We discovered a much more exciting way to walk Arlo today.
Who’s walking who here?!
This was his first time of it. We did it a few more times and he got faster and sillier. The girls both shrieked each time he pulled them. Fun for us, but probably not the best thing for the dog.
Naughty puppy with a dirty nose. :)
He needs some good exercise though, otherwise he gets very naughty!
Good thing hostas are hardy plants! (and good thing I don’t care much about my gardens — this year anyway!)
Eve and I participated in the final 5K for Girls on the Run. We had a super fun time. Eve ran the whole way (so did her friend!), and I ran most of it, only walking briefly on the two big hills! 😁
Hair spray. She was most excited for this!
Silly girl.
I love this girl. She's radiant!
Some of her GOTR team all sillied up!
These two are so cool.
I tried to get a good photo at the start line, but these silly girls weren't up for it. 😄
All done!!
Eve and her "battle scars." She is quite proud of them! She fell about a mile into the race, scraped up both knees and her side, but got up and kept on going!
After the race we stopped at Solar Show and Tell to pick up Lex, who was there with Alan representing the energy commission.
Time for some quiet "recharging."
They also had a bouncy house (solar powered!) at the Solar Show and Tell, so we hung out there for awhile while Eve got even more big muscle activity!! 😄
Then we got lunch at Panera did some birthday present shopping, came home for a bit to clean up, then back out to drop Miss Eve off at a sleep-over birthday party!! She is going to be a wreck tomorrow!! Most of the party girls were also at the 5K, so maybe they will all go to sleep early!
I was so proud of Eve and her confidence yesterday! So happy that I was there to witness it. Yesterday was our final Girls on the Run practice before the big 5K race on Saturday. We were running laps around the field and the goal was to get 12 laps, which equals three miles. We joke a bit that our team should be called Girls on the Walk, because they aren’t real motivated to run this year, but yesterday Eve decided she was going to run the whole time and get those 12 laps! That alone was awesome. She was running with her best friend for a bit, then her friend started walking and Eve kept running. She caught up with me (and by caught up I mean I was a full lap behind her!) and, quite upset, told me that her friend was crying and mad at her because she wanted to keep running but her friend wanted them to walk together. She had told her friend that she was trying to do her personal best (something we talk A LOT about) and that she had set a goal for herself and wanted to achieve it. I totally encouraged that!! She kept running when I had to stop and walk too. I caught up with her friend soon after and we had a nice long chat. It’s hard to tell girls to just do their personal best and not try to compare, because they do compare and her friend was really upset that Eve’s “best” was better than her “best.” She was also upset because she wants to run the whole 5K with Eve and cross the finish line together, but since Eve can run it and she can’t, she thinks it won’t be fun. I felt bad for both of them. Eve wanted to run, but didn’t want to make her friend sad, and her friend just wanted to hang out with Eve and be together. I chatted with both of them and Eve made a plan to do her best, then jump back on the track when she saw her friend finishing so they could cross the finish line together (Eve for the second time).
I was so proud of Eve for standing her ground and working hard though. She ran 13 laps and was so proud of herself! She is now confident that she can run that 5K and excited for Saturday. Growing up is hard to do, but I’m so happy to see her growing confident and strong and still being a good friend. She often finds herself in tricky friend situations because she wants to be friends with everyone, but she’s hit the age where the drama begins. We talk a lot about how to navigate that scene while still remaining true to yourself. I’m so proud of her!
Arlo was out on his lead this morning, like he often is. He loves being outside. I came downstairs from my shower and said, “Has anyone checked on Arlo lately?” I like to keep an eye on him when he’s out there. Lex looks out the window and says, “He’s fine. He’s just sitting in the garden. I wonder why he’s not on his lead?” My heart jumped! What?! Not on his lead?! I looked out and yes, sure enough, the lead was on the porch and the dog was in the garden. I opened the door and called him and he came running inside. Good dog!!! Then I saw this:
I guess that “not for tie-out” lead we’ve been using, and leaving outside in all weather, finally gave out! I was sooooo happy that he didn’t go anywhere though! He just sat in the garden, which is how far his lead usually goes, and came right back when I called him. Whew!!
I bought a proper tie-out lead today. :)
I am so far behind on blogging that I’ve started a list of things to blog about! I have a few minutes right now so here is a quick one.
Last weekend Alan and I took a long overdue weekend getaway! Friday night we drove to Burlington for a sweet, grownup weekend to celebrate our anniversary. Did I even blog about that?! I’ve been slacking. We celebrated 16 years last week! That’s a long time! Not as long as the 36 that my parents celebrated though. :)
We had to pull over for this beautiful sunset! So many colors!
We used to take us-pictures everywhere we went. That was before we had cute kids to take pictures of instead. :)
This is the Winooski Dam… I think.
We got in really late so we had a fantastic dinner and the hotel bar and then passed out in bed, watching the TV shows that we wanted to watch instead of the usual Teen Titans Go! I think we watched Friends. :) Arguably about the same level of quality as TTG!
The next morning we took a long walk along Lake Champlain. It was a perfect day and the lake is just beautiful!
Alan at the end of a long, narrow, rocky pier we walked out.
I’m so pretty. :)
Burlington is a great city and so pretty.
After our walk we went back to the hotel for showers, then headed up to the Church Street area. We had lunch at the Vermont Pub & Brewery, on the deck, overlooking a hopping farmers market in City Hall Park. After lunch we wandered around the market, then up a few blocks to wander around Church Street. We bought souvenirs for ourselves and others and checked out each restaurant as we passed, looking for a good dinner option.
Hahaha… oh, Vermont!
This t-shirt made us laugh on our anniversary trip. :)
We ended up back at the hotel for a quick rest, then off to the Vermont Comedy Club to see some stand-up comedy. It was so funny and so much fun! I’ve seen comedians before, but always in an auditorium, never (that I can remember) in a comedy club with food and drinks. We had a blast.
Posing with photos. I think we should have swapped sides. My Colbert impression needs work.
At the Vermont Comedy Club, waiting for the show to start.
The next day we woke to this ugliness, which was just fine because it was time to head home anyway!
Not a beautiful day!
I’m so happy we had a beautiful night and an perfect day for wandering around the great city of Burlington. We both agreed we should go back again soon.
It has been determined that Arlo is getting stinky and needs a bath, which has presented me with a new dog-owner problem. Arlo hates water. I have tried taking him to several calm rivers and a little flowing brook nearby. I’m just trying to get him near enough to the water to drink, I’m not even asking him to get in the water, but he will not even get close. He hates walks in the rain and often refuses to leave the house if it’s raining. One nice sunny day I had the hose out and sprayed him with the mist setting, he jumped and tried to run away. So bathing will be interesting.
I did some reading online and the sites all said to get the dog comfortable with the tub (or wherever you’re going to bathe him) first before introducing any water, so I thought I’d give that a try today. After a long walk, so he was tired, I got a little cup of hot dogs (his favorite!) and went upstairs to the bathroom. I called to him and he came running, but as soon as he saw me sitting on the edge of the tub with the curtain open, he stopped short. I could tell he really wanted the hot dogs, but he absolutely refused to set foot in the bathroom. He goes in the bathroom normally, on his own, so I know he’s not scared of the room or the floor or anything, just the tub. After a minute he ran downstairs. I called and called him, but he wouldn’t come back. I tried from the top of the stairs and midway down the stairs, but when I got to the bottom I saw that he had run right into his crate and was snugged up against the back of it. Hmm… bathtime may be a problem!
While I was out this afternoon I stopped at a groomer to ask how they handle nervous dogs. The place was hot and loud and she didn’t seem all that interested in handling a nervous dog. She said they could try, but if he gave them trouble they would send him home and suggests to us to get him a sedative from the vet. Turns out I already did that! I had Daisy at the vet yesterday and asked the doctor about the bathing thing. She gave me a few sedatives to try if he wouldn’t cooperate. Poor pup. I might knock him out and stick him in the tub. :)
First though, I’m wondering if there is any way to dry clean a dog. Maybe with baking soda or some other odor neutralize. The websites say dogs don’t need frequent baths (no more than monthly, if that) and only if they get stinky, so maybe instead of baths we can address the odor some other way. I’ll Google that and keep you posted! :)
We went down to MA to visit with the Js and kids. So much fun. It was just like old times, except we had four kids tagging along! :) We left after work on Friday and met them at the mall for dinner. We all used to live in that area, so it was fun to revisit our old stomping ground. A lot has changed, of course, and there are so many more buildings now!
Dinner at the mall with ice cream cupcakes for dessert. Yum!
Can you see Boston? The hotel advertised this as a “skyline view of the big city” which made us laugh because this picture is way zoomed in and you can still barely see it. :)
Saturday morning we got breakfast at Panera Bread (kid table and grown up table and everyone was happy), then headed to Gloucester to check out the Atlantic. Julie used to work in that area and took her kids there when they were younger, but it was our first time.
Can you tell which two kids are jaded of me taking pictures of them! :)
Lovin’ the Atlantic in Gloucester, MA.
Throwing rocks into tide pools.
Eve found a little cave and ASKED me to take her picture!! Whoo hoo! Look at that beautiful smile! : )
We went pretty far down the rocky shore.
I tried so many times for a nice picture of the four kids together…
This is the best I got. I think they are all looking at Julie’s camera though. Oh well!
Eve found these shells on the rocks. The crab shell still has eyes in it! Eek! In the car the eyes fell out and now they are just resting in the shell in a bowl on our table.
When they were tired of the rocks we drove to a nearby state park that had a big playground, a sandy beach, and even more rocks.
See-saw logistics. Not many playgrounds have these any more.
These two work well together…
These two didn’t work so well, even though they had a long discussion about how best to make it work. :)
A different beach in Gloucester. Julie knows all the good places to go.
Some quiet time for my boys… but paparazzi mom couldn’t resist!
Kate LOVED Lex and wanted to hold his hand everywhere we went. Lex was very sweet and played so nicely with her. (She loved him when we visited last summer too.)
These two, griping about some injustice done to them. I think maybe they didn’t get to play on the rocks long enough or something. I want to say “a peek at what’s to come,” but really I think we’re already there!
This picture cracks me up! I love Molly’s face. They were commiserating about something, but when I started to take pictures you can see Molly peeking at Eve to see what to do. I can just imagine her thinking, “Should we smile for the camera? Are we still angry?” After a few snaps Eve ducked out of the way so I couldn’t catch her laughing! LOL!
Around lunch time we debated having lunch in Gloucester or heading to Kimball’s for ice cream. Ice cream for lunch?! Guess what won.
Ice cream!!
Everybody loves Kimball’s!
Silly girls.
Bumper boats! Eve and Lex were the only two out there and they loved it!
Lex was enjoying cruising around, but Eve was out for destruction!
Lex and Molly and Alan played a round of mini-golf while the rest of us just hung out.
Kate and Jim, and the old fashioned Kimball Farm ice cream truck.
Eve’s first pony ride (I think). She’ll get a lot more actual riding this summer at camp.
After Kimball’s we headed to a playground to let the kids run free while the adults discussed dinner plans. That’s vacation, right, one meal plan to the next! :)
We stopped at a very cool wooden playground that Julie used to take her kids to when they still lived in MA. The kids are all bigger now, but everyone still loved it.
We ended up at the Olive Garden. Sooo yummy! They gave us a big table tucked into a nook, away from the rest of the people enjoying their meals in peace. I think it was the special kid area. It was perfect!
After dinner I tried one more time to get a good picture of the four kids. I promised Eve that if she gave me a good smile then I’d let her take a picture of the four grown-ups. Kate is excellent at posing for the camera, and Molly tried to help Eve come up with a good smile. :)
Hahaha… I took many pictures, but this is the best I got. They only got sillier from here! We are clearly past the easy, photogenic baby stage!
Apparently the grown-ups can’t do any better than the kids! Oh well! Maybe we’re just a bunch of funny looking people. Or maybe we were all just too happy and silly to make calm, posed faces. :)
These two had a hard time parting. They kept running back to each other for just one more good-bye.
It was just a short visit, but we packed a lot in and it’s so wonderful how easily you fall into step with old friends. I wish we could manage more than once a year, but maybe at this season of life we should be grateful for whatever visits we can manage. I hope the kids continue to be friends as they grow up. <3
Eve and I had a fun girls day out today! She earned two tickets to Girls Expo from her cookie sales so we headed up there today to check it out. It was an expo alright, in the Exposition Center, with lots of booths selling stuff and lots of activities and lots and LOTS of girls! :)
On the way in we had to pause and think hard about which way we wanted to go! Eve said, “It’s a good thing Grandpa Tom isn’t here!” :)
Making a Bristle Bot with terrible instructions and incomplete parts.
Fortunately Eve is a smarty and figured it out anyway!
Checking out the gymnastics bus. Eve loved it! There were trampolines and bars and rings and lots of other gymnastics things in there. And no grownups allowed! :)
Building a grow box. I think you’re supposed to plant seeds in it and watch it grow but Eve wants to just use it as a display box for her stuff.
I was surprised in this workshop at how many mothers did most of the project for their kids. I saw mothers opening the bags and spreading out the pieces while their daughters just sat there and stared. I saw girls running around while the mothers were reading directions and trying to figure out how to build the things. I saw mothers talking with each other and complaining that the instructions were too hard and didn’t make sense. Seriously, they were little wooden building kits. Eve did hers without even reading the instructions. Not really that hard. I helped her hold pieces together and helped hammer the nails all the way in, but otherwise she did it all while I watched the other people and realized that maybe the reasons girls grow up helpless is because their mothers are hovering over their heads, doing the work for them while simultaneously complaining how hard it is to follow simple instructions and hammer in a few nails.
Painting canvas totes. Eve met her friend, fellow scout, and neighbor there and we hung out with her for awhile. Eve makes beautiful faces, doesn’t she! :)
Back on the bus.
Eve ran a pedal-powered blender and peddled her way to a delicious smoothie!
We ended the expo here. These blocks are awesome and so fun to build with, but Eve was loopy and getting rowdy with them, so I decided it was time to head out.
We left the expo around 2:30 and headed out to do some clothes shopping. Poor Eve is wearing holey, too small clothes all the time these days! I figured it was about time to get the girl something that fits. We stopped for pizza along the way. There was a bakery next to the pizza place, so after lunch we went into the bakery to get some dessert. Faced with donuts and cookies and cakes and all sorts of treats, Eve decided she wasn’t ready for dessert and we left. I could have eaten everything in there, but I took advantage of her will power and we got the heck out of there!
We spent the next few draining hours at nearby outlet stores, trying on clothes and trying to be patient with one another. Neither of us really like shopping. Eve takes EONS in the dressing room then comes out dancing and singing and being totally useless. She argued with me about what fits (like too small overalls with no shirt – hilarious!) and I had to remind myself of the right questions to ask. Not “Do you want it?” but instead “Will you wear it?” Often the answer to those two questions was not the same!
After three stores and a big pile of clothes we decide to call it quits. We ducked in to a cute market and picked up some ice cream and chocolate, then swung by Dunkin Donuts for caffeine and bagel twists, then headed home!
Over all it was super fun and I’m so grateful to get quality one-on-one time with my growing girl. I am also grateful that tomorrow is a no plans day! :)
Lex and I had belt tests last night. Lex tested for (and got!) his solid blue belt and I did my first belt test and got an orange belt. Lex hasn’t tested since last October (an admitted oversight on their part) and he was very happy to be testing again!
I love his concentration face!
Lex did several katas on his own. He is soooo brave!
The weapons katas no longer “count’ towards their belt progression, but they are encouraged to show them if they know them. Lex brought it!
New belt, blue belt!
Eve is taking a break from karate this month while she’s doing Girls On The Run (they are on the same days and she was exhausted after doing both for awhile!) so she didn’t test today. She was mentally ok with it ahead of time, but kind of fell apart during and after the test. Turns out seeing Lex progress without her was harder than she expected. We talked about ways for her to catch up and I *really* hope she gets back to karate next month!
The kids’ belt test ran long, of course, so we ate a super rushed slice of pizza for dinner then hurried back to the dojo for my belt test! Fortunately there were only seven adults testing, not nearly 50 like the kids, and we were all very low belts, so the whole thing was over and done with in 20 minutes, not the two full hours that the kids’ test ran!
Eve and Lex, once settled after our rushed dinner, were happy to watch me and cheer me on. Lex wanted to make an iMove of it, but the iPad is old an out of space (sooo sad!), so he just made some videos on my phone. He is a funny photographer!
Me in my white belt. I can’t deny Lex when he asks for a picture, since I take so many pictures of him! :)
That’s me on the far left, and my buddy Mike right next to me.
This is my first kata that I had to do all by myself!
I earned my first new belt! :)
I was so spaced and rushed (and hot!) after Lex’s test that I forgot to get a picture of him in his new belt. He took a picture of me in my new belt, but he didn’t get the belt in it and I look terrible, so you all don’t get to see it! :) But we got them and we are both very happy and ready to get started learning new katas!!
