Rock N Roll Ain't Noise Pollution

Today Cam joined the group of travelers for inter term when his history of rock n roll class departed for Cleveland early this morning for a day trip to the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame.  Cam was thrilled to be a part of this adventure.  Several of his friends were in the class and they had plans to hang out together and tour the exhibits.  I heard from him several times during the day.  I could tell from his texts that he was having a great time.  They stopped at Panera Bread for lunch.  Cam said that they were almost left in the souvenir shop, but caught the bus just before they pulled out of the parking lot.  Once they got to the Hall, they spent the majority of their time in the lower level walking through the displays including the ones featuring this year's inductees.

On the way home they stopped for dinner at the same service plaza from the morning.  This time Cam tried Sbarro.  We met him at Bethany at 9:45 p.m. which was about 15 minutes ahead of time.  Cam talked all the way home.  He had had a great day with his friends and had learned a lot too.  We had gone to the Hall last summer, but he had forgotten about the exhibits on the influential cities of rock.  He enjoyed that area the most.  He showed us his new shirt that included all of the inductees on the back.  He was also proud of the light up ball that he bought as well.  It was awesome listening to his stories.  This was his favorite field trip by far.

And She is Off . . .

Meg left this morning for their Civil Rights tour of Ohio and North Carolina.  She was so excited to be a part of this trip.  She had friends to hang out with on the bus and Netflix to watch as well.  She  sent me a picture along the way to let me know that she was having fun.  They stopped at the National Underground Railroad Museum in Cincinnati first and then went to the movie "Black Panther."  Their plan was to stay with a host church overnight and then head out tomorrow morning for North Carolina.  

I took the morning off so that I could drive her to Bethany and drop Cam at school.  I was excited for her.  Meg has always enjoyed traveling and going with friends made it even more fun.  Just one more reason that we have been so happy with Bethany Christian.  Their emphasis on learning outside of the classroom has been just as impressive as their focus has been inside the classroom as well.  We have never regretted sending Cam and Meg to Bethany.  Watching them grow and become more self confident has been awesome.  They will be more than prepared for life outside of the Heinisch home when they are ready to spread their wings and fly.  

Inter Term

Today was the start of inter term for both Meg and Cam.  Cam began his day with "How Things Work?"  The class learned about electric circuits today.  He was able to tell me all of the parts of the circuit and was proud to say that he made his light bulb shine.  His afternoon was spent in History of Rock N Roll.  They talked about the music that influenced the rock movement and then learned about several key artists such as Elvis and Chuck Berry.  He was most interested in Jerry Lee Lewis.  The story about him marrying his thirteen year old cousin didn't really fascinate Cam, but the fact that he lit his piano on fire sure did.

Meg's Civil Rights Inter Term started today as well.  They studied the start of the Civil Rights movement and the instrumental facts regarding it.  Meg spent the evening packing and getting ready for her trip to Cincinnati and Raleigh tomorrow.  We found a sleeping pad for her to take and bought snacks for her trip as well.  It was supposed to be cold, so she only packed long sleeves and long pants.  Cold or not, Meg was really looking forward to the rest of the week.

St. Patrick's Day Celebration

Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day, but we were so busy celebrating Meg's early birthday that we didn't have time to do much for it.  We made up for it today as we all attended the Knights of Columbus St. Patrick's Day party.  There was corned beef and cabbage for lunch and green party favors for all.  We all had fun catching up with other families, and Meg was able to sell a few fish fry tickets as well.

Once we got home the boys finished packing the Civic for their return trip to Bloomington.  We were sad to see them go.  It had been a quick visit with Brett.  We will have to catch up more with him over Easter weekend when we go back down.  It was great having Cal here for an entire week.  It's rare that we get to spend that much time with him and we all enjoyed it.  He made March Madness more fun especially with all of the trash talking.  Easter is only two weeks away.  I am already looking forward to having everyone all together again.

Happy Early Birthday

Meg came home after practice.  They got out early as it was very cold out this morning.  She won her challenge match, so the frigid weather didn't really bother her.  She spent the rest of the day working on her cleaning responsibilities.  She was extremely busy this week with the end of the quarter.  She had several tests and retests to take.  She also had notecards due and essays to write.  She was happy to be done with it all.

