First off - I know many of you read Elisabeth's blog and had noticed it disappeared. This was unintentional and due to a server being deleted!! But she's BACK - check her out at her new home, Optimistic Musings of a Pessimist.
Happy Friday! It's the most cliche thing to say but can you believe September is almost over? August kind of felt like the longest month for a number of reasons but September has sped by between Paul starting school and me onboarding a new employee! Here's a TGIF-style recap of my week!
The book I am reading this week is Go As a River by Shelley Read. This book is SO GOOD. I think I heard about it on the "From the Front Porch" podcast. It's historical fiction set in Colorado; the novel starts in the 1940s and then we follow the main character, Victoria, over a number of years as she weathers hardships and heart breaks. It's beautifully written and oh so good.
The high of my week was having a great week of training with my new hire. He is picking things up so quickly and he's such of a breath of fresh air since he's very positive and excited about his role. I'm so glad I will have someone to share my workload with. While he reports to me, I think of him more someone I want to develop into a partner that I can divide and conquer with.
The low of my week was just kind of feeling off? I had low grade nausea/no appetite for several days and also have a kind of low grade respiratory virus. I don't feel awful but I don't feel great. And for anyone whose ears pricked up at the mention of nausea I'm DEFINITELY not pregnant. ;) My covid test was negative so it's probably just all the germs circulating with kids back in school.
A show we are watching is still the latest season of Alone on Netflix. We will finish it this weekend. We only watch 30 minutes of a show each night before I go up to bed to read so it takes us a LONG time to work through shows. Next we plan on watching the latest season of Only Murders in the Building.
For workouts I have done nothing since running on Sunday morning. I plan to do a Caroline Girvan strength training workout this morning and will hopefully run on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
The best money spent was on flights for our spring trip to Destin, FL in April! Paul's spring break falls during Phil's busiest week of work so we absolutely cannot travel that week. So we are going the week after his spring break. I have some guilt about pulling my child out of school for travel but I figure it's not a big deal at his age (and I know Kae will tell me NOT to worry about it as they've had to do the same with their kids). The flights were shockingly cheap since we aren’t going a bit after most schools’ spring breaks - we paid only $300/ticket for a direct flight! I can't even fly to Chicago that cheaply most of the time. My parents are also coming with us - they love to travel with us and it's nice to have their company/help. Next we need to book accommodations so let me know if anyone has suggestions about what area to stay in the Destin area! We just want to be able to walk out our door to the beach. My plans this weekend include a decent amount. After school today, Paul has a playdate with one of his buddies from daycare. They haven't seen each other in 3 months so he's very excited to hang at a park with his friend! On Saturday we'll have our usual library and gymnastics combo and then Phil is taking Paul out to his friend who lives on a lake. Phil is helping them take their docks and lifts out and then they'll go to Phil's mom's house after to help her with a few things/have dinner. I'll stay back with Taco. Sunday morning is the Twin Cities Marathon! We can easily walk to a spot to spectate so I'm hoping to do that. I feel bad for the poor runners. The low that day is 68 and the high is 84. THAT IS NOT NORMAL FOR OCTOBER IN MINNESOTA. My first marathon which was the Twin Cities marathon in 2006 was a HOT marathon. It was around 80 when I finished and it was a slog at the end. You just never know what kind of wildcard you'll get at a marathon, but you can usually count on cooler temps than this in October! On Sunday afternoon we are getting together with my retired former coworker and his family at their home.
Bonus pics of the boys:
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| Emo toddler photo of the week. |
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| Sassy Paul with our neighborhood geese. We haven’t seen them for months because there is always a big tantrum when it’s time to leave (there are a bunch of toys for kids to play with). But last night I was solo parenting while Phil golfed so I was happy to let them play with the toys for 30+ minutes and they were cooperative about leaving. |
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| Happily playing with the geese house toys! |
How was your week? Did September fly by for you?
14 comments:
super happy to see Elizabeth's blog back!
what a relief to know your new team is doing well. it's so hard to find a good one these days. hit and miss for me.
and great that you got a cheap flight. I fully agree with Kae that don't worry about missing school days when they are little. and I hope the temperature drops next week for Chicago marathon . so far looks a bit warm for Chicago standard. finger crossed.
PULL THE KIDS OUT NOW while you still can. LITERALLY NOTHING MATERS until high school. We have not been able to travel outside kid breaks for 4 years now, and it is no good. Feel absolutely ZERO GUILT. (Is my unsolicited advice)
I'm with Sarah! Now is the time! When they are older it is next to impossible to pull them out, do it now while you can!
I am so glad your new hire is working out so well! That's such great news. I hope you're feeling better - September is a brutal time for sickness.
