A geography lesson

Milwaukee Brewers vs NY Yankees

The Chicago leg of our journey coincided perfectly with a customer appreciation and training day organised by one of our Greentree dealers. We had discussed what was happening, and I was to be there for the afternoon session to assist with the report writing training. The day was being held at Miller Park and we were going to attend a baseball game at the park after the sessions.
The hotel had been arranged in a central spot in Chicago as per the dealer's suggestion, so I could visit some clients with them the next day or two.
We arrived at the hotel after a reasonably long and hot drive and I called the dealer asking how far away Miller Park was. He asked, "Are you in Chicago?". I replied, "Yes". He said, "We're in Milwaukee". "So Miller Park isn't in Chicago?"
Any American with knowledge of baseball will laugh at my lack of knowledge, as Miller park is the home of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team. It is 1.5 hours North of Chicago.
So, I arranged to meet them there with Ariel. Unfortunately, as I had not planned on visiting Milwaukee, I had not loaded the detailed maps for that area into the GPS thingy - just the base map which has major roads. So we followed the signs and found ourselves at Miller Park, whilst Lana and the rest of the children relaxed at the hotel and experienced a Chicago Deep Pan pizza.

The latest Dutch fashion

The latest Dutch fashion

On the way to Chicago we stopped in at Holland, Michigan. They had a Dutch village which looked interesting. At the entrance they had the entrance prices listed. I told the lady we couldn't possibly afford that and did they have family prices. "No" she replied, "But you can go to the shoe factory for free." "That sounds like our price" I replied and we went in.
The shoe factory was part of the shops that are at the public end of the village. So we just had a look and found the Dutch licorice, and a couple of pins for Lana. This is just as well as the main reason we went was to top up our Dutch licorice supply.
If you thought clogs were old wooden things, this photo is of some of the high Dutch fashion now available.

Day 10 - Best Laid Plans ...

The day started off with Mass. Because I could, I plotted our route on the GPS thingy so the track wouild be recorded for later reference. Our host's older son was serving so they had left earlier in the dad's car whilst all the rest followed. The youngest daughter of our host was feeling tired so the mother stayed at the back.
We enjoyed the Mass, but near the consecration our host's son left the altar and went down the side aisle.
Once Mass was over we said hello to the priest and began looking for our hosts. There was a celebration at the church to welcome a newly ordained priest (eight days earlier). This priest was originally from the area and had made his first Holy Communion at this church. He had been enlisted and working in the 101st Airborne (you know - those tough army guys that jump out of planes and try to be in front of the front line) but discerned a calling to the priesthood.
We were going to join in but we couldn't find our hosts. They were nowhere to be seen. Both cars and all the family (eight of them) were gone.
Eric then mentioned that the altar boy son had actually thrown up in Church halfway down the aisle before he could exit, and figured they had returned home to deal with the sick children. So we left too, following our trusty GPS thingy.
Meanwhile, the dad had returned to the church to clean up and find us. He called his wife telling her "They're not here! What's happened!". She wisely told him, "The Bruggie's have probably started home. They know where we live and are used to changing plans." She was right.
So we had a very laid back day at their place. The sick boy had a good sleep and was a lot better later on. We heard their music and looked into various books and curriculum, and generally enjoyed each other's company.
Another fine day.

Pavlova - the Australian dessert

Pavlova

Lana wanted to contribute towards the fine fare we were enjoying with our host family so the best thing we could do was make a Pavlova. A Pavlova is a meringue with a light crunchy exterior and soft fluffy inside. The top is lathered with cream and topped with a selection of fresh summer fruits. Perfect for Christmas (in Australia) or Independence Day (in the US)
I went out with the Dad and gathered the fresh fruit and cream, whilst Lana made the Pavlova and let it cool in the oven.
By the time dinner was over and dessert was to be served, Lana had created this masterpiece. As this was our host's first experience of Pavlova we were interested in the reactions. "Ohhh. Mmmmm." was the basic summary.

Pavlova recipe:
Ingredients:
6 egg whites - (if small eggs use more egg whites)
pinch of salt
2 cups Sugar
1.5 teaspoons white vinegar
1.5 teaspoons vanilla essence
(No humidity - use the air conditioning if you have to)

Process:
Preheat oven to 250F
Ensure egg whites are at room temperature
Beat egg whites and salt to firm peaks
Gradually add in sugar whilst beating
Once all sugar is in, fold in vinegar and vanilla essence.
On a flat tray/cookie sheet covered with foil or cooking paper, dump the stuff on their and mould it into a round or oval mound. Smooth it around making it look pretty.
Stick it in the oven for an hour. The exterior should get crunchy by the time it is cooked - unless it is humid when it may be softer.
Once done, turn off oven and allow to cool inside the oven. The gradual cooling process will stop it from sinking too fast.

