Family Picture Outtakes

When we took pictures of the kiddos, there were some that inevitably didn't turn out. Here's some of the funnier ones.

love Ocean's side eye

all sorts of things happening in this one, tho I do like Ocean's smile

Ocean looks like he's posing for one of those 80's double silhouette photos

River's cheesing it up and Ocean is done

I told them to stick their fingers in their ears. The boys both did one ear.

the boys trying to do "I'm watching you" with their fingers

this is so Ocean: a blur of movement while everyone else does what they're supposed to

Ocean found his pockets!

love River and Sunshine's expressions

Ocean again :) totally looking at the wrong camera

Weekly Mileage #87 and the Turkey Trot

Monday while Sunshine was at class the boys and I went on another hike with the jogger. It's definitely a good idea to bring it along for when it's needed. River likes pushing it, so it gives him something to do as well.

Tuesday I rode my bike and kept my speed up the whole time. I had some nice sore muscles afterwards. It feels good to be sweating and working hard again.

Wednesday morning I took River back to the ER to get his staples out (they don't charge for it, but we were at the mercy of triage principles). We lucked out again and were in and out very quickly. River had been worrying about the removal process ever since they were put in and in his words "really wanted them removed slowly, so it wouldn't hurt" and reminded me multiple times leading up to this day to tell the nurse this. In the end, I distracted him with my phone and the nurse did a great job getting them out quickly and painlessly. River didn't cry- just flinched a little at the tugging. So brave!

Afterwards, we ran some errands- a little Mommy/River time. We stopped at the Lindt store to get a couple chocolates, but I got glutened by one of them :( Most Lindt chocolate (the best around, IMO), is sweetened with barley malt, so I can't eat it anymore. There are a few that I can though, so I always read the labels, and haven't had a problem till now. Either the bin was mis-labeled or I grabbed one that was in the wrong bin.

Thankfully, it wasn't the worst reaction I've had and I didn't have insomnia, so while the other reactions were uncomfortable, at least I was able to sleep. I have enough sleep issues without adding gluten-induced insomnia to the mix.

Wednesday afternoon we finally got some good pics of the kiddos for our Christmas cards. I've been trying to find a time for weeks, and just haven't managed it. The beautiful fall scenery was gone, but the pics turned out pretty good, even if we were losing light.

We did our annual Turkey Trot Thursday morning. Mr M and Sunshine walked and pushed Ocean in the jogger. River and I ran a good chunk of the course. It was my slowest time (by 3 minutes) on this course in the 9 years I've run it, but since I'd only run a total of half a mile in the 10.5 weeks previous and am recovering from a broken foot, this was not at all unexpected.

River and I at the start of the race

On the other hand, I only had a few twinges in my foot, and it felt so good to get running again, even if I am out of shape. River did great, and could have run more if I'd been up for it. On the way home, he asked when our next race was :) Probably not till March, kiddo. I need to work on getting back into shape. Running 3 miles (well probably about 1.5-2 miles) a week after getting the ok to ease into running was not what my doc had in mind. So I'll back off for a bit and work back into things. I checked the race results when we got home, and River was the youngest (5 years old) to complete the 5k!

After we finished, River and I walked back and walked everyone else to the finish

2018:   44:58  (two and a half months after breaking my foot)
2017: 36:42
2016: 41:59 (pushing both boys in the jogger)
2015: 33:30
2014: 34:22
2013: 35:35
2012: 37:58 (pushing Sunshine in the jogger)
2011: 32:44
2010: 35:05 (pushing Sunshine in the jogger)

Friday we went on an #OptOutside hike at Shenandoah NP. We got a later start than planned, so just did an out-and-back to a waterfall, rather than the loop that went to the waterfall. I think the loop would have been better- it looked like it might have offered a view of the waterfall from below. We only got a view from above, which was underwhelming, to say the least. We couldn't see much at all.

the top of the waterfall- this was all we could see

The trail was icy and snowy in a lot of places, which we weren't expecting. We knew it'd be cold, but hadn't realized there'd been so much snow last week and that it was still hanging around in the shady spots. We haven't hiked on snowy trails in years. Maybe when Sunshine was Ocean's age? We hiked to Devil's Tower in Colorado on a snow-covered trail. I guess you could count our very snowy hunting trip in 2010, but that was just Mr M and I (and his dad and brother)- no kiddos.

Ocean kept slipping and falling- that snow is actually ice-covered snow, not soft snow. He'd pop right back up, though.

