50 yr Anniversary of our church

On Saturday, we had a roast dinner picnic - we went early and there were various games set up (bubbles, frisbees, big balls, putting small sand bags in holes sort of games) for the kids, and plenty of talking to do for the adults. The picnic was roast meat slices, roast potatoes, green salad, cherry tomatoes, hotdogs for the kids, some sort of cheesy pasta dish, and a bring dessert to share (which resulted in four overloaded tables of miscellaneous sweetness...lots of brownies and choc chip biscuits though!) It was a really enjoyable evening, except we left too late, and the kiddies had trouble settling down to bed.
On Sunday, under the huge marquee from the night before, we had one combined church service (normally there are about three - 8.30, 9.15, 11am, and possibly also an evening service?). No Sunday school, but luckily they'd set up drink stands on either side of the tent, so the kids were kept entertained getting themselves cups of water. We combined forces with some friends and brought along matchbox cars (they'd bought a whole lot of toys too), and our seats were right on the edge, close to some shade, so our kids could wander/play a bit during the sermon. They had the opportunity for people to help sing the Hallelujah chorus again, which they normally do at Easter, but they decided it was a special enough occasion. I can't get enough of this tradition.
Tonight they have a praise concert, I think, but our kids need some routine re-established, so we're at home putting them through the bath!
The church started in someone's loungeroom, and is now planting churches in the area - how great to see what God can achieve through imperfect people. I was happy that the minister noted that the church doesn't look much like the community around it, and that there is still work to do (ie, the church is very white and affluent, and Annapolis is not all white and affluent).

Flying Flags in America

There are lots of national flags flying outside houses here. I am not entirely sure about why, but you can buy flag flying kits from the hardware store with a flag, and a stick, and the mount to attach to your front porch uprights. I think the flag is very deeply tied in with national pride.
We bought our car from a navy guy, who flew the flag of his regiment/company out the front of his house. Flying regimental flags and US flags together is not uncommon. I also know that since 9/11, firefighters especially, have been more patriotically associated (and therefore, more likely to have flags?). This may be because 9/11 was seen as an act of war by some, and the firefighters took heavy casualties trying to rescue people.

We have had three public holidays so far that encourage the flying of flags -
Presidents Day/ Washington's Birthday (Feb 17th) (not a public holiday for hubby)
Memorial Day (May 26th), also seen as unofficial start to summer
Independence Day (July 4th)
There were also observances for the D-Day landings in France in WWII - the USA forces were a large part of the initial landings, and a lot of their men died as a result.
On May day in Annapolis, people are encouraged to decorate their homes in red white and blue (and flags, and flower arrangements).
I'm also pretty sure that on Veteran's day (November 11th) and Thanksgiving (November 27-28th) there will be flags!

The American flag is deeply tied into the birth of the nation - with the national anthem 'The Star Spangled Banner' being penned after Francis Scott Key saw a flag flying over Fort McHenry after particularly heavy bombardment by the British during the Battle of Baltimore in 1814. It has changed as the union grew - increasing the number of stars and stripes.
In fact, after warring with the British, the Americans warred with each other, and this was the flag chosen after the dust settled. So maybe the fact that they chose their flag, and fought for it (the winning side atleast), influences how they feel about it?

I'm not sure if any of this helps to explain why you can walk through neighbourhoods today and see flags on several houses on every street, and over restaurants (and not just in front of official state buildings).
 (final note - this is a 'Navy' town, so flag flying might be more common here than in other American towns)

School?!

We have had so much thrown at us in the last five years, so many things to work through, so many crises, and so much busyness, that it seems almost wrong to be sending a child to school. But there you have it. Five years have passed, and we have to cut that apron string.
He was so excited he was up at about 6am, wanting to get ready. We were a bit shell shocked. The tension of holding it together while simultaneously acting suitably excited really took its toll. But he was delivered back to us this afternoon, excited and safe, so we're starting to feel like we might survive the experience.

