May highlights

Yard work:

We've been doing a lot of work on our front "yard" this  month.  I'm not sure why this is the year I feel motivated to do something but its happening.  The grass I planted actually grew in really nicely which was a fun surprise.  Its still mostly clover but there is more grass now and it's pretty, soft grass.  I am going to plant some more in the Fall when its not so hot out.  

I am totally over our "yard" looking so overgrown so our solution was weed barrier fabric and mulch.  We pulled tons of weeds, weed whacked all over the place, sprayed at least 2 gallons of Round Up and trimmed trees.  Before all that happened I raked out all the leaves in the front "flower" beds (there are no flowers in them just leaves and weeds) and shoveled it all into our trash can.  We ordered lots of mulch and came home to a big pile of it in our driveway.  I am super skeptical about how well the weed barrier and much will work and really hope it doesn't all wash away with rainstorms this Summer.  The being said I much prefer this mulch look to the overgrown weeds look.  I want to order more mulch and spread it all over the area inside our yard all the way up to the fence and the area in front of the driveway. I don't think we will do that much this year but it would look nice.  

We all got poison ivy and I am still afraid of our yard but it does look more cared for.

I have many memories of my Dad either having myself or one of my siblings jump in the yard work toter and crouch it.  He was also known do it himself who needed. So I decided to recreate the memory with Jared and Lydia. We will never be "done" with our yard but we are at least challenging the jungle this year. 

  

Pre-Mulch

Kayaking: 

One item that will go on my yet to be made Summer Fun list this year (school isn't even out yet so I do not feel a need to create this list yet) is to find new kayaking spots.  There is lake near Culpepper, right off 29 that we have driven by countless times.  (Lake Pelham) We decided it would be our first new spot to try out and it was a hit.  We went early Saturday morning to beat some of the heat and had a great time.  There was lovely breeze off the lake and Jared and Lydia had fun using their water sprayers. Originally Lydia was in the kayak with Mark but it was too crowded so she got moved to the back of the kayak and was very comfortable.  She filled it up with water and had a little mini pool.  Jared did an awesome job kayaking and once we got back to the dock we had Lydia try out his kayak and Jared try out mine.  I think he is still at least a year off from moving up to the next kayak level.  With practice Lydia could have her own but I think we will wait till next Summer.  This lake has many types of transportation you can rent like paddle boards and canoes and kayaks and was a great little spot.  Not much beach area but that was not our focus so it worked for us.  We are all looking forward to more kayaking this Summer.

Graduation/Work

Work is going well.  It was really boring the week before graduation (which was May 19th) but has been a little better this week.  Graduation itself was a little boring but luckily I only had to attend my department graduation which was inside an air conditioned building.  It was so hot for everyone out on the Lawn.  I do think it would be fun to see everyone in the procession so maybe if there is really nice weather one year I will go.  Our department ceremony only lasted 45 minutes and it seemed to go pretty well.  My supervisor is going out of town next week and I am nervous that I will run out of projects and will then be really bored.  Hopefully she can leave me some.  Her trip coincides with the last week of school so I will be working less any way because I will be at field day one day and then have to leave by 11:00 two other days for end of year activities.  I finally came up with some Summer decorations for my desk area and am really happy with how they turned out.  I am still so happy that I  got this job!  

Ice cream cones and lemon slices

Storms

We had some pretty intense storms over the weekend.  We had a tornado warning on Saturday and sever thunderstorm warnings Sunday.  A friend fo ours was out on a bike ride on our road on Saturday when the tornado warning was issued so he knocked on our door to take shelter.  We were glad we could visit with him. There was a pretty funnel like looking cloud really near our part of town but luckily nothing happened on our road.  There was a microburst out near Preddy Creek which caused some serious damage.  Mark and Jared were out a members house helping clear up some trees when another intense storm hit our road.  There were really high winds and as I watched the trees violently moving in our woods behind our house I worried that this would be the time one fell.  Luckily they all stayed up.  A big tree fell down at the top of our neighbors driveway, into the road so Mark went over there to help him clean up that tree.  They have a crazy long steep driveway so it was nowhere near anyones house but it was a big tree.  Oddly enough Mark stopped by this neighbors house to see if he was available to come help clear trees.  He was not available, he and his wife were about to go on a bike ride but he offered some of his tools.  This delayed their ride by about 30 minutes and it turned out to be a really good thing because they would have been caught outside in the storm.  Mark was sitting in ward council and felt inspired to stop and ask Mark (this neighbors name is also Mark) if he could come help and that fact that his asking made them miss the storm is pretty cool. 

