The Washington Cherry Tree Blossoms, Tidal Basin, and The Jefferson Memorial

After leaving the White House Tweetup I met up with fellow NASATweetup STS-135 alumni @erinleeryan   at the National Air and Space Museum, and then she joined me on my adventures exploring Washington DC. 

 

Jeffery was so happy to see the Cherry Trees in Bloom for their 100th year in Washington DC he was jumping for joy! 

The Jefferson Memorial through the Cherry Trees.

 Jeffery climbing the Cherry Tree to protect it from George Washington. We wouldn't want the former President cutting them down now would we? ;-)

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Twiggs County Sheriff's Office Easter Egg Hunt

Subject: Sheriff's Office Easter Egg Hunt

The Twiggs County Sheriff's Office Easter Egg Hunt will be Saturday March 31^st at 10 am.  It will be held at the county field at the intersection of Hwy 80 and Bullard Road in Jeffersonville, beside the Head Start Center.  Come out if you can.  Thanks, Major McDaniel

Martin Luther King Jr Memorial

One of my stops after the White House Tweetup was to the new Martin Luther King Jr Memorial. I was very impressed with how well done it is, and just how beautiful it is. I like many Americans am disappointed about the quote that they got wrong, and I am really wondering HOW they managed such a big mistake? We all know how many steps and how much paperwork it took to get the Memorial completed, and it amazes me that no one caught such a glaring mistake until after the Memorial was completed. However I would be remiss if I didn't admit that I would never have realized it was a mistake if I hadn't seen it on the news. 

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#mamavation #2weekchallenge Day 10 @mrbookieboo

First the exciting news! I grabbed a pair of pants to put on this morning, knowing that they were my "fat" pants, you know the pair, we all have them, the ones that you put on when you are just feeling really heavy and blah! Well when I started this whole fitness thing not quite a month ago, these pants were baggy, probably could wear a belt, but I didn't have to. Today? They practically fell off! BOOYAH!!! That put a smile on my face. I know that they are not a really good guide since they were already my baggy pair, but still it made me feel good, which was especially nice since this morning I didn't go walking due to waking up with an elephant sitting on my sinuses. ;-) I made up for it though.

Total for the day: 17818 steps, which included a 3.6 mile walk with Jerry around the block, and 2 miles on the treadmill at the gym.

and

35 minutes of weight training focusing on legs at the gym.

Every day I am feeling stronger, every day my walks feel shorter even though they stay the same. :-)

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Let's Go Fly A Kite!

St. Patrick's Day dawned with bright blue, slightly windy skies. DJ was invited to attend a birthday party at a local park, so we took along his new kite to see if we would have any luck getting it off the ground. :-) It was a great day to fly a kite that is for sure, and all of the birthday party goers enjoyed taking turns with it! 

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#mamavation #2weekchallenge @mrbookieboo Day 10

Today was a great day! My alarm went off at 445 this morning and I went to hit snooze and the dogs started barking so I took that as a sign from above that I really did need to get up and get out walking!

I left the house at 5am and walked around the block, 9,118 steps by 6:10 am. :-)

Then at recess I walked a couple of laps with my students. I love that they are asking every day now if we are walking. :-)

When we got home DJ and I walked around the "short" block (as DJ calls it) or 1.6 miles.

Plus I just spent 30 minutes doing weights at the gym.

Final step count: 18,763.


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#mamavation #2weekchallenge Day 9 @mrbookieboo

Step Count: 15900, which included walking with my students at recess and going on a just over 4 mile walk after school.

I seem to have pulled something in my back, so I took today off from the gym and the 30 day Shred video.

Cherry Blossom Festival

Just some fun at the Macon Cherry Blossom Festival on St. Patrick's Day. :-) 

DJ looks a little bit scared, only because some toddler in the group before undid his seat belt and tried climbing out before it stopped. I almost didn't let DJ go on it at all because the attendant wasn't the most observant guy on the block!

 Rainbow outside our house when we got home.

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FILA Skele-Toes Disappointment @filatoning @dswshoelovers

When I decided to get back on the fitness wagon, I went to DSW in Macon at the Shoppes at River Crossing to look for a pair of athletic shoes.

DSW  had FILA Skele-toes, and since my mother in law loves her Vibram FiveFingers, (which Dick's did not have in stock in my size) I thought I would try on the Skele-toes.

From the first time I tried them on, I really liked them.

