Halloween 2018

We finally broke away from princesses and Star Wars for Halloween last year! Natalie got it in her head a couple of months earlier that she wanted to dress as a "dark fairy" - I had no idea how to do that, but a quick search on Amazon showed me that indeed there are "dark fairy" costumes for kids! I stress that "for kids" part as some of the costumes were definitely not age appropriate.

After reading the first 4 books, Henry was excited to go as Harry Potter - that's quite the easy costume to find!

The fun part about these costumes was that I got to do some makeup on them both. Henry's was simple obviously - we used his existing scar but turned it into a lightening bolt. I had fun playing around with face makeup for Natalie; ultimately we settled on a spiderweb-inspired design that we were both really happy with.

Natalie still likes for her and I to do costumes together, so last minute I pulled together a costume for myself using all items I already had - she was a dark fairy, so I was a light fairy!

 

We were out trick or treating for quite a while, venturing further through the neighborhood than we'd done previously. As we walked around, we ran into a group of 5th grade girls trick or treating together and joined up with them for a bit. It was great that Natalie got to do this with some friends for the last time in Leesburg!

Observation Week 2018: Henry tap

This year was Henry's first year trying tap. He'd always said before that it was too loud, but then he changed his mind and wanted to take it. Ms. Lynn, the new tap teacher, did a great job with the little ones! I like that during their warm ups, they each got to go solo across the floor.

Then it was time to practice going backwards - much harder!

And at the end, working on their recital piece. they definitely got better with each repetition! It's a fast piece of them, but they worked really hard.

Henry is continuing both tap and jazz this year at Charlottesville Ballet Academy; thanks to Ms. Lynn for getting Henry started in tap!

Observation week 2018: Henry jazz

I was also able to watch Henry's jazz and tap classes during Halloween week. His friend Garrett was in his jazz class, so I got a ton of photos and videos of Harry Potter and Mario dancing together, which could not have been cuter.

Who knew that "We Will Rock You" was the exact right speed/beat for learning pas-du-burre?

Fun dancing to Around The World - Ms. Danielle loves this song, as do we!

And rocking out some across-the-floors with a little hip hop twist.

And you'll see at the end of that last video where he ended standing against the wall next to his friend Lily. It was too cute that I put together this little triptych of photos. If they were older I'd say Lily just shut Henry down pretty hardcore :D

Observation Week 2018: Natalie wrap-up

And because the other posts from my observation week with Natalie would have been much longer if I'd included these with them, here are a video each from Broadway jazz (gotta love warming up to "Fever"!)

Some across-the-floors in Contemporary

And their full dance in lyrical. I love this! I'm sad she won't get to do it in the recital.

Observation Week 2018: Natalie ballet

After watching jazz during Halloween week, I was able to watch a ballet class. Nothing like watching my dark fairy perfect her leg and arm placement!

To be a good ballerina, you have to build up those strong leg muscles.

And practice your routines across the floor.

Even when your mom is right there recording you!

The ballet training Natalie got at LSB is serving her so well as she has transitioned to Charlottesville Ballet Academy, her new ballet school. We are so appreciative of everything Natalie learned at LSB, and she really misses her teachers!

Observation Week 2018: Natalie jazz

We left Loudoun School of Ballet before the official parent observation week in November, but the kids' dance teachers were nice enough to allow Evan and I to watch them in dance class during the last week of October instead! I was able to watch Natalie's jazz, ballet, and contemporary classes, while Evan watched some of lyrical and broadway jazz. First up: her super fun jazz class!

First off, let me preface this and the next couple of posts by saying that since it was Halloween week, the kids got to dress up for class if they wanted. Natalie loved her dark fairy costume so much that she wore it the entire week!

As always, it's so great to see the girls doing what they love, and in particular getting to watch Natalie shine. She loves jazz class!

Since it was Halloween week, you have to do a dance to Thriller, right? 

And finally, some practice of what may end up being their recital piece (but sadly, won't involve Natalie).

She definitely misses her jazz class and had a great time with all of her friends!