Anyway, while we dressed for cold weather, we definitely did some slipping and sliding. I have a pair of YakTrax at home, but no one else has anything to help with traction. It's one of those things that just isn't needed here that often. In fact, I've never had cause to use them here- we just don't get enough ice and snow, and what we do get, rarely hangs around. So while they would have been handy on this occasion, I don't know that we'll actually get any while we continue to live here.

We planned to go to the drive in theater Saturday to watch the new Harry Potter movie, but the shows were canceled because of freezing rain. They'll be open this weekend as well, for the last showing of the year, but they won't be showing the Harry Potter movie, so we'll skip it.

I took advantage of Mr M being home for a couple days on vacation to list a bunch of stuff on eBay. I've been meaning to do it for awhile, but just haven't had the time. It did take awhile, but I got everything listed. Hopefully it all sells soon so we can get rid of it. I can feel that time of year coming: the time to declutter the house. I find myself doing it around February or March of every year, though I might get an early start this year.

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 1.81 miles hiked
Tuesday- 15.00 miles biked
Thursday- 3.20 miles run/walked- Turkey Trot
            .77 miles walked after the Turkey Trot
Friday- 2.30 miles hiked
total- 12.4 miles

32 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
2.14 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

346.47 foot miles towards #365milechallenge
325.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
673.61 miles total

Sunday Funny

Ocean, holding Daddy's phone: "Siwi, please sign in Dad's phone."

(nothing happens, obviously)

Ocean yelling: Siwi! Sign in NOW!

Siri: "How can I help you?"

Ocean, getting frustrated and yelling: "No! Siwi, sign in!"

This went on for a bit before he gave up in frustration. Gotta love the unreal expectations of a 3 year old :)

Weekly Mileage #86 and Return to Running

I spent some quality time with my bike this week. My bum is still sore, but I only need to ride 10 miles a week for the rest of the year to reach 365 for the year.

Wednesday I had my followup with my orthopedic doc. My foot is still healing well and I got the ok to slowly start adding in some running. Yay!

So naturally Thursday I spent some time on the treadmill. I walked for a mile, then slowly started jogging, but only managed about 30 seconds of running before the power went out. It flickered on and off a few times before staying off for the next hour or so. Such a letdown! Running felt pretty good for the 30 seconds I managed, but I had to wait till the power came back on to finish my workout. I walked some more to warm up again, then slowly ran a quarter mile, then walked some more to cool down.

Saturday my friend C and I finally managed to get our schedules to line up (we've been trying for the last month) and went for a walk. It was a hilly walk, so we definitely got a workout. I slowly ran another quarter mile, most of it down a hill, though the last bit was uphill. I've got some sore muscles, but it feels good to have them.

Wednesday Sunshine was supposed to have her nature class campout, but it got canceled because of bad weather. The forecast called for 100% chance of snow around 2am, followed by freezing rain. If it was just snow, it would have been ok, but the freezing rain was the deal breaker. So they stayed long enough to cook dinner over a fire and do the whole campfire thing, and then all the kids went home. The next morning we woke up to freezing rain and ice.

Definitely glad we didn't have to drive in that icy nastiness. Areas of the state further north received quite a bit of snow, which would have been nice, but we just had sleet, rain, and power outages. Not nearly as fun.

Before all the bad weather though, after we dropped off Sunshine, the boys and I took a hike up the canyon from where she was. We've done the hike before, but I wanted to see what it was like in the fall. We missed the bright colors of the changing leaves, but it was still pretty. And much wetter than I anticipated. All the rain we've gotten (it has been such a wet year) had the water running higher than the last time we did this hike. In fact some of the stepping stones have been washed down stream by the flash floods that have occurred in the last couple months.

the arrows are pointing to the same tree, the circles are around the same stand of three trees
the stepping stones should be in front of the three trees, but the only one left is at River's elbow

I brought the jogger so Ocean could ride in it, and he was much less whiny than he had been the last few hikes. Unfortunately, I forgot just how rocky the trail was, and it was a challenge to maneuver the  jogger over some of them. River took over pushing the jogger on the less rocky portions, so he and Ocean were happy. Definitely one of our better hikes.

* I'm not sure if the video loaded properly, so I'll check back Monday afternoon and update it if it doesn't work. So if it doesn't work, check back later!

Weekly Mileage
Tuesday- 15.00 miles biked
Wednesday- 1.50 miles hiked with jogger
Thursday- 2.10 miles walked on the treadmill
Friday- 10.00 miles biked
Saturday- 3.52 miles outside hills with C
total- 32.12 miles

30 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
 2.14 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

338.39 foot miles towards #365milechallenge
310.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
650.53 miles total

Sunday Funny

River was talking about which family member should be which super hero for Halloween.

"... and Mom should be McFurry."

"Wait, what should I be?"

"McFurry, he's a good guy with the Avengers"

"Oh, you mean the guy with the eye patch?"

"Yeah!"

"That's Nick Fury, not McFurry."

"Yeah, McFurry."

That's a losing battle.... :)

Weekly Mileage #85 and the ER Visit

Tuesday morning we stopped by the polling location on the way to music lessons. We lucked out and it was just misting down as we went in, and there was no line. Apparently there'd been one earlier, but our timing was great. We left just a few minutes later, and as we drove out of the parking lot, the rain started pouring down again. Even better timing!

I rode my bike on Tuesday. I had a few twinges from my foot flexing more than usual in my bike shoes, but nothing too bad. Twisting out of the clip at the end of my ride did hurt a bit though. I rode my bike again on Saturday and wore my boot to do it (I tied it to the pedal, like I did the first time I rode my bike after breaking my foot). This felt a lot better, since there was much less flexing going on in my foot and I didn't have to twist out of the clip.

Tuesday evening we took River to the ER for the first time (Sunshine's now the only one not to take a trip there yet). He and Sunshine were messing around in the kitchen just before bedtime and he fell backward and cut open his head on the corner of a cabinet. Like all head wounds, it bled like no other. I didn't look too closely at it (I don't do well with human blood), but Mr M felt it was big enough to need stitches. Sunshine put Ocean to bed (it's so nice to have a kiddo old enough to babysit!) and Mr M and I took River to the ER, with me holding a rag to the back of his head while Mr M drove.

staples = no shaved hair!

The ER doc decided to do two staples, instead of stitches, which was a super quick process. In fact, the whole visit only took about a half hour from the time we walked in the door to when we walked back out. Definitely unexpected, but such a blessing. River wasn't happy about the staples (they did hurt going in), but he got a popsicle and some stickers from the nurse, and he was pretty calm within a few minutes. It's healing well and after Wednesday it hasn't bothered him. We'll get the staples removed just before Thanksgiving.

The boys and I did some out-of-town sourcing on Wednesday after we dropped Sunshine off at nature class. On the way home we stopped in Shenandoah NP and hiked a small section of the Appalachian Trail.

Last week I talked about Ocean's ear situation. His pediatrician was out of town when we visited the audiologist, but once she returned she looked at his results and gave me a call to see if we wanted a referral to an ENT. Yes, please! So we've now got an appointment with an ENT scheduled for the end of the month.

Thursday we hiked one of the newer trails in our local trails park. The boys and I hiked part of it a few weeks back, but this time Sunshine was with us and we took the trail all the way to the back of the park. There's a number of new trails that branch off that one, so we'll be spending some more time exploring them. The trail we hiked goes past the very decrepit remains of an old homestead, a single grave, and a small grave yard. The park is hilly and covered in trees, but back in the 1860s people were living there and scratching a living out of the fields they cleared.

that stone with a corner cut into it is one of the last visible remains of either the foundation or a fireplace. there's another mound with a couple shaped stones nearby, but again, it's impossible to tell what their original purpose was.

I've realized that while illness at the beginning of the year and a broken foot in September have put us behind on our hikes, the weather is a factor as well. It's been a very rainy year, and while I don't mind hiking in the rain, I don't like hiking on muddy trails, especially now, with my foot still healing. I don't need to slip and fall again. We need to be doing an average of 3 hikes a week, but we're already behind on that because of rain that invariably falls on the days we have hiking time available. I'm still determined to do 52 hikes by the end of the year, though.

I've also realized that Ocean just is not ready to walk the entire time we hike. While I won't carry him on my back anymore (I don't need even more weight on my foot), I will start bringing the stroller so he can ride when he gets tired. Hopefully he won't need it for too long, but in the meantime it will make our hikes a lot more pleasant when he gets tired.

The VA ER doc did indeed get a followup appointment scheduled for Mr M, which he went to on Friday. The doc he saw wants to run a bunch of tests, but first wants to see if he needs to be seen at our local VA clinic. We had heard that our clinic referred everything to the VA hospital in the big city, which is why he went there to begin with. The doc thinks the smaller clinics contract stuff out to local medical professionals, so we should be able to get everything done locally. She's going to find out about it, so we're still in a bit of a holding pattern, but with hints of progress on the horizon.