B & O Train Museum, Baltimore

We have had such a great run of trains recently!! This was the Baltimore and Ohio railroad museum, billing itself as the birthplace of American Commercial railroad. We went with a friend who has recently got membership and gets free entry :)
Some of the trains they have are Big... one steam train had wheels the same height as me. They even had some of the early trains that were shaped like stage coaches.
The photo shows the diesel that gave us a short ride along a very short bit of track that was on the same line as the first commercial track to be built (can anyone else see Chuggington?!). The special exhibition right now is about the civil war and the rail roads, but to be honest, I didn't get to really look at a lot of the exhibits, as the kids were moving too fast. We drove home extremely exhausted and very happy.

Gettysburg

Monument to Pennsylvania Regiments involved in battle.

We visited Gettysburg on the way home.  It is called a National Military Park by the National Park Service, which looks after the site.  On July 1,2 and 3 1863, Confederate and Union forces had a huge fight here, costing more than 51,000 dead - more than in any other battle on American soil before or since. I think the Unionists won, but probably the reality is, as with most wars, everyone paid a price (esp considering this was old fashioned cavalry and infantry and canons-at-the-back fighting).
Lincoln gave his 2 min Gettysburg address on November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the cemetery for the Union dead (the confederates being taken to some cemeteries in the south) which is now hailed as a masterpiece of English, among other things. We were surprised by the amount of visitors - this is obviously important locally.
It is about 4,000 acres, and they advise about 3 hours to complete the self guided auto-tour (in a car). There are various trails, and you're welcome to walk all over the place. There are a huge amounts of monuments, commemorating various groups and fights.I was unprepared for the hugeness of the site, and if you read some of the monuments, they were place by survivors, which means that within a few years, the Battle of Gettysburg was seen as significant among all the battles in the civil war.
I just felt sad by the end.

Dutch Country, Pennsylvania

This was the bit of the trip I was most nervous about - the cash in on the Amish communities that live around this area. I'm still not sure how to feel about it to be honest. We stayed in Strasburg, and I recommend keeping away from the bigger towns - Lancaster, Paradise, Intercourse, simply because Strasburg had enough to keep someone occupied (in my good opinion!), without the tourist buses. The Amish themselves seem to participate - running road side stalls, being drivers for Amish buggy rides, selling various crafts/food etc. The food is good, especially the baked goods. I don't know if that is a survival thing, or a taking the opportunity thing. In fact, I realised just how little I know about the Amish. I didn't even realise we were living within a two hour drive of major communities, for a start.
We opted for a bit of a drive in the countryside - on the small roads, just looking at farmland, workers etc. I don't think we got any 'good' photos, due to me feeling extremely reticent about being seen to be gawking. However, we got the photo above, of a wagon parked waiting for the lady who was running a shop to finish up. Also, lots of photos of farmland, including some quite large tobacco crops, which we had never seen before (big leafy crops, look like mutant cabbages)!
We were going to have a meal at a place that served sort of farm house fare at big tables that we were looking on as a cultural experience, but when we arrived we realised we were mistaken about the size of the operation (5 buses out the back, for a start), and retreated to the little restaurant next door to our hotel which was more than sufficient.
I liked this part of the world, still working out why, but possibly managing to see a horizon for the first time in a while had something to do with it.

Pennsylvania Train Museum and Steam Train Ride

The Train Museum

A working steam train

 I'm not sure I need to say more, for those who know my kids. For those who don't, Strasburg PA (Pennsylvania), has a train museum, which is a big shed with trains (steam and diesel) done up and parked in it, as well as a room off the side with more toy/model trains than I have ever seen at once. There are various displays about jobs on the trains (and around them), and the development of the Pennsylvania train line, which linked up two major cities at the time, Philadelphia and New York.
Across the road they have a train track with a working steam train and you can get a ride, and taste the coal dust for yourself. We rode in the open carriages, where small pieces of soot fell on us, and I recommend sunnies for eye protection. It was hugely fun, and it was even nicer to see the happy dance on the platform (the eldest because he was excited, the youngest because he is in a me too phase). It is sometimes wearying to be always providing loving boundaries, and sort of a bit of a relief when you can just make them ecstatically happy.
Tip for riding on the train - there is more view from the RHS of the carriage as the train leaves the station.
The train only goes around 13 miles, then turns around and comes back, but that is a good length of time for small attention spans, and a good way to see some country side.
My take away thoughts? Those trains, steam and diesel are big!! I felt awe inspired and a bit excited myself.

