Taking a Sun Day

As homeschoolers we don't like to take Snow Days. Since we don't have to trudge through sleet and snow to get from the bedroom to the school room there's really no reason to not have school when it snows so I always count on us making up any missed schoolwork during the winter months.

 Instead of Snow Days, we take Sun Days. I love Sun Days...when it's gorgeous out, the weather is warm, the sun is shining...those are the days I like to miss school. And today was a 1/2 Sun Day. We did math and science and then loaded up our bikes and headed to the tow path.

Ella and Shane before I stuffed them into the trailer

I have to say that I'm glad my almost 7 y/o weighs only 45 pounds so she can still ride in the trailer. And I'm so grateful that I bought the 'double wide' trailer when we had just Hank and no other littles on the horizon.

Cute little posers

 We rode 7 miles overall but as is common with little kids, we stopped to check out the scenery and take a couple of potty breaks.

The river is so pretty this time of year

One section of the tow path is under construction and the detour around it took us down next to the river and then back up to the tow path. It was made out of nice soft, loose dirt and gravel. Pulling the bike, trailer and 90 pounds of kids up that nice soft hill was pretty funny. I had them get out and walk on our return trip.

Just north of Harpers Ferry where we turned around

Ella and Shane did such a good job of not whining or complaining  (must have been the ice cream I promised if they were good). Shane wanted to get out and run, and usually on shorter rides I have him just tough it out.

But because he was being so good, I let him get out; he wanted me to time him while he 'raced'; it was really cute because he kept saying 'you need to cheer for me! louder!'

This ride was a thousand times better than yesterday's Sun Day. Today we finished 7 miles in  1:25:53. Not lightning speed but not too bad.  Yesterday it took us an hour to go 2 miles. Yes, you read that right. I had a full scale mutiny on my hands yesterday and 3 little angels today. It must have been something in the water 'cause I don't understand it!

We went to McD's for our ice cream  and headed home where the kids ran in the field playing football with the neighbors. Then Hank and I headed to cross country practice. He and I got there a little early so we ran .6 miles for fun until everyone else came.

I've been running with 2 other moms while the kids practice. It's amazing how quickly the miles pass when you have someone with you. I ended up running a total of 4.55 miles in 48:58 so the other two ran about 3.9 miles. One of the moms hasn't done more than a 5K so she was really pleased with the distance. The kids cheer for us as we run by; it's really sweet - especially since they're all really fast and we are not.

A handful of us are going to be running our local Turkey Trot and we found out another mom who can't make it to practice because of her schedule is going to run it, too. We should think of a name for our little 'team'...like Stuffed Old Farts or Tough Old Turkeys. I'll have to keep thinking on that one.

The last cross country practice is next week and I'm going to miss running with my friends. I guess it will make the spring track season that much sweeter when it arrives.