November PRs

From a running perspective, November was a great month for me. I started with the huge PR on my half marathon time at the Wilson Bridge Half, finishing in 2:01:28. I am so very close to my goal of beating 2 hours, and I know that’s going to be a reality in 2014. I also entered two other ‘races’ and had PRs in both. I put races in quotes because one was an event with the moms running group I belong to (MRTT) and wasn’t an official event, but we did time ourselves so I still count it.

A couple of ladies decided it would be fun to have a mile race just to see how fast we could run if we were only running for one mile. I was always curious too, because I never just do one mile. If I put it all out there, what could I do that mile in? So we did just that. I knew it would hurt, and I knew I needed to push myself.  I started out a little faster that I should have and faded a bit, but it was hard to know how to pace for a one mile race. I actually think it would have been easier on a track because you can easily see how you are doing for each quarter mile (lap). The weather was very cold and windy, and we ended up with the headwind the entire mile. Excuses, excuses, I know so here is the time: 7:37. I think without the headwind, I could have run closer to 7 minutes. I started out running a 7:15 pace and faded, and I think that was mostly due to the headwind. It was so strong that I was crying from the wind. Anyways, we are planning to do this every few months to see how we improve so I’m eager to try again and see how close I can get to a 7 minute mile…and gasp, even possibly a sub-7 minute mile. I never ran the mile hard in high school so I have no idea how fast I was when I was younger, but I’m happy to be able to push the paces in my (gasp, again) late 30s.

Lastly, I entered a 5 mile race in Freehold while we were in New Jersey for Thanksgiving. I have never run a 5 mile race so this was an obvious PR for me. But I did set a goal to run sub 45 minutes (9 minute miles or better). The course starts out downhill and then has some rolling hills, a flat loop around a lake and then finishes up the hills you ran down in the beginning. I knew to pace myself for the hills at the end, and I didn’t think a negative split would be possible so I wanted to start out fast and give myself some breathing room at the end for those hills. I did just that, starting out at about 8 minute mile pace. Maybe more like 8:15 pace, but it felt very comfortable. I kept looking at my Garmin thinking I’d be slipping with my pace, but I held very steady. The pace felt comfortable the entire race so I just went with it. I did slow down a bit in the last 2 miles because of those hills, but I still maintained around an 8:30 pace. I ended up crushing my goal and finishing in 41:28 – an average of 8:19 for 5 miles! I was 7^th in my age group…it was a small race but still, a top 10 finish in women aged 30-39.  I was very proud of myself, and I felt pretty accomplished. I think with a smart attack, I can beat 40 minutes in my next 5 miler. Of course, I have no idea when that will be.

While I'm on the subject of running, here are my goals for 2014:

Break 2 hours for a Half Marathon – see notes above. I definitely think this is an achievable goal for my next half.

Run 1,000 miles – this should be very attainable, considering I’m going to break 800 for 2013 and I started out the year running pretty minimally. I just need to be more consistent – and if I end up doing a fall marathon again like I am considering, I will crush that. Even without a marathon, I can still do a 1,000 with just 20 miles per week – very manageable.

Run a 5K for time – After my 5 mile PR, I am very curious how fast I could run a 5K. With my one mile time below 8 minutes, I am pretty confident I can break 24 minutes but I’m not sure how much below that I can push. Again, it’s just a matter of pushing myself and I almost never just run 3.1 miles so I really don’t know what I am capable of in that distance.

Strength train and cross train more – I believe being well rounded will make me a better runner. I’ve already started to include yoga once a week and I love it. It’s so good to stretch and flex, and I know it’s helping my sore muscles. I also want to include some strength training to build up my muscle endurance. I used to do that once a week but I have gotten away from it when I started running consistently. I want to incorporate that once again and I know it will help my running.

Break 4 hours in a marathon – I know I said I wasn’t sure I would run a marathon again, and I’m still not sure. But I have this nagging feeling that I can improve my time, and I feel I would be regret it if I didn’t give it a shot. I think a Spring Marathon is too much, but I feel a Fall Marathon would work for me. The only thing that worries me is my left foot. I’m not sure the bunionectomy can hold up for another marathon training cycle, especially if I am pushing myself to faster paces in hopes of a better time. So this is a maybe goal, I will likely decide once 2014 is underway.

School and Health Updates

The first quarter of school ended in early November, followed by the usual requisite two days off of school. Report cards and conferences followed.

For Quinn, there were no conferences but there were also no surprises. I have to say, after the first quarter at Poe I am pretty pleased. We receive progress reports from most of Quinn’s teachers every two weeks. If things were going south, we would know pretty quickly. However, we had nothing to worry about. When you open up the math reports and see that your child has over a 100% average, you just know he’s going to be fine. He received all A’s and one A-, good enough to place him on the all-A Honor Roll. There was a ceremony at school to acknowledge the all-A and A/B Honor Rolls…but he forgot to tell us what time, or he never knew what time it would be. Turns out it was held during first period and we would love to attend in the future. Quinn seems to have adjusted well to middle school and he’s doing great.

We did have conferences for Keely. She is doing really well. Her teacher really enjoys having her in class. She seems to be behaving nicely, not getting too caught up with her friends and concentrating on getting her work done. I do think she strives to be a good student, but sometimes distractions get in the way of that. Thankfully, 4^th grade seems to be going well. Her report card was good too, mostly 3s and 4s. From her teacher’s remarks in the conference, I would have expected more 4s but I guess he wanted to give her room to improve. I’m not sure all the teachers are on board with the new grading system – it’s supposed to be rating children according to what they know at the end of the quarter and then rating them independently each quarter on what they are learning. In any event, her grades were still good and it’s not worth making a fuss over. A 4^th grade report card is not going to make any difference in her college applications.