Weekly Mileage
Tuesday- 10.0 miles biked
Wednesday- 1.19 miles hiked
Thursday- 2.60 miles hiked
Saturday- 10.0 miles biked
total- 23.79 miles

29 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
2.14 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

331.27 foot miles towards #365milechallenge
285.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
618.41 miles total

Sunday Funny

my little treehugger

River yawned, then said "my mouth is tired."

I asked, "but not the rest of you?"

"No, just my mouth."

Weekly Mileage #84 and the Super Productive Day

Halloween hike hugs

We had some warmer days pop up in the forecast, so I took the opportunity to start building our desk. Since I sold the buffet and school cupboard, we now have space in the living room for it. Which means once it's done, we will finally be able to get the laptops off the dining table.

What the desk looked like Wednesday- the pieces of plywood are sitting on top so we could get an idea of how it felt in the room. I didn't have the right size screws initially, so I just tacked it all together while we got a feel for it and decided if we liked the size or not. Then I took it apart, sanded it, and put it back together with glue and the correct screws.

Ocean had his follow-up audiology appointment. There's still fluid in both ears. His hearing in his right ear is about the same, but his left ear has worsened, though still isn't as bad as his right ear. On the plus side, they tested to see if he has permanent hearing loss, and he doesn't. His hearing is just muffled because of the fluid. We've got another follow-up in 6 weeks. Gah.

I had hoped we could move forward with getting tubes in, but they want to continue documenting the presence of fluid in his ears. I realize they want to document the on-going presence of fluid, but fluid has been an issue since he was born, so I feel like we're kind of past that at this point. If we take him to his primary care provider because his ears are bothering him, we can request an EENT referral. For the most part, his ears don't bother him, but since he's had these issues since he was born, it's probably more a matter of him not knowing any different. Though lately he has started telling us to "talk louder!" on occasion (I think it's related to his left ear being worse). Next time he says his ears are "owie," we're taking him to the doctor and getting things moving.

We got through the last of the Halloween festivities. I think the kids hit a total of 4 trunk or treats and Sunshine and River went trick or treating. Let's just say they don't need any more candy anytime soon.

Mr M's back has been bothering him a lot lately (he injured it doing PT with the Army when Sunshine was a baby), and he had an appointment with the VA Friday afternoon. Only it was canceled that morning (the dr was sick) and rescheduled for a month later. Instead of waiting four more weeks to get seen, he went to the ER at the VA clinic. As expected, it took forever, but at least he got seen. Supposedly the ER doc scheduled a follow-up with one of the primary care docs sometime this week, but we don't have the details on that yet, so we'll see if that actually happens.

this large branch fell and River wanted a picture with it before he threw it over the side of the deck (with some help from me)

Saturday I managed to have a very productive day, despite a bit of a slow start to the day. I spent some time on the treadmill, for the first time since I broke my foot. At first I was tempted to try a little slow jogging, but once the twinges in my foot started, I knew it was not the time for that. Hiking in my stiff hiking boots hasn't resulted in much pain at all. But walking in my much more flexible running shoes allows a lot more movement in my foot, which isn't what it's used to, resulting in some pain. Not bad, but enough to know that I need to be patient for a bit longer before I try any running.

After the treadmill, I cleaned up my craft area and, since I had wood and tools out already for the desk, I finally built shelves for all my GlowForge materials. I forgot to take a before picture, but trust me when I say this corner was a mess and it was impossible to find anything.

The shelves aren't fancy, but they are functional and I finally can easily find everything. While I was building the shelves, I had the GlowForge working on some ornament designs.

Once I finished the shelves, I went upstairs and worked on the desk some more. I need to caulk the base, then I can paint it. Once the base is done, I'll put the top on, which will be split down the middle and hinged so laptops and books can be stored in the desk.

ready for caulk and paint

Both boys were asleep by 6:30, which is totally unheard of, but they haven't been taking naps and they insist on getting up way too early, and it's catching up to them. Their early night meant I had a nice stretch of time in the evening to spend with the GlowForge, working on more projects. I don't always have such productive days, but it's nice when I do.