Philadelphia Cheese Steaks

This looks like a bun with meat in it, which it is, but this is a cheese steak, which is the signature food in Philadelphia, and thus, we had to try one. The we is a royal we, I actually meant, Mr Moopossum had to try one, as he is quite big on regional specialties. I had no desire, because my imagination cooked up a steak, with grated cheese sprinkled on top, and of course, that sounds like a waste of a steak to me. Luckily, the serving sizes came to my rescue, and when 'we' got a cheese steak at the Reading Terminal Markets, I got to eat half!
What it actually is, is thin slices of steak, cooked on a grill in front of your eyes, with onion and cheese, then stuffed into a bun, and it is awesome and delicious. Do not settle for what they serve from the food trucks, unless they're cooking it in front of you. We bought chips and the cheese steak, and that fed our family of four (chips for kids, cheese steak for adults) for lunch (for $12).
Moral of the story? Eat the local specialties, ignore imagination.

Philadelphia Museum of Art (the steps)

I didn't know it, I'm not even sure I've watched it, but the Philadelphia Museum of Art has a huge set of steps up to the front door, and Rocky ran up those steps in the movie in a getting fit sequence. So we went to have a look at the view from the top of the steps, and it is quite spectacular. There is also some footprints cast into a paving stone where Rocky stood and cheered, and a statue down the bottom of the stairs that you can look at.
Things to note: Don't park in Museum Parking unless visiting museum as well - two prices, one for museum visitors, one for lost tourists like us. I recommend parking in town somewhere, because the traffic gets thick and complicated up that end of town, whereas in town, the streets are square, numbered, and orderly (and there are lots of parking stations, any one of which would be cheaper than what we ended up paying!!).
The outside of the Museum is very big and amazing, as is the walk along the boulevard towards the Museum away from down town Philadelphia, with lots of statues and fountains to look at. Don't do it when tired, it is longer than you think. But do try to walk it sometime!

Philadelphia - The Liberty Bell etc

On our first day in Philadelphia we saw the Liberty Bell, and the room in which the Declaration of Independence was finalised and signed (1776), as well as the Constitution of the USA (1787). Photo has bell in foreground and Philadelphia State House, now called Independence Hall in background. As one sign board put it, it is big enough to have one of those sorts of events happening, but to have two happening in 11 years, is quite momentous. The State House was used because it was the biggest Capitol in America at the time (I think).
The Liberty bell was originally made in 1753 to call the Pennsylvania Assembly to work. It was renamed the Liberty Bell in the 1830's by anti-slavery groups. They had to stop using it because it cracked, quite badly, on the site of older smaller cracks that they'd tried to fix, in 1846.
To be honest, I didn't previously realise that these documents came from Philadelphia, but there you have it. It is increasingly enjoyable to visit significant sites around the place, and start to piece together the history, and perhaps get a bit of an insight into the nation.

Philadelphia

Travelling again - first stop, Philadelphia, which I discovered has a beautiful grid system of roads. If you get yourself on Walnut St, for example, and the cross streets are 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc! Many of the cross streets alternates a one way direction, and if you go too far, going around the block isn't a problem. Walking is also enjoyable, as there are crossings every intersection, and the theory is, pedestrians travel with the cars going the same way, so no little green men to tell you when to cross. I saw heaps of bikes, and it is not as built up or busy as New York city. I'm not sure many places in the US would be as built up and busy as NYC though. The pavements are wide enough that you feel safe, and there are lots more green spaces in the form of little parks.
We had a beautiful one bedroom suite in the carriage house of an old house converted into a hotel, with breakfast and cups of tea in the afternoon laid on, as well as a complimentary glass of wine in the evenings. Apart from the snooty staff in the restaurant where we got our glass of wine, we loved the place, and I would happily stay there again. I think they got extra points as the tea was Harney and Sons which I particularly enjoy! Also from the kids point of view, the bath had spa jets, which was a whole evenings entertainment in itself.

