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!

Friday's Fabulous Five

Last week (Thursday-Saturday) was our 4th Annual Adoption Yard/Bake Sale. Needless to say, I didn't have much left to give by Friday evening, hence the absence of last week's Fabulous Five. So, here are five things that have happened in the last TWO weeks that have given the Riebens something to smile about:

1. Like many of you who are claiming the Adoption Tax Credit (now refundable), we are STILL waiting for our refund (we filed our taxes at the beginning of February). We had hoped to use this money to fund our current adoption, but unfortunately, it looks like we are going to have to raise the bulk of the funds for this adoption the old fashioned way! For the past 6+ weeks, friends, family and even strangers have cleaned their closets and donated items to our 4th Annual Adoption Yard/Bake Sale which we held last Thursday-Saturday. Prior to the sale, we prayed that we would be able to raise enough money to get through the next steps in the adoption process. As things drew to a close on Saturday afternoon and we began adding the money we realized that we had raised the EXACT amount needed to file our I800A and complete our dossier! For those of you who are considering taking the leap of faith to adopt a child, but are worried about finances, let this be another lesson that, if the Lord calls you to it, He'll see you through it! We'd like to offer an ENORMOUS "Thank you!" to all who donated, shopped, helped and supported us in this endeavor!

2. I am happy to announce that, sweet Rieben baby #10 (previously "He-who-is-yet-to-be-named") now has a name! The name that we have chosen is one that has been pushing itself to the front of my mind for a long time, but because it has never been on my list of favorites, I have always casually pushed it aside. As I settled into bed one night last week, I found the name swimming around inside my head once again. The next morning, Richard poked his head out of the shower and asked me if I had considered this name (I had not mentioned it to him previously). The fact that the name had been on both of our minds and that we actually agreed upon it made it golden, but before we made it official I decided to see what the name meant. . . .and I laughed, realizing once again what a great sense of humor our Heavenly Father has! The name means, "Twin." No, the boys are NOT twins, but they are only a few weeks apart in age, share an extra chromosome and certainly LOOK like they could be twins and already, people are referring to them as "the twins." As a mother of multiples, this drives me CRAZY! At the same time, I recognize this name to be a beautiful reminder that these precious boys, though they did not share a womb, were meant to walk through this life together as brothers. So, now that you have all waited SO patiently while I have rambled on and on about this name, Rieben baby #10 will be known as. . . . .

Thomas Christopher (TC)

3. Just in case you didn't hear us celebrating this piece of good news around the world. . . .Alayna's second skin graft was a SUCCESS!!!! She is still taking it easy as the new skin settles into it's new home and puts down roots, but her chronic wound is officially no more and we could not be happier. We will be heading back to Philadelphia at the end of July for her first prosthetic fitting and are hopeful that she will have two feet on the ground and be running circles around us all by the end of the summer! Hallelujah!!!

4. While most of you were relaxing by the pool, playing at the park and working on your tans this week, the Rieben kids were hard at work. . . . .at school! We started school again at our house this week. Earlier in the year (as we were driving back and forth to Philadelphia every few weeks), we made the decision to follow a "year-round" school schedule. Not only does this accommodate our traveling better than a "traditional" schedule, but it has helped our children who are behind (Alayna, Lily and Alexis in particular) have more opportunity to "catch up," AND it helps us to maintain a more consistent schedule (which is vital for so many of our kids, adopted and biological). We have had an EXCELLENT first week and, although homeschooling 8 children does make me want to pull my hair out on a regular basis, it also gives me A LOT to smile about! Seeing my children get excited about learning and knowing that I helped to facilitate that love and excitement is incredibly rewarding!

A glimpse of our "school room!" (we found these desks on Craigslist and were able to purchase 10 of them for $75! What a steal! And it has made such a difference for the kids to have their own work space.)

We learned a little about archaeology in school this week. Today we set up our own archaeological dig site in our backyard.

Our site manager

Budding archaeologists

Our record keeper (Lukas would be a brilliant archaeologist. . .he is incredibly detail oriented and organized. He LOVED this activity!)

5. This week the kids and I started a project to benefit other adoptive families. It combines my love of creating beautiful things with my love for adoption AND my kids are an integral part of it! We're not quite ready to share all of the details yet, but we are SO excited for this opportunity to bless other families on their adoption journeys! As a sneak preview, these fun fabrics will be a part of our creations. . . .