Spring Fun

Most of the month of April was pretty dry but then this last week was super rainy.  I think it rained almost every day.  I don't mind the rain really, I much prefer it to the humid and hot weather that will be here soon enough but it did interfere with some fun we had planned.

Near the middle of the month my friend Tara invited us to participate in a fun "marathon in a month" challenge.  She used to do it with friends back in Oregon.  The idea is to have your kids (and/or yourself) run 1 mile each day for 26 days (minus Sunday).  For the last mile the group gets together and runs it together with a celebration at the end.  Jared has been really into running at school the last few months and was really excited to try it out. He and Mark have run together most days and have passed the half way point. He seems to be really enjoying it.

Mile # 1

First time 10:38.  They are normally right around 10:15

One Saturday we went over to Forest Lakes and attempted to run together as a family but Lydia was not in the mood.  She did run a little bit but she and I walked most of it.  After we ran we fed the ducks (they are surprisingly hard to find here to feed so we lucked out that day) and then went over to Duck Donuts.  It is fun to be teaching them about taking care of their bodies and it's nice for Mark and Jared to have a specific thing to do with Jared.

They missed a few days because of some illness and have had to run 1.5 miles a few times to make up for it but are on track now. On Friday Mark was too sick to run with Jared. I had planned to go with him in the morning but it was rainy.  We went to hang out with some friends after school but still needed to get his mile in. I didn't really feel like running then as it as late in the day and sort of drizzly and Mark wasn't home to watch Lydia so I had Jared put on his swimming suit and I followed him in the car. As we were coming back one of our neighbors drove by Jared and then parked in her driveway.  As Jared ran by she asked him if his mom or dad were following him in that car.  I then realized that she was probably concerned that someone was trying to potentially kidnap Jared ! It was pretty embarrassing but good to know that our neighbors are watching out for him. I rarely see any of our neighbors (they all work and all their kids are grown up and we pretty much live in the woods)
and shortly after I saw her another neighbor drove by! It was kind of embarrassing that I was driving not running with him but at least they know I was keeping him safe. He is really doing a great job and I did get out and run 1.5 miles with him on Saturday.

Sadly we have also had some bad illness's at our house the last few weeks.  April was a really rough  month. (Thus the lack of blog posts) All of us had bad colds and I even lost my voice.  It is never a good time but this was a particularly bad time as I had preschool the next day and it was my **State Inspection for having my preschool licensed. Lydia got pink eye and was so sad.  It was awful.  She also had a rough month sleeping.  She is terrified of bugs, specifically bumble bees (they are rather large here) and wasps so once the warm weather started and they came back she was scared to go outside.  Then at night she was waking up terrified there were bees in her room.  She would wake up multiple times just crying and shaking.  We tried so hard to calm her and he sympathetic but we were getting pretty sleep deprived. She would wake up scared and we would go in to calm her and then she would stay awake forever because she was too scared to let herself fall back asleep. Many nights she would try to sneak into Jared's room but she kept waking him up so we were not cool with that. It was rough.  Thankfully she is doing much better.  She is still afraid of bees but will at least go outside now and is not waking up multiple times terrified.  Jared had a horrible allergy attack one weekend.  He was miserable all day, on a day that we happened to be having 2 fun families over for a campfire and asked if he could please just go to bed at like 4:45! It was so sad. He woke up at 7:45 sobbing that he had missed seeing his friends so we will have to try to have them over again.  Then Jared got a horrible stomach bug (he threw up/dry heaved 15 times in a 12 hour period.)  He was so sad and tired of getting out of bed to throw up he asked if he could please just sleep in the bathroom so we got out a camping pad and let him.  He thew up in the car on the way home from Lydia's swim lessons one Wednesday (glad we keep bags in there for such a purpose) around 4:30.  One of his PE teachers was at swim lessons as his son was in the class and he mentioned that Jared had told him his stomach hurt at school but Jared had not said anything to me.  We got home and he and Mark left to go run his mile (he seemed to be fine) and he threw up outside Mark's car.  Then we knew we were in for a long night.  He didn't eat dinner except for some toast and went to bed around 7:00 then woke up at 8:30 and the 30 minute interval throwing up began.  It was so sad.  He finally fell asleep around 11:45 and slept till 7:30. It was a horrible but quick 12 hour bug.  He stayed home from school the next day but by 8:00 you couldn't even tell he had been so sick the night before. I thought we were in the clear but the following Monday Lydia got the same bug.  It didn't seem quite as strong as Jared's but was still sad and disgusting. She woke us up around 3:45 AM saying her forehead hurt. I helped her back to bed sang her some songs and then went to lay down and she threw up.  It was so gross and sad all over her and her bed and a trail leading to the bathroom. So preschool was canceled.  We hung out together from about 4:00 - 7:00 AM downstairs in the guest room and after the boys left for school settled in for 12 hours of throwing up. But we aren't done yet, Mark then got a version of the bug too.  He came home early from school on Thursday and had a miserable 12 hours.  It was weird how it went like clockwork.  We will see if I manage to hold out. So yeah, April was rough!