Birthday Cake

Here is the latest effort for birthday cake. Birthday boy thought up the concept (triangular, spirals with large m&m's at the centre). If you'd told my 15 year self that I would be competently (I think, anyway) using a sandwich bag to pipe spirals on a birthday cake, I would have laughed hilariously. If I ever get to a school reunion and they ask me what my biggest achievement to date is, this would have to be in the short list. The "architectural" (decorative) triangle on its end at the back was the husbands idea.
Thank you to the Heathcote Jones' without whom I would not know about using sandwich bags for piping :)
Other thanks - to hubby and his mum who made butter cream icing with a wooden spoon and a whisk. It can be done!!

PS - I have to add in a late PS to this. We have since worked out that he meant rectangular when he said triangular. It would sort of explain why one of his comments was that he thought it would be a different shape, which made me feel a bit huffy at the time...The thing is, I think having a triangular cake really freed us from all preconceptions about decoration or form, and it turned out such a great cake. At the end of the day, you need something to put candles in, then it gets chopped up, so shape is more or less a moot point!

Justification and Sanctification - not to be muddled

Todays lesson:
Not muddling Justification and Sanctification.
Justification - Forgiveness from God, made once, for all time. Jesus' work FOR us
Sanctification - Transformation into image of God - ongoing process, completed in heaven. Jesus' work IN us.
If you have a rotten day or don't feel like you're doing so good, some get muddled and tend to think along the lines of not being saved any more. Having a rotten day/month/year/decade doesn't change your Justification. Nothing changes you being saved!

United States Naval Academy (USNA)

We went and visited the Naval Academy today.
Lessons learned:
Walk through the middle first, not around the edge. There isn't much view around the football fields. Most of the beautiful landscaping and interesting buildings are in the middle of the campus. Round the back you get the back view, mainly tennis courts and car parks.
The Chapel shuts at 4pm, so don't walk past it at 3.30 saying you'll come  back to it on the way past
Don't turn up to the museum (or the gift shop) with kids who are fatigued. Possibly don't bother taking kids for the museum or gift shop at all.
Happily, we also managed to navigate to and park in the city dock (right next door to the Navy Academy) for the first time.

Another tree house!

Showing the grandparents the amazing boat treehouse, and on closer inspection, that same house has a tree on the front lawn that has another amazing cubby - windows and all!!

Rain and children

My advice to parents of small, energetic children: Don't try and avoid the rain, join it. Even our littlest was capable of holding up a light umbrella on this walk, although pretty soon he started handing it over so he could jump in the puddles more effectively (then asking for it back...). Big brother is starting to be a bit more sedate over puddles these days, but enjoyed the walk too. We accidentally got caught in a downpour that dumped close to 3 inches, but hey, it is just water and it dries!

Chickens!

There is a series of chicken sculptures as part of an art installation from a while ago, and today we walked down West St to see them all. Some are no longer in existence because of vandals, which is a pity, but it was nice to see the remaining chickens! This is one of the ones I like, not really sure why.