The kids also had their well checks, which coincided with birthdays. They are both doing well, in fact we had not been at the doctor at all (save one visit for Keely’s acid reflux) since their well check last year. That’s a good sign that they are healthy and well. Our two main issues (and they are relatively minor in the grand scheme of things) are Keely’s acid reflux and Quinn’s nose bleeds. We monitor Keely’s acid and she takes Zantac each night to keep it under control. It seems every fall Quinn’s nose bleeds are at their worst and we talk to the doctor about them, then they die down. Sure enough, that’s what happened again. The doctor recommended Quinn get a set of blood work done now to see if he has any clotting issues, in addition to the regular blood panels (including cholesterol). It’s no rush, but we will get that done in the next month or so. He’s not anxious because he hates needles and blood (makes the bloody noses very fun…not!). As for weight and height, they are both around the 50% for their ages. Quinn is due for a very big growth spurt, and I even think he’s grown since the visit. I judge that pretty unscientifically though based on how he compares to my own height. Let’s just say he’s very close to looking me eye to eye, and I’ve never been anxious to reach that day. I have to accept it though, because it’s happening and very soon, he will be taller than me. Keely is not as petite as she was last year but still very normal for her age. She didn’t like being called petite anyways so that’s a good development. I have the numbers but I think the kiddos are past the age where I report their heights and weights so I will keep them for their memory books. Suffice it to say, they are doing well and very health and we are very grateful!

The Weitz Family Visits Washington

After what seemed like many months of planning and a few failed attempts at picking a weekend, we finally had our 2^nd weekend visit from Jess, Jon and Ethan. They arrived on the train Friday afternoon and stayed until early Sunday afternoon. It was a quick trip, but we packed in a lot of fun! 

On Friday, we had a nice dinner out at Silver Diner. Perfect for kids and great food, it ended up being a perfect choice. On Saturday morning, we drove up to Clemyjontri Park in McLean. I had a feeling Ethan would love this park, and I think it’s safe to say I was right. Quinn and Keely like it too, but we only go there when we have little ones in town. Quite honestly, they are just too old for parks but they like to live vicariously through the younger friends and cousins we bring there. 

We spent about an hour there and then it was time to head home and get Keely ready for her soccer game. After the game, we decided to head downtown to visit the Air & Space Museum. The museum was a hit with all, and we spent about 2 hours there before heading home to prepare dinner. Insert my WWBHM post here, because that picks up our activities from dinner through about 9 AM when I finished running the following morning. I was so happy to have 3 extra people in my cheering squad on Sunday morning! After my race, we had brunch at Jukebox Diner. Before we knew it, the time had come to bring our guests to Union Station for their return train back to NYC. It was too quick, but there were a lot of laughs and a ton of fun. We are so glad to live close enough to see them – though not as often as we would like, it’s working out to once or twice a year and I know I look forward to these visits.

Other fun stuff to mention – teaching Jess and Jon Anomia (and Jess getting a little too enthusiastic about playing!), teaching Jon to rainbow loom, and we can't forget Keely’s salon complete with massages, manicures, hair styling and even magazines to read in the waiting room!

It was definitely a fun time, and I’m so glad they were able to make the trip down to see us. Next time, we’re looking forward to visiting New York and Brooklyn, or even meeting in the middle for a getaway (Philly is the most likely place). I don’t know exactly when it will be, but I do know I look forward to the next time we get to hang with the Weitz Family :)

Half Marathon #3

On Sunday, I ran my 3^rd half marathon, the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon. This race was supposed to be run on October 6^th but was postponed for 5 weeks due to the government shutdown. I’ve recently read that the November 10^th slot was the only possible weekend that worked for all 5-7 jurisdictions involved between the original date and the end of the year. I’m happy that they found that date and were able to hold the race – this was my only fall half planned and I wanted to run it to see what I could do with my time. The postponement was frustrating but I think I prepared well nonetheless.

The hamstring soreness that I had been experiencing was diminishing run by run as the date approached. I honestly think that all the stretching, heat and incorporating some yoga into my routine helped immensely. In the end, it didn’t bother me at all on race day!

Pre-race, I had penne a la vodka with garlic bread for dinner. In hindsight, I am not sure that was the best decision. I had already increased carbs all week and I think the increased gluten the night before the race left me bloated and unsettled. I think it would have been better if we used brown rice pasta – though arguably not as tasty. Also in retrospect, I did not eat enough calories the day before the race and I expended more energy than I typically do. This was not a good combination and something I will do better with next time. Hydration wise, I was fine – drinking coconut water and Gatorade all day but calorically I dont' think I consumed enough.

The morning of the race, I had a 4 AM wakeup call. I didn’t feel too well when I stepped out of bed. I had gotten max 5 hours of sleep, and those were restless hours. I felt dizzy and weak, never a good sign when you are asking your body to output a ton of energy. I knew I needed calories to help balance me out, and the banana and two pieces of toast helped. My body burned right through those calories though, and I was already hungry again on the bus ride to the start. This race is hard to time, because it starts at 7 AM but we arrived at National Harbor to catch the bus to the start at about 5:20 AM. I drank 32 ounces of Gatorade leading up to the start of the race. I tried to eat some of a Stinger waffle on the bus ride, but I felt nauseous and wasn’t able to get it all down. The Gatorade was about the only thing my stomach was tolerating at that point, most likely due to nerves. It was also chilly that morning, and I’m not sure why but my muscles kept shaking and I found myself having to force my teeth not to chatter. Again, I suspect this was the lack of calories. Anyways, the race time came and the starting corrals were pretty uncrowded. I started the race with Beth though I suspected we wouldn’t stay together the whole time and I was right – we ran the first mile together (way faster than I wanted to start out because it was downhill) and then parted ways.