Swim Team:

Today, (Tuesday May 28th) was the first day of swim team.  Lydia was not sure what to expect and ended up loving it.  Jared has been looking forward to it for months and was so happy to be there.  They both started with the kids who had never been on the team before and each of them moved up a lane.  Even though Jared has done swim team once it was good for him to have some time to relearn the strokes and practice in smaller groups.  He was really tired by the last 10 minutes of his lesson but did a nice job and enjoyed himself.  The Shaw's have signed up as well which will make it even more fun for Jared.  Lydia told me that she already made a new friend which is awesome.  We saw some families we recognize from Baker-Butler and are looking forward to to the season.  More so when school gets out but we will survive till then.  It was so hot today I thought I would melt waiting for them.  

Mr. Randall

We are currently "hosting" a guy who is moving to the area this Summer.  He got a job here in town and his family will join him after their house sells in Delaware and they find a house here.  They did make an offer on a house out in Troy but changed their minds last week.  We met them at our ward Easter party.  Mark had talked to him on the phone before and we decided we would try it out.  He has been here 2 full weeks.  He arrives late Sunday and leaves after work Friday. He is very nice and it is going well. We have all this space we are not using in the basement so its nice to earn some income from it.  He helped Mark put in a new exterior door to that side of the basement and helped us move all the mulch.  The hard part is that Mark is not at home most of the nights he is here. He is at the airport Monday and Tuesday and the church Thursday.  I feel fine with his.  I stay upstairs and Randall is in the basement.  He joined a gym so he is there after dinner (he does eat dinner with us which has presented a new set of issues with Jared and Lydia acting totally ridiculous at dinner and Come Follow Me, we will have to work on that as it is driving me crazy!) till 8:30 or so so we don't even see each other the whole evening.  Mark and I do have an inside joke about it though.  That first Monday when Mark was getting ready to leave Randall talked about how he would plan to be gone most evenings when Mark was out so it wouldn't be awkward.  The way he phrased it totally made it awkward.  It is a really considerate thing for him to do but it could have been worded so much better.  He could have just said, "I think I will be out most evenings exploring Charlottesville or working out do you have any recommendations of places I should check out?"  Anyway, really thoughtful of him but now Mark and I are always asking each other "Is that awkward?" Totally rude of us.  It is going well and we are happy to have a chance to try out an Air Bnb type situation. 

These two have been driving me a bit more crazy than usual.  They are talking back so much, more Jared than Lydia and just being rude to each other and not very grateful.  It feels like they have forgotten everting we have been teaching them all these years.  Lydia has been terribly picky about eating the last month or so and it's getting pretty old.  We need some intervention because I am finding myself talking more sarcastically and sharply because I am so irritated at how they are acting and its awful.  So I was really happy to walk into this sweet scene the other day.  

I'm having a hard time keeping enough books in the house for them both!

  It's a great problem to have. 

Cinco De Mayo and May, the worst month

Cinco De Mayo was a quiet affair this year.  We had chips and salsa, meat tacos and strawberry daiquiris.  We celebrated with just our family which was not the original plan.  I had much grander ideas but that night there was a ward family history activity and it just felt like it would cut the evening into weird times.  Either way we celebrated and enjoyed our special drink.

Note:  Before this picture was taken as Mark and I were getting the food on the table Lydia and Jared were squabbling about who got which glass which was not festive. Thus Jared is not pictured.

I have recently decided that May has now replaced February as the worst month in my opinion.  This largely has to do with location.  May is when the hot weather and humidity start.  May is when the bugs come back.  May is when the bear comes back and makes messes in our yard and drags our garbage all over the place.  May is when the ticks come back. (Jared has already had 3) May is when we have to really start doing yard work again.  It also means Summer is next and it is hot and miserable.  If I lived somewhere else I might love May but in Virginia I do not.  It also means people are getting ready to move away which is sad.  This year will not be as heartbreaking as last year but still it is happening.  April brings all the pretty flowering trees and they are great but May is just yuck. I know there are positive things but really the negative things outweigh them by a lot. Also its the nicest evenings for the next few months but we are still in school so I don't feel like we can enjoy them to the fullest.

