Sunday Funny

Mr M doesn't enjoy mud nearly as much as the boys, but he sure got covered in it while trying to move rocks and logs.

Weekly Mileage #112 and the Scout Camporee

foggy morning

Mr M picked up his CPAP Monday morning. It's taken a little time to get used to, but it hasn't been too bad. It does appear that he'll have to stay clean shaven as the CPAP doesn't stay in contact with his skin if his facial hair is too long.

Thursday Sunshine got two more baby teeth pulled. She has one baby tooth left, but it's loose and being pushed out, unlike the 11 total teeth she's had to have pulled over the last few years. We'll meet with the orthodontist in a month and see when she can get braces on and if she needs to have any of her adult teeth pulled (hopefully not).

Friday Sunshine and I went to a Scout Camporee a couple hours away. Saturday the Scouts worked on merit badges and they needed more female adults (two-deep leadership must include a female leader if there are girls present) for some of the merit badge classes. Sunshine decided to take photography, and they needed an adult female, so I volunteered to help with her class. I figured I might pick up some photography tips, and I think I'm a bit more clear on aperture and shutter speeds, so that's a win.

Friday night it rained, then lightning started moving in, so everyone had to go inside a nearby bingo hall. It was crowded and very noisy. Those kids had a lot of energy at 10pm. After the lightning moved on, we went back to our tents, but it rained for a good part of the night.

We woke up to a cool, foggy morning, though the fog burned off and it got really warm before the merit badge classes started.

demonstrating bouncing light off the face and how it reduces shadows

This was my first time camping since my narcolepsy diagnosis. I tried to replicate my sleep routine as best as possible, but my sleeping pad just wasn't as comfortable as our mattress at home.  I didn't sleep as well as I'd hoped, so apparently, a comfortable sleeping surface is an integral part of my sleep routine, not just my weighted blanket, frankincense, and 7 hours of sleep.

I woke up several times because I wasn't comfortable, but I woke up another time because I heard a train go by. A really loud train. I'm lucky I only heard it once- others heard it a lot more times throughout the night.

busy train tracks right next to our campsite

Despite not sleeping as well as I'd like, I actually didn't have any problems staying alert on the drive home that evening. I was snacking on mixed nuts most of the drive, but I also had some dark blue sunglasses on, and they seem to help eliminate eye fatigue, which in turn makes me feel less sleepy.

I also worked on some necklaces for the boys' preschool teachers and Ocean's speech therapist. This week is the last week of preschool and speech therapy, so I thought I'd make something for them. Hopefully, it's something they will actually use, and if not, at least it doesn't take up much space (that's the minimalist in me talking).

I tried etching a design on aluminum stamping blanks, but apparently, bare aluminum can't be etched by the GlowForge. So I ordered some anodized aluminum dog tag blanks and they worked out. The design isn't etched into the metal, though. It's just etched into the anodized aluminum coating, which is why they have to be anodized for this to work. I added a little crystal bead dangle for bling, and packaged it in a little box with this quote. Their name(s) were on the bottom line (covered by string in this pic).

No mileage this week. Too much going on, and I'm still trying to balance my schedule and my energy levels to allow me to exercise adequately.

Weekly Mileage
total- 0 miles

11 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
0 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

51.26 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
15.87 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
80.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
147.13 miles total

Weekly Mileage #108 and RV Frustration

Ocean pet the farm dog. He's very cautious around bigger dogs, so this was a big step for him.

This week I continued working on some courses so I can learn new things regarding Instagram and marketing. I also planned out some future posts.

I made a couple of leather notebooks. One was to fill an order and the other is for the kids' music teacher. We've been taking lessons from her for almost 6 years now and I wanted to do something to show our appreciation for her.

Ocean insisted on sitting on the ground so he could watch the chickens eat

Thursday morning the boys and I went on a farm tour with their preschool. We actually did this tour last spring as well. The boys had fun feeding the goats and chickens, helping collect eggs, and checking out the mama pig and her piglets.

kiddos running through a field

Thursday afternoon was Sunshine's height weight followup. While she has gained a couple pounds and grown an inch, it wasn't enough to improve her percentiles, which have actually gotten worse. We're in that narrow window of time before puberty where something can be done if there's a reason other than short genes for her lack of growth. So she's being referred to a specialist (no appointment yet) to do some tests to see if there's anything specific that is wrong. She's not looking forward to the inevitable blood work, but she also wants to get taller....

