Summer Fun in Charlottesville

After moving, unpacking, girls camp and traveling we are finally enjoying summer in Charlottesville, in our new home. I do not love summer as many people I know do but I do enjoy it way more here then I have anywhere else. It is hot and humid but it is not nearly as bad as places near here. I remember being in Utah and hearing Mark's family talk about how hot it was and thinking it was so nice because it was so dry!

We go back from Utah the 14th of July and when we looked at the calendar we couldn't believe that summer was half over! Mark goes back to school August 12th and Jared starts on the 19th.  Still a good amount of time but so much was already gone.  Mark actually had 6 hours of professional development this week, two 3 hour sessions.  He actually left today for a conference in Philadelphia that his principal had asked him to attend if he was wiling. He will get back Wednesday and was not looking forward to the conference. For him he has just over 2 weeks left! It has been great to have him around and we will just have to make the most of those last 2 weeks.

In the meantime we have had a lot of fun here. We finally got to go to the UVA races and Jared and Lydia were thrilled. It was a really hot day but they had a great time. Mark went ahead and ran the mile himself, which was pretty crazy as he hasn't run in I don't know how many months yet he did it in under 7 minutes! (6:55 I think) Jared and Lydia each ran 2 races (the 100 and 200) and had fun playing on the track. We will plan on going again this Monday which is the last week they do it. Jared was asking me if I could teach him how to "finish strong" so when people were passing him he could run faster. I don't think I had great advice but I hope he can figure it out and have fun, to feel good about himself. I love that this event is hosted each July.

 

Mark ready to go! 

 Lake Trips!
Since we got back we have been to Chris Greene Lake 4 times.  Our new house is just over a mile from it. We went ahead and got a County Lake Pass instead of a city pool pass as we live so close to a lake (the pass gets you into 3 different ones) and we are county not city residents.  City residents pay half the price for a pool pass since its in the city and county residents have the same thing with the lakes. Weird Virginia  County/City things. Jared has been looking forward to playing at the lake formats now because the play structure there is boat so to him its a pirate ship.  They love playing in the water, digging in the sand and "sailing the ship.  We have met up with our friend Laura and her kids at this lake and are meeting at a new lake later this week.  It is really nice to have it so close by.  It makes it really easy and quick. These pictures are trips 1 and 3.

 That is jared in the "window"

 Lakeside with friends. It is a great place to meet up. 

Peach Picking! While Jared and Lydia love the UVA races and look forward to them all year, Mark looks forward to picking peaches. We went one morning and had a great time. It's great having Mark there because he is tall enough to reach the top of the trees and get really big peaches. He had a great time and wants to go back again this coming week. They are so delicious and its a fun thing to go do so I am sure we will make another trip. We picked 18 pounds of peaches this trip and Mark doesn't think its nearly enough. We went over to Chiles in Crozet (about 30 minutes way) and enjoyed a beautiful summer morning out there.  We grabbed some peach donuts on our way out and enjoyed them on the back deck. Next time I think we will get some peach frozen yogurt. 

I love all the peaches on this tree in the background. 

Millions of peaches... Lydia is even wearing a shirt with peaches on it.  She picked it not me but I thought it was a great choice! 

  Hiking.  We stopped over at Preddy Creek the other day. It is about 10 minute from our house and a great little hiking place. There are a few trails and most overlap so you can easily pick how far you want to go. I had only been there once last Fall and Mark hadn't made it over yet so it was nice to go together.  Before it was a good 25 minute drive but now its so close.  We just did a little 1.25 mile hike and Jared and Lydia did great.  There is a little wading hole you can swim in by the creek and we will do that next time. It was a nice change of pace.

 We also made it to the movies.  The theater here is doing 1 dollar summer movies each week and we have been waiting to go.  We met some friends and watched Madagascar 3.  Jared and Lydia loved it. It is cool that the theatre is running them.  They do 2 movies a week for about 9 weeks.  We are on week 7 so we missed a lot but we will go the next 2 weeks. It has been a fun summer so far.

 We have also worked on the house some but it is nice to have that mostly done.  We want plan at least one camping trip before Mark goes back to school and hopefully 2 or 3 trips to Washington DC.  I can't believe Jared is starting Kindergarten so soon!  We stopped by his school last week to drop off a second proof of residency and after we did it Jared asked if we could go get his school supplies so we went ahead and did it. Why wait till it is super crowded?  He is so excited to go! I am still hoping to get preschool up and running. I only have one person signed up for sure and need at least 3 more! It is super stressful. I have no control over it and that is hard really hard.   I am not sure how to reach more people but am going to really try to brainstorm this week in between lake trips and UVA races!