Weekly Mileage #170 and Our First Camping Trip of the Year

Monday I did some more alcohol ink experimentation. I'm getting closer to the look I'm after, but still not quite there. After a bit of research I decided to order a few more supplies to see if they help me achieve the look I want.

Tuesday I voted. We had online music lessons, and I went for a bike ride in the basement.

Then I worked on a new bag pattern- a smaller version of the tote bag I previously made. I like it, but sometimes you want something a little smaller.

Wednesday I went for a super hot and humid trail run. I found some cool fauna, but I am sooo glad I didn't do my 50k on this day as I'd originally planned. It would not have gone nearly as well as it did.

We did a couple ground firecrackers in the driveway that evening. Ocean was worried about the noise, so he went and grabbed a pair of earmuffs 😂

Thursday I went to the chiropractor and ran a couple errands, which were mostly prep for our camping trip. But further packing and preparation didn't happen as a migraine came on in the afternoon.

Friday we went on our first camping trip of the year. We spent the morning packing and loading the RV.  Not optimal from a stress point of view, but we only left about an hour later than planned, so it could have been worse.

This little guy was super happy to leave the house. He doesn't get to very often these days....

One of the boys took a picture of me and daddy's leg 😂

We drove about an hour and a half south and camped on the edge of a field, next to a river.

We played in the river.

This is very representative of Ocean. Dirty, but happy. Though frequently he's even dirtier.

 

This was pretty neat:

The glowing orange specks on the log are smoldering moss.

There was lots of room for the boys to run around- always a drawback of crowded campgrounds.

This was the view from the edge of the river, looking up the bank.

There was some really cute little piglets in the field next to us. Super tame and if you started scratching their tummy, they'd do these cute little grunts, fall down, and roll over onto their tummies so they could get even more scratches.

The view from where the piggies were. The river was at our backs.

There were a couple tent campers, but they were far enough away they couldn't hear our generator and we couldn't hear or see them. It was a great spot! I found it using HipCamp, which was a new-to-us app for people to list their property for tent camping or RV camping, like AirBnB, but strictly for campsites.

We had thought about visiting the local sights, but decided against it- Ocean is not the best at following directions and still puts his hands in his mouth all the time, so better not to. So we just hung around our campsite, played in the river, and relaxed.

Sunday we drove back home, and that evening Jeremy and I had our temple recommend interviews via zoom.

Weekly Mileage
Tuesday- 10.0 miles biked
Wednesday- 3.50 miles run and walked
total- 13.50 miles

2020 totals

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

157.49 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
11.00 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
170.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
338.49 miles total

Weekly Mileage #149 and the Work Getaway

Monday I ran errands then went on a hike. I'd wanted to try running, but I was feeling very low energy, so I ran my errands first in an effort to feel better. I wore my trail running shoes which are much more flexible than my hiking shoes. It only took a couple steps on the trail to realize my foot is not ready for running yet. It didn't appreciate the hike too much, thankfully it was less rocky than last week's hike. I'd probably have done better to wear my hiking shoes, but I was holding out hope that I'd be able to run. I miss my trail runs!

Tuesday we went to the VA for Jeremy's back appointment after music lessons. I had to park forever far away from the hospital. People were parking in fire lanes, up on the grass, wherever they thought they could get a spot. It's just ridiculous that there's such a shortage. Picking up patients is an issue as well. Valet parking has taken over the main entrance, which I didn't realize. We got blocked in when it was time to pick up Jeremy. He has to leave in a wheelchair and isn't supposed to drive for 24 hours. Next time if I can't find parking close by, we're using valet parking. Which is free. So weird.

Wednesday was a busy morning. I dropped off the CRV for an oil change and tire rotation and 190k maintenance check. Thank goodness for shuttles. I got back in time to eat breakfast then head to the salon with Sunshine. We both got our hair thinned and ends trimmed. So far it hasn't helped with my current round of headaches, but in general it will. I then ran some errands on the way home. Jeremy was home with the boys and letting the heating/ac tech in for a belated fall/winter checkup.

I spent some time with the Glowforge and etched some leather labels for notebooks. Working on some ideas.

Thursday I rode my bike, did laundry, and got stuff ready for my work getaway. I did a bit more etching of label ideas as well as a cover for an order. Then I dropped some stuff off at the AirBnB I'd reserved for my work getaway. After YW that night, I took Sunshine home, gathered a few more things, then went to the AirBnB.

Friday I worked on my membership site, then took a break for a quick trail run to get my blood flowing and try to get rid of the omnipresent headache. Then it was back to work. There were just a couple twinges in my foot while I was running, but it wasn't super happy when I stopped running. Feels like good progress though.

Saturday I finally finished my membership site, and then I moved on to email automations and sequences, which made my brain hurt, but I finally have a much better grasp of them. I didn't quite finish my automations and sequences, but I got close.

Wondering why there's so many pics of me? I needed some pics to include when updating my branding. Gotta say, there's nothing like staring at photos of yourself, trying to pic the best one, to make you focus on your flaws (perceived or otherwise). The water bottle pic is to show off my stickers that people can request when they work through the products on my membership site.

Sunday morning I headed home and arrived home in plenty of time to get ready for church.