Friday we were supposed to get hammered by a big storm: lots of rain, tornadoes, flash flooding, the works. County schools let out at noon, Mr M was off work around 3, the boys' preschool egg hunt got rescheduled for next Friday, and Sunshine's service activity that night was canceled. There was some heavy rain around noon, but nothing like what had been forecast- at least not in our area. It's one of those double-edged swords- to cancel everything or not.

kitchen cupboard and microwave removed

Saturday Mr M and I tackled the RV. It was damaged by a stick or branch sometime last winter or spring and it poked a small hole in the roof. That hole was enough to let water in, and there's water damage to the ceiling and driver's side wall. In preparation for this, I'd removed the window coverings (boxes and blinds) and the microwave earlier in the week. I tried to remove the cabinet the microwave was in, but the wiring for the light and stove hood held me back.

vinyl ceiling covering cut and peeled away, showing wet wood of ceiling panel

Mr M worked through the wiring issues (they didn't make it easy for people to remove this cabinet), and we finally removed the cabinet. We also removed the sofa since I plan on painting the walls, and I can't do that with the sofa in place.

trying to remove wet ceiling panels without doing more damage

After removing the cupboard and sofa, we tackled the damaged ceiling panels and wall panels. We figured they were water damaged and would be easy to remove. We'd both watched YouTube videos and looked up stuff online, so we thought we knew what to expect. Only it didn't work out that way. The wallboard above the slide was securely glued to the steel frame, and there's a good 4" behind the framework of the slide that's very difficult to reach. Mr M was able to remove a small portion of the ceiling, but he was afraid of cutting into something important, and the panel seemed to be glued to the styrofoam insulation.

as far as Mr M got- the outer layer of the plywood panel came off, but the inner layer is firmly glued to the insualtion above

After chipping away with such minimal success, we had to face reality. The slides need to come out in order to clean out and replace the damaged wallboard (there's damage above both slides and next to the stove) and we just don't have that capability.

I had a bit more luck removing the wood above the slide, except that I couldn't really reach the 4" or so below that wood-look trim (even after I removed the trim I couldn't get to it)

As much as we prefer to DIY and save money, there are times when we can't do it all, and unfortunately, this is one of those times. We did some googling and found a fairly local RV shop that has good reviews and I'll be calling them today to see what they can do and hopefully get a ballpark on the cost. We know it won't be cheap, and insurance won't pay to fix the damage, only to fix the initial hole. So stupid. How do you know there's a hole in your roof before the damage appears?

the culprit- smaller than the size of a quarter

After that frustrating experience, I went and hauled wood for a couple hours so I'd feel like I'd at least accomplished something. I'm almost done shifting the piles next to the RV, then there's a bit of chainsawing (and more hauling) that needs to be done before I start working down by the shed. Progress!

Ocean helped. Ok, not really. He caught a ride back up the hill after I emptied the trailer :)

We also did our Easter egg hunt. We hid eggs in the lower part of the yard for the boys and eggs in the upper part of the yard for Sunshine. Then Sunshine, River, and I hid eggs for Mr M in the upper part of the yard. No eggs for me this year since sugar and I are not getting along. I still ate a few pieces of candy, but I shouldn't have. The mental fog, fuzziness, and increased sleepiness are just not worth it.

I also spent way too long cleaning out my 18 email inboxes. Excessive yes, but I have several for each business as well as a couple non-business-related ones. I'm at or almost at inbox zero for all of them now. The trick will be to keep them that way. I've been unsubscribing from email lists the last couple weeks and that has helped the inbox situation.

Weekly Mileage
Thursday- 0.93 miles hiked with Sunshine and River (~.5 mile of that was run)
Saturday- 2.08 miles run with River (1.5 miles total run)
total- 3.01  miles

10 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
0 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

42.88 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
11.15 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
60.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
114.03 miles total

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

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

Our 2017 Halloween Costumes

I wrote this post last year, but didn't have a picture of Sunshine or Mr M and I in our costumes, so I didn't post it. With Halloween upon us again, I decided it was time to take some pictures and get this posted.

The past few years I’ve spent September and October making elaborate costumes for the family (Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc). I love the creative process involved in designing and making the costumes, but it’s a lengthy process that I just did not have time for this year.

River has a Captain America hoody with a built-in mask, so I found a Captain America shield and called his costume done.

Ocean didn't want his hood on, but it has a see-through Spiderman mask like River's hoody.

Ever since we watched the LEGO Batman movie, Ocean goes around saying “I’m Batman, I’m awesome” (though you have to be familiar with how he talks to know that’s what he’s saying).  I thought it would be super cute to dress him up as Batman, so I tried to find a similar Batman hoody for Ocean, but I couldn’t find one that was affordable. I was able to find a Spider Man hoody, so we got that and called it good.

I was talking to Sunshine about costume options, thinking she’d want to be a super hero as well, but she immediately suggested going as a Camp Half Blood camper (from the Percy Jackson books). I could have made the shirt, but it was easier and quicker to buy one on Etsy.

