Our weekend

Scott was out of town this weekend, so the rest of us enjoyed our weekend time as a group of three. Overall our weekend was quite relaxing - besides the part where John caught a 24-hour stomach bug on Saturday, which was a major hindrance in our plans for fun - and I am grateful to have had this time truly enjoying being with the children. This was my first weekend free of thinking about students and grading and the end of the semester, and I am glad to be in this more peaceful place now. As much as I really enjoy teaching in the classroom, there is something entirely refreshing about the end of a semester and attending the graduation ceremonies.

And as an added bonus I can now wear shorts and sandals to work until August, which I consider to be one of the greatest benefits of working in academia! Yippee!

Anyway, back to the weekend. Saturday was full of John being sick and graduation so Sunday was our big day for fun. Amelia, John and I went to the Katy Trail, a walking/biking/running pathway that runs through the heart of Dallas and is based on the track of a railroad that ran through Dallas dozens of years ago. We loaded up the kids' scooters in the car and went out to enjoy the beautiful day. I was hoping they would scoot along the trail while I jogged/walked behind them. I was trying to fit in some exercise this weekend since Scott wasn't here to trade-off parenting duties so I could go for a longer run.

After we had been on the trail about, oh maybe ten minutes, invariably one of the kids had to go to the bathroom. Luckily there was a Starbucks nearby, so we headed there for a water break and the bathroom.


Amelia egged me on here, saying, "Mom, please take my picture drinking my water!". So I did.
We had fun on the trail, but the children quickly got tired and we went about the rest of our day. After lunch and then quiet rest time, where we all watched The Princess and the Frog together (I highly recommend this movie! It was fun!), it was time for more enjoyment of the outdoors. So we went out back to hit balls and play on the swingset.
After enthusiastically hitting the tee off the stand with a particularly powerful swing, John decided to look down the tube and I caught this photo.


Amelia enjoyed her time lazily on the swings while I attended to batting practice with John.


Our weekend concluded on a happy note in that Scott returned home and we are now all together again. I made a new Italian pasta dish for supper and we are enjoying a relaxing end to the weekend.