Sisters in Savannah: walk, talk, eat, repeat

We started our first full day in Savannah with one of my favorite activities--a sister run! Mel, Dani, and I ran a few laps around the big, beautiful Forsythe Park. The air was humid and the breeze was gentle. The sun was dappling through the trees and we were feeling that special brand of euphoria that only a glorious morning sister run can create. We ran 3 miles and walked the 4 blocks or so back to our apartment to get showered and ready for a day of exploring.

The first order of business once we were all dressed was to find a cafe for breakfast (or second breakfast in my case--I brought several packets of instant oatmeal to eat first thing in the morning because my stomach is high maintenance like that). While we were running, Alivia and Em researched and selected E. Matthews Cafe, so we all headed thataway mid-morning (thank you, Google maps). I had my favorite meal of the entire trip there: eggs benedict with crab cake instead of ham and a fluffy biscuit instead of an English muffin. Yum.

Sisters in Savannah!

My four sisters and I have been trying to plan a sisters trip for years, and we finally made it happen last week! We pulled off the massive feat of coordinating five different schedules and booked a trip to Savannah, Georgia for May 11-14th. On Wednesday, May 11th, I got up at 3am and drove to the Pasco airport to catch my 5:20am flight. I met my sister Mel during my brief layover in Denver, and we took the same plane to the Savannah airport, where we met up with Em and Dani. The four of us took my very first-ever Uber ride from the airport to our 3 bedroom VRBO rental apartment on East Gwinnett Ave in Savannah. It kind of blew my mind that the airport was only a 25 minute drive from Savannah. Alivia's flight ended up getting delayed for six hours, so she got it close to midnight that night. 

Mother's Day 2022

Mother's Day 2022 Highlights: 

• Jeff was present and healthy in both mind and body, all day long. 
• Jay gave a very sweet talk in sacrament meeting at church.
• We didn't have time to take my traditional mother's day picture before church, but Jeff remembered and volunteered to take it after church. I slimmed down my mother's day requests to just this one picture, and I verbally asked for it rather than hoping it would happen on its own. 
• Amber and Rose gave me kind cards.
• My family said thank you for the dinner.
• I did not have any expectations for the day, and I felt at ease all day, not angsty or unloved. I did get a tad grouchy in the evening, but it wasn't mother's day grouch; it was a tired grouch. There's a big difference, haha.

Five for Five

 Last week we had a combined five track meets in five days:

1. Monday, May 2nd was our home middle school track meet, with over 200 kids from five schools participating. Jeff hosted set up, and timed the meet. I was his assistant clerk at the timing table by the finish line. Jay ran the 1600 and the 400 in the meet, and Rose and Amber played on the infield for four hours during the meet. We were all so tired when it was over!
2. Tuesday, May 3rd was a high school JV meet. As the head coach, Jeff did not have to attend this meet, but he did have to prep all of the gear and paperwork, etc. that the JV kids needed for the meet. (The eight track coaches divide up who goes to each JV meet, and it wasn't Jeff's turn this time).
3. Thursday, May 5th was a high school league meet in Wenatchee (2 hours 20 minutes from home). Jeff got home after 10pm.
4. Friday, May 6th was a middle school meet for Jay in Naches, WA (55 minutes from home). I took Rose and Amber to watch Jay run.
5. Friday was also a high school distance festival track meet in Issaquah, WA (3 hours away). Jeff drove a school van with the top six distance runners to the meet. He got home after midnight.

Piano Ensemble

 Saturday, April 30th was Rose and Amber's piano ensemble recital. Activities of the day:

• I ran a satisfying 10 miles during the only rain-free window of the day. Some runs everything just clicks, and this was one of those runs: good weather, good music, good shoes, good route, great pace. 
• The kids played Catan, which is a long haul of a game.
• Amber's piano ensemble rehearsal was at 3-3:20pm.
• Rose's piano ensemble rehearsal was at 4:20-4:40pm.
• The piano ensemble recital was at 7-7:45pm.

Amber rocks

The scene: Friday morning at 7:45am, 11 minutes before it was time to walk to the school bus stop. 

"Amber, put your piano books into your backpack," I called from the kitchen. On Fridays, the girls go straight to piano lessons after school, so they carry their piano books in their backpacks.

Amber unzipped her backpack and started removing crumpled papers and other miscellaneous items one by one. Soon there were half a dozen coloring pages, worksheets, a mashed lunchbox, and a crumpled sweater scattered across the floor.

Jay

 It's the first day of Jay's birth month, so how about a feature on my firstborn? Jay is in the middle of middle school right now and he has Activities that are separate and distinct from his younger sisters. He attends young men's activity every Wednesday night at church and helps pass the sacrament on Sundays. He is the secretary in the deacons quorum. He plays tuba in the school band and string bass in the school orchestra. He is on the middle school track team and convinced several of his friends to join the team with him to make it more fun. He grew his beautiful hair out till it was the longest it's ever been, claiming that he wanted to run one track race with it long before he whacked it all off. 

March BOOKS

Ah, March: the first month of track season. A month spent adjusting to Jeff being gone 30 extra hours each week. This year's coping mechanism leaned much more heavily on the Netflix side of cushioning rather than the literary fluff as in the past. Survival is about doing what works NOW, and I struck out when it came to finding cute fun fictional fluff in March. But I found a rich vein of light sweet entertainment in the TV-14 East Asian Drama category on Netflix! I will not be listing and reviewing the many K-dramas and Chinese dramas (are they C-dramas?) that I watched in March, but suffice it to say that it was many. I read a modest ten books on the side.

Talk

I gave a talk in sacrament meeting at church today, with all of the usual heart-pounding palm-sweating side effects.

The view out my bedroom window: a beautiful sunset reflected on puffy clouds in the eastern sky.

Winter in April

We very nearly had a white Easter! Some wild wintry weather dominated our week. 

On Monday there was an intense wind/hail/snow storm that knocked out power for all of the schools in town, and students were dismissed to go home before noon. The snow blew sideways and didn't stick to the ground. Jeff picked up all three kids on his way home, and we decided to have screen time right away in case the power went out later. The power never went out at our house, so we all had a very quiet afternoon of pure veg-time. It was a random extension of spring break!

Spring Break 2022

We spent Spring Break 2022 at home, and it was just what we all needed. Jeff went to track practice for a few hours every morning while the kids had leisurely cartoon time. Depending on the weather, I either went on a run during that time or watched a show of my own. It always feels extra decadent to watch TV in the morning, because I usually reserve my own TV time for a well-earned break after I've been productive all day. During spring break, though, I gave myself permission to stay in my pajamas and watch an episode or two before beginning my day, and it made the entire week feel like such a relaxing vacation. I very much preferred watching TV while my kids were watching TV instead of trying to be productive while they lounged, which inevitably makes me grumpy. I was a much happier human being when I allowed myself the same TV break as my kids. 

Isn't it interesting/annoying how many of the cages we think we're trapped in are of our own making? 

March Finale

 March went out like a lamb, with soft sunny weather, fresh green grass, and tender pink blossoms.  

Downtown Sunnyside in springtime.