I'm frustrated about the continuing headaches. I wake up with them, they last all day, sometimes they taper off by evening. Painkillers don't help. Stretching helps some. I'm starting to think it's got to do with how I'm sleeping, but I'm not sure what to change. I sleep with my contour pillow and a mouth guard (my old tray retainers). Maybe my whole body is tensing up? I've got a chiro appoinment on Wednesday. If that doesn't help I'm going to have to go to the doc and see if there's something else going on.

My toe is still stiff and sore, but it's making progress.

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 2.70 mile hike
Thursday- 10.00 mile bike ride
Friday- 1.85 mile trail run
total- 14.55 miles

2020 totals

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

22.62 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
1.50 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
20.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
44.12 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 #134 and Last Camping Trip of the Season

We saw two hot air balloons on the way to preschool Monday morning

Monday morning I managed to go for a run and a hike. Such a good way to start the week.

I spent some time doing sample cuts/engravings on different leathers. I should have done this a long time ago, but didn't. It was a bit time consuming to do the design and enter all the different settings, but it was very informative and should save a lot of time and wasted leather in the future (no more charred leather projects like last week's banjo strap pad). The time involved is probably why I didn't do it earlier.

While the GlowForge was GlowForging away (three different leathers, 4 or 5 samples), I worked on a costume, which was a good use of my time.

the banner I was working on last week

Tuesday morning we squeezed in River's 6 year old checkup and the boys' flu shots before music lessons. We also got Ocean's ears looked at.

Last week Ocean's preschool teachers mentioned that he didn't seem to be hearing them if he wasn't facing them when they were talking: he wouldn't acknowledge them, and didn't participate in story time and singing time like he usually does. We've known something was off with him, but that was the trigger to realize it was probably his ears. Not sure why it hadn't occurred to us sooner. Maybe 9 months of no ear problems made us forget how it used to be. In any case, I spoke with his speech therapist and she watched him more closely during his next therapy session, and she confirmed that he seemed to be regressing in his attention span and speech.

I made an appointment to get his ears looked at Wednesday morning, but I also bought an otoscope camera (I was going to buy an otoscope, but decided to give the camera a try). I looked at everyone's ears, and they all looked good, except Ocean's. His looked pretty icky.

The doctor checked them out and found copious amounts of wax blocking his ears. After cleaning them (an ordeal in itself), the doc decided to keep the appointment the next day to do a hearing screening.

After music lessons, we explored some ruins. We've driven past them every week for the past 6 years, but never stopped in to check them out. I'm trying to get better about such things, and it was a nice day, so we stopped and looked around a bit. The house was destroyed by fire in 1884 (70 years after being built), but the walls were left standing.

After lunch I worked on the treehouse floor frame while the kiddos finished filling the garden boxes. Well, two of the boxes. One more box needs to be moved a bit, then it and the other one right in front of the shed need to be filled.

After building the framework, I started laying out the planks for the flooring and put a half wall up on the end that adjoins the middle level of the treehouse. There will be a mud kitchen somewhere on this level, and I'm thinking of putting it against this half wall. Still deciding.... Lots of walking as I walked back and forth, back and forth.

Wednesday it rained most of the day, so after taking Ocean in for his hearing screening (inconclusive, so we have an actual hearing test at the end of the month, just to make sure he can actually hear), he and I did the grocery shopping. We got wet, but it was a good use of our time.

Thursday we went for a hike at our local trails park to check the conditions of the trails after Wednesday's rain. They were a little damp, but not nearly as muddy as I expected them to be. I also screwed down a few of the flooring planks in the treehouse, but didn't get very far before both drill batteries were dead. They're old and it's past time to replace them, but we haven't needed them much lately. Guess it's time to stop ignoring the issue.

Friday our playgroup went on a hike at the trails park. We stopped and played in the river a bit. The water level was low, but still high enough for a good number of kids to get wet. I planned ahead and brought extra clothes for both boys to change into, as well as a towel. Bonus points to me for being prepared (for once)!

Friday evening we drove up to Shenandoah NP for the last campout of the season so we could dump the tanks. We've been planning this for some time, but I didn't realize that October is the busy season for the park as everyone comes to look at the fall foliage. Needless to say, we weren't able to get a reservation the first time we tried. We found somewhere else we could go, but it was further away, so I held off on making reservations. Last weekend I decided to check one last time, and found one spot available for Friday night!

It was cold, but we were all reasonably warm in our piles of blankets and sleeping bags (no hookups at the campground and our batteries are crap and won't last the night if something is pulling power, like the propane heater, which needs electricity to run the blower). Temps dipped down close to freezing, but we got the tanks dumped Saturday. Now Jeremy just needs to blow out the pipes and we'll be good for the winter.

While we were at Shenandoah, the boys did their Junior Ranger books (Sunshine earned hers several years ago) and we hiked to Dark Hollow Falls and back. It was fun, but the park was more crowded than we've ever seen it.

not a lot of water in the falls after the dry spell we've had the last couple months

 If we go back next year at the end of the season to dump our tanks, we'll have to go during the week, when the crowds aren't quite so bad. We may be able to go to a campground a lot closer next year though. It's closed for remodeling right now, but we've dumped our tanks there in the past.

We headed home mid afternoon and got home in time for Sunshine to take a quick shower before heading off to a stake youth activity.

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 1.35 mile trail run
Monday- 1.75 mile hike
Tuesday- 2.00 miles walked outside
Thursday- 1.50 miles hiked
Friday- 1.32 miles hiked
Saturday- 2.36 miles hiked
total- 10.28 miles

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

105.73 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
41.16 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
80.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
229.45 miles total