Weekly Mileage #139 and the Scout Hike

Monday I went to a different park than I usually go to for my trail run and hike. It's closer to Ocean's preschool, but the steepness of the trails slowed me down, negating the time savings I was going for.

The trail system is a lot smaller, so I did both loops twice just to get the mileage I did. For where I am right now physically, it was a bit too steep and intense. I'm not ready for intense workouts just yet.

Thursday the kiddos and I went on a short hike just to get outside.

That evening was YW in Excellence. With the changes to the youth programs, we focused on the girls sharing things they'd been working on the past year. Sunshine played a piano piece she's been working on. This actually is part of a requirement for her Music merit badge as well- she needs to perform 10 times, and since she doesn't have school concerts to perform in, we're squeezing them in where we can get them.

Saturday I led a hike for some of the Scouts in Sunshine's troop. There wasn't a huge turnout, but there were other activities scheduled as well, both in the troop and out, so I wasn't too concerned. I prefer smaller groups anyway. We had a professional forester was along and he helped us with tree identification.

This is the hike we did when dad was visiting, but this time we crossed the river instead of turning around.

We visited this swimming hole with Jeremy's brother, but no one attempted to get in the water.

We found fresh signs of a deer sharpening his antlers- pretty cool!

That afternoon, I went to the Stake leadership training session. We discussed the changes to the children and youth program and how to implement them within our wards. Lots of ideas, just gotta work on the actual implementation.

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 2.10 mile trail run
Monday- 1.49 mile hike
Wednesday- 10.00 mile bike ride
Thursday- 1.18 mile hike
Saturday- 3.46 mile hike
total- 18.23 miles

38 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
2.56 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

144.24 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
41.16 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
130.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
317.96 miles total

Sunday Funny

Ocean loves to make faces, and I caught some of them while we were at the dentist recently.

Weekly Mileage #138 and an Icy Hike

the view on the way to our hike on Thursday

Monday I went for a trail run and a hike. Still a great way to start the week.

Wednesday it was really cold (20's to mid 30s), so we skipped the hike I'd planned on and I rode my bike instead. I also cleaned out the under stairs closet in the basement, which left me quite the pile of stuff to take to Goodwill. I've been meaning to declutter for awhile now, and I'm finally making progress, a little at a time.

Thursday was a bit warmer, so we went on our hike after dropping some boxes at Goodwill. We hiked to a natural water slide that I'd heard about too late to try out this year. We didn't plan on sliding, I just wanted to check it out for when it warms up. We've never hiked in that area, so it was completely unfamiliar. It was a nice hike, only about a mile or so round trip. There were icicles  on some of the branches over the stream crossing, so definitely too late to be getting in the water!

there's icicle on that branch over the water

I managed to get glutened at YW that night. I'm still not completely sure how- I ate two things that shouldn't have had gluten in them (vanilla ice cream and Reese's Pieces), but there must have been some contamination, somehow.

closer view

I didn't feel well that night, and I felt worse in the morning. A bad night's sleep made things worse, and I felt crummy most of the day. In the afternoon I did manage to hop on the mower and blow the leaves that were getting out of control. Of course, this was just in time for the wind to come through Friday night/Saturday morning to blow more leaves off the trees. But if I'd waited it would have been a lot harder to do (we'd already waited longer than we should have), so it's just as well that I did it when I did. It's just how things are this time of year.

Saturday I was supposed to do a ropes course with the YW, but no parents were willing to drive, so it got postponed till spring. Hopefully we'll have better parental involvement by then. For some reason, our ward has a real problem with some families expecting the YM and YW leaders to drive their kids everywhere and not being willing to help out. We're working to change this, but in the meantime it's frustrating, especially when it's an activity the girls want to do, and we have to cancel it.

Since we weren't driving a couple hours to ropes course, we did some yard work instead. The chickens have been roosting in the rafters, which allowed them to move to the side of the coop where we store the feed and straw. Not optimal. So I strung some plastic chicken wire from one wall, across the rafters, to the other wall. The chickens weren't thrilled about it, so I need to add another roost (they have two, but they're a lot lower than the rafters) that will allow them to be up higher while staying out of the rafters.

While I was messing around in the rafters, I organized the bins I store in the chicken coop rafters (various chicken paraphernalia and some cushions for our patio furniture).

Then I cleaned out and organized the garden shed. We've been tossing stuff in there for the last who knows how long and it was impossible to find anything, let alone get to where it might be stored. It's much better now, and will be even better once we get rid of the boxes of papers that need to be shredded. We have more papers in the house that need to be sorted, so it's not time to call a document shredding company just yet (yes, there's that much paper to be shredded).

Sunshine and I (with a little help from the boys) started moving the massive wood pile next to the chicken coop and the garden shed to the back side of our property. We've been waiting to rent a wood chipper, but we're not sure when that's going to happen and in the meantime the wood and brush pile has been getting massive and I'm sick of how junky it looks as you come up the driveway. We've only made a small dent, but it already looks better.

I logged 3.5 miles while doing all that work.

I've really enjoyed the last few weeks of increased energy and productivity, so being knocked backwards by the gluten was unwelcome. Physically, I felt a lot better by Saturday. The mental fog is harder to get rid of, unfortunately. And of course, mental fog doesn't just make it hard to concentrate, it also makes it hard to be motivated to do anything. Especially if it requires mental focus. which is why mowing the leaves was ok once the stomach pain receded a bit, but finishing a blog post was not an option. I think that's the worse- the lack of motivation. I know I need to be doing stuff, but it's so hard to get started on it.

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 2.10 mile trail run
Monday- 1.40 mile hike
Wednesday- 10.00 mile bike ride
Thursday- 1.27 mile hike
Saturday- 3.50 mile walk
total- 18.27 miles

35 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
2.56 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

136.01 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
41.16 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
120.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
299.73 miles total

Sunday Funny

I found the boys like this when checking on them one night in the RV.

Is River trying to hug Ocean, or strangle him?

Weekly Mileage #137 and the Observatory Trip

Ocean's ear continues to do well. We're continuing the drops that worked, just to make sure that the infection is completely wiped out.

I went for a run and a hike while Ocean was at preschool Monday morning, then ran some errands. Schools were out that day, so Sunshine's Scout troop scheduled an outing in the afternoon to work on the Citizenship in the Community merit badge. While she was doing that, I took the boys on a hike. Oh, and I felt crummy while doing all this. The drastic temperature change + the time change + a few too many late nights = a head cold for me.

Wednesday we went for a hike at our local trails park.

I can do it!

(after falling off) I'll just do it this way instead

Thursday I went for a bike ride in the basement. Our YM/YW activity that night was centered around missionaries and they asked three returned missionaries to talk about their experiences. They got turned down by all the other sisters they asked (schedule conflicts and such), so I was asked on Wednesday to help out. Not a lot of time to prepare, but also not a lot of time to stress about it.

Friday we skipped playgroup after Ocean's speech therapy appointment. I needed to finish up a post for one of my other blogs and then I had to get ready for a campout with Sunshine.

(he landed fine, I just didn't get a picture of it)

While I was doing that, the washing machine stopped working, so I didn't have all the clean laundry I wanted, but enough for the weekend. Jeremy took it apart Friday evening, but the part he needed isn't going to arrive until Tuesday.

the colored flags are representative of the distances between the sun and the planets- there's more flags further out

Then I drove a car full of girls to Green Bank Observatory in WV for an astronomy merit badge weekend. There were 10 boys and 6 girls age 11-14. Temps were in the 20's, so we were very glad to be staying in the dorm rather than camping (which is an option). We had showers and very hard beds, but we weren't freezing! The main downside was the noise- everything echoed horribly in the dorm and 11 year old boys are not known for being quiet.

the largest telescope is the white framework behind that pointy pine tree left of center. it's pointed up in the picture, so it's harder to get a good view of it.

Green Bank Observatory has radio telescopes, not optical telescopes, but we had a UVA astronomy professor with us who brought one of his optical telescopes, so we were still able to see the craters of the moon Friday night. The observatory has a 40' teaching telescope that they allow the kids to use. They use it to find hydrogen in space, which we were able to see on the receivers. Super cool.

the first radio telescope, built by a guy in the 1930's in his mom's backyard from materials purchased from a hardware store

They have several radio telescopes of various sizes, with the largest being the GBT (Green Bank Telescope or Great Big Thing), which has a surface area of more than 2 acres. Our property is 1.75 acres, for comparison. They run a tour past the telescopes so you can actually get pretty close to it, but it doesn't seem that big, even when you're standing next to it. The GBT is one of the largest moving land structures in the world.

So far, I only have a couple pictures as most of the observatory is a no electronics zone, so we had to use old-fashioned film cameras for pictures. I need to send ours off for developing, then I'll have to scan them in. In the meantime, you can see pictures of the GBT here.

The observatory was built in a valley in the mountains of WV to cut down on radio frequency interference (RFI), but it's also in the National Radio Quiet Zone. This means cell signals and radio frequencies are tightly regulated (or non-existent in some areas), to keep RFI to a minimum.

The observatory offers free Scout weekend programs for Scouts BSA and Girl Scouts so they can work on Astronomy-related badges.

