More Birthday Fun

 Last weekend Mark took me to a delicious dinner and then we stopped for a few drinks and some friends met us out!  And we had a much needed night of fun and laughs!

I love getting together with these ladies and we do not do it nearly enough!  My stomach still hurts from laughing!  Love you ladies!!!

September Blues

 

This September has been anything but normal.  For the last 35 years of my life September meant back to school clothes, back to school supplies, meeting new friends, and getting back on a schedule after the lazy days of summer.  This September however has been very different.  The remote teaching is happening but it is nuts.  I am love getting to know my students and I do love the fact that I go to work every day but I miss EVERYTHING about a regular school year.  This is much more difficult than I could have ever imagined.  I cannot wait until school goes back to normal and for now I will just keep trying to make this experience as great as possible for my kiddos.  

This Is 40!

 I had an amazing 40th birthday this year (and I still have one celebration coming next weekend).

My friends at work totally spoiled me!

I came in to some great treats and beautiful decorations!

I really work with some amazing people.  They made my birthday so special!

And then I had the best helpers to help me scratch off my winnings of $18.00.

We had a nice dinner at my Mom's house.  I love these turkeys.

Besties.

Overall, it was a great birthday!!!

My plan was to do another Spartan race for my 40th.  Since those were all cancelled I did this virtual race instead.  I ran 70 miles "to Rochester"!

On another note, Oliver has been really obsessed with dogs for the last few months.  He spends hours researching different dog breeds and everything he can about them.  

He used his birthday money to buy this gigantic book.  He has been carrying it everywhere with him and it is pretty safe to say that he knows almost everything about dogs.

We have all been begging Mark to get a dog for like 10 years.  Oliver has really been kicking up a notch and has taken to writing persuasive writing pieces to Mark about why we should get one.  I must say that I think Oliver may be the one to wear him down!

School 2020

So starts the school year we will never forget.  Hybrid learning for my kids and fully remote for me.

Claire's Goals:

~ Dress nicely every day

~To get high honors

~Play field hockey and lacrosse

Papa is loving that Claire's bus is coming later this year and he gets to see her in the mornings!

But Papa is still sad that this is his last year getting the kids on the bus!

This year marks Oliver's last year in elementary school!  I can't believe it, it feels like yesterday that he was in the same spot going to Kindergarten! We already got an email from  his teacher saying what a nice boy he is!

Oliver Goals:

~  To read a lot

~ To score goals while on defense

~ To get to the next reading level

 Mom:

~ To do my best teaching my students virtually and still make this year amazing for them!

~To stay in shape while the gyms are closed.

~To stay positive!

~To take care of myself.  With everything going on it gets very easy to put myself last.  So one of my goals this year is put myself and my family first!

Mark:

~ He's thinking about it....

Birthday Celebration #1

 Well it is happening.  I am turning 40 this year.  I can't even believe it.  I remember being young and thinking that 40 was so old!  I am a firm believer in the mindset that you are only as old as you feel though.  I still feel like I am in my 20s and I plan to stay that way, so bring it on 40!

Yesterday was my first birthday celebration at the beach.  By the time we got up there we didn't get any actual beach time but we still had a blast!

The kids loved their homemade milk shakes!

The kids had a blast playing together!

Then this morning it was back to learning about all of this distance learning!  I can't wait until all of these kinks are worked out!  But really I can't wait until all of this over and my lil monsters are back in my room with me!

More Stuff

 With school starting back and trying to get everyone ready for the new school year, I haven't blogged much.  So here I am to do another picture dump of what we have been up to!

Claire is growing up more and more everyday.  She is a lady of the 90s and I just adore this gal.  

We did our school supply shopping and got some fun stuff.  Who knows how this year will end up but we at least I have my planner and that is the most  important thing!

I have been keeping up with my walks and also my treat towards the end.

I am loving my iced coffee treats each morning!

I am navigating my way through all of this new technology stuff for school.  I am pretty good with this stuff and I am still struggling.  I would love to say that I am handling this with grace and staying calm.  The truth is, I am not.  This is literally harder than student teaching was.  I am trying to stay positive and not lose my mind but it is definitely not easy.  School is ALWAYS on my mind and I can't wait until I feel like I can breath again. 

In the midst of all of this, we had an estate sale for Mark's grandparents.  It was actually fun.  We had a lot of laughs and people got some really great things.

I plan to blog a lot but I have a feeling I am going to be all over the place for the next few weeks!  Wish me luck!

Extras

I missed some blogging before we went camping.  So here is some random stuff that I  missed.

We had a great day swimming at the Hunters' house!  

We had a delicious dinner and some drinks with great friends (on the right night this time).

This summer I have loved watching the rain (the few times that we got any) from my favorite chair!

I have also loved rewatching Law and Order!

Claire had field hockey clinics 3 days a week. They were at 8am, which for anyone who knows me knows that is like 4 in the morning to most people.  I used to just drop her off but then I realized that was a waste so I started running the track (while listening to Hamilton) while she practiced.  It was perfect!  It was also a really nice to time for her and I.  We would grumble the whole way there and laugh and say how much we loved our workouts on the way home!  We loved "being those people" that got up early lol.  It was also nice to be able to watch her practice while I ran.  She is such a natural athlete and I love to watch her play sports. On our last day of the clinic (and let's be serious the last day I was getting up that early to run 4 miles or probably run 4 miles at all) we decided to stop and celebrate with some amazing smoothies.

Oliver loved his week long hockey camp.  And he was beyond thrilled when his team won the final game!

We celebrated Claire, Oliver, Camden, and Liam's birthdays! Oliver loves just sitting and chatting away with Grandma.

Love these birthday babies!!!

 

Letchworth Camping

 Last week we camped at Letchworth State Park for FIVE nights!  We have camped a couple times this summer but this was our longest trip yet.  

When you are going to live outside for 6 days you have to bring a lot of stuff with you!  

Now that we are seasoned campers, we really have this whole thing down and our tent is SUPER cozy!

Our site was beautiful!

Claire loved her new hammock!

Oliver was so exhausted after all of that packing and unpacking that he didn't make it very long on our first night.  He was the first man down.

The next morning Mark and Oliver went fishing (which Oliver would have done the entire trip if he could) and Claire and I hung out and relaxed.  We read our books, played some games, and had some great conversations.  That is my favorite part of camping!

Then friends of our got there!  After they set up their stuff we headed out for a quick trail hike and some geocaching.  These rocks were everywhere and still have yet to check out their youtube channel.

Letchworth was just gorgeous!

The Marks were the map masters.

Grandma and Grandpa stopped up for the day to visit and came on our hike with us.  It was their friends that hid the geocaching so that made it even more fun.

Mac was the big winner!!!

We all loved reading the little notes inside and checking out the treats.  Oliver left a little rock that he wrote on that said "Oliver, 2020, year of the rona" with a sad face.

After our little hike we just hung out for a bit.  The kids painted more rocks.

And played some games.

Mark made his famous "Camping Chinese Food" for dinner. 

The kids loved their hammocks!

The second day was total success!

The next morning the boys did some more fishing!

Poor Oliver, the fished a ton and didn't catch anything!

After the boys got back from fishing, we decided to ride our bikes up to the pool.  Now if you have ever been to Letchworth you know that it is HUGE and most people would drive over there.  But our fearless leader (Mark) told us it was not that far.  5 miles UP HILL later we all finally made it to the pool!

We did make a quick stop to check out the overlook.

We were all VERY happy to finally have made it!

On the way back from the pool we took a short cut through some trails and cut our time in half and that was MUCH better.  

That night I was able to bust out my dutch oven for the first time to boil up the corn!  

I was so excited to use this thing and it is pretty much my favorite part about camping!

After a delicious sausage dinner we enjoyed some banana boats by the fire!

The next morning the kids loved the hammock, again!

Then we headed out for another hike to see the falls. 

There were just so many different  beautiful places!

Even though this guy makes me bike five miles UP hill, go for crazy long hikes, and camp in a tent I have to say that I love him for making me do all this stuff!  

My favorite people. There is  no one I would rather live in a tent with than these guys.  Even when they us Clorox wipes on their feet and leave the tent door open.

We decided to go down a VERY steep area to "get a better look" at the falls.  As you can see, we did NOT get a better look lol!  While it was still beautiful, I am not sure the climb up the hill was worth it!

These kids had a blast together!  They really are a great group of kids and we had a ton of fun!

Another rock!

After our long hike, we headed back to camp to make Nachos in the dutch oven!!!

They were absolutely amazing!!!!

Then later on we used the dutch oven again to make beef stew.  To me, camping is all about the food!!!!

Even the adults snuggled up in the hammock!

Bandit and Finn were such great dogs the whole trip.  

Oliver was madly in love with them and has been researching dogs ever since we got home.

The beef stew was delicious!  The biscuits on the top could have been smoothed around a bit more but hey, it was our first time! It was even a bit chilly out which made the meal even better!  I swear I want to use this thing at home and make this in the fall!  Thank you Amanda and Jessica for the recipe!!!

Mmmmmm!!!!

After we were all stuffed beyond belief we played some games.  I learned how to play Rummy and I will be doing some practicing before our next camping trip.

The next morning the Marks made us a delicious breakfast!

And we headed back out for another hike!

The lean to was super cool.  I love how people leave supplies there and share things.  Although, I don't know that I have the guts to actually sleep in one!

Everything in the whole park was just gorgeous!

This picture does not do the spot any justice! The drop off was sooo steep but sooo gorgeous!

On the way back to camp, we stopped to see the damn!

Then the storm rolled in! Hurricane Laura wasn't going to miss us.Thank God the Privateers have a camper!  The kids hunkered down in there and we took shelter under their awning and played some more Rummy to wait to wait it out!

With a little Fireball we made it through!

Finn was so excited when it cleared up that he was dancing on the tables lol.  The storm ended just in time for us to make some delicious pizzas, have a campfire and make smores, and hang out to enjoy our last night!

Overall, it was a great trip!  Camping is a lot of work but it is so fun to get outside and take a break for awhile.  Especially before we head back to the craziness that is going to be this school year!