I literally have worn them every day since I bought them. I wore them the entire time I was in Washington DC, and for the last 2 weeks at school (dress down days), as well as at the gym and walking. Every time anyone noticed my shoes and asked me about them, I BRAGGED on them. I told so many people how comfortable they were, how I could walk in dirt, grass, the road, gravel, you name it and had no problems. I had strangers in DC ask me about them, and I told them how good they were.

Yesterday I put on my shoes and noticed that I could literally feel the grass between my toes. My shoes at less than a month old have holes in the big toes! See:


I know that last week I walked about 45 miles, at least according to my pedometer. But this is ridiculous, isn't it?

When I got home from work, I sent a tweet to @filatoning as well as an email to FILA asking for what I should do.

The twitter account gave me a phone number as well as the email address to contact. So I emailed them as well as the email I found on http://www.fila.com. Their response? Take my shoes back to DSW.

I called DSW in Macon yesterday before I contacted FILA and they told me that since the shoes were so worn (a month old) they wouldn't take them back and to contact the manufacturer. 

The email did say that I could mail them as well as this claim form that they emailed me, and if they determine that the shoes were defective then they would send me a new pair.

So now I am out of my shoes, I am out of my money. Until of course FILA decides that I haven't purposefully cut my shoes.... sigh I am not happy at all.
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Jeffersonville Elementary School Presents Math and Science Night

Jeffersonville Elementary School put on a Math and Science Night Thursday March 22nd. The students, parents and teachers were treated to Science experiments, and Mat games. 

This is the Floating M&M experiment. The experiment shows the colors of the candy dissolving and going away, but also the fact that the little M on each candy is made of edible wax and will not dissolve. The M will actually float away from the candy.

 Two students working on Geometry problems on the Math side of the room

 The Potato and Hydrogen Peroxide experiment. Showing students that the bubbles formed from Hydrogen Peroxide are not because there are germs, but because of the enzyme catalase.

 The saliva experiment with crackers.

 Making duck calls out of straws, showing how vibration works to make sound.

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#mamavation #2weekchallenge Day 8 @mrbookieboo

Step Count: 18,884 which included walking at recess with my students, and walking about 4 miles around the block with the kids after school.

and 70 minutes of Zumba/Kickboxing

I am down about 2.5 pounds since last Monday. :-)

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#Mamavation #2weekchallenge Day 7 @mrbookieboo

Week one of the two week challenge over at http://www.mamavation.com/ is in the books! I didn't think to weigh myself at the gym tonight, so I don't know if I have lost any weight, but my endurance is a lot better than it was even a week ago, let alone 3 weeks ago when I started this journey.

Today's totals:
20,338 total steps, which includes: 5 mile walk in training for the Pat's Run, 18 minutes on the elliptical at the gym, and walking around the Mulberry Street Arts Festival.

30 minutes of chest and back weight training exercises.

My total step count for the week is: 114,048 which is about 45.5 miles if my calculations based on my 5 mile walk today are accurate. :-)

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#WHTweetup After the Official Ceremony, on to the briefing with @macon44 @ks44 @jamesbarbour et. all

Once the Official Welcome Ceremony was over, and all of the VIP people left the South Lawn of the White House, it was time to move on. 

But first, a few more pictures of the grounds. 

Looking up one more time at the "Blue Room" 

 The East Wing, where the next day I would have my brush with the First Family, as in the First Dog, Bo.

 Being silly and taking a picture upside down as we were walking off.

 Holy Guns! Of both sorts.... :-) (Inside joke)

 After the ceremony we walked over to the Eisenhower Building for our briefing with several administration officials.

First up was Dan Pfieffer, Director of Communications for the White House

Then we had Caitilyn Hayden, and James Barbour. James is the Press Secretary for the British Embassy in Washington DC. Caitilyn is the Deputy Director of National Security. 

 This is Kori, she is the one that put the Tweetup together for all of us.

 Brian Deese Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, he can make the most complicated economic information sound simple. I really did understand more about the decisions that have been made by this administration, and even just economics in general after he was done!

 Macon Phillips is the Director of Digital Strategy, and another key player in getting Tweetups to happen. He also works with the We The People site.

 Jon Carson, Director of the Office for Public Engagement. Jon is the one in charge of making sure that our voices are heard.

After leaving the White House/Eisenhower Building, I didn't make it too far when I couldn't cross a road because of the motorcade. :-) 

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