March was eventful. But first a quick flashback to February when I got to snuggle with these two cuties. Scrumptious.
At the very end of February Ceci and I joined Ingrid and Taeya on a 3-day weekend with Emily and Bailey to St. George to celebrate Bailey's 16th birthday. Em and Mike just purchased a vacation home there (right near where I grew up!) and it fit all of us comfortably. We went on the Red Cliffs hike, a favorite.
Emily, Ingrid and I went on a casual bike ride along the amazing trail system in St. George. At one point we were riding along a golf driving range, where a net separated the range from the trail. A gust of wind blew the net into the trail space and the net caught Ingrid's handlebars. I looked up and saw her tangled, a millisecond later saw her going down, a millisecond later she was laying across the path in front of me. I had the next millisecond to decide if I would hit her straight on or try to swerve and felt to hit her straight on. I hit her backside at full speed (although I had suspended pedaling when I saw her going down). Next thing I knew I was getting up from the ground, unable to breathe. Em was there to help me (had I swerved I would have hit Em who was just behind me and all three of us would have been tangled up). I fell smack flat on the ground, knocking the air out of myself and scratching the center of my face. My wrist hurt a little and I was dizzy so I sat down. Got up a moment later and was still dizzy, so I sat for awhile. Meanwhile Ink lay across the path laughing out of shock. Her helmet was broken in two places, but other than that she was ok (although the bruises of her hitting the ground and my impact on her rear end would surface a short time later!) It seemed miraculous that we didn't get more hurt. We got on our bikes and rode the 6 miles back to the car, realizing as we rode that maybe we were more beaten up than we previously thought.
Turns out I fractured my elbow. I went to Urgent Care the next morning to rule it out, but there it was. I stayed behind in St. George for a few days to enjoy the sunshine and relax. I planned to stay with my mom but she had been around my brother and his family who all had Covid at the time. I was told I didn't have to have a cast or even a brace, but to not lift anything heavier than a glass of water, to not even cut an apple. The muscles around my arm have been quite sore until about a week ago, and I'm one week away from clearance to resume normal activities. Geoff and Ceci have stepped up with cooking and cleaning and carrying for the remainder of March. But back to the St. George trip, despite the tangle of bodies and bikes we had a great time.
A few days after I returned from St. George I had a suspicious mole removed on my back, which resulted in 13 stitches. That was fun to add to my broken arm. But life went on and we all headed to New York for a week for Adele's spring break! Even Tennie joined us for the first 3 days! Ceci had classes and Geoff had to work, so we didn't have wide open days, but we still loved every minute.
It was so fun to see how much Adele has become familiar with her area of NY. She guided us around, shared some favorite spots, and took us to a collection of restaurants she had been eyeing.
Our first morning we got bagels at Tomkins Square Bagels and ate them at Tomkins Square Park.
It was great to see Adele forging a life in NY, and it was hard to leave her behind going home, but we were so grateful to all be together for a few days.
I had lunch with my Seattle friends, which is always so fun, and I had a lunch with my foot zone instructor, Kristi, my fellow student, Miriam, and my good friend Shelby who is also a foot zone practitioner. It was so great to see these friends after so much time together last year.
Ceci finished up a 10-week film class from Columbia University (for high school students), culminating in a film festival with the students films. She LOVED the whole process of making the film and produced a really great little short. Geoff was her main character and they spent several hours over several days getting just the right shots that Ceci had carefully crafted. It was fun to see so many of her gifts come together in film.
Geoff and I spoke to a group of people on a zoom class (through Wells Fargo Bank) on how we taught our kids about money. It was a fun challenge to remember the small things we've tried over the years, and a fun experience to talk publicly together.
We headed to St. George for a week over Ceci's spring break and stayed with my mom. I mostly stayed with my mom, which was SOOO great after not seeing her for a year. We went on long walks, to lunch with my aunt, and visited my brother and his family, seeing their new home for the first time. The weather was perfect and invited us outdoors. Geoff had to work full-time but squeezed in fun when he could. Emily and her family were there all week as well, and Ceci spent a lot of time with Bailey driving around (Bailey just got her license) and staying up very late. Erica and her family came for a portion of the week and we all met up at Glitter Mountain, an old gypsum mine with a lot of gypsum to take home.
Em and kids, and we, off-roaded to a petroglyph site (with Ceci driving, which she loved).
Later in the week Britt and Hunter and babies came. Hunter arranged for some motorcycles and Ceci and Bailey learned how to ride for the first time, picking it up like naturals. Hunter taught safety and Geoff taught how to work the gears. They made a great teaching team!
One day I joined my sister-in-law Joann and some friends to hike the Subway hike in Zion, from the bottom. I had done this 8-mile hike in college and remembered the very end being steep, but other than that pretty easy. I was 20. Now I'm 50. With a bum knee. And a right arm I'm not supposed to use. I didn't remember how much bouldering and scrambling there is, and where I would normally use my arms to assist with my bum knee, I didn't have two arms, so I consistently landed and relied on my left leg, which felt so noodlish I wasn't sure I would make it up the steep part at the end. But bless my legs, they pulled through. Today is day four after the hike and I'm just able to put weight on it! Probably the most sore I've ever been! But oh my was that hike worth it. So beautiful.
Now we move into SPRING!
