Baker-Butler Bike Rodeo

Back in May, right before school ended the PTO sent out an email asking for people to volunteer to chair events for the upcoming year.  I don't go to many extra school events but the bike rodeo is one I do really like so I offered to organize it.  I met with the PTO president before school got out for the year and got the run down of the event.  Most of the event is planned via email over the Summer which was a great fit for me.  I scheduled to have the event the Friday after Labor day but sadly had to postpone it because the school was in a flash flood warning.  Nothing happened, just like all the other flash flood warnings (for which we are very grateful) but since it was issued it was a no go.  So it got postponed to the 28th.  I was pretty bummed about this as I just wanted to check that off my list.  It had been on my list for months and I couldn't wait to clean out my inbox!

The 28th turned out to be a much better day weather wise.  It would have been super hot and humid on the 7th.  All of the vendors were able to come on the 28th and we had enough volunteers.  Set up went well and there was a great turn out.  It really is a good community event.  I was concerned that it would be too dark as the sun sets at 7:00 this late in the month but the parking lot has lights and people just kept right on riding as it got darker.  I am really grateful it is over and that it went so well.  Lydia had one crash that I know of but eventually she bounced back.  Jared had at least 2 good crashes but he didn't seem to phased by them.  They had both been looking forward to the event for a long time since they knew I was working on it.  Sadly Lydia was pretty grumpy at the start of it too.  She was kind of off this weekend which I get.  I certainly have those days.  It was just a weird weekend as we had lots of fun events planned.  She seemed better today.  I think they both had a good time and I am happy it is over.  It went well enough (largely because the PTO president was so helpful!) that I would be willing to do it again next year.

Quick Lydia story:
Friday we stayed after school to play on the playground for a little bit.  Both kids had dropped their backpacks off on the picnic table.  When it was time to go I asked them to grab their bags and they both headed over.  Lydia sweetly grabbed her bag and Jared's bag and then carried them to the car.  Jared is super lucky to have such a considerate sister.

Also from the bike rodeo. I wanted a picture of her and she was being really grumpy so I told her that I was going to show her future boyfriend this picture and she all of a sudden found a great smile.  It was pretty comical and a great motivation.  She still refuses to ride her bike. I hope she can get over that soon.

A day of Harry Potter fun

About a month ago I saw an announcement about a Harry Potter day in Staunton.  I actually heard about it last year but since we had not yet done the Harry Potter thing I made a mental note to look for it again.  When I saw it this year I knew Jared would love to go.  We put it on the calendar and he and Lydia have looked forward to it all month.  It was really well done and amazing to hear about people who drove hours and hours to attend.  Staunton is a 45 minute drive for us but we met some people who came in from New York and Connecticut.  Lydia was actually kind of a grump most of the time we were there but overall we all had a fun time.  Mark does not care for Harry Potter much he has never read (or cared to read) the books but he was a good sport and Staunton does have a cute downtown.  We did have to wait longer than I thought we would to catch the shuttle to the event but it was a good time to see people's costumes and chat with people.  One person walked by dressed as a dementor and as he walked by us Jared called out "Expecto Patroneous!" and they guy ran away.  It was really fun.  He was a dementor and the person he was with dressed up as Harry's patroneous, a sparkly silver stag. It was super cute. They were my favorites.

The Chamber of Secrets. 

Book 2 is their favorite.  Well they have only read 1-3 so out of those it is their favorite. 

Our first stop was the train station to meet Harry and Hagrid as they came off the train.  It was nice to walk through the downtown area and see what they had done to make it feel Harry Potter-ish. 

On our way to Hufflepuff Village we stopped and got sorted.  Lydia and I were sorted into Hufflepuff, Jared was Gryffindor but he totally answered the question so he would be put in that house (red is not his favorite color!) and Mark was put into Ravenclaw.  This was Mark's first time being "sorted" in any manner.  Huffflepuff village which was located at Mary Baldwin College.  Their school colors are yellow and black so they were a natural fit to host Hufflepuff activities.  We tried our first ever Butterbeers and Lydia bought herself a snitch cupcake. 

We stopped by the Herbology classroom to complete a scavenger hunt (finding plants) and meet Ginny.  And then walked over to the arts and crafts area.  They practiced writing with a quill much harder than you would think and made snitch's. 

We met the four founders and stopped by a chocolate shop on our way back to the shuttle pick up spot.  The chocolate shop had lots of fun Harry Potter themed chocolates and were super busy.  Jared and Lydia each got a chocolate frog and Jared also got some of the beans of every flavor. 

Lydia ditched her robes about 30 minutes in. 

There were selfie spots all over the place but this was our favorite one.

