The Kassel Family Project Life 365

John has three weeks of practice and then games begin.  Spring baseball season is here!

It was our first husband-wife ride on the road along with my first fall courtesy of the pedals.  With that out of the way, it was a pretty good first ride.  Thanks to the husband for showing me a good route, for encouraging me, and for slowing down – a lot – for me!

It was a busy Sunday to cap off a busy weekend.  First, Laura was acolyte for the 8:30 am Palm Sunday church service.  I took her to that while Andy took John to the Paris-Roubaix watch party at Ragtag Cinema.  This is a fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald house and supported by his cycling team.  After a quick lunch, it was off to the Vanderveen Crossing Easter Egg Hunt.  This was about ten minutes of waiting for it to begin for less than two minutes of actual egg collection.

The Easter Egg Hunt was followed by an afternoon of scouting activities.  Laura’s troop had their regular monthly meeting where they worked on their Staying Fit badge.  The girls got to do yoga…

…while Andy and John got to go fishing.  John caught his first fish ever along with two more!

Fortunately, the rest of the day was a quiet one.  It was needed after a day that began at 6:00 am and involved lots of activities.

The time has come to begin changing the landscaping.  The previous owners had put down rubber mulch, which Andy and I hate.  Today, I began the process of removing the mulch around the two front trees and by the mailbox area.  This is the before picture of the mailbox area.

This is the after picture of the mailbox area.

We will put down real mulch.  Yes, we will have to replace it every year or two, but it will look so much better!  We will not replace the mulch around the trees, but let the grass grow up to the tree trunks.  Also, I weeded the rest of the landscaping along the front of the house and cleaned out the area behind the boxwoods so that we can plant some herbs in that area.  Next weekend, we will begin taking all the mulch out by the sidewalk leading up to the house so that we can plant five more boxwood bushes and fill in that area.  More hard work ahead!

Since we have no kids tonight as both are at sleepovers, we were planning to go out to dinner.  After calling a couple of places, we decided waiting a long time was not worth it.  Instead, we walked to Agave for cheap food and pitchers of Happy Hour margaritas!  Happy No-Kid Night to us!!!

I got to take this beauty for a test ride (or four today) or maybe she took me for a ride.  I think CycleX has made a sale.  I was climbing hills that I didn’t know I had in me and that 45 minutes just might have been the best workout that I’ve had in months.  I’m not sure who was smiling more – me or Andy.  I will never be able to keep up with him, but maybe he can slow down a little for me now and then…

I love it when a plan comes together!  Andy hung the new pictures in our bedroom tonight.

I love it!  The pictures really show off the height of the ceiling.  All are of Missouri’s Champion Bur Oak tree.  The bigger two have our kids standing by the tree.  The pictures were taken about six years ago and the kids look so tiny next to that massive trunk.  They would still look tiny today…  The smaller four were taken by Mike Morgan, a friend of Andy’s from Big Tree Cycling.  The candle sconces were in our bedroom at the old house.  I think this wall is going to look even better once I finally settle on a paint color for the walls!