I hope your week is off to a great start. I’m currently watching Ugliest House in America for the first time and it’s highly entertaining. I know design preferences can vary widely but some of this stuff is truly wild. Like how would you ever decide to put it in your home!? I swear 99% of the reason I pay for Hulu in the football off-season is so that I can watch HGTV. It’s my most favorite relaxing background TV. I wish the Food Network would go back to having a regular lineup of actual cooking shows because I’d be all about that too.

I haven’t really been following any TV shows in the last couple of months. What are you guys watching that you’re enjoying right now? I did watch the Dan Levy movie Good Grief on Netflix and that was lovely.

Alrighty, before I get too far into this new week I wanted to share some weekend highlights with you. Spring is in full swing and it feels like there is so much going on right now. We had an active but fun weekend.

FRIDAY

Knowing that we had a lot going on Saturday and Sunday, I opted to keep Friday super low-key. I picked Finn up from school at 1p and we hung out at home before heading out on a walk with Virginia. I did a bit of cooking that evening.

I made an old favorite chicken orzo skillet. I’ll be sharing the recipe soon.

SATURDAY

Finn slept until 9:30a (!!!!) and after a quick breakfast I got him dressed and ready for a morning at the Children’s Theater of Charlotte.

I didn’t tell him what we were seeing until we got there…

It was Elephant and Piggie’s “We’re in a Play.” We absolutely adore the Elephant and Piggie books so I knew I couldn’t miss out on the opportunity to take him to see the show. It was really cute and I thought it was funny that the characters spoke in almost the exact same way I imagine them to and read to Finn.

We did have an unscheduled intermission when the fire alarm went off mid-show and they evacuated the theater and the entire children’s library. Two fire engines showed up with firefighters in full gear. That made for great entertainment for the kids. Luckily, we got a quick all clear (seems like a little hand pulled a fire alarm) and we were back in our seats in a little over 20 minutes to see the rest of the show.

It was a great morning at ImaginOn.

After a very quick lunch at home, we got changed and off to lacrosse. Finn’s been participating in a spring lacrosse clinic and has really enjoyed it. Saturday was his best session yet and things are starting to click a bit for him. He’ll also be doing a lacrosse camp this summer. My goal right now is to introduce him to various sports and just see where it takes us!

I spent the rest of the day tidying like crazy. There is so much spring cleaning and organizing that I want to make my way through.

SUNDAY

We were up bright and early on Sunday morning to attend the Tunnel to Towers stair climb race at Museum Tower in uptown Charlotte. The Tunnels to Towers Foundation started after 9/11 and supports our nation’s heroes by providing mortgage-free homes to Gold Star and fallen first responder families with young children and by building specially-adapted smart homes for catastrophically injured veterans and first responders. They are also committed to eradicating veteran homelessness and helping America to Never Forget September 11, 2001.

This year there are 40 run, walk and climb events taking place around the country. This was the seventh year of our Charlotte Tunnel to Towers climb.

(photo Wanda Koch)

My friend, mentor and fellow yoga teacher Suzanne pours her heart and soul into organizing the Charlotte climb. Her passion for the T2T Foundation and its mission is truly inspiring and she works tirelessly every year to put on an incredibly special and well-organized event. We always have a strong team from Charlotte Yoga.

The climb is very family friendly. This was Finn’s first time participating and he was excited to get his own race bib. The event pays deep honor to the first responders who lost their lives on 9/11 and their images are everywhere. Never forget.

When the race begins they stagger the start and one climber takes off every 10 seconds. Finn went before me and it took me almost five flights of stairs to catch up with him!

We settled into a more steady rhythm and Finn made it up all 46 flights of stairs (765 total!) with only one short stop to ride on my back for a few floors.

We crossed the finish line in just over 11 minutes. The views at the top were awesome!

(photo Wanda Koch)

Such a special morning of community and remembrance.

We had a few hours of downtime at home before heading out to our final weekend activity.

We made our way to the Whitewater Center for the KinderMourn Hope Float Duck Race.

Every adopted duck allows KinderMourn to continue its mission of providing a sanctuary and a safe haven to bereaved parents, grieving children, and teens who have suffered an unthinkable loss. Only with the support from the community can we continue to heal heartaches and provide hope.

This was a sell out year with a record breaking 55,000 ducks adopted!!! Unfortunately, we missed the duck race because I set our blanket up in the complete wrong area of the river. The Whitewater Center was absolutely slammed. I could not believe how many people came out for the race!

It was a bummer to miss the ducks but we made the most of hanging out with Benji on a beautiful day. We decided to bring Benji with us and he was such a good boy! We were so proud of him.

He was in HEAVEN.

We went for a short hike and then headed back to our car to wind down the weekend at home. Needless to say, we both slept well on Sunday night.

Now it’s time for me to go to sleep because I have an early morning and long day of training clients tomorrow!

QUESTIONS

What TV shows are you watching or have you watched lately that you’ve enjoyed? 

Would you like participating in a stair climb race? 

How was your weekend? Busy with activities or more low-key?