Sheep Guarding Llama

Monday.  And today Dominica turns thirty nine!  Her last birthday of her thirties.  Today is also the big solar eclipse that is going right across the middle of the United States, something that has not happened for nearly forty years.  This is a really special treat for all of us.

We had some time this morning to relax as the eclipse is not until this afternoon.  Paul had to work this morning, but his office is mostly geared up as a viewing location for the eclipse.  They are having a party there with pizza and stuff and everyone is camping out in the lawn.  So that is our plan to just go there.

It was really cool being right in the center of the path of totality because we got partial eclipse for so much of the day.  It wasn’t something minor that happened for a few minutes, but hours of really interesting effects.

The light started to change early on as the moon approached the sun and before long you could see the quality of light changing and the shape of shadows changing.  Really weird, things you never see outside of an eclipse.target unicorn ice cream

We got to Paul’s office about an hour before the full eclipse.  We had pizza and set up on blankets in the lawn.  It was the perfect viewing spot.  Dozens of people were out with us, and free food, and loads of space.  Really could not have worked out better.

The eclipse itself was insanely cool.  The light was so neat as we got close to the eclipse.  The shadows got so pronounced and the light was so interesting.  It maintained that noon-like quality, but got really dim.  So not like twilight at all, harsh shadows remained, but so dark.  Completely unique.  For a bit, you could not even tell that it was happening because it got darker without the usual changes that happen at sunset, but pretty quickly you could tell that your eyes were no longer straining and it was easier to see in a way you never get.  It wasn’t like clouds because the light was still direct.  Not like twilight because it was still thin atmosphere and overhead light.  It was awesome to get to experience it at mid-day like this on a cloudless day.  Truly, it could not have been more perfect.

Once the totality hit we were able to take off our glasses for several minutes and experience the full eclipse with naked eyes.  Seeing the corona was so totally intense and cool.  As crazy as driving twenty hours to do this was, it was completely worth it.  Such a unique thing.

After the eclipse we went back to Paul’s house.  We noticed that light filtering through the trees left eclipse shadows on the ground, sharp images of the half obscured sun.  Just amazing to see.

After the eclipse we went for a late lunch or early dinner and drinks across the street from Paul’s at a Mexican restaurant there.  The food was quite good.  This was Dominica’s birthday dinner.

It was a super fun day.  And very educational.

We celebrated Dominica’s birthday this evening at Paul’s with a cake.

Sunday.  Today’s activity is going to Onandaga State Park nearby here in Missouri to go into the Onondaga Cave.  This area of the Ozarks is known for all of its natural caves and this is one of the better ones.

It was a warm day, but nice and chilly down in the cave.  We got a guided tour that was pretty educational and I think that the girls had a really good time.

Between the river rafting yesterday, cave tour at a state park today, and the solar eclipse activities tomorrow, this is one really educational school trip for the girls.

The cave was really cool and we learned a lot of the history of the area and about the plight of the bats in the area, which isn’t good.

We had Planet Sub again today, the girls are loving the subs there.  It’s not far from Paul’s house.

Saturday. We are in Cuba, Missouri for the solar eclipse and Dominica’s birthday.

Today is our busy day of activities.  Jared and his wife and daughters, who are almost exactly the same age as Liesl and Luciana, came and joined us at Paul’s house this morning.  Jared’s dad lives very nearby and they were staying with him, I believe.

We got all loaded up in the cars this morning and drove out to someone’s cottage, parked our cars, and worked our way to a launch point on the Merimec River so that we could go rafting all day.  We met up with Chris and his family (I met him at the bar last night) as well.

Rafting the river is a big endeavor.  We had a really awesome time.  We had a big boat for the two families (Jared’s and us) and Paul and Karen do this enough that they each had their own kayak for it.  Chris’ family had their own boat.

The river is really slow and the kids just had a blast.  We went lazily down the river for hours.  They had fun paddling, playing with each other, talking to people, getting wet.

Eventually we stopped and ate lunch along the way.

Later on along the river there was a really rough bit (“really” being a relative term, but it wasn’t as gentle as it had been) and we stopped along with loads of other people to check it out.  They tried getting the kids to go see a natural spring feeding the river, but it required getting them through deep water at rapids.  So several adults had to hand kids from person to person to get them across and I had to stand deep in the river righting the rapids to catch people who lost control; which Karen actually did and got swept away by the river and I had to catch her.

Overall it was a lot of fun and something that we’ve never done before.  We had a good time and would definitely do that again.  And we had a great time hanging out with Jared’s family.  They four girls all want to get together again.  They are living in Chicago, though, so decently hard to go see them.

After the river ride was over we had to go fetch the vehicles, load up the boats, go shower, etc.

There was a “festival” in Cuba this evening.  Paul, Karen, and I took Liesl and Luciana out there for about an hour. There wasn’t too much for the girls to do except there was facepainting which is one of the girls’ most favourite activities ever.  They love it so much, so we had to do that.  Which we did, and they were thrilled.  Hard to ask for much more than a day of new friends their own age, river rafting, and then topping it all off with face painting.  That makes for some happy Miller children.

Friday.  Slept in a lot today.  I got essentially no sleep two nights ago and we didn’t get into Cuba until really late last night.  And of course we couldn’t fall asleep straight away.  So Paul was at work today and we all slept in for a really long time.

Around six, Paul was home and he and I went to the bar to hang out with some of his local friends.  While we were there, Dominica and Karen napped back at the house.

The girls watched Shaun the Sheep this afternoon.

We got Planet Sub for dinner tonight.

At seven thirty we took the girls out to a local playground so that they could work off some energy.

Although really it was probably Paul having the most fun.

The girls had a nice time, too, though.

Thursday.  Pouring rain and heavy thunderstorms this morning.  We have flash flood warnings here in Dallas.

The flood alarms woke me up this morning.  I had to get up and go into the office and turn no the atrium lights and keep a careful watch on the atrium to ensure that it did not flood while the rain was coming down.  So I was up for several hours from about five in the morning just because of that.

Most of the day was work.  Then around four we had the Nissan all packed up and we headed out the door.  The rain was no longer a concern.  And we did the ten hour drive up through Oklahoma and into Missouri up to Cuba.  Very late when we arrived.  Straight to bed for us.  The girls have their own room up here with a big air mattress.