The last bit:
The top should crack and fill the top with whipped cream (heavy whipping cream with a little sugar is better than the canned stuff) and decorate with fruit, grated chocolate or whatever you wish. Fruit's good as you can tell everyone it is healthy.

Day 9 - OH to Michigan (MI)

Day 9 ended very peacefully at our host's home in Michigan. They had just finished hosting another family friend who had eleven children for the previous nine days, and there was a rampaging stomach virus going through both families during that time. Aargh!! Danger!
But we called and confirmed and there had been no illness for the last day or so. We had a couple of rest days planned after seeing them so we decided to visit anyway. As we arrived, the children noticed the pool had been set up, so both sets of children jumped in. We wouldn't have jumped in as the water was still quite cold, but it's a pool so the children didn't care.
The adults sat under the shade of nearby trees and began to know each other better. This was very relaxing after a relatively short (2.5 hours) car drive. The children got on very well together - as expected - and Eric was able to start a game of Lord of the Rings Battle game with their oldest son.

Power for the people

Nuclear Power Station in OH

We only had a short drive from the hotel in Milton, OH to our next family near Lansing MI, which was lucky considering the day was promising to be quite hot. One of the interesting things we saw was the operating nuclear power station with steam coming out the top.
On the left is one of the many water towers spotted around the countryside (worth 1 point to quick spotters). I asked the children to think about how they would paint these considering how high they were and all of the towers had either advertisements or the county/city name on them. After many guesses we finally saw one being painted, with the painters using ropes attached to poles sticking out from the top. Certainly not a job for those nervous about heights.

Day 8 - almost Niagara Falls

From our stay in Corning we travelled North to Rochester. The plan was to meet a family we have know remotely for over seven years and then visit Niagara Falls. Ariel had been emailing their daughter since then.
It was an amazing experience actually seeing people we had been corresponding with for so long. We ended up having too much fun to cut short just to see some water falling over an edge. We'll get some postcards. We see falls in miniature every time we have baths anyway!
Our early plans were to cut across Canada to get to Michigan. However, all we would need is a border control guy having a bad day and we could be gtrapped in canada. We had too many complications (Rose has no passport, Lana's passport was with the Washington Australian embassy as part of the processing of Rose's Australian citizenship application). So we went through Ohio.

Sunset on a long day of driving in OH

Sunset on a long day of driving in OH

Late in day 8 we entered Ohio. Here is a fine sunset over the great lakes as we were approaching the hotel.

Four Monkeys in NY

Four Monkeys in NY

In Rochester we visited another homeschooling family. This time the link was their daughter and Ariel have been corresponding sporadically for about seven years. The last photo we had of her was about six years ago and it was great getting updated. The dad was able to get some time off work and we had a most enjoyable day getting to know each other better.
So Ariel has another girl with whom to correspond.
Here our boys and theirs all posed in a lovely climbing tree in their front lawn.

Country New York

Country New York
.

A typical roadside scene showing the New York hidden behind the public New York City media presentation.

Day 7 - More NY State

We are still being surprised at the secret New York. Once one escapes New York City, one is surrounded by country - green, open, beautiful. After leaving Middletown we drove to Corning and visited the Corning Museum of Glass and spent a full few hours. There was lots to see and do. We then fulfilled another promise to the children. They were able to swim at the hotel's swimming pool.
The challenging news is that some stomach bug thingy has struck at the family we will be visiting in Michigan. Will they be over it by the time we visit, or should we forgo the plans - even though our boys and theirs have prepared their Lord of the Rings models and scenery in anticiaption over the last several weeks?
Stay tuned.

Corning Museum of Glass

Learning how glass is made

The touristy thing today was a visit to the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning NY. Children are free and there is a discount for AAA members. Other than the museum and historical sections, there is an Interactive area which is very hands on with lots of experiments and exhibits showing all the ways glass is made and used.
Here the whole family gets to listen and participate in a screen based demo explaining how glass is made from differing chemicals and which chemicals will change the colour, texture or durability.

A fine way to look around town

A fine way to look around town

One of the Corning Glass Museum's exhibits was a periscope which poked out the top of the building and allowed the observer (in this case Clare) to see highlights around town. A sign points out a number of key points that can be observed.

My what a big face you have!