Other than my first fast mile (9 minutes), I ran a well executed race. I slowed myself down for Miles 2 though 8 and dialed it in, running a pretty consistent 9:30 pace. I did get hungry pretty early on, and ate my first snack (Honey Chews) at about 3.5 miles in. I also took the Gatorade and Water at all water stops. Sometime after 5 miles, I felt better and that’s when I was able to run most consistently. My A goal was to beat 2 hours (9 minute miles) but I knew I wanted to start slow and conserve energy for the last few miles. That’s exactly what I ended up doing. I hit the bridge which is Mile 9 and one of the only hills on the course (the rest are rolling) feeling great. I was passing people up and down that bridge. I hit the 10 mile marker at 1:34ish and started to do some quick calculations in my head. With a fast 5K to finish, I could come close to my goal. I turned on the jets, continued passing people and saw paces in the 7s and 8s on my Garmin. I ended up running about a 26 minute 5K, pretty quick for me considering it was the end of a half marathon. I finished with some juice left in my legs, and so so close to my A goal with a time of 2:01:28. If I could have shaved 6-7 seconds off each mile, I could have beat 2 hours. That’s easily attainable for me in my coming races. I now know I can do it, I just have to execute another good smart race and I’ll get it done.

Overall, I really liked this race. It was point to point, and I wasn’t sure how I would like that but I did enjoy the course. The GW Parkway is one of my favorite places to run, the race size was smallish (under 2,000 runners this year) and it was a well managed race. I am not sure if I will do it again, but I’d say the chances are good that I will do it again sometime in the future. The weather ended up being perfect – starting in the low 40s and ending right about 50 and sunny.

My race recovery was a little tough, I think mostly due to the 4AM wakeup call and not getting enough rest after the race. I was pretty knocked out through Monday night, and ended up not feeling too great on Monday (stomach wise). I’m starting to wonder if 13.1 leaves my immune system weakened, but I’m not sure I could have done anything more to prevent that letdown. It’s definitely something I want to figure out though, because I can’t get sick after each half. What I also know now is that the half is a distance I really enjoy. It’s enough distance that I feel accomplished but not so much that my body is shredded. That’s not to say I won’t do other distances – I like the 10MI and I haven’t yet ruled out another full marathon – but I definitely want to keep focusing on 13.1 and better my time.

I’ll do a post on my 2014 plans, but I already have 2 halfs lined up for February/March, plans for races in April and am thinking beyond as well. First up though, one more half for 2013. I will be pacing my sister through her first half marathon. I’m excited for that, I hope I can be a good pacer and coach through the race – and I’m proud of her for working towards this goal! 

Halloween Wrapup

Another Halloween come and gone, and I can't say I'm sad. It's just not my holiday. It always seems like there is drama with costumes, and I'm never happy with the discussions in the weeks leading up to it. Keely wanted to be a butterfly, then a ladybug, then some sort of winged insect...then she ended up with a fairy costume. Quinn didn't really want to dress up at all, but he wanted the candy. He didn't decide until the very very last minute...and ended up as a traveling musician with a guitar on his back. The guitar didn't last long though, but he must have looked semi-dressed up because people still gave him candy :)

The kids got more candy than we could ever need. We're still going through it, and I think another batch may be coming to work with me soon. Keely went around the neighborhood with her best friend Julia. This was the first year we let Quinn go on his own with a friend. They took scooters and went from our house on one side of the neighborhood to his friend's house on the other side, grabbing candy from each house as they traveled. He had SO much candy...because he was able to make it quickly from one house to another via scooter.

Double Digits

Keely celebrated her 10^th birthday. Ten, a decade, double digits…wow! I was pretty morose about my baby turning 10, but for the few weeks before her birthday I started conditioning myself to her turning 10, saying she was about to be 10 when people asked how old she was, etc. By the time her birthday rolled around, I was fine with it. Ah, the trials and tribulations of a mom’s drama :) But this isn’t about me, it’s about Keely so I’ll get to it!

Much like Quinn, she started her birthday celebrations a few days early when Nana and Papa came to visit. She got some spa time in with Nana and I, getting a Halloween manicure and a pink hair extension. She chose to go out for Hibachi for her birthday dinner with our guests, and what a great choice. We haven’t been to that type of restaurant in some time, and it was a very yummy meal. She especially loved the soup, and using the chopsticks to eat most of her meal. After dinner, it was time for presents and cake. She got spoiled with lots of gifts from N&P…including a new American Girl doll Saige, a gift card to Michael’s, and a new scarf handmade by Nana to name a few of the many gifts. Her cake was just a simple round two layer marble cake with pink frosting. She helped me decorate it – at first, she wanted a spider web, then a soccer ball, and then it turned into a creation all its own complete with M&Ms spelling her initials. I love that my kids are so flexible with my ineptitude at cake decorating!

On her actual birthday, she took cupcakes to school and got to hand them out at lunch time. For dinner that night, she chose ham, mashed potatoes and steamed carrots. For dessert, we had what was left over from the cupcakes she brought to school. They even sang to her at soccer practice since it fell on her actual birthday! After cake, she got her presents from us – some clothes from her favorite store and a Caboodles makeup kit from Mom & Dad, and new rubber bands for her Rainbow Loom from Quinn (in Poe colors, black and yellow – sort of a gift for himself too so he could have her make him a Poe themed bracelet).

We may still have yet another celebration of her birth, this time with friends. With the busyness that is life though, that date isn’t set nor is it a definite so I decided not delay this anymore. In any event, she had a wonderful birthday, and while she wasn’t eager to hit double digits she also grew accustomed to it and is happy to be 10. It’s like she is an old soul, she often says she doesn’t want to get old…and I try and tell her that she’s not, 10 is still very young but I think she just doesn’t want to grow up. I can’t say I blame her! She’s always seemed older and wiser than her years, and I think this is another case of that. In any event, she is turning into a fine young woman and we are blessed to have her with us each day. I couldn’t imagine life without my sweet girl, my Keely Roo and I’m glad she had a wonderful birthday to celebrate the day she entered our lives!

Confirmation

About a year ago, Karen asked me to be Tyler's Confirmation sponsor. I was honored and accepted, but the date seemed so far off. Of course, it came and went before I knew it. I drove to New Jersey and back in 24 hours, but it was worth the trip to be there for Tyler. The boys were confirmed in James' family church, where Keely was baptized and I have been more times than I can count. As I was standing with Tyler for the anointing, it was a bittersweet moment. I am his Godmother, I held him at his Baptism when he was blessed with the Holy Water. I thought it was pretty special to be with him that day almost 15 years ago when he was welcomed into the Catholic church, and on this day when he was there of his own choosing - beginning his adult life in the Catholic church. As the Monsignor said in his homily, this was not a Catholic graduation - although most of the kids are for sure looking forward to no more CCD - but a beginning of their lives as adults in the Catholic church.

I'm happy that Tyler asked me and glad that I was able to be there for this special day in both Tyler and Jordan's life!

Postponed

I don’t normally write about political events or even about current events all that much. This blog was always intended to be only about the current events in our life. Sometimes the world or state or local current events intermingle with our own little world though, and then I’m forced to incorporate them into my writing. The government began a partial shut down on October 1^st. When it was looming and even when it happened, I had no thoughts of it impacting my life. Months ago, I had chosen my fall half marathon which was the Wilson Bridge Half Marathon to be held on October 6^th. What I didn’t realize about the government shutdown was that it would affect the race because much of it is run on National Park Service land, which technically closed with the shutdown. A day later, the decision was made to postpone the race to November 10^th. Two of my friends and I ran our own 13.1 that Saturday, dubbed the Government Shutdown Half, because the shut down couldn’t stop us from running. Truth be told, the weather was abnormally hot and humid for early October and it was probably for the best that the race had been postponed. Our 13.1 turned into a training run, and we took our time finishing in about 2 hours, 15 minutes…a far cry from my personal best, and from my goal of close to or under 2 hours. I could have run faster but I stuck with my friends and it was a nice run, aside from the heat and humidity. We even got a few thumbs up from fellow runners on our homemade shirts. 

The race being postponed has left me with a mix of emotions. Obviously, I felt well prepared and was mad that it didn’t go off as planned. I was so ready to be done with weekend long runs and training. On top of that, I was dealing with a sore hamstring on that last 13.1 mile training run. I tend to over-react so had I written this a week or 10 days ago, I would have been pretty down because of that hamstring. But in the last week or so, I’ve been able to run with less and less pain thanks to stretching, heat and incorporating weekly yoga into my workouts. I even got a 9.5 mile long run in on Sunday. I feel like I will be able to get one more long run in this weekend and then do another two week taper. The government is re-opened, so no worries about another postponement or (worse) cancellation. And with the date change, I will have more spectators in my cheering section at the finish line because the Weitz family will be here that same weekend :)

A Dozen

Quinn celebrated his 12^th birthday last week. I know I say this all the time, but I honestly can’t believe he is 12! I know I will say that each year because it does seem like just yesterday that he was a tiny little baby (well, not so tiny for those who remember his birth weight but still a lot smaller than he is now). He’s growing into a fine young man, and I love that he while he’s grown up in a lot of ways, he still has time for hugs from mom and is very loving, telling us every day that he loves and appreciates us.

As usual, his birthday seemed to last more than just one day – with really three different celebrations.

The first celebration was the weekend before when Nana, Papa and Aunt Annie came to visit and celebrate with Quinn. We went out to dinner on Saturday night (thanks Papa!) and Quinn chose the restaurant – although it was partly governed by him wanting to go to the Lego Store which meant he chose from the restaurants at Tysons Corner. We had a great meal at Gordon Biersch Brewery, and got our shopping in at Lego – even Keely managed to get some shopping in at Justice (how does that manage to happen?!?!). I made a train cake…I at first thought Quinn was harkening back to his younger years wanting a basic train cake but in typical Quinn fashion, he surprised me by making the 4 cars into a Metro train cake. Fitting since I work on the Dulles Rail Metro extension J He’s so creative, just asking me to make and ice the cake and then he takes over with decorating. He designed each of the cars, and even had Gummy Bears waiting on the platform to board the train. Two cars were carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and the other two were chocolate cake with vanilla frosting. It was a really cute cake, and tasted great! After cake, he opened presents – the theme this year was mostly Legos and books. I honestly wonder when he will outgrow his Legos – maybe never! There’s nothing he likes more than tearing into a new set of Legos and following the directions to build the set…except tearing it down and making his own creations! Oh, and devouring a new book of course :)

The second was his actual birthday. Since he’s now in middle school, there was no celebration at school except he did get 12 pieces of candy from the 6^th grade principal. He chose dinner…which was breakfast. French toast J We surprised him with Crumbs cupcakes for dessert – a treat for the whole family (except James who doesn’t eat cupcakes) and he got his presents from us – a Lego set from Mom & Dad, and a book from Keely. See, the theme continues on…

The third and last celebration was with his friends. He initially tried to talk us into Paintball, but we talked him into a sleepover because paintball is quite expensive. At 3 AM when they were still awake, I was thinking maybe paintball would have been a better – albeit more costly – choice! We had his two best friends over. They had pizza, watched a movie, ate popcorn, candy, and ice cream cake (homemade – and much better on my second attempt!).They stayed up way too late…and got up way too early. They had fun though, and that’s what matters most!

So now Quinn is 12, and we have one more year before he is officially a teenager. Still, I marvel at how quickly that seems to have happened. The reality is he’s growing up, and there is not one thing we can do to stop that – so we enjoy each day with him and marvel at the fine young man he is becoming!

