The Adventurers went through some classic Halloween traditions today. First, we completed the carved pumpkins that were picked out a few days ago. Then we assembled our costumes, props and attitudes for the night. Then we were off to find trouble candy. Our first stop was to visit Aunt Tara who promptly fed everyone withContinue reading “Leesburg, Ohio; Day 10”
Monthly Archives: October 2021
Leesburg, Ohio; Day 9
Today was another birthday in the 5 Adventurers family – this one for Tiffany and she had a great day. To start, Tiffany’s Mom took her to the Aronoff Center in Cincinnati to see the musical stage production of Pretty Woman. After being away from stage shows for a couple years due to the pandemic,Continue reading “Leesburg, Ohio; Day 9”
Leesburg, Ohio; Day 8
Today continued our themes of school and Halloween and added a little vaccines to the mix. Today’s Halloween activity was some arts and craft kits supplied by Tiffany’s sister Tara. The kids loved making these houses and spent a lot of the day building and painting them. Suaram’s costume arrived so they also spent timeContinue reading “Leesburg, Ohio; Day 8”
Leesburg, Ohio; Day 7
We jumped into the Halloween adventures with gusto today. Rain was in the forecast so we took an extended break during school and headed over to the local pumpkin patch. The kids picked out some good carving pumpkins and a couple small ones and had a great time checking out the other activities the farmContinue reading “Leesburg, Ohio; Day 7”
Leesburg, Ohio; Day 6
Shopping and school today. Since the approval of the COVID-19 Vaccine for kids 5-11 seems imminent, we’ve decided to keep having US based adventures until we can get the kids their two jabs. That keeps us in the country at least through the end of November The thing about November in the Midwest is thatContinue reading “Leesburg, Ohio; Day 6”
Leesburg, Ohio; Day 5
Flashback Tuesday for the Adventurers found us looking back at one of our favorite days ziplining in Liberia, Costa Rica. In Ohio we had a school day and started thinking about Halloween plans – it’s sure coming up fast!
Leesburg, Ohio; Day 4
Just because we’re traveling the world doesn’t mean we get to ignore good dental health. That means today’s adventure was teeth cleaning for everyone. Tiffany’s Dad was able to get 5 cleaning appointments at a dentist in Georgetown so these Adventurers headed out before the sun was fully up to get there on time. LotsContinue reading “Leesburg, Ohio; Day 4”
Leesburg, Ohio; Day 3
A quiet day today. We (ad)ventured out to nearby Hillsboro for lunch with Mamoh and Tara at the Japanese Steakhouse. It not only had a tasty hibachi, it gave the California kids a chance to get some sushi for only the second time in 10 weeks. They gobbled it down before we remembered to getContinue reading “Leesburg, Ohio; Day 3”
Leesburg, Ohio; Day 2
The Adventurers are staying at Tiffany’s mother’s (aka Mamoh’s) house in Leesburg for the weekend. The house sits on a working farm in Southern Ohio. Originally purchased by her grandparents in 1913 with over 100+ acres, Mamoh spent her childhood and the last 25 years here. She has many wonderful stories about growing up inContinue reading “Leesburg, Ohio; Day 2”
Leesburg, Ohio; Day 1
Today started in Georgetown and ended about an hour away in Leesburg, Oh. But before we traveled, we had a little adventure with one of the Bailey House cats. Despite warnings that the cats would scamper into the cellar if the Pantry door was left open, Tiffany took her sweet time looking over the shelves.Continue reading “Leesburg, Ohio; Day 1”
Georgetown, Ohio; Day 4
Grandma Nancy and Tiffany’s sister Aunt Tracy were pressed into duty as teachers for the kids today. These former teachers were happy to take the kids on a field trip to the historic sites in Georgetown. They went to the boyhood home of former President Ulysses S. Grant and received a tour of the homeContinue reading “Georgetown, Ohio; Day 4”
Georgetown, Ohio; Day 3
A quiet Georgetown day. The kids played with Suaram’s birthday gifts, Brian and Tiffany took care of some administrative tasks. We were back to school in the afternoon and started a new class book. This time it’s Armstrong Sperry’s Call It Courage. Although there was some complaining from a couple of students about the selection,Continue reading “Georgetown, Ohio; Day 3”
Georgetown, Ohio; Day 2
Today was Suaram’s birthday! The 5 Adventurers celebrated her all day with a birthday banner, a birthday shirt and a big family dinner with all her Ohio Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and Grandparents. It was so fantastic that everyone traveled an hour on a school/work night for her special evening. Brian made her favorite garlic shrimpContinue reading “Georgetown, Ohio; Day 2”
Georgetown, Ohio; Day 1
Today was a driving day spent mostly in Indiana as we traveled from the Greater Chicago area to the Greater Cincinnati area. We were happy to travel faster than 100 Km per hour (62Mph) which was the upper speed limit in most of the highways in Costa Rica and Panama. The interstate highway system hereContinue reading “Georgetown, Ohio; Day 1”
Lemont, Illinois; Day 2
Sunday at Lori’s house gave the Adventurers plenty of opportunities to play board games and to relax. The day began for the kids in pajamas/nightgowns playing the Game of Life and ended with Monopoly. Between these games were Candyland, Connect4, Battleship, Qbitz and Operation. The kids were in heaven. Despite the time spent on theseContinue reading “Lemont, Illinois; Day 2”
Lemont, Illinois; Day 1
Today the 5 Adventurers drove Jeremy Picklepants south about 100 miles to Lemont, IL. It is a charming town in the greater Chicago area and the home of one of Brian’s good friends from college and her daughter. They have a gorgeous house originally built in the 1880’s and so many board games tjat theContinue reading “Lemont, Illinois; Day 1”