We have just started watching Only Murders in the Building and I really like it. We are only on season one, and our watching got massively derailed by the last few weeks. Hoping to get a few episodes in tonight!
Destin is really beautiful! I went there when I was working in NOLA and we got a home right on the beach, but I would have to dig up some info to be able to tell you where it was. I don't actually think it was in Destin proper; it may have been in Miramar Beach or one of the outlying places. Are you going to rent a car?
I am almost done with season 9 (Labrador) of Alone; I have been doing kind of what you do, just watching it here and there. Sometimes it is two episodes at once and sometimes it is only 15 minutes. I actually watched season 8 first, as that was the only one on Netflix at the time, but now I am using Hulu and I started back at the beginning again. I actually still think season 8 was my favorite (although 1 was pretty entertaining and totally different than the later ones), maybe just because it was my first.
Yes, definitely don't worry about missing a week now! We have had no qualms about missing school for travel..we even did an epic 3 month south east Asia trip in 2019 when my oldest was in grade 2, and he missed mid Sept-mid Dec. Our school didn't even care, we just had to fill out a form to keep him enrolled. They said he would get more out of the experience! Once they're older it will be different but now is the time!
We have pulled out kids our SO MANY TIMES! I feel zero stress or guilt over it. The way I see it, they are learning valuable life skills and probably getting educated about various things in our destination. It definitely gets harder. I think we'll pull our kids out this year, but once our daughter starts high school, I don't think we'll be able to do it much anymore.
Thanks for the shoutout! I'm so glad to be back.
Those geese are always adorable and I just love that they leave toys outside for kids to play with - what a sweet idea and it must warm their heart to see kids outside playing when they come by.
When my daughter was in grade school, she went to a very small public charter school, only 5 classrooms. I was on the school board for a couple of years. I saw how much money was lost due to kids missing school, and because the school was so small, I worried about that factor. They used to give her assignments she could take with her (which were a lot of work for the teachers to put together) when we went to visit family or something, so they still got funding.
I never felt guilt for pulling her out for educational reasons, I think there are other things that they learn, like Elisabeth said. It was only the money thing. Our system is screwed up that way.
Once she started middle school, and it was a normal sized school, I felt zero guilt for taking her out if we were going somewhere. Especially since when the teachers were out sick or whatever, they just showed Ferris Bueler or something stupid like that.
The geese house is my favourite thing ever! Just love that they leave toys out for kids to enjoy!!
Definitely don’t feel guilty for pulling him out for vacation. That time with family is also so special at this age and when they’re older they probably won’t want to vacation with us. Ha!
So glad the new hire is working out great!!
-Amber
We're having the same weather. Going north next week and at least for a few days it will be very warm -- then drop to the 50s. I'm so glad the new hire is working out. Maybe you'll be able to get a bit of a break and feel a little more like you can leave the office behind when you leave the building!
I am trying not to be sad that your FL destination this year is Destin and not a city near meeeeee. ;) That's a beautiful area, though, and you'll have a great time!
I'm so glad that your direct report is working out so well! I know for sure he's got a top-notch mentor in you, so I don't doubt he'll continue to excel!
I hope the virus/malaise clears up! It’s hard to work and parent when you don’t feel 100%. Hope it becomes a bit cooler for the marathon! In NJ we had 80s today! A beautiful day but quite hot in the sun. Have a wonderful week!
Daria (momofchildren)
Too bad we can't get together when you're in Florida- Destin is so far from us. Florida is such a long, long state- something I realize every time I drive up to Tallahassee or Texas. But it should be really nice for you, and I 100% agree that pulling Paul out of school now is no big deal.
Hope you're feeling better now. I had to smile at the assurance that you're not pregnant- that's good! I'm pretty sure you would not be too happy about that :)
Love that y'all got such an amazing deal on the flights! He will be fine and the memories made on this trip will last far longer than anything that happens that week in school! I wish I had a recommendation for Destin, I airbnb or vrbo most of my beach stays but I have not been there. I hope you are feeling better! I'm so glad your new hire is working out! I have a new trainee and quite honestly I was concern I would not love him as much as I loved my trainee last year. I had my first day with him last week and he won me over and I have no more qualms! I'm glad that I agreed to be a mentor again this year! Those geese are my favorite!!!
I read this last week on my phone but am very behind on commenting on my laptop- but I just wanted to come back again to say YES you are spot on that that's what I would say about pulling the kids from school! ESPECIALLY at those younger ages....it's just seriously not a big deal. Think about it from a "Will this matter in 5 years" perspective. Nope, pretty sure a few days of kindergarten are not going to make or break his academic career. hahaha.
Also, that Go As a River book sounds like something I would really love! Need to jot that down....
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