NSTA, Indianapolis

The NSTA conference was in Indianapolis, IN this year. It has been a phenomenal conference. I have attended about 10 sessions and made numerous contacts with University Research scientists who are excited about pairing with high school students for scientific research. It's been a great experience, I can't wait to put these ideas into action.

Also, I just have to say that the time away has been great for my psyche. I love/miss my sweet boys more than I can say but there is something to be said about being able to step back and focus on myself and my work. I've enjoyed quiet time at the Omni, arrived here and will leave tomorrow in a limo (wowzers), have enjoyed some delicious meals and have had the opportunity to get some long workouts in, which I have missed. I am looking forward to heading home tomorrow but have really enjoyed my time away!!

                                                                    Work, work, work...

                                                Are those both for me? Yep, I think so:)

And more work...good stuff!

 My chariot awaits!!!

For those of you who really know me, you know how much I really LOVE hotel rooms. Excited to be here for the next 4 days:)

Welcome to Richmond, take 3

So far, since we have moved to Richmond we've had some bad luck. First, our bikes got stolen (and then recovered thankfully) from our front yard. Second, my car was broken into and my bags stolen (not recovered). And finally, our truck was towed out in front of our house yesterday. Totally our fault, there were signs saying to move vehicles as they were planning to sweep the streets and we just forgot. $100 bucks later we got the car out of "jail". Let's hope this is the end of it!

Urbane Assault, take 2

We went to Packet Pickup on Saturday (after my 5K) for the Urban Assault on Sunday.It was dumping rain and we were just praying that it would rain on Sunday.  Sunday morning seemed nice, Helen came to watch Cy and we headed down to Kanawah Plaza for the start race. We were in the first heat due to our score on the quiz and headed off with a great start. When we arrived at the first obstacle, we were the 4th team and the 1st co-ed team...just as Brad got a flat:( We had to wait about 20 minutest for him to fix the tire before moving on which cost us first place according to the final results:( AT this point we decided we were in it for fun:) 20 miles, 7 obstacles, 3 flat tires and one crash. It was a full day of fun and awesomeness:) We missed first place by 12 minutes so if we continued at the original pace we probably would have taken first place. Oh well...next year:) It was a really good time!!

Freeman 5K Rebel Run

I decided, last minute, to run the Freeman 5K Rebel Run. I haven't been running much so I wasn't sure what to expect. I was just hoping to be under 23 minutes. The course was really good, it started on the far side the of the track and it brought back so many memories to race on the track:) Loved it.  I finished in 22:58, 7:22 min/mile, which I was happy with. I was the second Woman overall and won $15 rather than a finishing medal which I thought was great:) I went to Trader Joe's on my way home to buy my favorite bottle of wine with my winnings:) Good race.

Date Night

Steward had the annual Talent Night tonight so I decided to take Cy as my date. Brad is not really into this kind of stuff and I didn't want to drag him on a Friday night so Cy said he would love to go:) He did a great job. The kids are so talented and he was enthralled by the singing, piano playing, guitar playing, and dancing. We lasted for about an hour (7-8pm) before he was done. Love my little man;)

Little Helper

When Cy and I arrived home today, we saw Daddy cutting the grass. Cy immediately ran into the back yard to grab his lawn mower to help Daddy do the grass. Probably the cutest thing I have seen in a long time. He was very proud of himself:)

Special Treats...

Yummy Mommy!



On Friday afternoons, when I pick Cy up from school, I try to have some kind of special treat for him to kick start our weekend. I did not have one with me today so I decided to take him to 7-11 for his very first Slurpee! He is hooked!!! I LOVED slurpees growing up and on a hot spring day I can't think of anything better:)

Urbane Assualt?

Brad signed us up for the bike race on Sunday....it's called the Urbane Assualt and I don't know anything about it except that it involves about 30 miles of riding and lots of obstacles through and around the city of Richmond. Brad is super psyched about this and I'm hoping he's not going to be disappointed in my performance. I am not a solid cyclist (much to my chagrin) and he is FAST on his bike. It does sound like fun though and the party afterwards is supposed to be great....we'll see!!