It was a very well organized event and tons of people showed up.  I'm really not sure why Lydia was so grumpy so much of the day but they both want to go back again next year so we will have to look it up again.  It was fun to see everyone dressed up and the things they came up with.  They even had life size wizards chess.  It was a great day! Jared was in heaven.

UVA week 1

My first week of work went really well.  I got completely lost tying to find my parking garage on the way in and then completely lost again trying to walk back to it after work.  In the morning I called my supervisor after driving up and down the same street looking for the garage and she gave me some tips and then offered to come pick me up and drive me to the building. Those are the kind of people I am working with.  So thoughtful.  Its about a 12 - 15 minute walk from my parking garage (I am on the years long waiting list for a spot closer to it) to my building.  It depends on how fast I feel like walking. I had asked Jen my supervisor for directions to the garage after work and then I got all turned around.  What should have been an easy walk took me over 35 minutes.  The good thing is that I was able to figure it out myself only asking one random stranger for help.  Now that I have done it consecutive days I laugh at myself because it is so easy.  I don't really mind the walk it makes me feel like I am back in school myself and is good for me. I haven't quite figured out how to fit running into my new schedule on weekdays so at least I am doing something.  I am not sure how I will feel about it in the middle of winter but I think I will love it this Fall.  My supervisor has offered to pick me up from the garage in the morning on days she can which is super nice.

I wish the counter was a little lower.  Its hard to see over my screens and the counter.  I'm going to bring in some pictures for that back bulletin board.  Using 2 screens the first day was so confusing.  One week later I love it.  I loved walking in and seeing my name plate on the first day. 

Once I got to the office my first day went well.  They had a welcome breakfast for me which was really kind.  It was great to meet some people and sooner or later I will remember their names.  I had all kinds of training to do which was super boring.  Most of the trainings have been online so I can do them at my desk but there were some assessments I did at home last night.  I have two classes I have to attend in other buildings but am happy I got done what I could.  The two girls I will be working with the most (Jen and Jennifer) told me that the online trainings are not really that helpful but once I finish them they will do hands on trainings and it will help a lot more.  Hopefully this week I can do more of my actual day to day duties but so far I am really happy this is where I ended up.  It has been fascinating to learn about all the things professors do.  I had no idea.  I especially had no idea about how often they are dealing with money!  They have all kinds of allotments and reports they have to fill out and grants to distribute.  It's been pretty interesting.  Not the money but just all the other things they do.

Back to school and UVA

It has been super hot and humid here lately.  This weather has made me really appreciate how much we got out of town this summer.  A few people have talked about how rough it was and I love that we chose to go places that were never over 80 degree and had no humidity.  It was great.

Monday we went kayaking in the morning and it sucked all the energy out of Mark and I.  Jared and Lydia had fun jumping off the dock and collecting lost balls from the dog park and throwing them back onto the shore there. We got back from running a few errands and I laid down on the bed and fell right asleep for at least 45 minutes.  Fortunately we are getting a break this upcoming week and I am so grateful.  Sadly the rain started yesterday which was supposed to be the school bike rodeo.  I volunteered to run the event and am sad that it had to be put off.  The school was in a flash flood area so it had to be postponed.  It would have been really hot and unpleasant but it would have been done! It hasn't been an overwhelming amount of work but a lot of emailing with people and waiting to hear back from others.  I prefer things that I can just do and be done with, not have to wait on.  It is rescheduled for the 28th and hopefully the weather cooperates.

I love that tree in the back there, Fall is coming!  I notice it each year as one of the first to change. 

Lydia and Jared are both doing well at school.  Lydia really misses her kindergarten teacher and friends from that class.  She likes her new teacher fine but doesn't come home talking about how much she loves school like she did last year with Ms. Hunter.  She typically takes some time to get to know people and make new friends but towards the end of this week she came home talking about people she sat by at lunch and played with and was really happy about it.  There were a few days where she said she sat by herself (her choice) or ended up by people she didn't want to be by so we have had a lot of talks about choosing to talk to people and sit by them and it seems to be working for her.  She went to a birthday party today and was really excited about it.  She talked about it all week, it was a princess party and Cinderella came to visit.  She has been over princess's for a good while but enjoyed being with girls from her class.  It was a party for 2 sisters and there were 25+ 5 and 6 year olds there!  It was crazy but they all seemed to have a good time.

 

They sent home Pop Rocks in the party favor bag and Lydia enjoyed trying them for the first time.  It was fun to watch her experience them.  

