Discovering Ohio: Bicycle Museum of America

As many of you know, we homeschool. Rather than keeping to an August/September-May/June school schedule, we have chosen to do school year-round (with a long break in December and shorter breaks throughout the year to accommodate our frequent trips to Philadelphia for medical care).

In addition to our regular schoolwork, I recently purchased a book entitled, "Kids Love Ohio," with the intent to spend much of our summer visiting different historical, natural and educational sites within our state.

Today we traveled to our first destination:  The Bicycle Museum of America!

It was an overcast and rainy day here in Ohio so the museum was a perfect place to visit. Lukas helped me chart our course and, when given the option to take the highway or the back roads, he chose the scenic route. The drive was beautiful and we made note of several other places that we would like to visit along the way.

The Bicycle Museum of America was FANTASTIC! Located in a small town in western Ohio, there were very few visitors at the museum while we were there, which meant we didn't have to fight crowds (because, let's face it, we are a crowd all on our own)!

We started our tour by watching a video demonstration of several vintage bicycles.

The kids were mesmerized.


Our guide then took us through the museum and showed us bicycles from the very first bikes all the way through the present day.

 

(First bicycle- powered by foot)

Learning about bicycle snow tires

 

The "Triple" and "Quintette" 

The kids were able to sit on a high wheeler and even "drive" a pedal-powered car.

The "high wheeler" (the phrase, "taking a header" originated with this bike)

 Pedal-powered car

At the end of our tour, each of the kids chose a postcard to send to friends and family (so if you are participating in our letter-writing campaign keep a lookout. . . .you might just be one of the lucky ones to receive a postcard sporting a very neat bicycle).

 

Although the museum was relatively small, we spent several hours there and had such a great time that the kids were still talking about it as we tucked them into bed tonight!

"Walking Legs"

 

Needless to say, the book was well worth the $15 spent for a summer of priceless family adventures!

Back in Action

I know, I know.

It has been 10 months.

10 MONTHS!

Now that you have recovered from the shock, you can pick yourselves up off the floor and close your gaping mouths. This blogging hiatus is officially over and I am back in action.

Why the disappearing act? Honestly, there just comes a point when you need to disconnect in order to reconnect with what is truly important and I desperately needed to "pull some weeds" so that I could truly focus on and enjoy my beautiful "garden."

The past 10 months have been filled with countless ups, downs and in betweens, accented by many joys, triumphs, struggles, adventures and major medical dramas along the way. I will do my best to fill in the gaps as I work to slowly update the blog. For now, I am happy to report that we are happy, healthy and incredibly blessed.

For those who are wondering how Benjamin and Thomas are doing and how they have transitioned into the family, let me illustrate with a conversation I had with my 8 year-old son Lukas yesterday.

As I was preparing everyone for an afternoon in the pool, Lukas ran up and threw his arms around me. With a wide smile on his face, he looked up at me and declared, "Mom, you are my fifth favorite person!"

FIFTH!

I could easily guess who had beaten me out for first and second place. Jacob (his triplet brother and best friend) came solidly in first place. No surprise there. Daddy had come in for a close second. But who could have beaten Mommy out for third AND fourth place? Lukas smiled again and announced that Thomas and Benjamin held those positions in his heart! And, at hearing those words, this mama happily accepted her position of fifth place!

These "babies" are a gift, a blessing, and a treasure to our family. They are loved, cherished and spoiled rotten by every last one of us. In short, they have the entire family wrapped around their crooked, little fingers!

Thank you for your patience with me over the past 10 months. Thank you to those who left comments or sent messages with words of encouragement and concern. Though the process will be slow, I promise to do my best to fill in the gaps and to keep you updated on the ups, downs and in betweens of life and in so doing, I hope to offer encouragement, support and inspiration in the process!

Stay tuned. . . . .