Mark and I have already weeded twice and he has mowed the lawn three times I think.  This year we decided we would attempt to thicken up our front yard a bit.  I saw that there was some rain in the forecast and bought some Lyme to fight the moss growing in our yard and help the acid levels and some grass seed.  We borrowed a seed spreader and got to work.  Using the spreader was  actually some of the funnest yard work I have ever done but that is because I don't have a crazy big yard.  It's definitely not level, which adds a challenge but it was way more fun than anything else we have to do.  Lydia and Jared both helped spread the seed and then the rain did not really come so we broke out the hose and watered it ourselves.  Jared and Lydia have had a blast playing in the water the last three days which has been great for them.  There is some rain the next few days which should help.  I really don't expect a lot to grow but maybe it will happen.

 

If you look behind Lydia you can see a little taste of the jungle that is our yard.  Maybe we will tame it some this year.  Who really knows.  Its so hard to be motivated because everything grows wild on our property but maybe this will be the year...

Jared took his first SOL test on Wednesday.  It was the reading portion and he didn't seem too fazed by it.  When Mark dropped him off at school today though the assistant principal asked him to stop by the office and either talk to her or Dr Saunders before Mark left.  He ended up meeting with Mrs. Shafran and Dr Saunders the principal.  Yesterday as Jared was taking the test his computer messed up.  One of the questions asked him to pick the two answers that worked best and there were no options for him to pick.  Jared told his teacher and she wasn't sure what to do.  He finished the test and that was that.  He mentioned this to us this morning and we didn't really think anything of it until Mark was asked to stop in.  They explained that the state was reviewing his test so they didn't know yet if Jared would be able to take the 2nd part today.  They wanted to see if we were okay with Jared retaking the first portion if he needed to.  While this would not be our preference Mark said it would be fine.  They both know that Mark is a teacher in the district and Dr Saunders commented that whenever he talks to teachers who have kids at the school about testing they either freak out about it or don't really care.  We fall in the latter department.  I am sure this is not true just among teachers.  We want our kids to try and to do well and understand the ideas of testing but are not super stressed about our third grader and these tests.  Mark definitely does not enjoy proctoring the tests at all.  At pick up today I saw the assistant principal and asked her if Jared was able to take the test and she said that he was.  She mentioned that they were not releasing scores to families yet but that he passed.  She actually had him come to her office and proctored the test to him.  She also said he finished in 10 minutes.  I know they want kids to really take their time on the tests (and Mark hates it when kids rush what's the point?  They now have to sit their silently until the time is up and he has to quietly enforce this) and we tried to encourage Jared too but he did not.  I'm glad he did well and wonder if this could have been prevented if computers were not forced down kids throats ever day?  There are multiple sides to everything and pros and cons. Computers vs. paper testing vs. not testing.   I'm just glad he only had to take the test once and that Jared didn't feel anxious about it at all.

2019 marathon in a month

We did it! We ran our last mile for marathon in a month. It was a good month of running.  Lydia rode her bike a lot but the last 2 weeks we got her running the first half of the mile and riding the second half and she did great.  She really enjoys riding her bike and I am happy for her to have chances to do it.  Jared loved running and did a great job.   He finished well before all the other runners today and was very pleased with himself.  One friend commented on how well he did and that he seemed like he could even be sprinter.  I don't know about that but if he wants to pursue running then we will certainly back him up.

At the start line.  We had all the runners in front and the younger bike and scooter riders in the back.  A friend of ours had 2 of her friends join in on the fun and it was great to run the last mile with a group of people.

  

Lydia was running with Abigail and Abigail took a nasty fall.  She scraped up both her knees a lot.  We asked her if she wanted to rest with us or do the second lap and she opted to do the lap.  She is a tough kid.  Lydia and her walked and ran the last lap which worked great.  

Jared was so happy to come in first.  We had everyone gather around the finish line and cheer for all the runners. After everyone had a chance to cross the finish line, (we had crepe paper streamers they ran through) we had our medal ceremony and enjoyed popsicles.  I made the medals earlier this week and loved seeing how excited the kids get to receive them.  

We only knew about half these kids and that is just fine.  The more the merrier. 