Pumpkinville 2018

And so it was once again fall, which meant a trip to the fabulous Pumpkinville (and Leesburg Animal Park)! This is not one of Evan's favorite things to do (it's outside, dirty, and filled with animals and people), so for the second (I think?) year in a row I took the kiddos for some "mommy-kiddo time", as we like to call it, which suits us just fine!

We almost didn't make it this year due to schedule, but I was able to carve out some time on the very last weekend it was open (first weekend of November) Since it was such a gorgeous day, I was really worried it would be crazy busy, but I guess everyone had already been, as it was not overly busy at all!

We had to go check out the inside, as there are animals in there now (I love the changes they've made in the past few years); what a cute lemur!

The petting zoo area is a lot more fun now that Henry isn't super scared of the animals anymore, as he was when he was littler. I took about 4 photos of the two of them petting this goat, and even though Henry's eyes are almost closed, I had to share this one as the goat was looking right at the camera too!

After the animals, it was time to go into Pumpkinville proper. Climb around on some ropes...

Ride on some go-karts...

Go down the slides...

And enjoy the zipline!

 

All in all, a fantastic last trip to Pumpkinville!

I'm hopeful we can find something similar in Charlottesville, but if not, a day trip up to Leesburg to go next fall may be in order! 

Inaugural half-marathon

After I cut my hair, and had some new head shots taken, I had one more new thing to do - walk a half marathon! I set this as a goal for myself after really stepping up my weekly walks during the first half of 2018. Why not try to go from my regular 4-6 miles to do a full half marathon? I can train for that! Since I don't like the heat, I didn't want to do this during the summer, so I set a date in October (also because October is the best month, as we all know!). I found a recommended training schedule for runners who are doing a half marathon, and was able to stick to it (mostly) for the 7 weeks before my scheduled walk.

I decided to walk from the end of the W&OD trail in Purcellville back home to Leesburg. Because I wanted the walk to be novel, I never trained on that part of the trail, sticking instead to my normal routes through Leesburg (but varying them up some to keep it interesting). The longest training walk I did was 10 miles (as I missed the week I was supposed to do a 12 mile walk), but I felt good about my ability to go 13.1.

Evan and the kids took me out to Purcellville to the end of the trail, so I could start there!

I was ready to go with my arm band, my headphones, and some snacks in my belt pouch.

Oh yeah, and we brought Lucy too! We also stopped at Starbucks so I could get my usual refresher for the first part of the walk... and then it was time to start!

I did take selfies at each mile, but I'm not going to post them all here. Just a few to show progress... oh, and some pretty sites I saw along the way.

Mile 2

Before mile 3:

During Mile 4:

Mile 6 - it's getting warmer out there!

During mile 6, I walked the trail underpass at the Route 9 intersection in Hamilton. Turns out that just past there is this great old bridge that you walk through!

Mile 7, during pee break #3 (yep that refresher went right through me! Luckily the trail was pretty deserted) and stretch break #1

Mile 8 - where I also took stretch break #2. And yep, definitely warmer out at this point!

Mile 10 - I'm back in "civilization!" This was on the outskirts of Leesburg.

At Mile 11, I left the trail at the kids' school to head back towards my house. The final 2 miles were not on the trail. Mile 12 photo: just past the bridge over Rte 15 bypass on Sycolin Rd.

And finally...Mile 13.1! Right in front of my house. I did it!

All in all, I walked the whole thing in just over 3 and a half hours. Average pace was the highest I've EVER done on a walk - the trail is such an amazing place to walk! I love how the Fitbit app tracked everything - really fantastic to see my progress.

In fact, looking at the mile times, it's even more obvious how much easier it is to walk on the trail - the last two miles were by far my slowest, and they were once I had left the trail.

Overall, I have to say I am really proud that I did that, and I want to do another one! Unfortunately there is not a great trail like the W&OD in Charlottesville (I really miss that thing), but I'm sure I can figure out something. I haven't gone longer than about 5 miles since we moved, so I need to step up the training as it gets warmer and try to do this again! 

Also, a big thank you to everyone who donated, as I did this as a fundraiser for St. Jude's (Natalie chose the charity). It really meant a lot to me.