Back to School 2013

The first three weeks of school are nearly in the books. As usual, once the routine settles the weeks start going pretty fast. This year was a year of change for both kids, similar to two years ago when they were just beginning life at a new school in a new location. This is a similar change, but much less dramatic. This year marked the beginning of a new era for Quinn…middle school, where so many of your memories really begin. Keely started a new school as well, where she will attend 4^th and 5^th grades. This school is in our neighborhood, only having opened a year ago – or I should say re-opened after a long 30 years of not having a school in the neighborhood. For that whole time, the kids were traveling to a school in an adjacent neighborhood – not too far away though – where the kids attended for their first two years in Virginia, Beech Tree.

Keely was so excited to go to the Open House for her school in late August, so that she could find out her new teacher. I still laugh when I remember the moment we realized it was a male teacher…again! The girl who so very desperately wants a Ms. Something keeps getting the only male teacher in her grade. Mr. B is very nice though, and things have been going very well. Also, the 3 classes are very much a large group and in reality, Keely has 3 teachers. She already switches to another class for math, and they move around for reading and language arts as well. They are constantly re-assessing at the beginning of each new skill set, and grouping kids according to their pre-assessments so that everyone is getting the best learning environment. It’s a bit of a unique concept, but they feel it works well and so far I agree. Keely knew a few girls in her class from the outset, but of course she has made a bunch of new friends – and she’s come to the realization that she can still maintain her old friendships, while incorporating new friends into her life.

Quinn made the adjustment to the logistics of middle school pretty easily. He had his schedule memorized after the first day. He has a locker but never visits it because there isn’t enough time between classes. He went into middle school with his two best friends, and he seems to be meeting and making other friends in his classes. I really like what they did for the first 2 weeks with lunch – probably the only setting where a child can really feel left out – they had the 6^th graders sit with their next period class to avoid anyone feeling left out. After about 2 weeks – presumably when kids had time to make friends and figure out who they wanted to sit with – they let them start to choose their own seats. It’s one of the benefits of the hypersensitivity of bullying – and this one I think I like. What’s hard to adjust to is the homework and time management. No surprise there, but it’s going to take a little while to get settled. He is used to begin given an assignment one day that is due the next – and not used to having multiple teachers giving him assignments that are due the next day or maybe several days later. It’s something we all have to learn, and for some it takes longer than others. I think we can all remember a time when we forgot to do an assignment and arrived at school with the sinking realization that we were unprepared. For me, it was freshman year in high school and a biology lab that I completely spaced – so I worked on it in each class and at lunch because thankfully I had biology last period. I was happy to receive a C on it, considering the effort I put in. But I digress – this is about Quinn, not me! – honestly, though, having Quinn enter middle school has James and I reminiscing a lot about middle school (since we went to the same one, we can pull out the same yearbook and remember what teachers we had). I feel like so much of what you end up being starts taking shape in middle school, and I can’t believe my baby is already to that point in his life. Not to mention that he’s about to turn 12! I think overall, he is making a good adjustment but like all new things, there is learning and growing that needs to happen. It will happen in time, but we need to be patient and watch it grow. I tend to want to micro-manage (i.e. nag) while James is more hands off – so thank goodness he is managing the day-to-day homework and lets Quinn manage himself. It’s better that he not be babied and learn sooner than later that he needs to manage his time appropriately, and make the choice to (a) start on his homework right away than (b) wait until the last minute to start and then realize he doesn’t have the paper with the details of the assignment (true story, happened this week).

While I’m writing, I better include an update on sports. Keely is playing soccer again, and she continues to enjoy it and improve. It helps that she’s on a team with all of her friends – and a lot of girls she now doesn’t see every day at school. They started their season with a win on Saturday, and let’s hope it continues! Even so, the coaches are so encouraging and the girls have fun even if they don’t win. I just love the values that they are teaching them – that winning is not the most important thing, it’s more important to have fun and work as a team and they really celebrate the little milestones that they see from game to game, and season to season. Keely says she wants to try out for travel soccer, but we will see. I’m not sure if we (meaning I) am ready for the time commitment associated with that decision.

Quinn doesn’t have a fall sport because they didn’t have enough boys to start the flag football league. I feel that it will be okay though because PE is an everyday thing, and they do much more strenuous things in the class (I couldn’t believe the weight room they have in middle school, not to mention the cardio machines – it looks like a real gym!). He has also taken an interest in basketball, and says he wants to sign up this winter. He has the opportunity to stay after school 3 days a week (actually, 5 but for 3 days there is a late bus he can ride home) – they do homework first, and then play games the rest of the time…things like basketball, flag football, capture the flag, etc. It’s a good outlet for him, and it’s all free!

Both kids are continuing with scouting. Quinn is staying active in the Boy Scout Troop which meets Mondays and goes camping monthly. He’s already been on a September camp out – a one night trip to a ropes course. He had a great time, and also got to fish which he loves. Keely is in Junior Girl Scouts and this year, I am co-leading her troop with another mom. I’m not sure how or why I get myself into these things (hint: I can’t say no!) but hopefully it will turn out okay. I’m excited – we have a small troop (4 girls at this point) so we can make it fun and individualized for the girls. We already have a campout planned for late October, and I think we will have a fun year. 

So that's life at our house these days. Busy and interesting - but that's how we like it. Summer was great, but it's nice to be back in a routine even if that means more to schedule and manage!

Odd Jobs

This summer, the kids seem to have hit the magical age where they are asked to help neighbors with various chores and jobs.

