Fun With Grandpa

Grandpa visited over Spring Break and boy did we have fun!

Here's a few pictures of some of our adventures over the past week-

We watched Land Before Time, and spent a long day shopping.  The kids had fun at Build A Bear.

We ate way too well last week!!

We had so much fun on our horse ride in Redwood Regional Park. It was so fun to be back on a horse, and in a pretty setting.  The kids did great.  There were a few tense moments - Myles horse tried to kick a pit bull, Emma's decided to blaze it's own trail, Sophie's and Dads got all jumpy and squirrely when some dogs invaded the trail, mine decided right away that I didn't know how to plow rein and took advantage of that (you have to really pull hard to get them to turn/stop...I was raised on horses, but we did not rein that way, we barely had to move the reins and the horses would respond)- and yet we all stayed firmly in the saddle.  It was wonderful.

Dad's horse, Baily, had been in commercials and on tv.

We had fun on trampolines.

And more fun running the res.

And playing catch.

And lots of fun wrestling, playing with animal balloons, and roasting smores.

We had such a great time!  Thank you, dad, for all your generosity and taking the time to come down.  It means a lot that you want to spend time with us and the grand kids!! Next time we are going to beat you at Phase 10!

I'll post all the pictures on our photo site, here.

Running w/Dad

Something I never thought I'd get to do! Today dad ran the reservoir with the kids and I! It was pretty awesome!  This picture also makes it pretty clear that my runner legs are at least partly genetic! : ) And how cool are his Mizuno shoes??

He Can Fly!!

Some of you know my Dad is down for a visit. We've been having an awesome time! Today we were able to talk him out onto the trampoline!! He even played a few rounds of Dodge ball on the Dodge ball court, and was even catching some air by the end. It may be hard to tell, but if you pay attention to the shadow...when the shadow isn't touching his feet, he's in the air.

I love Emma's crazy foot coming in from the right side in this picture. All of our legs were sore from yesterday's amazing horse ride in Redwood Regional Park. I'll have pictures up from that soon!  It has been pouring all day today, so we followed up the trampolines with the dollar store, and then the Yogurt Shack. We are home watching Land Before Time now, then having lasagna and smores in the fireplace later tonight!

Thank You!

To those who shared your thoughts on Myles post, publicly and privately, we really do appreciate it.
We did have our meeting today. Without going into too much detail, the end result is that Myles will have a 504 plan which will allow for accommodations in the classroom to help him out.  We submitted our written request for academic testing/evaluation.  This will cover some of the testing that our insurance does not cover, and it is a law that if it's requested, the school must do it. 
As for the teacher....again, lots I want to say here, but I will not. He was in the meeting, and it was not a comfortable, nice meeting. That said, It is believed that the best thing for Myles is to finish the year in this class, not disrupt his life by pulling him out of a class and putting him in with all new kids at this point. I will be meeting with the teacher daily after school to discuss how the day went. (sounds like daily fun, no?? No.)

I'm writing about this tonight, because it has been a very emotional day.  This parenting stuff is rough!  I don't want to have to think about it again tomorrow, so posting tonight.
Thank you all again for your thoughts!!

I'm so going for a run tomorrow!!

Run/Hiking w/Carly

Today's outing -


It was nice to have some company, and some time on the mountain! It was such a beautiful morning with tons of poppies and just general prettiness!! A morning where colors were very vibrant!

Anyone Care to Share Your Thoughts??

I've mentioned a few times on  the blog that Myles has a pretty hard time with school.  He tries so hard, even his teacher has said that he is a hard worker and tries hard...but it's rough for him.  He's no longer in danger of repeating this year, but obviously, we hate to watch him struggle, and have been doing our due diligence getting things looked into/checked out (as in dr's and therapists, etc.) to help him in any ways that we can. A lot of time this past month has been spent doing exactly that.  His teacher is well aware of this, well aware of some recent diagnosis's (is there a different word for that??), and that he started taking his "special chill pill" this week.

One of the things he struggles with is any timed test, or rushed times (like getting things together to leave school).  This has made timed math tests pretty brutal, he's been stuck on one for the past 6 weeks. I had promised him that when he did pass it, he could go to Sky High (trampoline play place).  Well.....he passed it today!!!! I always check his bag before we leave the school while standing in front of his class room, and I saw it in there and pulled it out and said "Myles, what's this??"  Instead of cheers and jumping for joy and being happy, he melted down in tears. Why?

He had taken too long today while packing up his stuff to go home. His teacher made him stand in front of the class and sing this song-

"My name is Tinkerbell,
I do not hear well,
I need my mommy here,
To pack up all my gear"

Apparently he has regularly had to stand in front of the class and sing this song.

