Today I woke up and did more work. By 10, I was ready to hike with the family. We all went up to Deer Creek and listened to fun artists like Sia, the Killers, Michael Jackson and Imagine Dragons on the way up.
We went to a trail at Deer Creek Reservoir. We were sad to see the no dogs sign when we got there. We went ahead anyway since we had a tight window, but we were sad that we wont be back with Basil.
The hike was really fun. There was a dumb moment when I wanted to throw a rock down a ledge to see if it would break through the ice, and I threw three different rocks before finally getting one to the ice. Sometimes I don’t properly regulate my inner neanderthal. We later realized that people ice fish in that area, and even though no one was there at the time I threw rocks, the thought of the possibility that I could have hurt someone gave Lily a lot of anxiety (because truly in the moment I threw the rocks we didn’t have full visibility to know what or who was down there), and I felt bad for doing something that had the potential to hurt someone, causing Lily stress and setting a bad example of rock throwing for the kids. Anyway, we rolled through it and had a great rest of our hike.
The scenery was absolutely gorgeous. 30 minutes in, I encouraged Lily to go ahead of us another 15-20 min while we headed back so she could get her exercise in since I was about to cross-country ski afterwards. So I helped coax the kids (Only Ammon and Clarissa needed coaxing) back to the car, and Lily was able to get some good hiking in with Basil (who is so chunky after his stay in the boarding place, so the walking is good for him!)
After the family hike, Lily dropped me off at the Sundance Nordic Center so I could cross-country ski with my good friend Daniel Olsen. We went over 7 miles, and I was barely walking when we finished. It was a wake up call about the conditioning I have lost during winter, and it got me excited to exercise more. I wasn’t even close to keeping up with Daniel, but we had such a good time being together as we always do. It was so pretty up there!
I was so grateful for all my time outdoors today. At home, I had a huge dinner, cleaned the kitchen and then helped Lily with Mary’s piano practice.
Lily was incredible. She did a full practice with Ammon and taught him a song hands together. Then she did a huge practice with Mary teaching her to do her Concerto hands together. Then she sat and did a full practice with Lydia and afterwards read Shakespear to the kids!
Anyway, during Mary’s practice, Mary was getting very emotional and angry about how hard it was to learn the piece, and the fact that Lily wanted her to keep going. I went in the room and helped reinforce what Lily was doing, and it was a really special moment for me to feel like Lily and I were working as a team helping support our daughter’s development. Mary eventually learned over a page of her new piece and it sounds amazing. I love my family.
I then did over an hour of homework with Ammon and then went to Al’s sporting goods for wax worms (which they didn’t have nor did Walmart), but I did get some new jig heads that might work well tomorrow on the lake.
I then watched some tv and worked at my computer before getting some sleep.