I found a Holiday Inn Express-N. Bergen Lincoln Tunnel for quite a reasonable price. They said they have a shuttle to go to and come back from downtown. How far away is that? Good or bad to get something like this?

Manhattan Club and Hampton Inn say we have to book 2 rooms for the 5 of us. We can't afford 2 rooms! :(

Thank you so much everybody! I am checking out these places now! I so appreciate you taking the time to make suggestions! When I checked Amtrak it only showed Penn Station. I'll check in more detail now that I'm working on it, and hoping to figure it all out soon! :001_smile:

Thanks, I'll look that up. :001_smile: Yeah, that could be. Though we walk a lot, and don't consider a block (block can be relative to what city/town/etc. you're in also, I realize, so I'm using it generically) a long ways! ;) Now 3 blocks? :lol: JK We'll see how sorry we'll be! :tongue_smilie:

My family is going there for 3 days, 2 nights this summer. There are 5 of us. We're taking Amtrak in from the DC area to Penn Station. Anyone have an idea of a good place to stay that is walking distance from Penn Station area. We're hoping to walk to most places or take public transit, taxi if we have to. Thanks for any ideas you can give me! I'm trying to book everything asap, since things are filling up already! :001_huh:

I don't really recommend this, but we jumped into MFW AHL for dd in 9th grade without either one of those programs. We'd done some writing things, but, sad to say, it was a hodge-podge. That made me concerned about how the writing would go in 9th with MFW! It starts out with a tough assignment, and dd was a little overwhelmed....to the point of tears. However, we supported her through it, she worked hard, and finished it. Then her attitude changed because she then realized she COULD do it, even if it was hard sometimes! She dove into it then, loved it and did very well. She learned so much with MFW, I am so happy we used it! She became a much better writer, and understood the concepts so much better after tha year! I just share this so you know that it is possible to make it through okay if your child understands the basics, even if it wasn't with WS! (Though I think it's very smart of you to plan ahead.....like I did not do very well at!) :blush:

When our kids were 8, 11 and 14, we were led to go on a mission trip to Fiji. GREAT place for a trip, but we also worked hard the 10 days we were working. At the end we went to the Garden Isle, and relaxed for a couple of days so we could actually see some of the beauty before heading home! The kids dug holes for posts, hauled sand from the beach to a build area to make cement to build a pad for a generator for a village. They helped haul water and mix and pour it as well. They also helped in the clinic and at the little elementary school with English and played with the kids at recess. Oldest has been on working mission trips to Arizona and Portugal. Middle has been on local mission work and mission trips to London and Scotland. Both boys helped a local family clear their land and haul it. They help with childrens classes and the sound system at church. Middle son was mentored by our pastor and gave 4 sermons and told childrens stories. They both have done and helped with special music in church. All three kids have sung for, talked with and done crafts with people in retirement homes. Our church adopted one place, and we'd go there 3 or more times a year. We'd adopt a person and get them a present and present it for Christmas, go and play games or do puzzles sometimes, etc. DD sang her first solo in church when she was 4, while the boys signed (Signed English) it! Thankfully we recorded it....it's fun to look at now! :) She has done a lot of special music, either singing or playing piano. She wrote Bible skits for puppets and printed them out and practiced and performed them for childrens story at church. She and I started volunteering at the Humane Society when she was 11 or 12 and volunteered for a little over a yearWhen she was 11 she and her friend (also 11) took on a huge community project by themselves. They gained an interest by making a Power Point and presenting it, as well as talking some, to Civic groups and Churches. 1 1/2 years later they'd raised $38,000 for a special playground for kids with Autism and other mental and physical problems. It was sooooooooo needed! They got to help build it, then got to play on the finished playground with the kids! DD said her favorite part of the whole 1 1/2 year project was playing with the kids on the playground after it was all done and built! :) That friend moved away not long after that project was completed, and dd then became involved with a group of teens that did local mission work for 3-5 days once a quarter or so. They'd stay at a school or church and do special projects for that place, then do at least 2 outreach projects for the community. Each time they do one of those, one of the teens is the coordinator, and does the research for their local area and finds the projects, plans the schedule and menu, and everything else that is involved. The group recently came to our Church and dd was the coordinator. It was a lot of work, and she learned sooo much! DH and I were able to be involved with this one to help with transportation and stayed with them in the church basement as sponsors. I was with the girls, dh was with the boys. There were about 15, and it was neat to see them so excited about it all! Now she is signed up to go on a mission trip with a large group of teens to Nicaragua in July. She's looking to be a nurse, probably in a mission field, or wherever God leads, so she's thrilled to be going! There ARE many things available for kids to do, and adults that are willing to mentor, work with, and help them succeed if you can find them! I agree with the idea of doing SOMEthing, even if it doesn't seem it'll head anywhere. And maybve it won't. But, there's a definite possibility that it could, and you'll be glad you did that first project! :D

:hurray: Hurray! Great job! :thumbup:

Yay, congratulations! My dd has the same type of calling. She's leaning toward being a nurse (RN) and go into mission work of some kind. We went as a family to Fiji to build a clinic, work with the people and children in their homes and school, and do children's meetings when she was 8. We have helped a couple of local people with various needs that are ongoing. When they were 11, she and her friend worked on a huge community project together. It took 1 1/2 years, and just the two of them, by making Power Point presentations, talking in front of Civic groups and churches, and working hard at spreading the word, raised $38,000 for a playground for a local special school for kids who are autistic and/or have other mental and physical problems. Then they got to be part of the group that helped build it! The kids and workers at the school had no outlet, and this has been a huge positive thing for them! Last summer she joined a group of teens from our denomination who do short-term mission work in surrounding communities. She was asked to coordinate one of those trips in our area, so is working on that for next month. She and her 18yo brother are also looking into going with a teen group this summer on a mission trip to Nicaragua to build schools and possibly churches and I don't know what all else. It's called the Teen Ultimate Workout ( http://www.maranatha.org/Template_Load.aspx?PageID=199 ) She just turned 15, and is sooo excited about it all! I'm okay with her going on this trip if her brother goes. He went on one of these Teen trips when he was almost 16 and LOVED it! So, try to find local and other things you can do like this for experience. It has helped "feed the flame" for missions with my dd! It'll look good on your resume as well, if they see that you put forth the effort and have experience locally and abroad. I know that some CIvic groups and Churches are willing to donate to help with the cost of the travel, if you're willing to make a Power Point or some kind of "report" on what happened on the trip, what you did and how God blessed the efforts! Best wishes, I will be praying for you!

I have not seen the BF Ancients, so I can't comment on their program. I do know that people who have used other BF things have liked them. We (my dd and I) absolutely loved MFW Ancients! It is well thought out, very organized, and written to the student. Materials are fairly easy to add and subtract as needed. It's complete, and easy to use for the student, yet a fairly rigorous program. My dd learned soooo much from doing that program in 9th grade! I recommend it highly! That said, every child is different, and maybe the BF would work well. It's hard to know. I would enlist their help in choosing, then go for the program you both agree on, and don't look back! If you second-guess yourself, it won't seem as good of a program, you know? Best wishes! :001_smile:

What book did you find?

I am curious about this as well! :lurk5:

Not sure if this is even relevent now, since I haven't read through all the pages, but here are some ideas about carbs and other info. from the Mayo Clinic. I haven't read through all of it... http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/carbohydrates/MY01458

Funny we both got 2 inches of snow, but your temp. was lower, so you win! :D And I was wrong, it's 36 here, not 38, but close enough. :001_smile:

Ummm, 38 here today in the PNW, and it snowed all morning! We got 2 inches before it got wetter and havier, then stopped! We weren't out in shorts and tank tops today! :tongue_smilie:

Really, that worked? Cool! My secrets were burritoes, salad and hot fudge sundaes. Worked like a charm!!! Wait, they're not s'posed to have french fries in their noses? :001_huh: I thought that was part of the super-genius creativity! :tongue_smilie:

Oh yes, all of mine were reading at above college level before they were conceived! Of course! Weren't everyone's???!

Thanks for sharing this info.! I'm going to look into some of this stuff. I'm a vegetarian, leaning toward vegan for diet (not political stuff!). cabreban, hope you feel better soon!

:grouphug: So sorry! Praying here! :grouphug:

So sorry! :crying: :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: and prayers for you!

:iagree: I like that too. HOWEVER, something to think about is that is rather long for letter heads, Business Cards, etc., so in that sense, you may want it shorter. But if that doesn't worry you, it's a pretty cool name! :001_smile:

Well, this didn't happen today, but it's a kid thing! :) When my dad was young, he was teaching is 3 year old brother the letters of the alphabet. When they got to the letter U, he said to his little bro., "That's a U." His little bro. looked at it and shook his head no. My dad said, "Yeah, it's a U." The little bro. looked REALLY closely at it, then looked at my dad and said, "Aw, that's not a me!" :D

As much as I love smoothies, I don't know that I'd serve them at night. They're so liquid that it causes people to have to get out of bed in the night, often more than once. :glare: :001_smile: I usually have those in the morning or for lunch. We did this on Saturdays when I was growing up and we had lunch left overs, popcorn and fruit. If some were still hungry, they'd go fix themselves a sandwich or something.

I know some people dearly love planning every single detail of their childrens curriculum. However, I am one who gets overwhelmed with all the possibilities, and get bogged down, and ahve planning sheets that look like Julie's! :tongue_smilie: I loved NOT having to try to pull everything together and have it work cohesively! It was a relief to see how very well organized it all was, the independence that my dd could have with it, and me having time to get all sorts of other things done! LOVED it! Now, since we only did the AHL plans (not the math or science or other things), I still got to order the curriculum, I still planned out other things, so I got my fix. :D So, yes, you COULD do it, and if that was something you LOVED doing you could spend lots 'n lots of hours on it! However, you may appreciate the bit of freedom you'd have by NOT planning it all out, and it's very organized, cohesive, and clearly written. Plus, some kids appreciate having something that's NOT by just mom. Especially in high school it may be nice... :D

:iagree: I was concerned for my dd also when she did AHL last year, but she learned very well. She struggled through that first big assignment, but once that was done, she was excited that she had accomplished it, and moved on quickly from there! She is taking an AP level English Lit class this year, and her teacher is impressed with her writing skills! It was MFW that taught her, cuz I never learned well enough to teach how she can write now (sad to say)! :blushing: