What Stood Out to Me {at the 2012 HEAV Convention}

Two weeks have passed since our homeschool convention; but before any more time slips away, I want to be sure to jot down some things that made this particular convention stand out in my mind.  Every homeschool convention we've ever been to has been refreshing, inspiring, challenging, thought-provoking, affirming, and all-around wonderful.  But this year, these are some of the things I noticed.

~ The worst part of the whole weekend occurred right at the beginning.  After a pleasant, uneventful trip to Richmond, we arrived in the city and started looking for a parking place.  We could not find one.  It was our first year taking the Big White Van, and we discovered that, as wonderful as that ol' beast of a van is, it was NOT made for city parking.  We drove around and around for at least an hour, and...well...I shudder as I remember the frustration of it all.  To make matters worse, several of us in the vehicle had to go to the bathroom so bad that we were probably envying those who were fortunate enough to be wearing diapers.  ;-)  Finally, in desperation, Jeff yanked the antenna off the roof of the van, then cautiously drove into a low-ceilinged parking garage and drove up many levels to find a spot on the top level.  Whew!  After that, the rest of the weekend was great!  :)

~ We got to meet up with a friend on Friday and have a picnic lunch with her.  Since we live on opposite sides of the state, we rarely get to see each other in person, so it was a special treat to have that time together.  :)

~ There was one major item I was hoping to buy at the Used Curriculum Sale; but after looking around for a while, I concluded that it just wasn't there and I was so disappointed about it.  But then I happened to bump into Jolanthe from Homeschool Creations, and she pointed me to a table in another part of the room and said, "Have you checked there?"  Well, no, as a matter of fact, I hadn't.  Lo and behold, much to my delight, I found what I was looking for - thanks to Jolanthe.  :)

~ I noticed a lot of dancing at the convention this year. ;-)  It wasn't line dancing or Irish dancing or anything like that.  No, this was a peculiar kind of mommy dance that women did at the back of conference rooms to keep their babies quiet and help them go to sleep or stay asleep.  :)  Many of these mommies were wearing their babies in some way, and often they were using movement of some sort to comfort the little ones.  Some of these "dances" were mostly bouncing lightly up and down, some involved twirling from side to side, but each of these women had their own unique variation of The Mommy Dance.  I suppose I noticed them a lot this year because I was one of them, too - holding Moriah and "dancing" with her to keep her quiet and content while speakers were talking.  :)

~ Speaking of wearing babies, this year I noticed every imaginable type of sling/snugli/wrap; and lots of parents had a wrap and a stroller, just like we did.  It's like when you buy a Honda Accord, and suddenly you see Honda Accords EVERYWHERE.  This year, I saw wraps (and the wrap/stroller combo) everywhere.  I was so glad to have the stroller: sometimes Moriah was content in it, sometimes Shav or even Tobin took a turn in it, and sometimes we just used it to haul our stuff.  

~ Before the homeschool convention last year, we ordered a rolling cart to use to carry purchases.  We had seen so many other people using those carts and realized what a great help that would be.  Unfortunately, we didn't order it early enough; and it didn't come in time for us to take it to the convention.  Ironically, it was delivered to our home the day the convention started, but we were long gone by the time it arrived here.  Bummer.  During this past year, I've put it to good use, however, especially during trips to the library, so the money we spent on it wasn't wasted.  This year I made sure to pack it in the van to take to the convention; but ironically, we didn't use it once there.  We actually left it in the van and just used the stroller to transport the items we bought there.  Maybe one of these years we'll actually use it at the convention!!  :)

~ In previous years, the convention center was freezing.  An absolute icebox.  This year, despite the hot temperatures outside, I wanted to be prepared so I dressed rather warmly and made sure the boys had long pants instead of shorts, etc.; but for some reason, it didn't seem nearly as cold this time.  I wonder if enough people mentioned it and the convention center decided to raise their thermostat a little bit.  Or maybe it just felt warmer to me.

~ Once again, Josiah got to meet and talk with Chuck Black (his favorite author in the whole world) who, like always, was very warm and friendly in their conversation.  That was the best part of the whole convention for Josiah.  :)

~ Since we took all the children with us, Jeff and I took turns caring for Tobin and Shav.  Josiah and David were old enough to be in the children's program, and they enjoyed those activities very much.  But Tobin and  Shav aren't old enough for that yet, so Jeff and I got to entertain them.  Actually, Jeff did the lion's share of that; he graciously let me go to basically any workshop I wanted, and he kept the younger boys.  They did lots of walking through the exhibit hall, sitting out in the wide hallway, playing with paper airplanes he made, etc.  I really appreciated his help in this way.

~ On Saturday, it just so happened that I was having a turn caring for Tobin, Shav, and Moriah while Jeff was in a session.  We planned it so that I would go through the little cafeteria there and get our lunch before the session was over and the crowd gathered, then Jeff would pick up Josiah and David from their program and we would all eat together.  It was a good plan, and it all worked out, but it definitely wasn't the easiest thing in the world to juggle my three youngest children, a stroller, a tray of food, money to pay with, etc.  Thankfully, a woman in the seating area hopped up and came over to offer her assistance in getting the food, the kids, and the stroller over to a table.  As it turns out, she is a mother of triplets (who are teens now), so she could relate to how I was feeling.  :)  I was reminded again of how meaningful even small acts of kindness can be.

~ One of the most special things about this particular convention was the place we stayed.  Since we're now a family of seven, we've sort of outgrown a regular hotel room.  (That's not to say that we haven't squeezed into one from time to time...)  But for this, Jeff searched for something a little better...and needless to say, he found something a whole lot better!  He looked on a site called airbnb, and found a guest house in the countryside outside Richmond, and the setting and hosts were wonderful.  I don't want to tell you much more about it because I'm really hoping no one else discovers this particular place and rents it for next year's convention before we reserve it.  ;-)  But if you're interested in it for any other time of the year, I'll gladly tell you more about it.  :)  Anyway, we loved it!  So much better (for us) than being in a hotel.  On Friday evening, we went for a walk through the beautiful countryside.  Josiah decided to jog part of the time...

I'm quite fond of this picture of Jeff with all of his children (Moriah is in the Snugli on his chest).

Little legs were getting tired, so I turned back with the three youngest ones, and Jeff continued on with Josiah and David until they got to this lake.  (Josiah and David are blurry, but at least you can see the water!)  :)

There was a pond right behind the guesthouse, and I took these pictures of Jeff and Josiah when they strolled onto the dock the next morning before we headed back to Richmond for the second day of the convention.

That night Jeff and Josiah had fun playing dominoes.

The other boys ran around, playing hide & seek and chase and "let's fight the bad guys" and other loud, rambunctious activities.  I was so glad we weren't in a hotel room.  :)  Meanwhile, I celebrated Moriah's two-month birthday by taking some pictures of her.  Of course.  :)

We had taken a small, portable bed for Moriah; and we ended up putting it in a large, walk-in closet in our room so she could have some peace and quiet.  She must have liked it, because she ended up sleeping through the night for the first time while she was there--from about 11:20 PM to 6:20 AM--7 hours straight!!!  In fact, both of those nights, she slept through the night (8 hours straight the second night).  It kind of made me laugh, because I had prepared her official two-month blog post before we left for the convention; and I had scheduled it to post on June 9, which it did.  In that post, I wrote that she hadn't slept through the night yet; but in actuality, she had just accomplished that feat on June 8 - and repeated it on June 9!  I had no way of correcting that blog post however, since I was disconnected from the internet during our trip.  But I was so happy that she very peacefully followed in the footsteps of her older brothers and started sleeping through the night at about (or, in her case, exactly) two months of age.  :)  I will add that since we've been home, she hasn't slept through the night every single night; but the majority of nights she has, and I'm more than happy with that.  :)

Sunday morning, David got some snuggle time with his little sister.

He sure loves that little girlie.  :)

On Sunday, we took the scenic route, following route 33 all the way home.  And that was the end of our convention trip.  :)


I loved this experience so much that I'm already looking forward to next year!  The convention always seems to land right after our anniversary and right before Josiah's birthday, so I think that, as long as we're able, we'll make attending the convention a merry family tradition to celebrate both major events that occur so close to it.  It may not be the most romantic way to spend an anniversary...it's not Italy, not a cruise to the Bahamas, nothing exotic.  But it sure is special.  


Because we're away from home.  Because we're together.  Because we're making memories.  Because we're a family!