She was going to carry a cheap foam sword until I found a Wonder Woman sword on clearance for a great price. The Wonder Woman sword looks a lot more like what a demigod would carry than the foam sword J Sunshine finished off the costume by stringing some wood beads that we painted like ones mentioned in the books on a leather lanyard. She also covered a dollar store foam shield in foil.

We somehow missed getting pictures of her last year, so I totally took these pictures today :)

I bought a Wonder Woman shirt for me and a Super Man shirt for Mr M. Easy and inexpensive.

I was a bit sad not to be all dressed up, but honestly, not stressing about getting all the costumes done was totally worth the decreased effort this year.

Sunday Funny

I sat on a bench while Mr M and the kids explored the gift shop and visitor center

Before we headed home from Great Smoky Mountain NP, we stopped to turn in River's Junior Ranger packet at the visitor center. After he got his pin, Mr M took the kids to look around the gift shop.

Ocean found a stuffed elk (they've been rebuilding the local herd of Smoky Mountain elk), held it up, and exclaimed "deer!"

Mr M: "no, it's an elk."
Ocean: "no, it's a deer!"

Mr M commented that Ocean would fit in well with the Japanese. In Japanese, elk is "big deer." Back when we were in language school he had a big discussion with one of his teachers about what an inaccurate statement this is, but it didn't change anything- there is no word for elk other than big deer.

Weekly Mileage #58

the boys checking out the tanks and jumping in front of a helicopter

Last week was a crazy busy, stressful week, and I'm glad it's over. (fair warning: this is a long post)

Sunday after church the kids and I hopped in the RV (which of course takes prep work- clothes, food, etc, so it's not just a matter of hopping in and going) and drove down to NC. Mr M had to work, so he stayed home. I've driven the RV the hour and a half to the dealership, so this 5 hour trip was a stretch for me. This was a good thing though, as it gave me the opportunity to really get comfortable and build my confidence in driving the RV.

We went to NC to help my sister load up her U-Haul and clean her apartment as she prepared to move to IN. She'd worked hard and had a lot of the work done already, so everything went very smooth Monday and she was even able to check out of her apartment several hours earlier than originally planned. No last-minute, down-to-the-wire-shove-everything-in-the-truck-and-call-it-good rushing around, which was nice. Driving the RV down meant Sunshine could keep an eye on the boys in the RV, out of our way, as we moved furniture and cleaned. They watched movies and played with LEGOs and didn't get underfoot, so it was definitely a good choice.

Another sister flew in Monday evening to help drive the truck, and Tuesday morning we all hit the road, trying to out-run the storm that had been dumping rain on us all night and was moving north. We weren't successful, and it rained most of the trip home, which made it a lot more stressful. That, and we were on a timeline to get home so we could get Sunshine to her Irish music class, but we had to stop and empty the black and gray tanks along the way.

We don't have a convenient, close location for cleaning out the tanks and they needed to be emptied before the renters picked up the RV the next day, so I had to find a truck stop kind of along our way (there weren't any actually on the way) that had a dump station. Only they'd stuck a pipe in the ground for your sewer hose to connect to, and it was elevated about a foot, which meant gravity couldn't empty the hose. Such a frustrating, time-consuming process that I got to do in the rain. I'm so glad we have a box of disposable gloves just for such occasions. Lots of fun. But in the end, I did get the tanks emptied, I didn't make a mess, and I had dry clothes in the RV to change into.

We made it home with half an hour to move car seats around and start bringing things inside, then we loaded up again and took Sunshine to class. When we got home, I really wanted to just lay down and rest, but I had to clean all our stuff out of the RV and pull the bedding off the beds so I could wash them and get everything ready for the renters.

300+ year old white oak- too huge to fit in the picture

Tuesday night as I was getting into bed I checked my calendar and remembered that we'd rescheduled Sunshine's piano lesson for Wednesday morning (we'd missed it while we were gone). On our way home from that we stopped by Walmart to get a couple things for the RV. When we arrived home I couldn't find one of the items I knew I'd put in the shopping cart, and it wasn't on the receipt. I really needed it (clear Gorilla tape to protect the very thin veneer on the edge of the dinette table), so we went back to Walmart, where we found the roll of tape on the paper plate shelf, right where Ocean had put it while I was deciding on a package of paper plates to purchase. He'd tried to tell me something was there, but I didn't understand what he was saying. Next time I'll pay more attention to what he's saying.