Weekly Mileage
Wednesday- 1.86 miles hiked
Friday- 2.23 miles hiked
Saturday- 1.55 miles walked on the treadmill
total- 5.64 miles

27 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
2.14 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

327.48 foot miles towards #365milechallenge
265.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
594.62 miles total

Sunday Funny

The boys decided to help me hike by hanging onto my staff. The resulting baby-steps-shuffle was not nearly as helpful as they thought, but it was sweet of them.

October Mileage

the boys decided to shove their hands in their pockets and walk funny :)

Like September, my mileage was down. While I did a lot of sitting and letting my foot rest, I still did a lot of walking. I hate sitting still for too long and have definitely been feeling a bit stir crazy.

Despite the boot, I managed to do a lot. Walking around a hilly and rocky Boy Scout camp in a boot probably tops the list, though I also rode my bike with the boot on and took the kiddos on a hike with it.

Since ditching the boot I've been taking the boys on short hikes and have avoided any major pain. Flexing my foot in ways it hasn't for awhile brings a different kind of ache and pain, but I'll take it. It means I'm able to use my foot again. And this is a great time of year to be getting outside, so I'm happy.

At the end of October I finally hit the halfway mark on my 52 hike challenge goal. There's only two months left, so we'll be doing lots of hikes between now and New Year's. Nothing too long and strenuous, but we'll be getting out there and re-building our hiking habit.    

On the other hand, I only need 100 more bike miles to reach 365 bike miles. This is totally doable in two months, as long as I schedule in some bike time, which I haven't been doing. I also only need just over 41 more miles to reach 365 foot miles. I should be able to reach that by the end of November. Overall, I'm not doing too badly, especially when you consider what a slow start I got at the beginning of the year with all my illnesses and being slowed down by my broken foot this fall.              

October mileage:
0 treadmill workouts + 5 hikes + 6 outside walking + 8 store walking + 1 bike workouts + 0 kayak outings = 47.83 miles

52 hike challenge: 26 hikes

365 mile challenge:  265.0 bike miles + 323.70 foot miles + 2.14 kayak miles

total miles: 590.84 miles

September mileage:

3 treadmill workouts + 2 hikes + 3 store walking + 2 races + 2 bike workouts + 0 kayak outings = 

40.87 miles

52 hike challenge: 21 hikes

365 mile challenge:  260.0 bike miles + 280.87 foot miles + 2.14 kayak miles

total miles: 543.01 miles

August mileage:

9 treadmill workouts + 4 hikes + 1 outside run/walks + 1 race + 4 bike workouts + 0 kayak outings = 110.23 miles

52 hike challenge: 19 hikes

365 mile challenge:  250.0 bike miles + 250.0 foot miles + 2.14 kayak miles

total miles: 502.14 miles

July mileage:

9 treadmill workouts + 6 hikes + 8 outside run/walks + 1 race + 3 bike workouts + 1 kayak outing = 90.43 miles

52 hike challenge: 15 hikes

365 mile challenge:  215.0 bike miles + 167.27 foot miles + 2.14 kayak miles

total miles: 381.36 miles

June mileage:

4 treadmill workouts + 4 hikes + 2 outside run/walks + 1 race + 7 bike workouts + 1 kayak outing = 102.12 miles

52 hike challenge: 9 hikes

365 mile challenge:  190.0 bike miles + 102.88 foot miles + 1.1 kayak miles

total miles: 293.98 miles

May mileage:        

4 treadmill workouts + 1 hike + 1 outside walk + 4 bike workouts = 49.95 miles

52 hike challenge: 5 hikes

365 mile challenge: 120.00 bike miles + 71.86 foot miles

April mileage:

1 treadmill workout + 1 hike + 1 outside walk + 6 bike workouts = 45.31 miles

52 hike challenge: 4 hikes

365 mile challenge: 85.0 bike miles + 56.91 foot miles

March mileage:

1 treadmill workout + 2 hikes + 1 outside walk + 1 race + 4 bike workouts = 33.43 miles

52 hike challenge: 3 hikes

365 mile challenge: 45.0 bike miles + 51.60 foot miles

February mileage:

0 treadmill workouts + 1 hike + 3 outside run/walk + 1 race + 0 bike workouts = 15.56 miles

52 hike challenge: 1 hike

365 mile challenge: 25.0 bike miles + 38.17 foot miles

January mileage: 

2 treadmill workouts + 0 hikes + 4 outside run/walk + 1 race + 3 bike workouts = 47.61 miles

52 hike challenge: 0 hikes

365 mile challenge: 25.0 bike miles + 22.61 foot miles