This weekend was my first weekend off in a month. Aside from the indecisive weather, rainy one minute…hot and humid the next, the weekend was glorious and busy. I was off Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Thursday afternoon was the dreaded swimming class. I decided to take Carlos one more time. He became upset upon the mere mention of the class. He insisted on clinging to me all the way to the pool. Then he sat and watched the entire class. We approached the instructor at the end and informed him that we wouldn’t be coming back. Carlos seemed instantly relieved.

Thursday evening I went to the 6 pm Zumba class in town. I love Zumba. I am not the least bit self conscious in this class.  It helps that the class is in a big auditorium so there are no mirrors encircling the room. I love the music and the dance moves. It’s just fun.

Friday was a busy day. I brought Carlos to school and then had to make a snap decision about where to do my long run. The misty drizzle turned to a light rain and I decided to head to the gym. I cranked out 11 boring miles on the treadmill in about 2 hours 10 minutes. My strategy on the treadmill is to just go with the speed that I am comfortable with. I increase when I feel like it and decrease it when I feel like it. I never go below 5 miles an hour and I try to stay more in the range of 5.5 to 6.5 miles per hour. I take a quick water break at a walking pace after each mile and a slightly longer break off the treadmill after 3 or 4 miles. I brought two little boxes of  raisins with me which I ate after mile 6 and mile 9. I refilled my water bottle 3 times. Once I was finished I felt great, even better when I realized I wouldn’t have to worry about doing a long run all weekend. Friday night after putting Carlos to bed I made a pilgrimage to Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and Walmart (don’t judge). I picked up the juicer that I had ordered on Walmart.com. Orlando and I have wanted one for a while. I have yet to open the box, but I think today will be the day. I also picked up lots of goodies at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. The weather was wild and at one point while driving there each side of the street looked an entirely different climate.

Sunny side

Stormy side

As I drove off after taking these photos lightning cracked across the sky in one of the most brilliant displays of nature I have ever seen. I wish I could have captured a photo of that.

On Saturday morning we met with a financial advisor, someone we have been working with for a few months to tweak our retirement and life insurance plans. It was a very informative and productive meeting. The afternoon was consumed with a benefit for a family member with leukemia. There was a blood drive and bone marrow donor registry. Orlando and I did the cheek swabs to be placed on the bone marrow donor list. Unfortunately we are unable to donate blood because of our recent visit to Mozambique as it is a malarial country. It used to be that you could donate after six months but now you have to wait a full year after visiting a malarial country. I used to donate blood as often as I could and I was also a platelet donor.

After the benefit we went to dinner at our friends’ house. We haven’t seen this couple and their two girls in a long time. It’s terrible how quickly time flies. It was such a nice night, lots of chatter, a glass of wine and great food. The kids got along really well even though Carlos is much younger than the girls. He was a little pesky at times but they didn’t seem too bothered. He loves playing with the big kids.

We all slept a bit late on Sunday and by late I mean 7 am! Carlos and I hit the grocery store around 10 am. By the time we got home the sun was out and we were all anxious to do something outdoors. The three of us decided on a hike at a nearby hiking area. We ended up on a trail that was new to all of us. It led us up Mt. Norwottuck and eventually we came upon this gorgeous view…

View from Mt. Norwottuck

It was a great hike. I am always impressed by the stamina that Carlos has at four years old. He loves to hike and charges right up any incline. He lets us know when he needs a break but they aren’t frequent or long.

Here are few more pictures from the hike.

Carlos and Orlando at the top of Mt. Norwottuck

After our hike we stopped at one of our favorite ice cream places Flayvors at Cook Farm. I was intrigued by the special flavor Hadley Grass. I was offered a sample of their homemade asparagus ice cream! It was delicious and intriguing. You could see pieces of asparagus but it didn’t have a strong asparagus flavor like I expected. I ordered a kid size cone. Carlos even tried a bite!

Hadley Grass (Asparagus Ice Cream)

It was a productive, fun family weekend. I returned to work Sunday night and Monday night. Now I am off for two before I begin a long seven night stretch at work. This is not the norm for me, but I am working Memorial Day for a colleague so that puts me on for seven nights in a row. I have a weekend away in Plymouth and a half marathon to look forward to the following weekend.