organized, I created a PowerPoint presentation – complete with a photo of each scout engaged in a scouting activity from this past year. Next to each photo, I listed the adventures that were earned. Having the presentation organized by den allowed the cubmaster and assistant to easily follow the program and hand out the awards in order. The scouts got to see their pictures up on the big screen along with their list of accomplishments, which helped keep them entertained while waiting for their turn to be called up for recognition.
Once all the kids received their recognition, we thanked the parent volunteers with certificates of appreciation and parent pins. We said farewell to our cubmaster of three years. Gifted him with an Indonesian Batik map, a Yeti coffee mug, and a multi-tool pocket knife. Then we welcomed our new Cubmaster.
After the official ceremony, we played live action game of CLUEDO (based on the board game Clue) – where the scouts were given cards with another scout’s name, the name of one of the six essentials, and the name of a location in the party room – in the doorway, sitting in a chair. They had to tag the scout named on their card, with the item listed, in the location listed. Once tagged, they were out. The scouts had a blast playing this game while the parents chatted over coffee, samosas, and donuts.
We are all ready for a good rest over the summer, but also excited about the adventures awaiting us in the fall.
Cub Scouts – Raingutter Regatta
This was our first Raingutter Regatta!
The idea is to race boats in a raingutter, using air/wind to move the boats. We were to use recycled materials and had size limitations imposed.
Our pack is fancy, and we have an inflatable ‘raingutter’.
I had picked up a sailboat kit from the scout shop last summer, and this was our first opportunity to use it, so Jackson made two boats. One from the kit and the other with materials from around the house.
We researched how to make the best boat and learned about aerodynamics and hydrodynamics also about the importance of weight when creating a racing sailboat at MichaelSpitler.com. Jackson was very excited about his creations, and when he tested them they floated in the sink and the bathtub. Unfortunately, we did not test how well they moved through the water.
Jackson created the cone shaped sails as described, but they were too small. He could not get his air into the cones and his boats did not move as fast as the others with wide sails. Although disappointed that neither of his boats won for speed, he did win special honors for best design. It was a good albeit hard lesson in being a good sport.
The race was over early, and the kids still had some time to play before the meeting was over. They went out front and played Red Light, Green Light. Jackson kicked off his flip flops and was running in the grass in his bare feet. He ran into the Scoutmaster’s foot/shoe and hurt his toe. It was hurting for a few days and was really starting to bruise, so I took him to the local clinic. They took an x-ray and it turns out, he had a hairline fracture! Not much to be done, so they put a tiny little splint on him and taped it up nice and tight.
Cub Scout Camping – May 2024 – Desa Laguna
Our outgoing Cubmaster wanted to have THREE camping trips this year instead of the typical two. Although Jackson and I agreed that we would not be going on another camping trip, there were lots of Cub Scout adventures to be earned on this trip – we couldn’t miss out! So, after Portibi Farms and Caldera – we set off again for the eco resort called Desa Laguna in the Thousand Islands chain about an hour and a half speed boat ride outside of Jakarta. (Click here to read about last year’s trip.)
The trip to Ancol marina was an adventure in itself! We left home at 6:00am. There was no traffic, so we made really good time. That was in our favor, as the taxi driver drove in circles before finally getting to our destination. We arrived at pier 16 and boarded our speed boat to the Thousand Islands at 7:00am.
The boat ride to Desa Laguna this year was a bit less choppy than last year, and we received a warm welcome upon arrival.
There was a bungalow available this year, right on the water, and it had our name on it! The views were amazing. Waking up to the sound of the ocean waves, and then rolling out of bed and walking a few steps to wade in the surf was heaven. I do have to mention the trash that was everywhere…floating on the water. It was such a shame. The island worked hard to pick up the trash that came ashore, but the trash was everywhere in the water. Flip flops, water bottles…
The kids had a blast taking over the island. Running wild and free. They barely noticed that they were learning and earning Cub Scout adventures! The Webelos planted corals and mangroves, worked on Earth Rocks, Building a Better World, and Into the Wild. We made s’mores around the campfire, went fishing, and the kids spent hours taking turns pushing around a wheelbarrow!
Jackson was exhausted at bedtime, but after his run-in with the hermit crabs in the shower, he was ready to go home. I talked him into putting his shower shoes on, and he managed to survive the outdoor shower.
It was a great overnight camping trip, but so hot and humid. I’m not sure who squealed loudest when we boarded the boat with air conditioning – the kids or the parents!!
Making more memories – we look forward to going again next year!