Labor Day Weekend Fun

We had a great long weekend. On Saturday we headed out to Blue Mesa. We had lunch and then we put the swimsuits on. We had a great time just hanging out and wading. You have to force Mikayla to get out of the lake no matter how cold she is.

Mikayla ready to go swimming. Teo had fun wading and a very little bit of swimming.

Lily spent five minutes on the beach (not even) before she got sand on her eye - no it is not a black eye, it is sand, sand in her month and every place else she could find.

I opted not to go swimming - so I rolled up my pants and waded.

Mikayla and I enjoying our lunch before we went swimming.

Lily loving the sand and getting dirty.

On Sunday I did an 8 mile trail run. It felt great and I had a fun time. Skylar enjoyed getting out of the house for a fun run as well. As soon as we got home we loaded up the truck again to go hiking. We ended up at the top of Monarch Pass (11,300) for a hike on the Monarch Crest Trail. We hiked a jeep road up and had amazing views, even with the clouds all around us. We hiked to about 11,700 feet. Even though I have lived here 12 years I still find places that I have not explored before.

Monday took us to Crested Butte a friend's 4 year old birthday party. The kids had a great time playing on the playground. I also love playgrounds where Lily can do laps on a slide and I just have to watch.

Overall we had a super Labor Day weekend. What did you do?

10 Miler

I have decided to do the 10 Mile race this weekend. I would love to do the triathlon but this will be much less stress and coordination that the triathlon since it takes place over an 1 hour away - and we only have one car. It is this Sunday and I will let you know how I do!

Hippie of the Jungle

Mikayla got a new pet the other day. It is a guinea pig and she named her Hippie of the Jungle. I have no idea where she came up with that name, but Hippie became a member of our family on Wednesday night.

How she became a member is another story. I swear my husband, Joe, really needs to sit down and write about all of his tenant stories. In addition to selling real estate he has been a property manager for the last 9 years. His most current story is he had a tenant move out of a rental and when Joe went to do the final checkout instead of finding an empty rental he found a guinea pig with a note saying that the tenant could not find anyone to take her and he hoped Joe would be able to find a home for her. I am always shocked at some of his tenants. In the past another tenant left a cat and her brand new kittens in a couch behind. To me a pet is a pet for life, not just when it is convenient for you.

Well, he called me at work and I could tell he really wanted to give Mikayla the guinea pig, mostly because he grew up with them. So I said yes and he brought her home. Mikayla called her Hippie right away. I said "Hippie?" and she said, " Yep, Hippie of the Jungle." So now Hippie of the Jungle lives in our laundry room and boy the dogs do love the new smell. We will have to keep the dogs away from her. She was more than happy to sit in our arms and let us pet her. I could see her relaxing on our lap in front of the TV one night but for now we are just going to let her get use to her new home.

Advice Please

There are two races that I want to do but I cannot decide which one to do. I only want to do one due to finances. The Mountain Air 10 Mile is this Saturday. The cost is $45. The other one is the Black Canyon Triathlon at the beginning of October and the cost for that is $40.00 I really cannot afford to spend $85 on races this month.

The advantages of the Mountain Air 10 Mile is that it is here and I would not have to travel at all. I am also ready for a 10 mile race. I did 8 miles last weekend and I would love to do this.

The Black Canyon Triathlon is in Montrose, which is about 60 miles or a little over an hour from here. Also with the Black Canyon Triathlon the pre-race meeting in Friday, the day before the race at 6pm or 7:30pm which means I would have to drive down there the day before and come back home and then the next day be there before 7:15am. I could spend the night but I do not want to spend the money. Also, at that time in the morning I would think Joe would rather stay home with the girls instead of loading them up and entertaining them all morning long instead of relaxing at home for the 10 mile race and then meeting me at the finish.

What do you think I should do? I really want to do the triathlon but the 10 mile race would be a lot less stress on me and my family do to the distance.

Running Again

This weekend I did a 6 mile run and it felt great. One thing I have noticed, no matter how long or short or the run is I really don't get into the grove until I have hit the half way point. This weekend once I hit 3 miles I was ready to head home. I was thinking, "uhhh I still have 3 more miles to go, this sucks." But I took a longer way home and said if at a certain point I would turn and head home instead of going straight and by that point I had finally found my groove and kept going. I have noticed that every run I do this.

In the end I had a great a run and I could have kept going. I am doing 7 miles this weekend and I would love to do a 10 mile race in two weeks but I think that will be pushing it too much.

I am not running the total weekly mileage that I was when I was training for the marathon because I have been mixing it up with biking and swimming. Also I have only had minor foot pain. Just sorta of the, is that my foot acting up again? Nope - okay let's go - thoughts. I really want to do a triathlon in a month and the only big challenge will be the swim. I can do the laps but I will have to stop a few times to catch my breath. I did a swim workout today and it felt great.

One Lovely Blog Award

I received an award today!! It is from Carrie over at Mom Wife Triathlete - she use to be Newlywed Girl. I just love her blog and little Charley is so cute. We were pregnant about the same time too! Check out her blog - I can't wait for the day when I finally get to meet her in person - who knows when but someday I will have to make it happen.

