Spring Break 2014

Sam had the first spring break of his educational career. We began our non-stop party by working on a garden all day last Saturday (plus a soccer game). We're almost done.

 Good news on the tree front. All of the 12 trees we bought last fall seem to be alive with the exception of one. Above is our peach tree. It's got a net on it to keep away deer. We'll take it off once our garden is enclosed.

Below is our cherry tree. (It's just a blossoming tree - no fruit.)

 A day's work. I'll put up more pics once it's done.

Sunday was a typical Sunday for us. Monday we kicked things off with a trip to Lowe's (we've got to keep the spring break expectations low, right?) and then a trip to the playground. Five minutes in, Afton said she needed to go #2 so we went to Kroger (I needed a few things) and then she said she didn't need to go anymore. Typical. Then we went downtown to have a picnic with Dan. It was a beautiful day.

Tuesday we headed west to Charlottesville. It was really rainy so meeting Grandma C at the bounce house place was the perfect solution. Then we met up with Grandpa for lunch at Bodo's, followed by a stop to the Cook-Out for a delicious shake. Then back to their house for a few hours of fun.

Wednesday was a lazy day. We cleaned up the disastrous toy room. Afton took a four-hour nap. (She needed it!)

Thursday was spent prepping for our camping adventure. Isn't it ridiculous how much stuff you need to camp for one night?

Dan left work early and called me to let me know that he had been rear-ended on his way home. Not a great way to start the adventure, but we still went, just a little later than we would have liked. We went to Pocahontas State Park because it's just a short drive away. This was the smokiest fire I have ever seen. My eyes were on fire.

 We had a delicious dinner of hot dogs and pringles followed by 'smores and candy. Typical camping fare. That night we froze our rears off. It got down to 36 and we were all really cold. In the morning Dan whipped up eggs and sausage which we scarfed down and then we ran back into our sleeping bags for the next hour or so.

After we warmed up a little bit, we took a hike. It wasn't the prettiest - gray skies, not too many leaves on trees, but it was still nice and I was proud of the kids for walking the whole way.

 Well, almost the whole way.

Saturday G&G Cheney came over and we headed over to Busch Gardens for a day full of fun. Mom rode two of the big roller coasters and Dad rode all of them. Sam was tall enough for a few, too, but after the first one scared him, he wasn't interested in the other.

Sunday began with resurrection rolls and then a chocolate egg hunt. Anytime Afton saw one she would yell, "FOUND ONE!" and then laugh maniacally.

 After church we had a delicious dinner. Afton helped me prepare our bunny cake.

 Then Dan and Dad hid plastic eggs in the front yard.

It was a great spring break and a wonderful Easter. Now it's back to the real world.

Charlottesville Half Marathon

New Year's Eve, Dan and I were sitting around watching the terrible TV options available on such a night (I think it was Ryan Seacrest's New Year's Eve or something) (we don't have cable), and I guess we got talking about things we'd like to do in 2014. We thought it would be fun to try another half. Charlottesville was perfect because it gave us enough time to train and my parents could hopefully watch the kids. After we called and made sure they were good with that, we signed up. (The price went up the next day.)

We trained all winter, which was pretty tough considering how cold and snowy this winter was. Dan ran outside all the time, but I mostly ran on the treadmill at the gym a lot until the past few months or so when the weather got much nicer.

Anyway, race day finally came and last Saturday we laced up our sneakers to run. Dan decided to run with me the whole way, which was really helpful. I had two goals: The first was to beat my time from last year (2:26) and the second was more specific - get under 2:15. (That would be approx 10:17/mile. I'm not very fast.)

Before the race.

Like I mentioned, having Dan run with me was really great. He kept me going. It was a pretty hilly course and there was a big hill at mile 11 where I walked for the last little bit, but other than that, we ran (shuffled, really) the whole way. For Dan it was a breeze, but it was tough for me. We finished with a time of 2:15:37. SO close. Guess I'll have to run one more someday.

 Big thank you to Mom and Dad who watched our kids and came to cheer us on.

Visitors Part 2

Dan's parents came the same week that Candice did. They flew in on Wednesday afternoon. We ate and visited.

Thursday Dan had to work. I took his parents to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, which is actually a really great art museum. Plus, it's free! Dan's mom loves to paint, so she loved this place. Afton did alright for a while but then wanted to go sit on the orange swivel chairs in the lobby area. So we waited for them down there.

 On the same lot as the art museum is a Confederate Memorial Chapel. The whole block (and then some) was used as a big compound to provide housing and other amenities to destitute Confederate soldiers after the Civil War.

Some protesters were standing outside the chapel holding up confederate flags. (The city made them remove the confederate flag that hung at the chapel, so people come and stand there holding their own confederate flags.)

Friday I spent the day with Candice. Dan took his parents to the Confederate White House and Museum. 

Saturday we went to Busch Gardens. It was a rainy day, so we had the park to ourselves. There were so few people that we got to park in preferred parking and walk right up on pretty much every ride. We wore ponchos and the slight inconvenience of drizzle was worth it! We had a lot of fun. Dan talked his parents onto going on some roller coasters, which was the highlight of the day, I think.

Good times had by all.

Sunday was church and chillaxin'. We also played three games of Blokus, which Dan won handily. We kept playing hoping that someone else would win. Never happened. Monday Dan took his parents to another Civil War site and then on a scenic walk on Belle Island. I think he took pictures with his phone, so if he did, I'll add them soon. After Sam got out of school, we drove the Dursts to the airport. It was fun to have them visit!