Good Packing Decisions V

I did think it was overkill, to take two strollers... Not in keeping with the effort to live a bit simply, with minimal 'stuff'. However, we were allowed one stroller per child under 5 for free, so we took both our jogging stroller, and this little simpler stroller - bought from Aldi for $50. I am very glad we took the effort! We even had an inquiry in NYC about whether it was a good travel stroller.
I think this is a good review of those strollers too - we hesitated to buy it the first time we saw it. Wanted to see what the more established stores had. But we have not regretted this decision one moment. I just regret not getting it earlier, as I lugged the other heavier stroller up three steps at childcare while very pregnant many times, all the while wishing we had a lighter version!
When using the little buses, and all, having a stroller that can be folded up and carried while also carrying the two year old is very handy. Lots of the shops and restaurants here are not sized to fit strollers, so it is nice to just fold it up in a corner out of the way. I have noticed one rivet getting a touch wonky, on one of the things that fold up, so it may be on its way out, but it has gotten solid use ever since the snow melted and I worked out the bus service. We have successfully taken it on the metro in NYC and Washington DC (and pretty soon, Philadelphia!).
Summary: Sturdy enough to take the four year old, or load down with bags. Small enough to fold up in stores and on buses. Cheap enough to not be a major investment requiring careful thought. Very handy water bottle hole and zippered pocket between the handles. Light enough to carry distances without really exerting yourself. Wheels are not hard plastic, they're not rubber either, something in between that is really sturdy and tough and quiet.
The storage is hard to get into, especially when the stroller is laid back with a child sleeping in it (but you don't lose things overboard either). The buckle strap coming up from between the legs seems a little on the short side, especially with cloth nappies.

Maryland Inn, Main St

Another lot of visitors, another chance to really look at the amazing Main St of Annapolis. Beautiful day, hot but not too humid, ice cream, walk to City Dock and back, dodging the crowds. I think Navy cadets were settling in, because there were lots of uniforms and young fit people.
This is Maryland Inn, built in the 1700's, with past Presidents counted among its visitors. And a Starbucks on the ground floor :) (Although the presidents didn't visit the Starbucks!)

Counting lego?! I didn't sign up for this!

Apparently this is what you do when your kids have lego sets - make sure all the bricks are still present. So, line them up on the table, line up all the booklets for the kits, and pick out the bricks for each kit. And would you believe it, in spite of us being really careful, and limiting the lego to one room... We're still missing bricks!!! Luckily, lego sells them individually for really cheap.

Lots and lots of cars and trains

A friend looked after the children recently, while I went to the Dr. She has her own grown up children - so she brought a huge bag of matchbox cars (and trucks and utes and you name it), and a crate of trains (lots of the older Thomas that are hard to find now!). She left them with us for a bit, so we have had a glorious week with three times as many cars and trains than we will ever have. I hope it will put a new shine on our stuff (which we packed away to avoid mix ups). Last night the boys spent 15 happy minutes piling all the cars into the trolley. This morning they played emergency vehicles on the car mat on the deck. This afternoon they 'made voices' with the babysitter while I went for a jog.

Nautical Door Mat!

Heh heh. Now we can pretend that we're nautical, and own a boat :) This sort of decoration is very common around here. (Quite a few of those people actually own some waterfront and a boat too!)

Summer Feet

I always half dread the weird tan spots that come up on the children’s feet from wearing sandles all summer. The little one especially tans this deep brown no matter how much sunscreen we put on. I think I’m always half worried that when they’re 50 they’ll be getting skin cancers burnt off their feet and cursing me.

The spots are a bit less obvious this year with the american sandles that we got, which are less open. But that makes the ankle/foot line quite noticeable!

Starting to think warm clothes and covered shoes now (not wear, just think!).

The medical system here

I still haven't worked out completely how the medical system works here in America, but here are a few notes, just for those who are curious.