Jared is having a great time in 3rd grade.  I went to back to school night and really like his teachers.  They are really great and seem to really love teaching.  He is happy to go to school each day.  They still use way more technology than I would prefer but there is not a whole lot I can do about it when the district is all for it.  Jared was given the job of "Calvin Care" and will be in charge of the class guinea pig all year.  One of his teachers seems to really like animals and wanted to get a 2nd guinea pig for Calvin to have a friend.  She invited Jared to come meet her at Petco when they were ready to choose the new one.  He and Mark went today and he had a fun time.  It was really nice of her to include Jared and he and Mark had a nice little date after.  I am so happy things seem to be going well for him in that class.  I am anxious to see how it plays out all year.  He also started soccer this week and is happy to be playing.  Mark is the assistant coach for his team.  Lydia opted not to play this year and was a little sad when she saw all her friends there on the field but in the end I think it was a good choice for her.  She is always tired of it half way through the season.  Maybe taking this year off will make her want to play next year.  If not then no big deal. 

And for the biggest news this week I got a new job!  About 2 weeks ago I wrote up a new resume and started applying for various administrative assistant jobs at UVA.  I heard back from the Department of Chemical Engineering asking for a screening interview.  I was so excited I literally jumped around my house and did ridiculous dances.  I had that phone call on Tuesday at 2:30.  I was called back that same day around 4:30 to schedule an in person interview for Thursday at 11:30.  It was such a great feeling.  

Thursday came and I left my house an hour early because I knew I would have a hard time with parking.  When we go to UVA we park in two places: the parking garage by the bookstore or the lot by the soccer fields.  They instructed me to park in Lot T4 by the stadium.  I found the stadium perfectly easily but could not find lot T4.  After driving around, parking in a more empty lot and trying to look it on on the map I was beginning to panic.  I hate finding parking.  It stresses me out big time.  As I was feeling hopeless and nervous, as time was ticking by I looked out my window and noticed an older gentleman walking by.  I hopped out of my car and asked him for directions.  He stopped to give them to me and I looked at this complete stranger and said "can you ride in my car with me to it?  Do you have time?" I am sure he was totally shocked but parking brings it out in me!  I knew I would not find the lot otherwise and did not want to be late to the interview.  I had a back up plan to go park at the bookstore like we have in the past and then hopefully have time to walk to the building from there but luckily he saved me.  He was so generous with his time and a complete gentleman.  He kindly helped me find the lot and then helped me get to the area where the engineering buildings were. He wasn't sure which building was chemical engineering but got me right near it.  I ended up asked a student too but he was a first year and didn't know either.  I walked forward a bit and magically found the sign for the building.   So many answered prayers right there.  I got in the building and then had to get a parking permit (the professor (John) warned me this would happen and told me stories of how bad the parking was and how it was strongly enforced.  He once got a ticket for leaving his car unattended while running into a building to drop off a paper.  He was only gone 4 minutes).  I told the interview people (Jennifer and Jen) that even if I didn't get the job the fact that I found parking and the building were success stories.  So I went back to my car to place the permit, found my way back to the building and had 10 minutes to spare.  

The interview went well.  Jennifer and Jen seem really nice and easy to work with.  I met Bill the Department head and he seems pretty easy going.  I had talked to a friend earlier in the week who works at UVA and mentioned what department it was for and he said that he knew a lot of the professors and there was really just one crazy guy so thats good?  It seemed that my preschool experience was actually a big plus to them.  They commented on how I worked with 4 year olds so I must be very patient which would be needed with some professors.  The department head talked about how sometimes they need a little hand holding and sometimes they get a little full of themselves.  I hadn't done an interview like that in quite some time so I was happy that I had answers on the spot and that I felt as calm as I did.  After it was done I couldn't really see any reason why they  would not hire me.  That afternoon I got a text from one of my references saying that she had just written a raving reference for me for UVA.  I hadn't actually told her I had applied.  I hate telling people things like that because then if I don't get the job I have to tell them which is like admitting I wasn't good enough which I hate.  So hearing that they were checking references was a good sign. 