I am passing this award onto Metropolitian Mama, Fitness For Mommies, Green Style Mom, and Views From the Passenger Seat. I love reading all of these blogs and even though I don't comment all the time I am busy reading them.

Backing Packing

Were have I been??? I just realized that I have not posted in 2 weeks. It is summer and I am busy with the girls, working, cleaning, doing bookeeping on the side and working out.

I have still been running and I am training for a triathlon in October. I need to get more time in the pool but for each individual distance I am ready.

This past weekend, some friends and I went backpacking. The most exciting part of this trip is that Mikayla went. I went with my roommate, Emily, (yes we got a roommate and love her!), and my friend Sheri went with her 7 year old.

We went over to Salida which is about 1 1/2 hours from Gunnison. We choose Salida because it was a little bit cooler here the weekend before and I did not want to be too cold while I was sleeping at night. I should not have worried since I was hot. We hiked a part of the Rainbow Trail. Mikayla and her 4 year old little legs hiked 3.5 miles each way!! It was no easy, flat hike either. We climbed up and then back down both ways. She was a little tropper and I could not have asked for a better kid. We had a blast and I really enjoyed being able to spend so much time with her.

This picture is actually at the end of the hike.

Relaxing at the campsite.

We camped next to a creek because we needed water. This was a very remote location. On the way to the campsite and back we ran into a few dirt bikers but no hikers.


Mikayla and Lydia



This hike was awesome with great views. We were around 9500 to 9900 feet and there were 13ers all around us. The views and weather was wonderful.

Mikayla, Lydia and I on the trail.

My friend Sheri with her daughter Lydia and Mikayla and me.


We had so much fun and I cannot wait to take her again. I see an annual girls trip starting. I can't wait for a few years and Lily can join us.

Running

I have been running this week with no pain in my foot. I did a total of 3 runs, 1 - 4 miles, 1 - 3 miles with a 1 mile walk at the end and 1 - 5 mile. My 5 mile run was the best and I felt great. I have been missing my Sunday get away from the girls for some mommy time while I run at a slower pace than normal where my only goal is the mileage and nothing else. If no pain shows up in the next few days I will cancel the surgery scheduled on my foot. If it comes back I can always reschedule it.

This week I would like to do a total of 4 runs. One run will focus on keeping my pace a little faster than normal (10 minutes to 10 minutes and 15 seconds per mile), one run with 10 minute of sprint intervals, one trail run with lots of hills, and one 6 mile run.

I have really enjoyed running last week and I hope to keep it up.

New Jersey

We had a great time visiting family in Jersey. I am having trouble moving the pictures around tonight but I wanted to get them posted, so here you go.

Lily and Daddy

Mikayla and Lily LOVED the beach. Lily just wanted to keep wanting to run into the water. Mikayla loved "jumping" the waves. At one point she started to head out with a wave but we grabbed her in time.

Our friend, BJ relaxing on the beach.

The moms relaxing!

Mikayla loved playing in the sand.

The reason we went to New Jersey in the first place is that Joe's family is Catholic and our niece and nephew were baptised. Joe is Alexa's godfather.

The parents, god parents and babies.

The babies slept through the ceremony until they got their heads dunked in the water.

Mikayla always wants her picture taken when the cameras come out.

Lily having fun.

Grandma with Alexa.

Mikayla with Alexa.

Kyle, Alexa, Lily and Me

Uncle Chris with Kyle.

Lily let Aunt Sue hold her.

We had a wonderful busy time. We went to Chucky Cheese. This was a first for Mikayla. This one only had pizza and games and Mikayla loved the games. She kept going back to a computer where she could color a picture. The had a slide that was perfect for Lily and she kept going back.

We went to Sesame Place and as I mentioned in this post it was too much money. They wanted $51.00 per person for everyone over age 2! For what they had it was not worth the money. I did notice on their website that after 2pm it was half price. I mentioned waiting until 2pm but I was out voted. We left at 10:30 in the morning on a Saturday and everyone else was headed to the beach. It took us 3.5 hours to drive 73 miles!! By the time we got there it was 2:15, perfect for half price. They also wanted to charge us $15.00 for parking but since every lot was full we ended up parking less than a 1/2 mile away at a mall. It was perfect, free parking and the walk was much more pleasant than walking through an asphalt parking lot. Once we got to the front gate their information had the half price or twilight pricing starting at 3pm instead of 2pm. So we waited for 30 minutes and we saved $100. My overall impression of Sesame Place was ok. If we had paid $51 I would have been upset that they did not have more and it was WAY too crowded. There were people EVERYWHERE. Since we paid half price (which should have been the regular price) I was not too upset. Mikayla and Lily had a blast playing in the pools, sand, everywhere. We stayed about 2 hours, which for a 4 year old and a 1 1/2 year old was perfect.

The next day we headed to the beach and you can tell from the pictures above how much fun we head. The girls loved the water.