• Everything costs money. Usually the first question after name and DOB is what insurance I have. One of my friends goes to a specialist where even the gloves are a separate line item. So she doesn't know how much her visit is going to cost ahead of time.
• Insurance is organised through your employer - they do a deal with an insurer, who offers various packages, and you decide on a package, BUT - the employer doesn't pay - you pay the premiums, and the excess, etc!!! So, in hubby's work, they are merging with a much bigger firm, and the primary interest point is if the health insurance packages are going to get better. 
• Drs rooms then do deals with insurers, and have agreements. Some drs may not be able to see you, because your insurance isn't on their list. The closest comparison  I can think of is Medibanks 'preferred suppliers' - if you go to a certain dentist your out of pocket is minimal, because Medibank and that dentist have reached an agreement on fees. In fact, visiting a dentist in Australia is very much like visiting a health professional in the USA (with each procedure having a line item).
• Self Pay is what we are doing, because we then submit a claim to our insurance, who then pays us in Australian bank account, which sounds awkward, and probably would be if you had a cash flow problem. So, I just say Self Pay, rather than try and explain that I do have insurance, but I claim from them after paying up front. Self pay means often, I get a discount for paying upfront - so todays visit was 50% off!! (and still $112)
• What sort of insurance you have shapes how you approach your health. I tend to approach from a "you're the dr, please care for me", but I have seen articles on asking how much money things cost before getting procedures, checking if the dr investigating something will cost extra, phoning around to get cheapest lab costs, and also cheapest pharmacy costs. Some plans require you to order medical supplies from a certain supplier. The emphasis is on you being a consumer, and getting the best value/efficiency.
• My dentist recently suggested something, and his assistant suggested that she print out a plan for the procedure so I could get 'pre-approval' for the procedure. I suspect this must lead to small stuff growing into big stuff, just from needing to save your money! He also doubled checked if I wanted xrays of my teeth. The Dr made sure she was only ordering blood tests that were absolutely necessary, and gave me a choice about how to get the prescription filled, in case the tablets were expensive when I came to pay for them.
• Urgent care (colds, dr certificates, same day care) is often separate to Primary care. The children's dr has an hour each morning for walk in urgent care. 
• At a Dr's visit, your weight, blood pressure and temp (for children)/pulse (for me) are recorded at every visit by a PA (physicians assistant). Then you tell the PA what your visit is for, then the Dr comes in, with the notes from the PA.
• Pharmacy - you're asked what your nominated pharmacy is, and your scripts are sent electronically straight to the pharmacy. I do not get to hold any scripts in my sweaty little hand. This means you have to go there for refills too, I suppose. So we made sure we nominated a pharmacy close to home!

Found: Canadian Bacon

Because everyone knows that bacon needs to look like it was extruded in a factory. The upside, we don't end up with half a cup of pure animal fat in the bottom of the pan after frying.

Origami Boats

In a short, sharp lesson on how not to choose children's books, I chose a book at the library recently based on cover art - it was so beautiful! And the artwork inside was gorgeous too! But the content was weird, to say the least, sort of a quick run through some different myths and folktales in the world, interspersed with weird free form poetry about untying the moorings of your boat (bed) and drifting into dreamland. I was asked to read it, and I paraphrased.
The upside, there were instructions on the inside of the front and back cover to make origami boats, and as an activity, I recommend this one - the 4 year old could just about do it on his own, with a little help to get the folds straight. Great distraction from the contents of the book.

National Pride?

I had an interesting conversation with a friend about how she felt that she wasn't allowed to be proud of being American when travelling overseas - because if she was, she felt that she would be labelled as just an arrogant, loud, American. I remember after Germany won the World Cup in 2006 that there were some comments on the apparent re-emergence of national pride in Germany as a result (and they were talking about post WWII - some 50 yrs). I wonder if at some stage in the distant future, Americans will be able to shake off that cultural cringe from being in the spotlight, and making some unpopular/retrospectively stupid decisions.
I think as an Australian, I have been shielded from this sort of issue - because Australia is too little/too neutral (?) to be particularly disliked anywhere (and I guess, while everyone is hating the Americans, they're not hating us...). But when you think again, a) a lot of good stuff has come out of America, including and not limited to Billy Graham, and b) perhaps it is not so cool to dismiss an entire nationality based on decisions that they might or might not have agreed with, and c) - whether or not you agree with the decisions America has made in the past (or their culture, or whatever), to a certain extent, you have to give them points for being out there and having an opinion, right? It certainly is more difficult to be involved in the playground, than to stand on the side and agree with everyone/do nothing?
Discuss.