The first was Keely being asked to cat sit for a neighbor who I know through working on the neighborhood board. Her cat sitter moved away, and she asked if Keely would be up to the task. Her first assignment - a week's worth of once a day visits to feed her, change water, check litterbox, and bring in the mail and paper. She gets paid $5 a day, so that first assignment was good for $35 - pretty much a fortune for a 9 year old. She put about half in the bank and enjoyed having extra money to spend. Since then, she's had two more assignments - each for two days so another $10 each time. The Fall looks to be busy for her, as the folks she's cat sitting for are also Hokie fans and they travel to Blacksburg each time there is a home game. I'm so jealous of that, but our time will come - their two children are grown and they have the freedom to leave on a whim. The only negative of this 'job' is that I have to accompany her - their house is not on our street, but a short bike ride away. It's not a big deal but I hope when she gets a bit older, she'll head over there on her own. The cat is super sweet too, and we enjoy petting her soft fur while we are there. It's a big change from our 15 year old grumpy old man cat :)

Both kids were also asked to water plants for our next door neighbor, and that initial job has turned into a few more jobs for her. They have now watched her dog for a couple of nights, and Quinn has started mowing her lawn. For the dog sitting which also includes bringing in the mail and checking the plants, they split $5 a visit. And for mowing the lawn, Quinn gets $15 each time! So now both of them always seem to have more cash than me :)

As I would have predicted, they are very different in their spending habits. Keely has hers spent before she gets it, and usually 'spends' it many ways before she actually uses it. We have to kind of force her to put some in the bank - although when we showed her how much money was in her bank account and how she could save for something big, i.e. a car, she seemed to have more incentive to put some of her earnings in the bank. Quinn is more of a saver, and he carefully picks what he wants to spend his money on - not typically spending it all, and then even asking to take a trip to the bank to deposit some money. His weakness is Legos, and he's asked to go to the Lego store now that he has cash in his pocket. But his asking is more infrequent - whereas with Keely, she asks and asks and then asks some more, until we cry 'Uncle!' and take her to the store of her choice (this week, it was AC Moore so she could buy paint for her 'masterpiece').

Quinn will also likely be switching from lawn mowing at our neighbor's to leaf raking this Fall, and Keely will have at least 5 more weekends of cat sitting. Now if we could only get them to do these chores - lawn mowing and cleaning the litter box, to name a couple - at our house!

Summer Wrap Up

We returned from Maine on July 22^nd, with the kids having been off school for over a month yet having had a very abnormal summer. They were gone 3 of the first 4 weeks, and we were very ready for life to settle down and everyone to settle into the normal summer routine. You know…sleeping late, playing with friends, staying up late, swimming at the neighborhood pool, etc. I’m used to getting up and out of the house every day with the rest of the family still sleeping, and that’s the feeling of summer we were all eager for. We also had been very busy out of state, but realized there are a lot of things we want to do close to home – stay-cations of sorts. So we made a list of things we wanted to do in the last 5-6 weeks of summer. I’m happy to say we checked off all but one or two items on that list. One being tubing, which I know we will do another summer – but would have been hard logistically to fit in this summer. And the other was a nearby amusement park – which we can still do another weekend this Fall. We checked off the other items on the list, capping the last one on September 1^st – a trip to a water park…pretty good, considering James and the kids were in New Jersey for one week of August.

I can separate these activities, or write about them all together. I think lumping it all together will help me catch up quicker to present time, so here goes.

We took a trip to Cunningham Falls State Park, a lake with a waterfall hike in the mountains of Maryland. My favorite memory from this trip was Keely’s description of the lake – Nature’s Pool :) There is a small beach area, and the part of the lake you can swim in is roped off. It was nice, but I wouldn’t go back again for the beach area. We also did the hike up to the waterfalls, and then played around on the rocks around the falls. The whole park was fairly crowded, probably because it was a gorgeous summer day with low humidity. We had a nice day, but for the 1+ hour drive I don’t think it’s worth another trip.

We combined two things from our list into one overnight in-state trip – Natural Bridge and Monticello. James and I had been to NB when we were in college, and we wanted the kids to see it. It’s gotten a bit more commercialized since we visited, but it’s a nice trip nonetheless. The bridge is pretty amazing, and it didn’t disappoint. We also made the hike (more like a walk) to the waterfalls, including a side trip to the Monacan Indian Village. They have also added a butterfly garden that includes some beautiful large butterflies. For a last hurrah, and what ended up being quite a laugh, we visited the wax museum on site that was included with our admission. I’m not a fan of these places, and it was a little creepy looking at these wax figures – but mostly, it was funny because they didn’t quite capture the people they were trying to replicate. 

We then traveled to Charlottesville for the night and visited Monticello on Sunday to complete our in state exploring. James was the only one to have ever been, and it was when he was very young so we all got to experience this for (almost) the first time. I’m comparing this to Mount Vernon in terms of history, pricing, crowds, etc. and I have to say I was quite impressed and I like Monticello better. The grounds are more spread out and even though there were a lot of people there, it didn’t feel crowded. We also chose the family friendly tour – and although it’s geared more for younger kids, the tour guide was excellent – very knowledgeable and very patient answering all the kids and adults questions. We spent about two hours exploring, including the house tour, lower level, grounds, gardens, and outbuildings. It was a very nice experience and I recommend it if you are in the Charlottesville area. 

Hey, it’s better than visiting the University – I still can’t believe that we took the kids to see UVA before we took them to Blacksburg to see our alma mater. I never would have thought we’d live in Virginia for over 2 years and not have visited Blacksburg once. However, it’s 4.5 hours away and that’s a long trip so I guess that’s why. We’ll get there one of these days – at least to show Quinn the school before he applies to colleges :)

James and the kids spent one of the last weeks of summer in New Jersey, mostly hanging out with Grandpa. They did also squeeze in some time with Nana and other cousins, it’s bound to happen with all of my family in the area also. Keely got to have a fabulous girls’ day with Nana in New York City, complete with a trip to the American Girl doll store that included lunch and some ‘big’ conversations! The rest of the week was spent at various parks, swimming, a trip to the beach, and an indoor game and ride center. They had a fun time, and I was able to join them for the last two days.