My what a big face you have!

James is demonstrating the fun ways glass distorts images.

Numa Numa Ay

Numa Numa Ay

A Romanian group called O-zone performs a song called Dragostea Din Tei. Normally this would never be noticed in the English speaking world. However an 18 year old American lad named Gary Brolsma did a humorous lip sync to the song and posted it on his web site. This spread and has had something like 50 million downloads. We saw it, checked out the lyrics and then purchase it from the iTunes store. Based on the key words, it is more commonly known as the "Numa Numa" song.
The children like it a lot and when the song plays they do the "dance" moves from the Gary Brolsma video. Even Rose joins in as you can see here!

Day 6 - More New York

We were able to start the day with Mass at the local Church. This is a beautiful little church with Polish priests. Our local priests in Australia are also Polish so the accent was very familiar.
On the way out an older lady held the door open for us. As Peter came out he gave her a hug. This is what he does at our parish and he must have thought she would like a hug too! The look on her face was a delight to behold.
We then had breakfast and refueled the car. The gas station was a real full service station - and the price was lower than the self serve a short distance away. This was some 1st of the month deal. It pays to be a local and know about these things.
Then we had the bad news. The family we were to stay with had two children down with 102F fevers and vomiting! Aaarrggh! So that was cancelled. The older children who weren't yet sick were very upset with the younger siblings and they wanted to play with their new friends again. One can't always plan when the children get sick, so we rescheduled things. We would leave the homeschooling gathering early, escape New York and stay somewhere a bit North of Long Island.
But the homeschooling gathering was too much fun for the children and us so we dallied and we dillied. One of the homeschooling mothers offered us a room at their place which we decided to accept. Once the day gets to 4:00pm, one may as well wait until 7:00pm before leaving to avoid the traffic. One of the families lived 30 minutes away, but stayed at the gathering until 7:00pm to save an hour or more extra driving.
We had dinner with our new friends and a good chat, the children played, but as they only had dial up Internet and I had to solve an issue for an Australian client that night, we defaulted back to plan B (from Plan C).
We finally arrived at our Hotel at 10:15pm, put the children (and Lana) in bed, I helped the client and we were all snoring by midnight.

Floral Hedge

Floral Hedge

Now this is a great tree to have for a hedge. It is about 12 foot high, it is an evergreen, has lush flowers all over and - the best part for the children - it is hollow inside like a fort!
This was at another homeschooling family's home where we dropped in for their meeting. About 15 families were there with lots of children. This is about half of the local homeschooling group. These families all have around 4 to 8 children and our children were running around with the others in moments.
Ariel found some more girls about her age so she was happy. Clare spent most of the time with some other little girls playing with dolls and the boys were up trees, on bikes, playing cops and robbers and eating.
Lana and I were enjoying ourselves meeting more homeschooling families and hearing more diverse American accents. And they think we have an accent!
I have a theory - as Australia has a consistent way of speaking English, whilst the US has a plethora of different accents, that must mean they have accents and not us! No one buys this theory but it sounds good.

"Davey" Jones Lockers

Jones Beach Lockers

Jones Beach is one of the many beaches on Long Island. In the height of Summer they are packed with throngs of sun and surf loving people. There are a number of lockers and larger rooms with showers which are allocated on some lottery system and annual fee. BBQs and tables are all around, there is a swimming pool and showers, the beaches are very nice.
We let the children take off their shoes and socks and go to the edge of the water - but not to go in. Five minutes later James had fallen in. He had stepped a little far in from the edge and the waves had come in a bit fast and pushed/pulled him over. Lana was NOT happy.
"What part of NOT going in don't you understand?" Then Peter fell in!

Banging to a different drum

Banging to a different drum

Australians are all well trained to wear hats when out in the sun. But little ones need to be carried. And hats just make the neatest toys and they are sooo close.
Here I am trying to keep my hat in position whilst Rose has decided it is time for some remodelling.

One certainty for NY - Taxes

We were surprised at the amount of control local Village councils had over what residents could do to their homes. Everything needed a permit and everything was added to the value for future property taxes. A bay window costs $50, rear patio $10, small fence $10 and so on. A "little man in a white car" travels around the village checking for violations to ensure compliance and to keep the tax revenue rolling. As in Australia, the nature strip adjoining the street is council/public property. However, the village council will get all annoyed if you do something terrible like, say, plant flowers without a permit.
The local school districts also have a lot of say in annoying homeschooling families, imposing all sorts of obligations depending on the district.
As I kept saying, "Repeat after me - The land of the free".