Friday morning surprise

I set out to finally do a 3 mile run today.  Same plan as 2 weeks ago, leave from our house, run to the end of the lake and complete the 3 miles without having to run up the huge steep hill to get back to our house. And the exact same thing happened as 2 few weeks ago. Two trucks with hot air balloons in the truck beds passed by me. They were getting ready to fill them up and take off from the Lake again. Today I did not have an inner battle with myself, I just turned around and ran home (I think I did one mile).  And I am glad I turned around.  It was fun and beautiful! I feel like these pictures were really pretty and Jared and Lydia had such a good time.

Once home I walked in the door and yelled!  "Hot Air Balloons!" And Jared and Lydia came running up from the basement and ran to get dressed.  We grabbed a muffin to go and drove over.  This time was even better as the balloons were still being laid out when we got there.  The lake was beautiful with a nice layer of mist above it and the remaining Fall leaves.  We saw 3 balloons inflate and lift off and it was magical.  I told my family that tomorrow I would take my phone with me when I attempt this run again and call if I get passed by the trucks carrying the balloons and baskets because I really would like to run three miles before my 5K and Thanksgiving is barely month away.

This tree is amazing! 

Jared does not have school again until next Wednesday and Mark has next Tuesday off (I don't recall ever having election day off growing up but they do it every Fall here it appears) and I am so looking forward to having some fun mornings at home with him and Lydia just like the good old days.

outdoor fun with great scenery!

We have had a really pretty Fall here.  I remember being slightly disappointed last year in the Fall colors. I was so excited to be in Viriginia for a Fall, on the East Coast or much closer to it and while there were plenty of pretty trees it didn't seem that widespread and seemed mostly yellow and brown.  This year has been much more colorful.  I love it!! A "local" friend, born and raised here in Virginia (35 minute from Charlottesville) commented that she feels like this Fall has been one of the more colorful ones in the last few years. We drive down a road out in "the country" more now that we are in our new house and it has been so fun to see it change colors.  Our own street has been super colorful too.  There was a pretty steady rain last night and some wind today so a lot of the leaves are gone now.  Fortunately we got in some beautiful outings around town before it started to go away. I hope warmer weather holds out for awhile even after the colorful leaves are gone.  It's so fun to drive down a street and see lots of colors and to also see what I like to call "Show off Trees".  They just stand out, the ones that are just so colorful and full.  It has been so beautiful.

 Sunday we went on a family walk before church.  We just walked down out street and enjoyed being outside.  I am so happy that we ended up buying a house on a "street" that has so many trees and was so colorful.

After church we headed over to the Monticello Trail.  We hadn't been in awhile and heard that the colors were peaking and we were not disappointed. Lydia and I go walking there fairly often with my good friend Tara but Mark and Jared had not been in months so they were especially happy to go.  It is such a nice, easy, beautiful walk. This time we parked at Monticello and started our walk from the opposite end we normally do.  It was a beautiful day and we were glad we made it.

 Perfect "Look at me tree"

On Monday for FHE we decided to take a little hike around Chris Greene Lake and then have a campfire at home.  The hike was short and perfect.  We invited our friends the Shaw's to come and enjoyed going with them. It was perfect Fall weather and when we got home we roasted hot dogs and then made S'mores and had a little lesson.  We really didn't get to use our fire pit much in September because it was really rainy so we have been trying to make up for it.  In the last 2 weeks we have had 3 campfires.  It's so nice to have it there.

Admittedly it is fairly stressful to have 4 kids 8 and under putting sticks in the fire.  They did a good job being safe. 

Our same friends, the Shaw's installed a zip line in their side yard this weekend and they invited us over to try it out.  Jared and Lydia were thrilled.  It was super fun!  I always see her after school when we pick up our kids so she mentioned that they had set it up and invited us over so we took her up on it.  Jared and Lydia were so happy to go to their house.  At least 2 days a week either Tyler or Jared ask if we can have a play date.  It was fun to surprise them with one.  And zip line!  It was great. I was not a very helpful person with the zip line as I totally missed Lydia once and she got to the end of the line and got jerked around pretty good.  It was like her feet hit the tree holding the rope and it bounced her up so she hit her head on the box the cable runs through.  I felt so awful. She took a little break then got right back on! I also totally messed up with Jared.  I had walked him up the the top of the line and on that end there is a ladder you use to get on the zip line.  The zip line has a cord attached to it so you can pull it back to the starting point. Well, the chord got stuck on the ladder and as Jared was zipping down he got stopped mid zip.  We had to untangle the chord while hoping he didn't fall out.  He totally pulled the ladder with him and dropped it.  I am so glad both kids held on tight!  I am maybe not to be trusted around the zip line.  We also attended their older Sam's baptism on Friday.  It was fun to go and support them.  It is great to attend baptisms of friends in particular as Jared and Lydia know them and can related to them.  It is fun to hear them talk about being baptized.  

We also went over to a friend's house for an "autumn potluck".  There were a lot of people from our old ward there and it was fun to visit with them.  We played frisbee with Jared and Lydia and Jared is really starting to figure it out.  He even caught the Frisbee once which he was pretty stoked about.  We feel so blessed to have such fun friends here in Charlottesville. We knew lot of great people in Colorado but I feel like we get together and do fun outings much more often here.  Jared and Lydia are old enough for it to work well and I have met such great people. Its nice to have friends! We do love it here!

Saturday morning Surprise!

I went out for a run Saturday morning with the intention of completing a longer run.  During the week I have been only doing 2 miles at a time and I just signed up for a Thanksgiving 5K so I need to start adding some distance. I planned on running to Chris Greene Lake and then walking back home because there is huge hill you go down. I turned on to Chris Greene Lake Rd and was about half way down when 5 pick up trucks passed me in a row. In the back of each truck was a hot air ballon basket.  I then had a decision to make.  Did I stick with my plan and do my longer run or try to run back home and get everyone to the Lake in time to see the balloons be filled up and launched?  I thought about this as I continued running and had decided I would just finish my run because Jared had to leave for soccer in like 30 minutes and we hadn't even eaten when I left so we most likely would not see them anyway but then I couldn't do it. I turned around and ran back as quick as I could.  I walked in the door and let Mark know what I was hoping to do.  He had already had Jared get dressed so he quickly finished the eggs and ham and then let his Mom know what was up and got Lydia dressed. I gathered up soccer things, picnic things, coats and a hat to cover my gross sweaty hair and we were off for an impromptu breakfast picnic at the lake.  We did not tell Jared and Lydia why were taking our breakfast to go but enjoyed their excitement when we got to the lake and they saw the balloons. I am so glad we made it in time to catch one.  Three were already up in the air but at least we saw one.  We could only stay for like 10 minutes then had to hightail it over to soccer.  It was a really fun surprise outing. I love hot air balloons and would love to go on another ride. One day we will take Jared and Lydia. Maybe we will catch them again another week.  I asked they ballooners if they came here pretty often (we have seen them one other time as they floated over our house) and he said it just depends on the wind.  I am so glad it worked out. It was really pretty and fun to see how excited Jared, Lydia and even Sue were.

Sunday drive

After church on Sunday we took nice drive (because we hadn't already done enough driving lately) up into Shenandoah National Park.  It was only about 30 minutes from our house and so pretty.  The colors were not as vibrant as in New England but Virginia peaks later than New England since it is milder.  It was a beautiful day, a little windy up there but still nice and I am glad we could go drive up there. We didn't go into the park last year and it was so nice to do it this time. We really haven't spent any time up there since we moved and I hope we can start going more.  It is so pretty with the rolling mountains or layers of them.  I am glad Sue could see it and we had some leftover chocolate from our factory tour so I willingly put it to use to try and get some nice pictures with our kids.  They were good sports and even found some leaves to play in.  We do live in a beautiful place!

Its hard to see the colors but they are out there. 

Kindergarten Field Trip

Last Friday Jared's kindergarten class went on a field trip to a Pumpkin Patch so Sue, Lydia and I came along.  It was a beautiful Fall day and a fun little place.  They mostly just went to play, there wasn't any real instruction and all the kids seemed to have a great time. Lydia loved it and Jared had fun with friends.  The pumpkin patch (Round Hill Farm) was just under an hour away near Culpepper. There was not enough space on the bus so the three of us drove out there and I got lost going out there and coming back.  That was a bummer but it was a beautiful drive, at least where I got lost going it was.  Once we got there we played for a bit, went on a hay ride (always my favorite) and then played some more and then had lunch with his class.  I will say that this farm was one of the more smellier pumpkin patch's I have been to.  I am not sure if it was just because everything was down wind of the animals (probably) but man it was smelly.  Lydia had a blast and Sue had a lot of fun hanging out with her. She stuck with Lydia most of the time while I stayed with Jared.  There was some overlap but not too much.  I am glad we could go but wonder if Jared would even care if I did not go? I have always wanted to stay at home and go on my kids field trips and be in their classes but it wasn't really as fun as I thought it would be. Not that it was bad but they were just playing and I was not assigned a group of kids to "watch" out for. I was just there.  Next week his class is having a Fall Festival in class on Thursday (they have no school Friday, Monday and Tuesday!) during preschool. I told Jared I would not be able to come since it was during preschool and he was totally cool with it and told me "he would just have fun with Miss Julie" (His friend Tyler's mom).  I am glad he wasn't upset about it but am a little sad I can't be in his class.  His teacher really does not want parents in there to volunteer so parties like this are kind of the only way to be in there. Especially now that his birthday has passed.  I so wish I could see Jared in that environment but I guess I would prefer it to be when things were going as normal.  I hope he has a great time, I am sure he will.

 They were such friends on this trip. Once Jared left for school Lydia would go downstairs and cuddle with Sue.  Sue said her morning visits from Lydia were one of her favorite parts of this trip. 

 They both loved this rope swing and did it again and again.