There are so many great things about marathon in a month.  The physical exercise, meeting a goal, working hard, cheering on others, being a good sport.  There are plenty of days that we don't want to go out and run especially because we can't just walk out our door and run half a mile and back.  But we are always so happy when we complete it.  Next year will be our 5th year doing it.  I would like to look up a few different options for running.  Going around the lake is great because it is contained but I think we could find a neighborhood or two and run there.  Jared and Lydia are getting old enough I would feel pretty good about them in a few spots I can think of off the top of my head.  Baker-Butler also just built a really nice wide track in the back field which would be a great option too.  My friend Tara is the one who introduced us to the idea and she and her family completed the marathon out in CA on Tuesday.  Our friend Katie who ran with us the last 3 years is moving to Texas this Summer so we will miss her next year.  We will coordinate to run together next year which is another fun thing about it, knowing that people all over are doing it with you.  Maybe we can even get a few other friends here to do it with us.  We also hope to do it earlier in the year.  I think starting mid March would be ideal.  We are glad it's done and glad we did it. 

Around the World Passport Day

We had a great time at the "Around the World Passport Day" in DC today.  The neighborhoods the majority of the embassies are located in are so beautiful. The architecture is really interesting and going inside these big beautiful buildings is so cool.  The fact that we get to learn about a bunch of new countries hands on makes it even better.  Today we visited Brazil, Bolivia, Guatemala, Turkey, Chile, The Dominican Republic, Peru, Belize, Japan, Korea, Uzbekistan, Iraq and Morocco. We walked 15,300 steps which is just under 6 miles!  Jared and Lydia did so well that when we stopped for ice cream at Moo Thru on the way home we let them get 2 scoops instead of the usual one.  We really lucked out with the weather.  It was 75 degrees and cloudy.  Not having the sun beating down on you was so helpful. We definitely felt some humidity but it was not nearly as bad as it could have been.  We were all pretty wiped out by the end,  I think Jared was feeling it the most.  Lydia often gets 2nd, 3rd and 4th winds where as he is done when he is done but he soldiered on and when I asked him if he was glad we went it was a definite yes.

Before we left today I had them each pack a book and snacks because I knew we would be waiting in some good lines.  None of them were as long as Belgium was last year but the books were quite helpful.  Lydia also read up on some fun facts about each of the countries while we waited (she finished her book early on).  She ended up with quite the collection of travel brochures! My favorite embassies were Japan and Korea.  I really do want to visit Japan one day, they were so efficient and organized.  They had a super busy line but they were super smart about it.  They had 2 lines for the security check point and they were letting people into the courtyard in groups of about 20 so you didn't feel like you were waiting in line not doing anything as much as you did at other embassies.  They also had the most food samples and hands on activities.  We tried popcorn with soy sauce powder and some mocchi ice cream that was better than I thought it would be.  The rice cake texture around it takes some getting used to but that is one of the points of things like this, trying different things.  At the Korean Embassy we tried on traditional Korean clothes which we all really enjoyed.  They also had traditional drummers and performers and lots of activities to try.  We enjoyed all the embassies but I think we all liked those two the most.  It was cool to go to Iraq and Uzbekistan because they are really difficult places to travel to so even seeing a little bit of culture from there was great.  Jared diligently collected stamps from all the embassies that were doing them and ended up with a page full.  The people at the Turkish embassy were really welcoming and we enjoyed learning about some of their crafts.  There was an artist there who works with metal and he patiently showed Jared and Lydia how he created his art.  It was just a great experience to check these places out. 

"Passport Stamps"

Turkey

Japan

Popcorn with soy sauce powder!

Chile

Iraq

Korea

Guatemala

Peru

Peruvian donuts (picarones) and Inca Cola

The donuts themselves were delicious but we din't care as much for the sauce on them. 

Its made of chancaca or these raw sugar molds and has a less sweet taste.  

I looked a recipe up online at it says to use molasses if you can't find chancaca. 

Uzbekistan 

Without prompting they both acted like they were going to give a speech from the official podium, I think I would rather listen to Lydia's. 

Now that we have done each day I think we will rotate years.  So next year we will attempt to go to the EU passport day.  It is a lot of walking and a lot of standing in lines but we knew it would be which helps.  It is such a neat way to check out cool architecture, go places you can't normally go and try new things.  I so appreciate all the work people put into events like this and am so happy we can experience them.