DC Trip Day 9 Puzzle

1. To the kid's delight (and mine too), we chose an indoor water park at a somewhat affordable price.
2. I was pleased to discover that Sandusky, Ohio, home of Cedar Point, was 15 minutes from Milan and had several places to swim.
3.I have been unsuccessful in any attempt to find it, now that I need it.
4.Our only two criteria, were to stop in Milan, Ohio, the birthplace of Thomas Edison, and go to a place where we could swim.
5. Tomorrow after an Easter brunch, we will head home and close the book on a most excellent vacation.
6. It wasn't long before we were past D.C., into Maryland and heading towards Pennsylvania.
7. The paragraphy program, will randomly mix up the sentences, and you will have to put Humpty Dumpty together again.
8. I was supposed to finish up with my Washington D.C Journal today.
9. We stopped at a Dairy Queen for lunch and then started thinking about a place to hang our hats for the night.
10. Day 9 started early as we left Claire's and drove out of Stafford.
11. Because of the mix-up I have decided to give you a mix-up of your own.
12. The problem is, I wrote my last entry in one of my kid's notebooks as Amy already had my notebook packed away.
13. Using Paragraphy, which I read about at blogging2learn, I will tell you about the events of day 9.













If you are able to unmix this, place it in the correct order in the comments below.



One thing I remember from my original journal entry is recalling that when we were visiting the capitol, our guide told us that each state has 2 statues of famous people from their state housed in the capitol building. I asked my guide if Thomas Edison was one of the features statues. He said, no but in Ohio, he was on a short list of potential candidates to replace the statue of a fromer governor, who was pro slavery. Just day's after asking that question, I was shocked to see this banner in Edison's birth city. . .




Here are a few more day 9 pics . . .

I did not complete a journal entry for day 10, our return to Illinois. So, this is the end of my D.C. Journey. To celebrate I am going to put all of my journal entries together including remembrances of day 9 and 10 into book form. I will be giving away 1 copy of this memoir to a lucky commenter. Anyone who comments on any of my blog entries from now until May 19th will be entered into a drawing. I will announce the winner in the next edition of Things Fortnightly on May 20th. I will also throw in a few souvenirs, I picked up on the trip. Full details will be listed in the next few days.

Next Time: Men's Monday Meme

Six Word Saturday - Lyrics By Dave

Yes it's Six Word Saturday again and my top 25 label celebration is continuing.

These are not my six words: LABEL # 20 (7 way tie) Lyrics by Dave.

I have been writing songs for most of my life. I can carry a tune, but only in a bucket. As you know, buckets are hard to come by in this economy. Often when I sing, the only one who recognizes the tune, is me. This can be difficult, since I also wrote the music.

I occasionally write parodies so anyone I can con into listening will at least recognize the tune. I was trying to think of what parody lyrics to share in this post, when I saw this video on a friend's facebook page.

That video reminded me of today's six words:

Some people say I Monkey around.

I love the Monkees, they and the Beatles more or less created the music video along with the folks at School House Rock. Last Train to Clarksville is one of my favorite Monkee's songs. Let's face it any Monkee's song I happen to be listening to, has the tendency to be my favorite. My all time favorite has got be, I'm a believer. So sometime in 1987 while singing it to the top of my lungs alone in my van I came up with these alternate lyrics (All but the last verse those I made up as I typed. Hey it's a gift. But after you read it, you might want to send the gift back.) ...

I thought God was only true for little ones
Like Santa Claus, you find He isn't real
But God was out to save me, I just couldn't see
When I was at lowest, He died for me

That's when I felt his grace (bomp Ba da da da)
Now I'm a believer (bomp ba da da da)
And there's now a place (bomp ba da da da)
In Heaven that's mine
And He's my Lord (Ohohohohohhhh)
Now I'm a believer
Now I'm a receiver
And I'm glorifyin!
(Bomp Ba da da da Bomp ba da da da)

I could never think of a second verse
I racked my head
I tried and tried and tried
Then a few years later
I heard a Christian version
And my chance for CCM* fame died

But I still feel His grace (bomp ba da da da)
I'm still a believer. (bomp ba da da da) )
There's still a place (bomp ba da da da)
in Heaven that's mine
He's still God. (Ohohohohohhhh)
I'm still a believer
still a receiver
And still glorifyin!
(Bomp ba da da da bomp ba da da da da bomp ba da da da daaaaaaaa)

* CCM = Contemporary Christian Music

So that's all we have for Dave's top 40 today. I'll keep writing em down and you keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars. (Sorry, had to be said.) For more Six Word Saturday, head on over to show my face dot com.

Next Time: All good trips must come to an end.

Balloons Ahoy!

As far as fortnights go this one seems shorter than most. But yes it's been 2 weeks since our last Things this Thursday. Let's get right to it shall we.

Thing 1. Talk about your send offs!

The last Monday in April was the last day of our home school cooperatives Spring Semester. The group Christian Workshops of the Fox Valley (CWF) had their 10th anniversary this year. To celebrate we had a balloon launch.

Each family put their names on a pre-addressed stamped post card and attached it to a balloon.

Then we gathered as a group.

and let go!

The release was less than 2 weeks ago and 3 posts cards have already been returned. So far all have come from Illinois. Some from 3 hours away. What I find amazing is that 2 balloons found 3 hours away were returned by the same person and seemed to have been retrieved on different days. Our families balloon is still among the missing. If it shows up I'll let you know.

Thing 2: Trained to do right!

Last year Charlie learned about the underground railroad in one of his CWF classes. In the town next to ours there is a historical marker on a very busy corner of a busy street. My sister is obsessed about historical markers, so I decided to take a picture of it for her. I took Charlie and Emma with me as a field trip is a field trip no matter how small.

We were surprised and delighted to find out that the marker showed that the home next to it was a station for the underground railroad.

It really does something inside of me to realize that in the area I live there were people bold and brave enough to fight against a great injustice. On this the National Day of Prayer it reminds me that God often answers prayers through the actions of others.

3. Is Chuck Lost?

Today I continue my tribute to the top 25 labels I used in the first 300 posts of Home School Dad.

Label # 20 (7-way tie) Chuck.

My blogging about the NBC show Chuck is very tied in with my experience with Three Things Thursday. When Michelle of Psalm 104:24 was at the helm of 3TTT she always had 1 of her things about the ABC series Lost. Having never watched an episode of Lost (a fact that HULU is helping me remedy, see future posts) I could not include a synopsis of said show. What I could do was write little blurbs about the best television show I never watched on television. I have watched every episode of Chuck online either at NBC.Com or Hulu.

Because of low ratings and the t.v. writers strike of 2007 Chuck has spent much of it's life on the NBC chopping block. Even with the large grassroots supports of scifi/ action geeks (like me)i t barely survived last year to make it to season 3.

As I reported here, I wasn't sure if Chuck's renewal was a good thing or not as the 2008-2009 season ended on the highest of high notes. It turns out my fears were totally unfounded as season 3 has made season 2 look like a Partridge Family reunion show in comparison.

But now that Season 3 is drawing to a close, Chuck's fortunes for a 4th season seem as unclear as ever. There is some speculation that Chuck could be renewed and premiere later in the season as it did last year.

I have more things than I have time to share them. If you'd like to share your things link on Mr. Linky below. I'll be back in two weeks with another installment of things fortnightly.

Next Time: Lyrics By Dave