We did manage to have a few fun days.  One Saturday UVA held their Spring Football Festival.  They set up some bounce houses and cool obstacle courses and had face painting and a balloon artist. The coaches (all of them from BYU) were there and you could meet and get autographs of players.  It was a beautiful day and  we are glad we went.  We hadn't been over to UVA in awhile and it was fun to go over there.

Mark and I also spent a Saturday Pre-hiking the hike we are taking the 2nd level girls on for Girls Camp. Instead of going all week like I did last year Mark and I volunteered to lead the girls on a hike.  Girls Camp was fine but long.  I am excited to help out this way with Mark. Our friends the Shaw's offered to watch Jared and Lydia as its a 6 mile hike and too difficult for them which was super nice of them. It was a rainy day but the hike was beautiful and it was really fun for Mark and I to go together.  We haven't gone on a hike by ourselves in years! We are taking them to White Oak Canyon in Syria, VA. Its about 45 minutes from our house and the trail follows a creek and there are lots of waterfalls.  It should be a fun challenging hike. Mark and I had a great time and Jared and Lydia loved being with the Shaw's. We will take the girls up to the Upper Falls but think we could hike to the lower falls pretty easily with Jared and Lydia. It was about 1.5 miles to them and pretty easy.  So 3 miles roundtrip.

Sometimes I see pictures of Mark and am amazed at how young he looks.  

Upper Falls

We also spent some time playing at Tonselr Park.  Lydia had swim lessons (which were honestly not what she needed.  She got moved to the other class but it was not a level 2 class like they said it would be. It was more level 1 and I don't think it helped her in any way. The other kids were much lower than her.  I know they tried to spend time doing level 2 stuff with her but I so wish I would have just asked to wait and transfer the money to a true level 2 class this summer) at Smith Aquatics and this park is right down the street from the pool.  We would pick Jared up from school and then drive across town for swim lessons.  We would typically get to the park and play for 20 minutes or so then go to lessons.  It is a really cool park in a pretty sketchy neighborhood. We were there at 3:00 in the afternoon so we were fine but it definitely has a different feel to it. Jared and Lydia loved the equipment there though.

Last day of swim lessons.  She did love going to them. 

**Which I totally passed! Woo-Hoo!! There are a few things I need to change (like I ordered the wrong emergency weather radio and some information was missing from the child records that the parents hadn't filled out but nothing serious and now I have it all fixed.)  It's such a relief to have this checked off and have done it! She will come inspect my school again in May and then I will be good for the next 6 months. So far I have 3 kids signed up for sure. I hope I can find more people soon, its so stressful. But having this done is really nice. Our last day this year is May 26th and I only need to plan one more week as I finished the other 2.  It's been such a fun year.