They participate in a variety of hands-on activities, like the teaching telescope I mentioned earlier, but also including working in a computer lab within a giant Faraday cage (to cut down on that pesky RFI) using a program called Stellarium. Free software for identifying and finding constellations, star locations, and so on. Super cool.

screenshot of one way you can use Stellarium- this shows the evening sky as we were meeting for our trip- Saturn, Jupiter and Venus all lined up- which we actually saw in person.

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 1.61 mile trail run
Monday- 2.05 mile hike
Monday- 2.14 mile hike
Wednesday- 1.47 mile hike
Thursday- 10.00 miles biked
total- 17.27 miles

33 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
2.56 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

127.74 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
41.16 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
110.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
281.46 miles total

Sunday Funny

Chewbacca Potter? Harrybacca?

River talking to Papa on FaceTime this past spring:

River: "Guess what? I have some good news."

Papa: "Oh?"

River: "You've been liberated!"

Papa: "Ok."

We're not sure where he heard the word, or if he knows what it means :)

October Mileage

This month I've made more of an effort to get my mileage in, and it's paid off. Not only am I on track to hit 365 miles and 52 hikes by the end of the year, but I've also been feeling better. I've been able to keep moving and get all the zillions of things done that were on my to-do list this month. Not to say I still don't struggle with EDS (extreme daytime sleepiness) or have bad days in general, but they're fewer and more manageable. It's a nice change to be this productive. My to-do list isn't getting any smaller over the next couple months, so I will continue to get my miles in so that I can have the energy to get things done.

October Mileage:
0 treadmill workouts + 10 hikes + 3 trail runs + 5 outdoor walks + 2 bike workouts + 0 kayak outings = 46.12 miles

52 hike challenge: 30 hikes

365 mile challenge: 100.0 bike miles + 118.47 outdoor foot miles + 41.16 indoor foot miles + 2.56 kayak miles

total miles: 262.19 miles

September Mileage:
0 treadmill workouts + 4 hikes + 2 trail runs + 2 outdoor walks + 0 bike workouts + 0 kayak outings = 12.06 miles

52 hike challenge: 20 hikes

365 mile challenge: 80.0 bike miles + 92.35 outdoor foot miles + 41.16 indoor foot miles + 2.56 kayak miles

total miles: 216.07 miles

August mileage:
5 treadmill workouts + 2 hikes + 1 race + 1 outdoor walks + 0 bike workouts + 0 kayak outings = 20.73 miles

52 hike challenge: 16 hikes

365 mile challenge: 80.0 bike miles + 80.29 outdoor foot miles + 41.16 indoor foot miles + 2.56 kayak miles

total miles: 204.01 miles

July mileage:
4 treadmill workouts + 1 hike + 0 outdoor walks + 0 bike workouts + 1 kayak outing = 16.32 miles

52 hike challenge: 14 hikes

365 mile challenge: 80.0 bike miles + 73.53 outdoor foot miles + 27.19 indoor foot miles + 2.56 kayak miles

total miles: 183.28 miles

June mileage:
0 treadmill workouts + 2 hikes + 2 races +3 outdoor walks + 0 bike workouts + 1 kayak outing = 15.52 miles

52 hike challenge: 13 hikes

365 mile challenge: 80.0 bike miles + 68.53 outdoor foot miles + 15.87 indoor foot miles + 1.25 kayak miles

total miles: 165.65 miles

May mileage:
2 treadmill workouts + 1 hike + 0 trail runs +2 outdoor walks + 1 bike workouts + 0 kayak outings = 19.67 miles

52 hike challenge: 11 hikes

365 mile challenge: 80.0 bike miles + 54.26 outdoor foot miles + 15.87 indoor foot miles + 0 kayak miles

total miles: 150.13 miles

April mileage:
0 treadmill workouts + 1 hike + 3 trail runs + 5 outdoor walks + 1 bike workouts + 0 kayak outings = 24.44 miles

52 hike challenge: 10 hikes

365 mile challenge: 70.0 bike miles + 49.31 outdoor foot miles + 11.15 indoor foot miles + 0 kayak miles

total miles: 130.46 miles

March mileage:

1 treadmill workout + 2 hikes + 1 race + 4 outdoor runs + 2 outdoor walks + 1 bike workout + 0 kayak outings = 46.02 miles

52 hike challenge: 9 hikes

365 mile challenge: 60.0 bike miles + 34.87 outdoor foot miles + 11.15 indoor foot miles + 0 kayak miles

total miles: 106.02 miles

February mileage:

1 treadmill workout + 3 hikes +1 outdoor runs + 1 snowshoe walk + 3 bike workouts + 0 kayak outings = 42.40 miles