Wrapping Up The Hard Part

With my decision to join Collegiate's faculty finalized, it has been time to start telling my Administrators and Colleagues here at Steward. This is the hardest part for me, I would rather just slink away than have to be upfront about it but it is helping in personal growth. I had a meeting the the Head and the VP of Finance and that went well, I told my direct Head and he was visibly disturbed but also understanding. Telling my Department Head was the hardest part for me because I value her so much. I could tell that she was initially a little shocked and certainly not pleased but relaxed a bit after we talked about it. I need to tell the Dean of Academics today and then the hard part will be over and I can casually tell other people when it's convenient. Except, of course, there is Gardner....

Life decisions, life changes...

Ok, I have been wrestling with a moral/professional/personal dilemma lately and can finally post about it.  Brad's school, Collegiate, has offered me a position teaching Bio in the Upper School. It's a great offer, $10,000 more in salary and free tuition for Cy ($275,000 over the course of his education) so it seemed like a no-brainer. However, the problem is that I LOVE my school. Steward has quickly become my family and I am so happy there. It was a really difficult decision to make and even more difficult to admit to my current administrators/colleagues. I had a meeting with Ken Seward and Lisa Dwelle to tell them my decision. They initially wanted to counter offer but after telling them that it was less about the money and more about the convenience of having our whole family together at the same school they said they understood. It is going to be difficult at school for the remainder of the year as I am sure not everyone will be so understanding but the worst is over. I just hope that I am as happy at Collegiate as I have been at Steward this year. I'm so nervous.

Monument 10K

I was supposed to run the Monument 10K next weekend and was very excited about it. 32,000 people are signed up to run it and I have always wanted to do it. However, Steward is sending me to Indianapolis for a conference over the same weekend...boo. I was feeling nervous about it anyway because I haven't been running very much. I'm in a slump. Anyway, on Sunday we decided to go climbing and I wanted to get a little cardio in first. So, I decided to run to the climbing crag thinking it was only about 5 miles...it ended up being 7 and I felt great. So, now I'm even more bummed about the Monument 10K. Oh well, next year!

Climb On!

Rock Climbing Adventure at Manchester Bridge

Laurie is just getting into rock climbing, my specialty, so I was sure to tell her to bring her stuff so we could go. We went to Manchester Bridge twice, Saturday (after our long bike ride) and Sunday, and climbed for a few hours. I'm not positive she loved it but she was excited about trying it. Climbing is so hard and takes so much muscle, if you're not used to it it can be so challenging. I was very proud of her! Cy came with us both days and did an amazing job of just hanging out, playing in the woods. He also did something new and exciting, he peed standing up! First time ever. He wouldn't do it last week when we were playing out in the woods behind Ji Ji's house but this weekend he was all about it. Totally proud of him:)

Biking Betties

Laurie brought her B.A. mtn bike down for an adventure and that is exactly what Brad gave us!! Laurie arrived on Friday night, we went to Jason's Deli (of course) and early Saturday morning we dropped Cy off at Doc's and hit the trails. We rode the Carillon trail, North Bank trail, and a little road riding to get to Bottom's Up for pizza lunch! Yum. It was an awesome day and we were pooped. 18 miles on a mtn. bike is SO much harder than 18 miles on a road bike. Laurie seemed to enjoy it and so did I. I'm not a very good cyclist so it's fun to get out there and just play around sometimes:)

"Cousin Laurie"

My cousin, Laurie, came to Richmond to spend part of her spring break with us. If I am calculating correctly, this is her 4th spring break with us. She used to come out when we were in Steamboat to do some boarding and hang out. This was a different week but we had a WONDERFUL time. I just love her. We're so similar and we have such a great time together, we really could be sisters!! She and Cy got along great. Cy calls her "cousin Laurie" instead of just Laurie which cracks me up:) We did lots of biking and rock climbing while she was here, not to mention the delicious dinners out and Sweet Frogs, we did it up right!!!

Birthday Boy

Today is Brad's 36th birthday!  I made him some delicious looking (I haven't tried them yet) Butterfinger Cupcakes (lots of peanut butter and chunks of Butterfinger candybars):) We are doing dinner at Sushi O with Jill and Doc and we'll go back home to open presents. Gardner and Stinson are planning to come over later to share a cupcake and have a toast to Brad.
Cy is very excited about Daddy's birthday and sang "Happy Birthday" to him by himself this morning before work.

Pee Pee update...

I think we have success! Cy has had no accidents at school and hasn't worn a diaper during the day at all in 2 weeks:)

Back To The Grind

Today was the first day back to school and it was great to be back to see the kids but dropping Cy was hard. He cried, of course, which made me cry too. Ugh. From the sounds of it though, he had a great day and was excited to show everyone his undies.  He did have one accident at school which I thought would happen. I'm hoping that school doesn't set our progress backwards. We shall see. All in all, good day today.