West Allis/Milwaukee, WI; Day 1
Today was a quiet day for the Adventurers recovering from a 14 hours of travel and a late night yesterday. We slept in at the airport hotel in Milwaukee and then walked 10 minutes to Denny’s for a familiar Grand Slam breakfast. Even though our ten weeks in Central America flew by, we’re still adjustingContinue reading “West Allis/Milwaukee, WI; Day 1”
Panama City, Panama; Day 5
Today the 5 Adventurers bid adios to Central America. We have been out of the US since August but it honestly doesn’t feel like 10 weeks. We spent 10+ hours traveling to Milwaukee today, so we don’t have much to describe. There were no hassles with immigration or customs. We had some extra space onContinue reading “Panama City, Panama; Day 5”
Panama City, Panama; Day 4
We spent the day in Casco Viejo which is where our apartment is in Panama City. It is considered the old town of Panamá and was founded in the 16th century. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has been recognized for its historic buildings and as the oldest European settlement on the PacificContinue reading “Panama City, Panama; Day 4”
Panama City, Panama; Day 3
Today we got to do our field trip to the Miraflores Visitor Center for our school’s Panama Canal Unit. The school staff/parents were more excited than the kids but in the end, we all were very impressed. There were some adjustments due to COVID-19 so we didn’t get to see the IMAX movie which wasContinue reading “Panama City, Panama; Day 3”
Panama City, Panama; Day 2
Our big plan to tour the Miraflores locks in the morning was thwarted at the gate by a guard who solemnly informed us that the visitors center was only open Tuesday through Sunday. So no school day for the kids. Instead we went back downtown and visited the Amador Causeway which was quiet but hadContinue reading “Panama City, Panama; Day 2”
Panama City, Panama; Day 1
Today we traversed the entire American Continent – twice! We left Playa Blanca and headed east toward the Canal Zone and Panama City. Instead of going straight to our next AirBnB we headed north toward Gatun Lake and the town of Gamboa. Our first view of the canal was as we crossed the Centennial BridgeContinue reading “Panama City, Panama; Day 1”
Playa Blanca, Panama; Day 2
We were all looking forward to a Saturday without school obligations. We were also looking forward to some combination of pool and beach time (perhaps with a water slide thrown into the mix). Last night we got a sneak peek at the lagoon pool and our impressions were correct – similar to the one byContinue reading “Playa Blanca, Panama; Day 2”
Playa Blanca, Panama; Day 1
Our traveling day today took us 350 km from Boquete to a nice beach spot called Playa Blanca. We spent a little over 4 hours on our old friend the Pan-American Highway and passed through David and Santiago, two of the larger cities in the country. We packed a lunch but a couple of hoursContinue reading “Playa Blanca, Panama; Day 1”
Boquete, Panama; Day 23
When Mom & Dad’s bed looks like this then everyone knows that we are packing up to move on. Today was our 16th school day in Boquete. It was also our last one. Tomorrow, the Adventurers head to a new destination in Panama. Closer to the beach and closer to Panama City where we willContinue reading “Boquete, Panama; Day 23”
Boquete, Panama; Day 22
Today we did school and finished our first class study book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Shortly after that, Brian and Tiffany had something that felt like a rabbit hole experience. While the kids played math games at the end of school, the teachers moved to the ‘lounge’ aka the living room and struck up aContinue reading “Boquete, Panama; Day 22”
Boquete, Panama; Day 21
Another school day today – math, language arts and another portion of the Panama Unit. Brian continues to invest quite a bit of time in preparing his lesson including today’s 6 PowerPoint slides. Suaram’s take away was that Dad was MUCH better at slides than she’d ever realized and had some cool techniques she didn’tContinue reading “Boquete, Panama; Day 21”
Boquete, Panama; Day 20
No significant adventures to report today so some random updates… We did a one day weekend for school so today we did a couple of chapters of Alice in Wonderland, Writing and Science. We did Alice first and barely got it done before the afternoon deluge. Frankly we had to work a compromise with theContinue reading “Boquete, Panama; Day 20”
Boquete, Panama; Day 19
We made today another school day and were planning to do some light chores and errands in the morning. Brian went into town to take the reciclaje and was slightly surprised to run into Sunday traffic rather than a normal school day. The traffic wasn’t the only unusual encounter for him this morning. On theContinue reading “Boquete, Panama; Day 19”
Boquete, Panama; Day 18
Aside from the Spanish immersion classes in August, the 5 Adventurers also installed Duo Lingo to their devices to improve their intake of foreign languages. Tiffany and Brian have continued to dabble on the app but prefer the real world to build that language “muscle”. For the kids, however, they go beyond mere dabbling. TheyContinue reading “Boquete, Panama; Day 18”
Boquete, Panama; Day 17
As we hit October today it was mostly small administrative Adventures. For one, we are now an official homeschool according to the State of California. Part of the requirement is to send in a form some time between Oct 1 and Oct 15th. Since the timing is not the start of the year and weContinue reading “Boquete, Panama; Day 17”
5 Adventures Together 