Doug, Cam, Brett and I spent the afternoon playing Cam's new Catan game.  It was a lot of fun.  I really liked the game.  I had no chance of winning, but it was fun trying!  Before we started the game Doug and I spent some time with Brett going through his summer plans.  He was offered an internship in D.C. working for Congressman Larry Buchson and just found out on Wednesday.  We had to work through the logistics of getting him to D.C.  Thankfully, we had done this last year and knew to contact WISH for housing.  He has traveled back and forth several times from D.C. to Indiana, so we also knew what flights to check for and which airports were best.  The only uncertainties revolved around his housing in Bloomington and the possibility of interning for Freedom Works as well.  What a wonderful opportunity he has been given.  His hard work has definitely paid off.

Tonight we celebrated Meg's birthday.  It was five days early, but since everyone was home and she will be in North Carolina on her big day, we decided that tonight was the best evening to do so.  Meg picked Bella Vitale for dinner.  Everyone really enjoyed it.  Afterward we came back to our house to open gifts and eat cake.  Meg loved her Stitch necklace from me.  She was also pleased with Brett's pick for her - a Riverdale blanket and wallet.  Cam gave her a bracelet and Doug bought her a new pair of purple vans, both of which were hits with Meg.  Cal's gift was the book "Vine and Honey" which she and HM thoroughly enjoyed reading.

Meg left shortly after cake and ice cream.  One of her friends from camp was in town and Meg wanted to see her.  They had a great time catching up and posting pictures on SnapChat.  While they were hanging out the rest of us played pool and watched basketball.  The upsets continued tonight, but none were as big as light night's in which #1 Virginia was knocked out in the first round.  A number sixteen seed hadn't beaten a #1 team in thirty-four years.

A Day with the Guys

I was off this afternoon and was able to spend the majority of it with Cam and Cal.  Cal met me for lunch at home and then I picked up Cam from a 2:30 dismissal.  We spent the rest of the day watching basketball.  There were some great games with several upsets.  The biggest news of the afternoon brought the dumbest comment of the day.   We found out that Purdue's center broke his elbow, but I inadvertently told Cam that it was their coach.

Brett joined our group this evening.  He had had a fantastic week in Chicago with RUF.  Most of their time was allocated to helping paint a church, but they did get in some site seeing including a trip to the DuSable Art Museum and a ride on the El.  Today's lunch was at Lou Melnati's - a first for Brett as well. The group dropped him at the South Shore train station this afternoon so that he could catch the 4:11 to South Bend.  Doug was at the airport to pick him up and they were home by 9.  We were all glad to see him and enjoyed catching up with him.

Meg was out for the night.  Jackie's family had gotten a new hot tub and the girls wanted to try it out. She talked about coming home as she had practice to go to early in the morning.  Jackie and Macinsy had softball as well, so she decided to just stay with them.  They had a lot of fun along with a new experience was had at Steak N Shake which sent them to Burger King instead.  We missed having her at home, but were glad that she got to celebrate the end of the quarter with her friends.

March Madness

This afternoon kicked off March Madness around the country and Cal was more than happy to fulfill his commitment of watching basketball.  He texted me several times this afternoon to see when Cam and I would be home to watch with him.  We always have a Heinisch family pool and this year was no different.  Cal and Cam were ready not only with their brackets, but with their trash talking as well.  Each were sure that they had picked the correct upset and Cal was positive that he had the perfect bracket.   Looking forward to hanging out with the Heinisch guys the next few days.  Should be fun listening to them banter.

Although Meg and Brett are not big college basketball fans, they joined the bracket challenge as well.      Meg didn't have time to fill out hers until she got home from school today.  We weren't too worried about her cheating as she never watches the games anyway.  Brett picked the top seed in each game and came up with an unique strategy team in the end.  He had all of the number one seeds in the final four and then chose the two Catholic teams to make it to the final game.  From there he was knowledgable enough to know that Villanova was more of a basketball powerhouse than Xavier, so he went with them to win it all.  We will found out in a couple of weeks if his strategy works.