Deltaville 5K 2015 and everything else

Hello friends! This has been a crazy and hectic last few weeks! I thought my life would be a little better after school let out for the summer but boy was I wrong. B has kept me on my toes along with everything else going on.

First, I got new prescription sunglasses! I've never had prescription sunglasses before but I am loving it. I also got new glasses as well. It has been an adjustment because I have developed an astigmatism and now I am supposed to be wearing glasses all the time instead of just to see distance. I am very slowly getting used to them and still being stubborn about wearing them all the time, but I am loving the prescription ones for driving.

Stylin'

My parents' 40th wedding anniversary was June 28th so I threw them a surprise dinner with their closest friends. It was perfect! They thought they were just meeting us for dinner...hehehe.

Surprise!

My "aunts and uncles"

Everyone had a great time, and even B was semi well behaved. The empty outdoor dining area helped because he could run around out there.

Argg!

June 30th was our wedding anniversary! We waited and celebrated with dinner in Urbanna. We went to a place called The Works and it was soooooo good! It was also so good to have some kid-free time.

4 years and counting!

Crabby hat. Crabby baby.

Friday we went out on the boat and B wore the best hat ever. We went out in the bay and it was a gorgeous day! Since there were storms the night before the humidity was low. I liked swimming out in the open water and even (finally!) got to drive the boat!

Saturday morning I had the Deltaville 5K. It is a fun race with an out and back course. I think I could have had a better time if it weren't for the guy who decided to dress up in sleigh bells (not jingle bells, legit sleigh bells) and a Santa hat and run near me through the whole race. The bells were absolutely maddening. I had 2 choices: go ahead of him or let him pull ahead of me, because he ran my EXACT pace. I tried pulling ahead and that worked for a little while, until my app told me I ran the first mile in 8 minutes 57 seconds. I knew I had totally screwed myself. I slowed down so I wouldn't hurt myself and here comes Sleigh Bells again....every time I got away from him he would catch up. Or if I let him get ahead, he stopped at the water stations and then started running when I got near him again. It was honestly horrible. I can understand dressing like that for a Christmas race...but not in July. It kind of ruined it for me :-( Next time I will just wait and move back into another wave so as to avoid that annoyingness...All in all though I was super happy with my finishing time. 31 minutes 48 seconds is really good! If I could run a consistent 9 something mile I could probably pull in at 30 or less like I have been trying so hard to do. Maybe next time...

I saw this on Facebook later and will be looking for it next year. They had CRAB RACES at the race!! I so wish I had seen this in person!

ouch

Saturday night I was super tired and my feet were so swollen. I understood why when I looked at my FitBit app. I haven't had that many steps in one day in a long time.

Sunday we went out on the boat again and went fishing for cobia! Apparently they are hard to catch because they don't school and they are extremely picky about their bait. But we got one!! Unfortunately he snapped the line before we could get him in the boat, but it was fun trying to get him in. Cobia can get very big and we weren't sure if he was a keeper anyways. I think he was just shy of the 37 inches they have to be to keep them.

Check out that mouth!

Feisty!

You can kind of see him below the water.

Personally I was happy just to drive

 

Hope everyone had a great Fourth of July weekend!

OBX Family Vacay

For the first time in nine years of teaching and seventeen years of being a student, I did not start the school year this fall! Some people might feel odd not going back to work with everyone else-not me. It felt great to stay home and not rush back and away from my baby. I have two more weeks of maternity leave and then it's time to find a new routine for the family which involves me getting up way earlier than I am used to. The only time I've ever gotten up that early is when I needed to catch a flight and that involved taking a nap on a plane, not working with children all day and then coming home to a baby. I'll let you know how that goes...

In the mean time we decided to take advantage of the off season rates and go to the Outer Banks for a week. I loved it. It wasn't crowded at all and the weather was beautiful. It could have been a tad bit warmer for my taste, but the fall feeling in the air was refreshing and relaxing.

C would get up early in the mornings and go fishing on the pier that was next to our cottage. I stayed with B and watched the Today show and hung out in my pj's.

Jeanette's Pier

A few mornings we did go over to the pier to say hi to C. The little guy never lasted long in the Ergo though. One morning I let him fuss and went for a walk on the beach anyways with him strapped in and he ended up falling asleep in it.

After a storm came through on Monday it was too windy to sit on the beach so we over to Manteo and visited the aquarium. That was fun. B slept through the first part and then woke up half way through. It was fun seeing him watch the fish swimming around.

 

He seemed to like it :-)

 

We had a few good beach days, although my idea of what going to the beach means is going to be very different now. I am quite happy to set a chair down in the sand, read a book, work on my tan and take a dip in the water. This doesn't exactly happen with a baby. You have to keep them out of the sun but you can't put lotion on them. When he wants to be held you have to hide under the shade with him where it is cold. It was a fair amount of work. One day he crashed hard and took a nap in his little tent. I actually got to read an entire Runner's World magazine without interruption! It was amazing!

 

I'm cool and chilling on the beach!

 

One windy afternoon, the boys took a nap, so I snuck out and practiced my photography skills. I think I've come a long way from where I was. I love knowing how to use my camera properly.

 

The trip was a lot of fun though and a relaxing time. I wish I could always go in early September, but sadly it isn't so. Being a teacher you are locked in to taking vacation when school is out, rates are high, and places are crowded, but that's alright because I will get a large amount of time every year to spend with my son that I wouldn't get if I had a 9 to 5 desk job. It all evens out in the end.

 

On the beach with Mom and Dad!

 

How can you not want to squeeze that cuteness??

On another note, although I did not run at the beach like I had planned (I made sure to take my shoes but they never got used) I did get to the gym three times this week and went for a run today! This week was cycling and body pump and today I ran one mile in 10:50! It didn't even feel like a lot of effort either! The Wicked 10K is only a few short weeks away so I really need to get the training back in gear.

I have some other things I have gotten into lately, but more on them later!

Spring Break!

Last week was spring break and it was great! It was so nice to be off for a week with no worries and decent weather. I have on sandals today which is soooo nice. Never again will I take putting on socks and tying my own shoes for granted.

I spent my week meeting up with friends and staying busy in general. Monday I had lunch with Rebecca and her daughter and then we walked around the mall for a bit. Little H got her first pair of sunglasses! So cute! I think I might have to get my little man a pair if I can find them. Do they make baby Ray Bans??

That night I finally got to go visit my good friend who just had her first baby! She was so cute and I got to hold her till my back ached and I had to give her back. My bump made the perfect baby support! No Boppy necessary.

Wednesday I met up with Rachel from Lou Lou Belle and we had lunch. I love being able to meet friends for lunch during the week like a regular working professional! That's one of the downsides to teaching, you're pretty much stuck in the building from beginning to end of the work day. Teachers get over excited about going out to lunch.

Thursday I had lunch with my parents. Like I said, it was a lunch week.

Friday I had no car because C had his truck getting worked on. I was able to get a ride from Dad though and go get it. Driving C's giant truck is always an experience since I don't do it very often. The thing is a beast but I love it. Trucks make life so much easier.

The weekend involved yard clean up and more visiting with friends. We also bought some trees for the yard! You know you are over thirty when you get excited about buying trees...

Awhile back I purchased a Groupon for online photography classes and they started last week as well. This week starts week 2 and I am already amazed at what I am learning! I can't wait to see what else I can do in Photoshop...more on that later though.

Hope everyone is having a happy spring!

Less than 6 weeks to go till baby arrives!!!

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone has had a good start to the new year! Ours has been interesting. C and I both have sinusitis which has just been peachy and on top of that my dog Cricket broke her toenail on New Year's Eve. Our vet was closed yesterday and today so we ended up at the emergency vet after I called what seemed like every vet in the area and they were all closed. It wasn't too bad and I think I ended up paying the same amount I would have at my regular vet. Glad we got her all fixed up but not how I was expecting to spend the first day of the new year :-(



Poor Cricket :-(
 

Anyways, last week we headed up to PA to visit C's parents for a few days. They live in the mountains of PA. It's kind of in the middle of nowhere in a place where people camp for the weekend and don't actually live, so it's pretty much just you and nature. The day after we got there it started snowing and the first day we got about 8 inches. Two days later we got more snow and had a total of about 14 inches. It was fun to see some snow since it stays fairly warm in RVA. I had to wear my father in law's snow pants since mine don't fit right now and I didn't bother to take them with me. I looked and felt like the kid from A Christmas Story. I wanted to sled down a small hill in their yard, and since the didn't have a sled, we used one of the tubes we go down the creek in during the summer. It worked out pretty good even though I had to roll out of the tube! Being pregnant is awkward.

View from my in law's back porch

I didn't spend too much time out in the snow since I have been sick but Cricket had a blast. She went from being terrified of snow to loving it in about 5 minutes. We had to stick her in the basement till all the snowballs melted off of her.

Next time she's getting shaved before we go up there...

We came home Sunday and went straight to the doctor since we both felt so terrible. Glad to be home but I do kind of miss the snow. The mountains are really pretty when it snows.

So, everyone's favorite New Year's topic, RESOLUTIONS!
Mine for 2013: have a healthy pregnancy, have a healthy baby, clean the clutter out of my house before baby gets here, get back into running and lose the baby weight, and take better care of my dog (monthly nail clippings and ear pluckings) Pretty simple things I think I can accomplish.

Anyone have any resolutions to share??

 

 

Vacay!

Last week my hubby and I spent our first ever vacation together. I say it's our "first" because it is the first time we have been away together, alone, for a week. Long weekends are not the same as vacations to me. We were both so happy to get away and just be together. It has been an interesting year for us. We needed a break.

So we decided to go to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina! Neither of us have ever been there, so it was fun to go somewhere new where we could just relax and not have an agenda. We spent a lot of time on the beach, eating out and playing mini golf.

Relaxing on the beach!

We played some unconventional mini golf...

I did go for a run on the beach one of the first few days we were there and it was not what I expected! I've never run on the beach before and it was a new feeling for me. I did not really care for the wind, all the people walking in my way, or the humidity. Running on sand seemed harder to me as well. I wanted a picture of me running, but hubby was asleep when I went out. When I got back, he asked how far I went and when I told him only one mile, he told me I looked like I had just run 5 miles! That's how humid it was that day...

Then a storm came through that night and since I had left my Sauconys on the balcony they got completely drenched and weren't dried out till we left. No more running for me! (And no, I did not want to run barefoot, there were too many broken shells.)

Since we had some rainy days, we went to the aquarium! It was not a very big aquarium, but it was really cool. Made me miss scuba diving even more.

Walking through the tank!

Lobstah!

Getting back to my roots!

We had a great time! Now my summer is winding down and I am gearing up to go back to work in a little over a week. This fall is going to be good though, I have two (hopefully three or four!) races planned that I will be training for. Time to get back into shape for REAL!

Did anyone have any great vacation stories to share? What is your favorite place to vacation?

Spring Break

One of the best things about teaching (besides inspiring children of course) is the breaks! This week has been spring break and it could not have come at a better time. I have run a little here and there, but mostly just taken it easy and enjoyed my time off. The house is getting cleaned and organized a little every day, I'm catching up on things I normally put off and I have been reading like crazy.

We started break last weekend with a trip to Urbanna, Virginia. What is in Urbanna? Well, nothing really, and that's what made it great. Last fall I purchased a Groupon for the Chesapeake Inn as C's Christmas gift. It was a 2 night stay for the price of one. You had to use by the end of March, but since so many people bought the Groupon, they were nice and let us come that first weekend in April. Urbanna is a tiny little town with about 3 restaurants and some bed and breakfasts and it is on the Rappahannock River, down near Deltaville. It is a big spot for people to go in the summer because a lot of people have river property and boats down there. There was something charming and quaint about it in the early spring though and it was just what we needed. My husband and I have not been anywhere just the two of us since the summer of 2009 when I took him to NYC for his birthday. We always seem to travel with people or travel to be with people and sometimes you just need to do something on your own and enjoy each other's company.

Aww man! I really wanted to harvest some shellfish!

We arrived in Urbanna on Friday night and hung out at the local bar around the corner. Saturday morning we got up and drove down the road just outside of town to a country store and had breakfast. We sat on milk crates and had a butcher block for a table and ate GREAT food off of styrofoam plates. The weather was gorgeous that day. We took a ride down to the marina on a bike and then headed to Williamsburg for the day. We went to Busch Gardens and then hit the outlets before heading back to Urbanna for dinner. We walked around a little and then hung out in our room for the rest of the night. The rooms were really cute and they were all different. We are a little bit hooked on Urbanna now and are thinking it might turn into our fall/spring getaway spot for when we need to be alone.

Yesterday morning I went back to Local Barre, another Groupon purchase, and had a great work out! I know I have written about it before so I won't go into too much detail, but I really enjoy those classes. They work muscles that normal I don't even know I have and don't feel until they are sore.

Break is almost over, but it has been great and just what I needed. Only 9 more weeks to go until it is officially summer time!