Through his tears, he told me he knows its a mean song, and that it's embarrassing and that it's making fun of him for taking longer than the other kids and that the kids all call him tinkerbell.

Can I just ask since when does humiliation and embarrassment help alter a child's behavior?? When you are dealing with a student who is already struggling, where is the logic in making him stand in front of the class to point out his slowness in a mocking way?? I know for a fact that this teacher has issue with Myles being a more artistic boy than a rough and tumble boy due to the fact that he told me to "get him in organized sports and toughen him up!"  So for more than a few reasons, I was livid.

It was with all the self control I could muster that I gritted my teeth when the teacher walked up and asked me "what is his problem?"  I managed to ONLY say the words "I do not want him singing the tinkerbell song again," and believe me, there were a lot more words in my head I would have loved to say. The teacher smiled and said "I'll let him get ready first from now on."

Any thoughts on this whole thing?? Am I over reacting to be mad? Is this just a cute little saying and nothing more?? Have any of you heard this saying before??

Busy Busy

I'm still here!! I'd love to have a post about running for you......but I don't.  Remember last month when I talked about "changes" and a new schedule that would allow for 2 runs during the week??  That's if I have no appointments or things that need done....so, yeah.

April is always a busy month in our house. We usually spend extra time in a volunteer work that we do and this April both Brian and Emma have been able to join me in the "extra time". It means putting in longer days, especially on the weekend when they can join me, evening volunteering for Emma, and early morning volunteering on the weekends for Brian and Emma.  On top of that, this past week included a fun game of kickball with lots of friends, an exercise class with friends at the trampoline place, a few Dr's appointments, prescription filling, and other necessary "life" stuff.

Today is a field trip with Sophie to Sacramento. We'll be seeing the State Capitol building- inside and out, the train museum (remember when we went here for our anniversary?), and Sutter's Fort. And it's  supposed to be near 90.

Tomorrow.....I get to run!!!!

I Never Said I was Smart...

 Just desperate for some alone time on my mountain! I'll take what I can get, when I can get it! Tuesday of this week, it was stormy and raining hard....perfect day to do the Waterfalls Trail Loop. I had never done it before and didn't really know what the trail was like, or how high up the mountain it takes you...but I made it home safe and sound, although I think I gave Brian a scare being up there in this storm.  When I had signal again, a text came through that said "it's hailing, where are you?"  You all know how I like an adventure, so the weather just made it more exciting!  And muddy : )

 Driving towards Mitchell Canyon, wowzers! I could hardly see the mountain and it was right in front of me.

 Above are my foot prints in the mud, it was really slippery, not great for running, but so fun!

 Below, I saw my friends again in the same meadow as before. I love the rain in the 2 pictures below.

 Above, you can see the trail I came up the valley in just right of center, and then just left of center.

 Above, I spotted the first waterfall!  I could hear them for a long time before I was able to see any.

 It was raining and the wind really picked up for a minute. It was the only time I thought I may not have been wise to come out here on a stormy day, I got really chilly, but knew I was over half way and it was best to keep moving forward, so I just ran for a bit and got warmed back up...after I huddled under a tree for a minute : )

 Above, looking out the valley I came in. That far ridge is the back of Eagle Peak, the park entrance is on the other side of it.

 Above, a little left of center you can see the single track trail I was on across the valley.

 Above is the trail I'm on as it came to the bottom of the falls that you see in the below picture.

 Above, again, almost dead center is a peak at a line of the single track that I was on.

 Above, lots and lots of poison oak, below...my "shucks! I'm probably going to be itchy", face.

 Above, way back there you can see one of the falls I was at.

 Once I got down off the mountain I have to cross the grass lands to get back to the park entrance and it was super muddy!! But these turkeys in a field of mustard were not bothered by it.

 Above and below...what to say really. It's just amazing.

 Later in the day things got really scary stormy, lots of thunder, lightning, hail, and wind. But for a moment, it was a beautiful day! If you are local and have never done the Waterfalls Trail Loop on the mountain...now is the time to do it!! They are all flowing, and thundering loud. If you aren't good with heights, be warned. I am usually fine when I'm hiking/running, but found myself getting a bit loopy/dizzy due to being so high and on a narrow trail.  It was stunning though!!

You can learn more about this hike here. Note- I started at Mitchell Canyon, took Bruce Lee to Back Creek, took the first single track trail that goes left, and that connects into Donner.  Also, the site says its a half day hike...it took me 2:15, and I was moving slow. Yes, I ran when I could, but also logged a 30 minute mile at other points. (you can see how slow I was going from the splits on my Strava, and the elevation...you climb a lot!) Also, should you read the reviews on the hiking site, for the record, I was not stalked by any mountain lions, nor did I see much coyote poo. However, this is very much in the back country and very isolated, and I'm sure there are mountain lions, I just didn't see any : )