Come and Gone...

Well, that's it. Spring Break 2012 has officially come to an end. I'm going to have one more glass of wine and go to bed. I'm playing the lottery tomorrow!

Undies

Ok, we started potty training Cy awhile ago but because the system at school is so different than home it's been counter productive so I said forget it, we'll wait until this summer and tackle it at that point. I really don't care either way whether or not he's potty trained but for his new school next fall he will need to be. No pressure. So, saturday morning of the Spring Break I decided we were going to go for it. We started sitting him on the potty about every 45 minutes while we were home and he took to it quickly. He has been wearing diapers at night and during nap but other that than he hit the ground running and hasn't worn a diaper during the day at all. He now tells me when he has to pee which is awesome. And, he can hold it when he needs to so he doesn't pee in his Thomas the Train undies. He's amazing. We're still having problems with the pooping but he'll get there. For whatever reason, it freaks him out. 
So, we'll see how this goes at school tomorrow. I am going to write them a detailed idea of how I want to continue the potty training for him until we've got it down pat. His two best friends, Will and Able, are working on it too so it shouldn't be a problem. I am so proud of him, he's such a big boy I am sorry to say!!

Spring Break, 2012

Spring Break has taken on a much milder version of itself since having Cyrus. A few years ago we would be off to Mexico or some place fabulous like that but now we're just laying low. Not that I particularly mind but I would definitely like to be lounging on the beach in some tropical location. However, we are at the point in our lives when there would be no lounging so we'll wait a few years until he gets a little older before we start exploring again.

So, in the meantime we're making the most of it here in Richmond for now. Brad didn't have school on Friday so he was off for the day. He came to my school to meet me for lunch, ran some errands and picked Cy up at Daycare about 12.  Cy decided to take a LONG (4 hour) nap so Brad decided to rearrange the living room. Looks great, it's much brighter in there now which is great.  We met the Anders for dinner last night (Friday) which was so wonderful and then came home and watched a movie and I fell asleep on the couch:)

Saturday morning, we headed to the pool so Brad and I could get a workout in and Cy could swim in the kiddie pool (we do a kid swap). Cy and I came home and he took a nap while I did some Insanity Abs, cleaned up around the house and finalized some work stuff that I didn't get to yesterday. When he wakes up we'll run a few errands (including the wine store for me:)), grab some lunch,  and plan on going to Jill & Docs for dinner. The boys went to Champs to watch Keydet basketball...apparently, they are in a big conference of sorts.

Sunday morning was beautiful! We met Doc & Jill and went to the 40th anniversary of Amtrack. Cy LOVED it. He was blown away by the trains:) After, we went to the Dairy Barn for lunch, a little "divey" place that has been around for 50 years. It was pretty good. Cy went back to Ji Ji & Pops to take a nap while Brad and I went to the climbing gym.

 Monday morning we woke up to this! Sunday flowers and Monday snow, amazing. What a strange winter. Anyway, Monday was Dolores Day and everything revolved around getting her up and running and getting her registered with the state of Va...it was painful but necessary!!!

Tuesday we needed to finish up a few things with Dolores and run a few errands around town and were officially ready to start Spring Break! It was cold, 32*, when I woke up but sunny and beautiful!.

Wednesday was a beautiful day so we packed up the bike trailer and headed off to Maymont park for the afternoon. We walked around looking at the animals for hours and then went to Nacho Mama's for margaritas and nachos after. We finished up the afternoon with ice cream from Sweet Frogs and made it home at about 5:00. Cy was such a trooper, he didn't nap and was in the best mood all day. I love this little bug.