I was called Friday afternoon and offered the job.  It was such a good feeling.  I will be working Monday - Friday from 8:00 - 12:00 as the front desk person.  The schedule is amazing.  I am not entirely sure of all my duties but will be doing things like: giving tours, answering calls, arranging travel, ordering supplies, greeting people and answering questions, sorting mail, handing out keys and general organizing of files and such.  In the Spring they hold a seminar and when that person arrives I will be helping them a lot with class rosters and assignments which is really similar to what I did back at BYU Idaho for Brother Pulsipher.  That was my most favorite job I have ever had and I vowed that one day I would work at a university again and now I get to only 15 years later.  Jared and Lydia both prayed for me a good amount this week and all our prayers were answered which is a nice bonus too, for them to have that experience and have it answered so clearly.  I am so excited!  I start September 24th.  The position is year round so it will be odd when I leave for work next Summer but luckily for us Mark is home Summers so we don't even have to worry about care for Jared and Lydia.  I am so thankful this job has the hours it does.  Getting to be at UVA and still be able to pick up Jared and Lydia, to not have to pay for care for them is awesome.  And I will still have time to get errands done before I have to pick them up.  I am so grateful this is our new plan.  It was hard each summer to know that our income was going to be smaller since I wasn't teaching preschool and it was so stressful waiting to find out if I would have a class or not, I hated it.  I am sad to not teach preschool as I built a solid curriculum/business and really did plan to teach for many years but I can see how this will be so good for our family.  Go Hoos! 

Day trip to Atlanta

I have wanted to go check out World of Coca Cola for years and today we went and did it.  We got up early to catch the 6:05 flight to Atlanta and then caught the 5:45 flight back.  Mark actually had to leave Atlanta early to go to work.  He took the flight before ours and got back to Charlottesville a little after 3:00 and then changed his clothes at the airport and went to work.  For whatever reason the flight schedule changed today so he was supposed to work from 3:00 - 9:30 instead of 6:00 - 12:00 only he didn't know this before we planned this trip.  He got there at 3:15 I think so that was pretty good.

Today turned out to be a really busy day in Atlanta.  There were 2 big college football games and dragoncon, which appears to be for science fiction and fantasy.  When we got off the metro we started seeing tons of people in costumes.  Jared and Lydia spotted a few Harry Potter costumes and were pretty excited.  There were some pretty risqué outfits which was slightly awkward to explain to your kids especially since we had no idea who they were dressed up as but everyone seemed to be having a great time.  The stop we got off at was right in the middle of their parade route.  We got there about 1.5 hours before the parade started.  We were totally not expecting that on this trip.  We were all really hungry and stopped by Waffle House to eat.  I had never been to Waffle House and I can't wait to go again.  It was so simple and delicious and sticky.

We walked through the Centennial Olympic Park and spent about 20 minutes at the playground.  We arrived in Atlanta at about 7:30 and the World of Coca Cola doesn't open until 9:00.  It ended up working great as we had time to eat and be outside in the nicer weather.

When we got inside it was not crowded at all which was great.  Their opening "movie" actually made me tear up.  Coca Cola has some master advertisers!  There are lots of fun rooms and cool historic artifacts (including the first container used to "sell" coca cola from, its from 1886!).  There is a screening room where you can watch all of their old commercials, a vault where they keep the hidden formula, a room full of pop culture, a 4-D movie and the amazing tasting room.  It was a fun place to visit.  I was sad you couldn't actually see coca cola being made but you could walk through a room with all the machinery just no product.  Its odd to think that a pharmacist invented Coca Cola and it was a major science experiment.  The first day it was sold was May 8, 1886 and it sold for .5 cents which was the same price as a loaf of bread then. It was great to have something fun and historic with some science mixed in too.

"The Vault"  Supposedly they keep the formula for Coca Cola in there.  

The secret formula was really played up.  It was fun for Jared especially. 

Mark and I loved seeing all the international signs. 

The Tasting Room:
There are over 100 drinks you can taste in there.  It was cool to try drinks we had never heard of before.  There were soda fountains set up for all the regions Coca Cola is in.  Latin America, North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.  We liked the Latin America and North America ones the most.  Its crazy how many Fanta flavors there are.  We really liked the Pineapple one sold in Greece, well Mark and I did.  We aren't really big soda people but it was fun to do something different like this. They also had quite a few of those machines where you can mix drinks together and they were fun to try too.

We hung out inside for about an hour after Mark left and then went back to the playground for a little bit.  Soon we got too hot and moved over to the water displays on the other side of the Olympic park. Jared and Lydia loved splashing around. I don't think you are really supposed to but I let Jared and Lydia do it anyway and nobody seemed to care.  I was actually impressed with how dry their clothes stayed.

We walked back to the train station and then took the train back to the airport.  I rely on Mark a lot for all our transportation/direction needs when we travel.  It felt great to be able to make it through the park, back to the train station and to the airport by myself with Jared and Lydia.  I don't feel a need to regularly do it but its great to know that I can.  We got through security, found some food to eat and then waited to see if we would be cleared for our flight.  Luckily we were and made it back to Charlottesville by 7:00.  It was a great day trip and really fun that we could do it.  It is an 8.5 hour drive from our house to Atlanta so there is no way we would do it in a day trip without Mark working at the airport.  We are trying to put those benefits to use when we can.