52 hike challenge: 7 hikes

365 mile challenge:  50.0 bike miles + 18.00 outdoor foot miles + 7.15 indoor foot miles + 0 kayak miles

total miles: 75.15 miles

January mileage:
2 treadmill workouts + 4 hikes + 1 outside walk + 2 bike workouts + 0 kayak outings = 32.75 miles

52 hike challenge: 4 hikes

365 mile challenge:  20.0 bike miles + 8.3 outdoor foot miles + 4.45 indoor foot miles + 0 kayak miles

total miles: 32.75 miles

Our 2019 Halloween Costumes

This year's costumes were inspired by a picture I saw of a group of cosplayers at one of the big cons. They were dressed as Jedi, but their robes and lightsabers were in the colors of the Hogwarts houses. I didn't want to make costumes for everyone (I do not have that kind of time on my hands) and I knew we didn't have Harry Potter costumes to fit everyone or Star Wars costumes to fit everyone. But we could do half Harry Potter and half Star Wars and I'd only need to make two costumes. That seemed doable, so that's what we did.

Jeremy was Han Solo, using the costume I made a couple years ago.

Sunshine was Chewbacca. I made her costume this year.

apparently Chewbacca doesn't smile?

I was a Gryffindor Jedi, using robes I made this year.

River was Harry Potter, using the costume I made for Sunshine to be Hermione a few years ago.

Ocean was Ron Weasley, using the costume I made for River to use as Harry Potter a few years ago.

I think the mashup of Star Wars and the Wizarding World worked well.

A few more details on each costume.

We didn't change anything on Jeremy's costume that I made a few years ago. If he uses it again, I'll have to make new boot covers, but the rest of it is holding up pretty well.

I made a fur dress that Sunshine wore over a long sleeve black dress and fur leggings that snapped around her black boots. I got the idea for it here (affiliate link: As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases, but there is no additional cost for you). I just cut a basic dress shape out of the fur, tried it on Sunshine, then altered it from there to fit her. I hemmed the collar to keep the fur out of her face, but didn't bother hemming the sleeve edges or the bottom. She also wore black leggings.

I altered the bag I made for her Asoka costume and turned it into Chewbacca's ammo belt. Even though River was Chewbacca last year, I had to buy a new bowcaster since his got broken sometime this past year. Like last year, I spray painted it for better realism.

I lengthened the bag strap with more webbing, then covered cubes of styrofoam in light gray duck tape and hot glued them to the strap. I hot glued a narrow strap over them, and put rivets in between each cube.

River wore the same vest and robes Sunshine had worn, with a white dress shirt and black pants. I did buy a Gryffindor tie from Target for $5, along with a pair of Harry Potter glasses (which he loves wearing, regardless of whether he's in costume). The glasses came with a surprisingly long-lasting temporary tattoo scar, that he is still carefully not washing off. We also found him a stuffed owl to use as Hedwig and I made a new wand since I don't know where his other one went.

Ocean wore River's old vest and robes, with a white dress shirt and gray pants. The robes were a little short, but that would be in character for Ron, so I didn't worry about it too much. He also wore a Gryffindor tie from Target, and we found him a stuffed rat so he could carry Scabbers around. I also made him a wand (hot glue on a chopstick, then spray painted, with some craft paint on top for texture). We sprayed his hair orange with a $2 can of orange hair spray, which lasted four uses with some still in the can.

My costume required the most work. I used my old Jedi robes to make a new set in Gryffindor colors (the house I've been sorted into). I used a red flat sheet and some yellow fabric from JoAnns. I would have liked a yellow that was a bit more orangey/gold, but I couldn't find any. I just wore a plain white t-shirt under the robes. I bought a Gryffindor patch on eBay to sew on one side of the yellow shoulder armor.

I made a black sash and found a belt at Goodwill to update the belt that goes over it. I riveted a narrower belt on top of a wider belt to keep them in place, then cut them in the back and attached some black elastic. This gives just enough stretch for me to step in and out of it, since the buckle is non-functioning. I put the small utility pouch from my old belt over the elastic to hide it as much as possible.

Under the tunic I wore black pants tucked into black boots. I also made a new lightsaber with a bigger handle. This allowed me to put a small flashlight inside to light up the blade, which I made out of red pex tubing. I sanded the printed words off the pex and gave the whole thing a light sanding. I painted the handle like I painted the last ones I made.

2018 costumes
2017 costumes
2016 costumes
2015 costumes
2014 costumes
2013 costume and here
2012 costume
2011 costumes and here
2010 costumes
2009 costume
2008 costume