Overall we had a fantastic trip with lots of fun memories.

Sesame Place

We are in New Jersey and having fun. I will blog more about our trip when I get back. One thing I do want to complain about is Sesame Place.

We had planned on taking Mikayla to Sesame Place but for some reason no one bothered to see how much it was. We found out last night that it is $51.00 for everyone but Lily. $51.00!! I really don't think it is worth $51.00. Mikayla is excite so I have a feeling we will end up going but you can be sure that I will blog about it afterwards and let you know if it is was worth $51.00 or not. Now I am going to search the internet for a discount.

They Said What??

I saw this article on msn and I thought you might enjoy it. Take a minute to click on the link and then stop back and let me know what you thought!

Job interviews are hard enough but I cannot believe there are people out there who said say these things during an interview!

Weekly Re-Cap – Really Late

Last week I set some workout goals and needless to say that I did not achieve them.

My workout goals for last week were to run 3 to 4 times, strength train three times and do at least one bike ride. In the end I ended up doing two strength training workouts and doing 1 four mile run. I normally do not count my commuting miles on my bike but one day last week I did. Instead of my normal 3.6 mile round trip commute I had hooked up the bike trailer and picked the girls up from daycare. So I had a 5 mile round trip commute one day with the bike trailer and around 60 pounds of kids in the back so I counted that as a bike workout.

This week I had wanted to do 3 or 4, 4 miles runs but I am having so much trouble getting up early it is hard. So far this week I have done 2 – 4 mile runs and they went slow but good. No issues with my foot either so hopefully I won’t need surgery.

Another thing to note is that I sat down and looked at my weight loss over the past few months. In the last 4 months I have lost 7 pounds or almost 2 pounds per month. This is a perfect weight loss, slow and easy. That is the kind of weight that will stay off. So now I am at 133, I just wish I had some extra money to buy new clothes since now they are all too big!!

We are off to New Jersey this evening to spend a few days with Joe's parents, brother, aunts, uncles, friends and who knows who else. I will post pictures when we get back next week!!

Emerald Lake, Crested Butte, Colorado

On Sunday we wanted to drive up to the punch bowls up by Schofield Pass. The punch bowls are a "4-Wheel" Drive road but I would that if you value your life do not drive up there, hike instead! It is beautiful and we wanted to hike around. We headed up that way but Lily was awful all weekend and no fun in the car so we ended our trip about 20 minutes early. Instead we stopped at Emerald Lake. Emerald Lake is a very high mountain lake.

In order to get there you take Hwy 135 North from Gunnison, through Crested Butte (where it turns into Gothic Road), up through Mt. Crested Butte, where it eventually turns into dirt, through the town of Gothic up and up and up and eventually you will see a beautiful green lake on your left. That is Emerald Lake. It is about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours from Gunnison.

We stopped at Emerald Lake, hiked around, took pictures, played and relaxed.

I can't believe Mikayla waded in as much as she did because it was cold.

Lily set up camp right next to the lake piling rocks up and then throwing them into the lake. It is a good thing I had another change of clothes for her.

The dogs has fun on their day out.

Some of the wildflowers were taller than Lily.

This is the view from the lake.

My hubby.

This is a picture of Mikayla I took at our house. The stream in our back yard forms a pond when it is high in the spring and early summer. Now it is a mud pit and Mikayla has so much fun getting dirty.

Trying To Get Back in the Groove

This past month or so I have been really struggling with getting my workouts in. Since I am not training for anything I feel very unmotivated. Also in order to make some extra money I have been cleaning some of Joe's rental units and quite a few times I find myself using my lunch hour to clean them instead of working out. I have also been trying to get up early (5:00 am or 5:30am) to get a work out in but many times I find myself sitting on the couch enjoying a good book and a cup of coffee instead of working out. (Such as the case this morning.)

Last week I did get it together more than I have been in quite awhile. I did my strength training routine twice, I ran at least 2 times and I rode my bike twice. I really need to start posting my weekly goes here and then checking in at the end of the week to see if I accomplished them. I am also really bad at setting huge goals and not accomplishing them because they were too big.

Here is my workout plan for the week.

Today - Strength train (maybe a run tonight after the girls are in bed)
Tuesday - Run
Wednesday - Strength train and bike ride
Thursday - Run
Friday - Strength train and run

Last week I was able to do (I think) two - three miles runs (I can't remember if it was two or three) with minimal pain. This week I would like to do at least two - three mile runs and hopefully a four mile run.

My weight has been stuck around 134 - 136 this week. I was super excited when it hit 133 one day last week since that is has been my goal since I had Lily. 133 was my pre-baby weight. It is nice to start seeing it on the scale once in awhile because hopefully that means it will start showing up more often. I know most people would be excited to weigh 135 and I know I should be but I would love to be in the 120's. I would also be happy at 135 if all I had on my body was muscle instead of flab. That is the biggest reason I am trying to add lots of strength training into my workouts.

So please leave me some comments to get me motivated. What do you do when you are stuck in a rut and trying to get back to working out?