The last hurrah, so to speak, and another check off our ‘to-do’ list was a trip to a local water park. We are so fortunate to have not one, but five County water parks to choose from all at a pretty reasonable price for a days’ admission. The one we chose has a wave pool, five water slides, and several smaller pool areas. We spent a few hours there, definitely getting our money’s worth and even had some funnel cake – I swear they pump the smell into the wave pool area and I couldn’t resist!

So with that, summer was officially over and we (mostly me) were ready to get back into a normal routine. There are big changes in store, with both kids going to new schools this year and lots of new experiences coming up!

Maine

How do I describe this week? In a word, amazing. Honestly, we had a wonderful trip to Maine. There were some bumps and bruises along the way, but it was a very fun trip and allowed us to spend time with family who we don’t see nearly as often as we would like. How often do you get the opportunity to spend a week with an entire side of your family? Not too often. At the rate we've been averaging, the next trip will be in 2024. I personally vow not to let it be that long. Even if it’s not the whole group, it will happen again sooner than that.

26 people, 3 houses, 1 week, Boothbay Harbor…or more accurately, the tiny town of Newagen (pronounced new-wag-en if you’re a local) on the island of Southport. So what did we do? I’m going to bullet the high points, and these are specific to my family – because with a group that large, you can’t (and likely don’t want to) do everything together. That said, we managed to do quite a bit as one large group throughout the week – something that surprised me.

Kayaking – the ‘Stoners’(what Tyler coined us early in the week…those who were staying in the Stone House and adjacent Coseclif, the kids’ bunk house) rented two kayaks on Sunday and we had them the entire week. With a tandem and single, it gave us lots of options for adults and kids to venture out together or separately. This was Steve’s idea, but something James and I have done on vacations before so we were definitely on board – or on kayak, so to speak. Most of us used the kayaks every day, and had a lot of fun. We kayaked up and down the inlet…up to the Big House to the north and to the docks and little islands to the south. One day, we kayaked with dolphins as they swam up and down the inlet. It was so cool, though I wish I could have gotten a little closer to them.

Campfires – several nights, fires were started either on the rocks or in the fire pit. S’mores were made. Long talks ensued. Late nights were had. Some of my favorite memories from this trip were from the times around the fire. There’s just something about hanging out on a summer night, chilling out by a camp fire. It was a blessing to get to know my younger cousins better, the next generation of this family, by the honest conversations (sometimes, too honest but no harm done) we had by those fires.

Boating – we rented two boats with just our family. The first was a sailboat called the Eastwind. This was our entire group on a two hour evening sail. Steve commandeered the boat for much of the sailing and navigated our family around the harbor and surrounding islands. It was a gorgeous night for sailing, and we all enjoyed the time on the boat. The second was a small fishing boat called the Miss Boothbay. There were 15 of us on this boat, again the entire group was our family. We fished for mackerel, but also caught some other fish. Most were thrown back but we did experience the gutting and filleting of a few mackerel…that were later grilled by Kyle. The fishing wasn’t all that great, we had to move from place to place a lot but everyone caught at least one fish so I’d declare this a success.

Dining – we actually ate out twice with the entire group (or whoever was still in town at that point – which was 17-18 people both times). Four nights we all ate together at the big house. James and I cooked pasta on Sunday night, Yves cooked kabobs another night, we hired a lovely lady named Dawn for two other nights – London broil one night, and the big event of a lobster and clam bake at the Stone House one night. I would be remiss to leave out the lobstering – only five of us did it (Keely and I among the group), and it was way more fun than I thought it would be. We got to go out on the boat with Doug, the lobsterman, and pull up the traps and catch the 20 lobsters that were later baked on the rocks for our dinner. It was definitely interesting to learn about lobstering – I didn’t realize how competitive and hard it is to do that for a living. Breakfasts, lunches, snacks were mostly on our own – or in smaller groups. I didn’t think we could pull off dinners together for 6 nights but we did and it worked great!

 There’s so much more to mention….donuts from the General Store, fritters from the Vietnamese bakery, biking, running, lawn workouts, ice cream, trips to town, the aquarium, jumping in the freezing cold (well, not really – but still bone chilling) ocean, miniature golfing, laughing, talking, drinking, Keely’s cuss cup…I could go on and on. These memories will really last a lifetime. Maine was truly a blast and we had so much fun. The location will likely be different, the group not as large, I don’t know how long it will take but I know I can’t wait for another opportunity like this to happen so we can enjoy the company of the family that we love dearly.

On The Eve

Tomorrow, we will embark on a trip that has been in the works for over a year. My mom turned 60 earlier this year, and in celebration of that birthday her wish was that her whole family be together for a week in Maine. It’s the first time that all of us have been on a vacation together in many years. Actually, I think it’s the first time we have all been on vacation together ever. There have been other trips, including some of the extended family…Florida ’90, Cape Cod ’96ish, OBX ’02 come to mind. But those trips weren’t the whole family. This trip is almost the entire family, except for Uncle Joe and J.R., who were supposed to come but unfortunately have to stay home - they will be missed. Over the course of the week, schedules vary but for a few days all 25 of us will be in the same place, on the same vacation. That’s quite monumental, a rare opportunity to spend time with those we love and cherish dearly. Life is short, and we have to take these moments when they come. From the spacing of family vacations, you can see that it’s not often that we get this chance, this opportunity. I am grateful to my mom for making this happen…without her will and persistence, it wouldn’t be a reality. Everyone’s life is busy, pulling us all in different directions…but with a push, we can make something special like this happen. New places, new experiences with the ones we love, and I personally can’t wait.