Oh yeah, and on the way home from Walmart the first time we almost got T-boned by a lawn care truck that wasn't paying attention and crossed the highway that we were driving down, missing our rear bumper by inches. I'd seen him start to move forward, so I'd sped up a bit, which was good, since he didn't stop like I thought he would. He totally didn't see us, and when I looked in my rearview mirror I could see him staring at us with an "oh crap" expression on his face as he realized how close he came to hitting us. That got my heart rate up, that's for sure.

In the end, the RV was ready, but I didn't quite finish my "how to use our RV without breaking it" book before our first renters picked up the RV Wednesday afternoon. Luckily they had a full time RVer with them and they were just taking the RV to a local farm and sleeping in it, so they didn't have any problems.

River playing a ball game- you set the ball on the little foot pedal, step on it, then hit it with the bat when it pops up

Thursday we had a field trip to Ash Lawn-Highland, James Monroe's house just down the road from Monticello. We've been there before, but it's been years. Maybe before the boys were born? Our tour guide was very good at keeping the kids engaged, which was no mean feat, since they ranged from 4.5 (River) to 12 or 13. I'm not counting Ocean since he was on my back in the carrier and couldn't have cared less. He did enjoy the games at the end though.

Sunshine and Ocean playing with the hoops

That evening, Sunshine skipped her last Activity Days meeting and went to Young Women to help set up for the fundraiser they were hosting Friday night. She turns 12 this week (eek!), so she'll be able to attend YW camp in June, which means she needed to help with the fundraiser. Afterwards, she had her interview to receive her Faith in God award and to move up to Young Women. After working on the Faith in God requirements for the last 4 years, she finished the last of them, just in time.

Friday morning we took Sunshine to her co-op, only to find that the power was out (they'd sent an email right after we left the house and I didn't see it) and they didn't know when it would be back on. I decided to hang out and see if it would come on quickly, which thankfully happened about half an hour later. I was able to leave Sunshine with the co-op coordinator and then the boys and I rushed home to meet the renters who were bringing the RV back. They beat us by a couple minutes, but it was close. The RV was in good condition, so we signed the return paperwork and I breathed a deep sigh.

But I only relaxed for a couple hours, before it was time to get ready for the Young Women spaghetti dinner. Sunshine returned home from co-op, changed into an 80's inspired outfit, grabbed the bowl of gluten free spaghetti I'd made, and headed out the door to go to the church with Mr M. The boys and I followed a few minutes later, since there was no need to have them running around longer than they needed to be.

after the dinner, with one of the table centerpieces
and yes, her pants are pegged, though it's hard to tell :)

Saturday morning Mr M took the boys on an outing so I'd have some uninterrupted time to work. They went to a super hero-themed carnival thing for military kids (April is Month of the Military Child) and the boys had a blast. They met super heroes, played games, ate cotton candy, got their faces painted (well, River did, Ocean wanted nothing to do with that), played with bubbles and nerf guns, and checked out the helicopters and tanks.

River grabbed the biggest Nerf gun he could find- it was almost as big as him!

I spent the morning finishing up my 75 page "how to use our RV and not break it" book (I need to come up with a better title 😊), then planned out themes and blog posts for 4 different blogs for the next year. With that much writing to do, I need to be organized so I can work ahead and stay on top of things. I only plan to post once a week on three of them, so that makes the work load easier to handle. This blog is the one that's hardest to work ahead on because I talk about what's going on in our life, but because I have a consistent pattern to my posts, I know what's coming and can think about them during the week.

River blowing bubbles at Spiderman, River showing off one painted cheek, and Ocean giving Spiderman a high five

In the afternoon, Sunshine and I went to her recital. We've missed the last couple recitals because of scheduling issues, so it was nice to finally make this one. Sunshine broke out her fiddle and played some of the numbers, which her teacher and I were really pleased with (did I mention that she switched to piano at the first of the year? so she hasn't done much with the fiddle the last couple months). The recitals run more like an Irish music session, where musicians join in on the songs they know and sit out the ones they don't know. Since the kids learn different songs at different times, there's always at least a couple kids not playing each song. I think it makes for a much less stressful performance situation than the standard recital.

waiting for cotton candy, blowing bubbles, playing in a tunnel

Ocean woke up Sunday with a fever and a cough, so I'm thinking he picked up some germs at the carnival Saturday, poor kiddo. Hopefully the rest of us don't get it since we're sick and tired of being sick.

With all the crazy busy-ness, I never managed to exercise last week, other than helping my sister load her moving truck. This week I'm looking forward to less craziness so I can fit in some exercise. Over the last week and a half I've been working on changing my sleep/work schedule, which should help with the exercise issue, but I'll talk about that more later in the week.

Still sitting at:

4 hikes towards #52hikechallenge

56.91 foot miles towards #365milechallenge

85.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge