summer blog break

“Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.”
      Dr. Seuss

If you never did, you should.  These things are fun and fun is good!

        Dr. Seuss

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own.
And you know what you know.
And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go.... 

         Dr. Seuss

Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So. . . get on your way.
     Dr. Seuss



From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.

Dr. Seuss

Will you succeed? Yes you will indeed!
(98 and 3-4 percent guaranteed.)
      Dr. Seuss



You are you. Now, isn't that pleasant?
     Dr. Seuss

“You are you. Now, isn't that pleasant?”


“Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.”
     Dr. Seuss


I'm taking a short blogging break to enjoy the rest of summer.  Have a great one!

my first 5k

Running and I have never gotten along.  I was usually one of the last to finish that mile run in school.  I remember once in high school deciding to jog around the block after drinking a glass of orange juice...only to end up puking and much worse as soon as I got home.

But last year, I realized, as I looked around the gym, that the most fit people are the runners.  So I started doing the treadmill.  One mile was my goal back then, and I always felt so accomplished after reaching it.

After months of intense aerobics classes, I realized I was able to do two miles without a problem.  Only about twice a week, but combined with other classes, I felt like a marathoner.

So, an enticing living social deal for the James River Splash and Dash lured me in and I signed up (oh, I also signed JP up so I wouldn't have to do it alone.)

The Splash and Dash is a 5k trail run around Belle Isle that ends with you jumping in an inner tube and paddling across the James River.  You know it was the splash part that sealed the deal for me.

So I tried to train for it, pushing myself to run more on the treadmill.  I even hit 3 miles a couple of times.  But did you ever realized that running on a treadmill is so much easier than running on the real ground?

I did one test run with a friend a couple of weeks before the race...I had to walk a couple of times, but it was doable.  Then I gave up training and just waited for the big day.

Which arrived with rolling clouds of thunder.  The race was postponed for 30 minutes with a nice little downpour preparing us for our dive in the water.

There were lots of sarcastic comments as they lead us about a mile away to the actual start of the race.  And the race was amazing!  We were jumping over roots, diving under hanging branches and sometimes all at the same time...I felt like a video game superhero.  It was muddy, slippery, and hot.  Unfortunately, there were no water stations along the way, and with the postponing of the race, it meant that I was SUPER thirsty before the thing even began.  At one point along the trail, I felt the back of my head and hands going numb and tingly because I was so thirsty.  Juan Pablo didn't want to hear any of it.  (He's somewhat of a camel anyway.)

He tried to encourage me on, but got discouraged himself as his words fell on deaf ears.  We had different goals here...one to win and one just to finish without collapsing in a heap.

But we finally saw the light at the end of the underbrush tunnel...giant, black inner tubes!  We plunged in, and no matter how brown that James River is, it was still very refreshing.

We learned quickly that the easiest way across was backwards with your behiney in the hole.  It was relaxing and exiting all at the same time.  I had been plagued with dreams of snakes and bad things happening, but none of it did.

We climbed the bank of the river to the finish line as a woman wrote down our times.  Out of almost 300 people, we placed 167th and 168th.  Not bad for my first race ever.

JP thinks this should be "our thing"...and there are so many cool races out there, I just might agree.  Although he's looking to cut our time in half.  Better start training now!

Have you ever run a race?  How was it?

tub 'o water

The other day, I grabbed one of the many craft books laying around, randomly flipped to a page, and ran through the house gathering supplies so we could actually do it.

Cork boats.  (I happened to have five corks laying around.  Isn't that amazing?)

Everyone enjoyed it for a short while.  Then it quickly became something else.  Joaquin decided to build a four cork raft.  And I decided to turn it into learning.

I started cutting out letters from the craft foam.  Then while they were floating in the water, I asked Diego to grab the "A" out.  He had a lot of fun doing this!  (If the water looks a little murky, it is.  The cork boats had playdough on the bottoms to balance them, and being homemade playdough, it slowly started to dissolve in the water.  It became ooey and gooey and not so fun after that.)

As I was typing this, I was thinking how this could even be a great reading activity for older kids...you could hook two letters together like "ay" or "oy" and ask them to pull out the one that says "oy" like in "boy".  If you took the time to cut out phonics patterns, you could even start to make words:

 'n'+ 'ight' = night.

Or throw all the letters in there and see if they could spell their spelling words.  Hmm, you might need more than one of each letter for that...but it still sounds a little fun.  They could even use them in the bath and stick the letters to the tub walls!

summer cleaning

Summer cleaning.

Like spring cleaning, but oh! so much better!

After talking about it for months, maybe even years, I've finally done it.  I've created a cleaning schedule that gets the whole family involved.

One evening, while waiting for the kids to finish their TaeKwonDo class, I grabbed a notepad and pen and scribbled each day of the week (Monday through Saturday) with the first letter of each kid's name under it.

Then came the hard part.  Thinking of the jobs.  Things they could do, but things that aren't always done...I'm talking about actually cleaning here.

After several scratch throughs, I had a workable list.  Then I realized that Juan Pablo and I should have a list, too, so I added us on.

And while I was in the happy place that list making can take you, I decided to make an individual list for each person in the family, with their chores for each day.  So in the end, I had six lists....one for each of us and the master copy.  And I planned to type it up pretty somehow and post it on a wall where we'd all see it.

That part hasn't happened yet.  I stuck the ugly lists on the fridge with a magnet.  But that didn't stop us from starting.  And I'm proud to say that almost everything. on every list. was done.

I have clean tubs and toilets, a smudge free storm door, clean mirrors, vacuumed rooms, mopped floors, wiped down cabinets, and more.

How did the kids like it?

Diego loved his chores...most involved squirt bottles, so how could he not?
Joaquin did his quickly in the morning after making his bed.  He likes to get things done and move on to fun stuff.
Isabela was my procrastinator and complainer.  I don't think she liked any of her jobs, and made gagging noises at most of them.
Juan Pablo did great with his jobs.  He even took the kitchen light down one day (not on the list by the way!)  and washed it out.  The next day, Diego asked if we got a new light.

And me?  Let's just say we're all sleeping in clean sheets, bathing in sparkly tubs, and driving around in a lot less trash.

Week one went great.  We talked about switching lists with each other.  But now I'm thinking we should do these for a month before we switch.

And maybe, one day, I'll type the chore list up pretty, but for now, ugly's working.

parade and a flag craft

I know.  Everyone's been done with July 4th for awhile now.  But summer is hard on blogging, so I'm playing a little catch up.

I found this cute craft the day before Independence Day on pinterest.  So yes, when the kids woke up the next morning, I had it all laid out for them to start and finish an hour before the annual parade.

And I'd just like to add, although I could do crafts all day, the kids are often resistant to them.  They'd rather be bored and say there's nothing to do than actually make something fun.  So my trick is either to not invite them to do the craft, and just start doing it myself (which will often attract three interested onlookers) or to not explain what we're doing ahead of time and have it be somewhat of a mystery.



So I just pulled out some plain white fabric I had stashed away and cut it into rectangles.  We used acrylic paint and no rules...just stick with red, white and blue and paint it how you'd like. (Definitely use newspaper under the material when painting because it will bleed through the fabric.)  To get the flag on the stick, I just folded the fabric around the stick and hot glued it to itself.  I love how different they all came out, but still with the same theme.  I could see making these for any holiday...Christmas, a birthday theme, Thanksgiving..... they're somewhat addictive.





The flag got used at the beginning of the parade, then tossed to the ground and stepped on when the candy started being thrown.  I managed to save them from permanent damage.  I think they'll be fun to pull out next year and 'remember when'.



Diego hyped out on sugar broke into dance when the patriotic band passed.



And, of course, it wouldn't be the fourth of July without the Abraham Lincoln shirt.  Which is now a size too small.  The good thing is this:  not wanting to mess up a good shirt, I practiced fabric painting on a separate red scrap shirt and then cut out the design and stitched it to this white shirt....SO ideally I can just take the red piece off and sew it to a shirt that actually fits!  To make your own Abe Lincoln shirt, follow the link to MADE.



Free soda and hot dogs afterwards.  Too many choices!!



Juan Pablo always works the fourth so it was just us in the hot, hazy sun.  The parade was short.  The candy was intermittent.  But we caught up with good friends which made it all worth it...and so the tradition continues.

girl trip!

It's been a couple of weeks since our girl's only trip to Philadelphia, PA, but we're still talking about it.  That's half the fun of going places...reminiscing and plotting your next get away.

I'll give you a little tour of our few blocks of Philly...

This is Race Street, just in case you forget where you are.  Our hotel overlooked the Delaware River and the Benjamin Franklin bridge...amazing views.



We were starving when we arrived, and these menu signs caught our eyes, but the seating was outdoors only and it was sooooo h-o-t we had to move on.  To Dave and Busters.  I've now been to Philly twice and eaten at Dave and Busters twice.  I think that's enough, don't you?



We caught a glimpse of this boat/bus splashing into the river.  Looks like fun!



Here's where you tie your horse.



And the reason for our visit...this joyful new mom and her precious little girl.



We all wanted to hold her.   Isabela did marvelous.



And I did pretty good, too.



But Aunt Leah Ann took the cake, getting her to go to sleep for quite awhile.  Baby Anaum's dad reminded us of the goal of all new parents:  getting the baby to sleep!



And they're so sweet when they sleep.



I love this shot!



We left the happy family to go exploring a little.



I found this bit of nature on the busy city sidewalk...I hope the little robin hatched!



Here's that beautiful bridge...and we watched an amazing fireworks show from our window.  Unfortunately our sheer happiness turned to quite a nightmare when rowdy youngin's partied in our hallway all night with loud music, beer bottles, and arguing...even a little punching.  Isabela slept through the whole thing.





The nice thing about being a tourist in Philly is that almost everyone you see is one, too.  So I'm fine walking around town with my big ol' camera dangling from my neck...but when I want to be discreet, I do miss my point and shoot.



We visited Independence Hall...still looks the same as it did over 200 years ago.  But I have to admit something.  With my straight A, public school, college graduate with honors education, I didn't have a clue what took place at Indy Hall.  Do you know? Or did you know before you saw this picture?  I'm glad Isabela went to see it first hand.



This looked like a fun way to see the city, but it was just so HOT, and do you really want to sit behind a horse when it's hot?



Isabela took this picture of us two mommy cousins.  It's slightly blurry, but still one of our best ever.  No closed eyes, no wacky pjs from Christmas morning.


Thanks to Aunt Leah Ann for driving us up!! I definitely wouldn't have made it...I'm not good with long distances...Northern VA is about it for me.



Do you make it a habit to have one on one time with each of your children?  Where do you like to go when it's just the two of you?

happy 4th of july!

Last weekend we were at the birthplace of our nation...






....and the birthplace of this precious baby.


HAPPY 4TH OF JULY TO YOU ALL!