Thursday morning was beautiful and warm so we decided to head to VA beach to play for the afternoon. We got in the car about 10 and arrived at the beach at 12. What a day:) Cy played and played in the sand, Brad threw the ball with the pups, dug a DEEP hole with Cy and did some surf kayaking. I went for a nice run, played with Cy and walked with my hubby on the beach. We had an early dinner at Cancun and arrived home about 8:00 fully worn out:)

Friday was an easy day at home. Cy and I hung around the house all morning while I cleaned up and organized and he played. He went down about 12:30 for a nap for almost 3 hours while I worked on some school stuff. Brad went for a nice bike ride and we all went to Trader Joes when Cy woke up.  Very exciting day:) However, I enjoyed our time at home and having some down time as I feel like we've been on the go every minute of this break, fun but exhausting:)

Saturday morning I woke up and went for a run and then Cy and I headed to Jill and Doc's while Brad went on a bike ride. Jill had mapped out some rental properties around the city for us to look at and we found a few reallly CUTE ones:) We are still in a place where we're going to need to rent for a few years until we can catch up from the move from CO and pay off all the bills/debt acquired from our business venture in CO, Over The Moon. The two homes that I am particularly interested in are both in Henrico county, so don't have to worry about city schools which is nice. Cy can go to either Brad or my school but we don't want to rely on that now for a home purchase...a lot can happen as we have found out.

I loved these two homes:

 2516 Fillmore Road is super cute with a beautiful yard. 4 bedrooms and 3 baths, it's in a great neighborhood and has a wonderful feel about it.

4100 Denbigh Drive is gorgeous. 5 bedrooms and 3 baths, this is a shortsale and I'm not sure we want to get into all that but it would be worth it. The sad part is that this family has put A LOT of work into this home and seems to have had to leave it. I feel their pain, however, this home is in a GREAT neighborhood with river access at a great price....

Things to think about:)

Sunday. I awoke in a bit of a funk today. Our last day of break. We've had such a wonderful time together as a family and it's going to be hard to get back to the grind tomorrow...especially putting Cy back in school. We've had such a great week! And, he is mostly potty trained now! It's amazing how quickly that happened:) Today we had a mellow morning and then headed over to Jill & Doc's to meet Todd and Mrs. White and have a birthday brunch for Brad. His birthday is on Wednesday but Jill will be out of town so she wanted to do a little celebrating. She prepared a delicious lunch and some yummy desserts. Cy had a great time. He and I went exploring in the woods for about an hour. We had such a good time together, he enjoyed seeing the bugs, the downed trees, learning what roots do for tree, a stream, etc...he's so awesome. I love that he can appreciate the beauty of this world. I just love this little man so much, we could not be more blessed.

What to do, what to do...

I am getting antsy about getting into our own home. Stinson's home is really lovely but it is too small for our family and it's hard for me to pay someone else's mortgage for them. We were so fortunate that this house was available when we moved to VA from CO but now, almost a year later, I am yearning to become more settled in our home....our longterm home.

Jill has spent a great deal of time driving around looking at and researching homes for us. She has put so much effort into it and I can't thank her enough. I am still not familiar enough with the areas that I don't know what I'm looking for and where. Brad is certainly resist to the idea, he is not psyched about moving again and would like to continue renting until we've got a nice chunk of money put away...both legitimate reasons to stay put.  However, there are some really good deals out there right now.

The tricky part about Richmond is the schools. The city schools are terrible and Cy can definitely go to either Steward or Collegiate but who's to say where we'll be working 12 years from now when he gets to high school. For that reason, I want to stay in the county. Jill and I went looking at some great houses in the county and I really liked these two.

2516 Fillmore Road is super cute with a beautiful yard. 4 bedrooms and 3 baths, it's in a great neighborhood and has a wonderful feel about it. I'm not sure what the deal is with this house but it has been on and off the market for the past 2 years. I am going to call the realtor this week to see if we can get in to see the inside. I peaked through the windows and it looks great in there. Nice floors, great big family room and a wonderful play room for Cy. It's big enough that we'll still have a guest room if we do have one more child and if we don't then we can devote a room to an office and deck it out rather than having an office/guest room like we've always done. There are certainly things that need work on this home but at $249,000 it's a steal. I'm pretty certain we can do much better on that anyway. A. it's been on the market for a long time and B. I know it sold in 1983 for $94,000 and hasn't sold since so I think there is some wiggle room with that.

4100 Denbigh Drive is a dream home. I absolutely love it. It's gorgeous inside and out. It's got an acre of land with a stream running through the back. There is a multi-tiered deck off the back and a few fire pits and a pond in the back. It is 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and the kitchen is really amazing. This home is a short sale and will not last long. It has private river access to the James which is a coveted rarity in Richmond. It is listed at $335,000 which is not in our price range but it can't hate to submit a low ball offer to them.  We could handle a mortgage like this but feel like there is no reason to put all of our money into a home when we love to do so much traveling and playing. We need to have some wiggle room and this wouldn't really afford that for us.

What to do, what to do...