25 People, 3 Houses, 1 Week - I’m sure it will pass quickly, but the memories will last a lifetime.

Florida

When we visited Florida for Easter, an idea floated its way around and then came to fruition. With James at home, he and the kids have a lot of flexibility come summer. The idea was for them to drive to Florida to spend roughly a couple of weeks. We decided on the last week in June and first week of July…mostly because I could fly down for the 4^th of July weekend and we could all drive back together.

I, on the other hand, don’t have that flexibility and had to stay home. Luckily, I had Callie to keep me company…and I traveled to New Jersey for the weekend to celebrate Ryan’s high school graduation and have a girls’ day out in New York. It was very strange to be home alone, and I had to do a ton of things that James normally does. I certainly appreciate the things he takes care of way more now that I’ve had to do them myself…one major thing was mowing the lawn, way harder than I expected!

On their way down to Florida, they stopped in Jacksonville for one night to spend some time with the North Carolina Donovans. Then they headed to a small town in southern South Carolina for one night, and finally made the finish to Melbourne on the 3^rd day. One amazing fact – they did the entire 1,000 mile drive with no air conditioning. Not because it was broken, just because James wanted to J I know they were all happy to get out of the car when they arrived in Florida!

They had a fun time…visited the zoo, beach, and pool to name a few things. Mostly though, they relaxed and spent time together…cousins enjoying the time together as they should. My time there was short, but fun. We hit the beach and pool, BBQ’ed for the 4^th and watched a pretty awesome fireworks show. 

Saturday afternoon, we left for our two day drive back to Virginia. And in case you are wondering, we did use the A/C on the drive back! We arrived home on Sunday afternoon, all happy to be back home together. We had 5 nights of normal, and then the next adventure awaited us…our much anticipated family trip to Maine!

School Year Wrap Up

The end of the school year came quickly, and passed just as quickly. Field day, yearbooks, goodbyes, a few tears (from Keely). The kids both had good years, and 5^th and 3^rd grades are in the past for them. Their final report cards and SOL (Standards of Learning) test results came home with them on the last day of school.

Quinn took four SOLs, including the 6^th grade math. He received a pass-proficient on two and pass-advanced on two. Keely took 5 SOLs. She received three pass-proficients and two pass-advanced. She was one of only a couple students from her class to take the Social Studies and Science exams. Those are not required exams but her teacher felt that her skills in those areas were worthy of taking the exam, and she took them with the AAP class.

Their report cards were very good…all 3s and 4s (highest grades) and good comments from their teachers.

Keely will miss Mr. H a lot. She is already e-mailing him to see how his summer is going. Considering her negative reaction to having a male teacher, she did a complete turnaround and says he is her favorite teacher to date. Another ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ lesson learned!

So, that’s the wrap-up. Another good year, and our last year at Beech Tree. We enjoyed our short two years there. It was a good introduction to Fairfax County Schools, and we really had a good experience with all of the teachers and staff. On to Mason Crest and Poe…new adventures await!

The End of Elementary School

Quinn has now finished 5th grade. In our area that means he will be entering middle school in September. It’s going to be a big change, and I think it’s safe to say that there is a bit of nerves and excitement all around. We got a dose of the increased workload the last few weeks of school. Quinn’s teacher had assigned what she termed a ‘year-long project’…although later on I heard it referred to as a ‘graduation project’. I think the reason for the name change is because not one student had been working on it all year long. They chose ideas back in October or November, but after that point we didn’t hear one word about it. I think this was a test of these 5th graders ability to prioritize work on their own. In that respect, I’d say the majority failed. I think at this age, there should have been a bit of reminding the parents to help with time management. If we knew they weren’t stressing it at school (or even if they were), we could have stressed it at home. In any event, around Memorial Day Quinn got really stressed because he hadn’t worked on it at all and it was due in early June. The deadline got extended so they had a bit more time, but it was a big effort to cram into 2 weeks. Quite honestly, he could have saved himself a lot of stress if he had just worked on it a bit at a time. So what was his project? He created a graphic novel of one chapter of his NaNoRiMo (National Novel Writing Month) novel, Sky 7. He drew all of the scenes himself, then used computer magic to color and make the frames. He asked for an extra day so that it could be bound. It ended up quite nice.

In the midst of this project, there was the 5th Grade Science Fair. So he had to juggle working on both – see, middle school time management lessons at their finest! His science project was called ‘The Great Basil Race’. He chose three varieties of basil to see which grew best in the same conditions. He used a grow light, and kept the basil under the light or outside to natural light the entire time. James helped him with his charts and graphs, and the project came together pretty easily. Unfortunately, he donated the basil to his teacher – and threw his poster board in the garbage promptly upon arriving home from school that day so I have no evidence of his hard work. Boys!

Needless to say, we were all happy when the end of school rolled around. The end of elementary school is marked with a ‘Moving Up’ ceremony. I like that they don’t call it graduation…that should be reserved for larger commencements. This was a nice, simple ceremony in the school gym with parents and the rest of the students in attendance, followed by a small reception in the library. Quinn downplayed it, saying we didn’t have to attend but I am glad I decided to…mostly because he received two awards. The first one was the Outstanding Band Student Award from his band teacher, Mr. Sorenson. This was a big honor, having been chosen from the entire band as the student who worked hardest all year to improve. He really has taken a liking to the saxophone and it shows. He practices on his own with no nagging, and he is always working to teach himself new songs and notes. Evidence is the talent show – and his Pink Panther performance. Second, he received the President’s Award for Educational Achievement. This is a national award with standards set for academics, community involvement, and/or extracurricular activities. He received a pin and certificate, and a trophy for the Band award.

We are very proud of his achievements this year, and of the young man he is becoming. I’m sure he will do well in middle school and beyond, and we will be there to help him along the way. As I’ve said, I’m beyond disbelief that my baby is entering middle school – but I have to face that fact, and try to enjoy every moment as we enter this new phase in his life. New adventures await, and I’m grateful to have him as my son and eager to see him progress in this next chapter!