The end of Summer

I can't believe that in just a few short days Summer will be over!  Well, technically not "over," but I return to work on Monday, so I may as well just stick a fork in this Summer.

Having a 2 month break from work every Summer is both a blessing and a curse.  A blessing because I was able to spend extra time with my kids.  A blessing because we got to go and do lots of fun things together.  A blessing because I got a bitchin' tan. 

But mostly, having 2 months off is hard for me.  I know, I know, you probably want to punch me in the face for complaining about a mandatory 2 month vacation. I'm not saying I hate it, I am just saying I don't function optimally when given large periods of free time.  Having an abundance of time is almost as overwhelming as having an abundance of money (not that I ever really know what that feels like).... my brain just gets overloaded with the possibilities.

Seriously, I spent weeks planning out the "perfect" Summer for myself.  I had big time goals for exercise, diet, tanning, being the best mom in the world, and cleaning....  I planned on doing long runs on the days that the kids were at daycare.  I planned on staying caught up on laundry.  I planned on doing activities with the kids from morning to night.

But somehow I have this magical ability to make long periods of time vanish.  Give me 8 hours to do something and I don't start that thing until it's been 7 hours 45 minutes.  I don't even know how it happens *ahem facebook* but I'll wake in the morning, start drinking coffee...and then suddenly the day is half over.  

So, with this being my pattern, it's not really conducive to "accomplishing stuff."  As always, I am a GREAT starter.  The first 2 weeks of my Summer break included workouts and fun field trips with the kids, and all the jazz I'd planned.... and then I lost steam- fast.

Okay, to be fair to myself, we DID do a lot of fun things together this Summer.  We went to the pool plenty (which accomplishes the tanning goal and the fun with kids goal at the same time), we had quite a few playdates, I had lunch dates with friends on my two child-free days, I exercised a fair bit for the first 5 weeks of Summer.... so it wasn't all a waste.  I got attacked by birds and I road tripped to Chicago.  

I never did log miles and miles of running like I'd hoped, but I did get a chance to use my bike more this Summer than I had in the past 4 years.  I didn't clean as much as I would have liked much at all, but one time I did organize the kids' toys. 

When it comes down to it, I really like my job.  I enjoy working and I enjoy seeing my co-workers every day.  I loved the opportunity to be a stay at home mom for a couple of months, but I'm ready to get back to structure and adult interactions.

And truly, I'm done with Summer in general.  I LOVE Summer and all that it entails (swimming and grilling and iced coffee and ponytails)... but I am not a fan of the heat and humidity.  I am ready to get to early fall where the days are warm and the evenings are crisp.  I'm ready for hooded sweatshirts and jeans.  And you are probably ready to punch me in the face for bitching about Summer... am I right? 

And suddenly since I started typing this an hour has disappeared, but my baskets of laundry have not.... This might be a good place to end.

Vacations and such

I'm back!  All rejuvenated slightly worn out from our fun family vacation to Chicago.  We decided to road trip it there as it is only about 11 hours from where we live.  I've done long road trips before, but traveling with a toddler and an 8 month old is a totally different beast.  I was slightly terrified of how this trip would turn out, especially since we haven't been brave enough to even take baby Beanut overnight anywhere yet, let alone 11 hours away for multiple nights.  Because there is much to recap, but little motivation to write a novel, I will offer a small synopsis below:

Saturday
-Loaded the mini-van and hit the road by 730am.  Traveling with children means bringing ridiculous amounts of stuff.  The van was FULL.
-Got to the Twin Cities late in the morning and spent the afternoon visiting my friends Rachel and Amy &Ben, and their kiddos.  It was awesome :)
-Went to Mall of America in the evening.  Max got to see Spongebob and I got to eat delicious gelato.

-Stayed at Mariott.  It has a sweet fitness room.  So sweet, in fact, that I actually used the fitness room for once (I always think I'm going to workout on vacation, but never follow through).  Ran 2 miles that night (ended up being the only workout of the trip).

Sunday
-AMAZING breakfast buffet at the Mariott.  AND they brew Starbucks.  YUM.
-drove ALL DAY to Chicago.  Road trip included a few Starbucks/Caribou pitstops and a stop at the "Mousehouse Cheesehouse" somewhere in the middle of Wisconsin.  I have a deep, special love for cheese.  If I could marry cheese, I would.
-Kids were angels during the long drive.  whew.
-Driving in Chicago is intense.  I got all confused and nervous at the toll booths and managed to drive through one.  I'm not doing this story justice, but just trust me that it was a stressful experience for me. 
-Checked into our hotel in a suburb of Chicago.  A nice two room suite that allowed the kiddos to have their own sleeping space.  The room had a fridge and microwave.  We brought our own Keurig.  I don't mess around with crappy hotel room coffee. gag.
-Pizza delivered and relaxed in the hotel for the night.

Monday
-HOT HOT HOTNESS.  So humid.  So hot. 
-When it's that hot out, it's a really great idea to make your first Chicago activity walking around Lincoln Park Zoo.  It was an awesome zoo, but the heat was pretty terrible.

-Lunch was at "The Wieners Circle."  It's featured on  one of those food network or travel channel shows.  We actually went there not remembering that until another customer came in and started talking about it.  My first Chicago Style Hot dog.  It was good...but tomatoes on a hot dog is a little weird.

-Next up was the Shedd Aquarium.  SO awesome!  We just got the cheap general admission tickets, knowing that one of the kids was bound to meltdown if we spent the big money on the VIP tix.  Definitely a place I would go to again.

-left downtown before rush hour...except it seems that it's ALWAYS rush hour there. 
-Hotel for a bit, then to a big mall in suburbia for dinner at Red Robin and a little shopping.

Tuesday
-more driving intenseness
-Sears Tower (I can never remember what the new name is).  Holy Freaking Scary.  And awesome.  Scary awesome.  We did the stand on the ledge thingy...and even though I KNOW it's not going to fall off the side of the building, it's still terrifying.  Quick photo op (while I had tears in my eyes and Jay was nearly passing out) and then we quickly headed to "safety."  :)

-Next up was our quest to see the giant reflective bean thingy.  I think it's called Cloud Gate.  It's located at Millenium park... a good mile and a half walk from Sears tower.  another HOT day, so I started getting a little cranky, but it was worth seeing the bean.  It was pretty cool.

-Dinner was in the 'burbs at a pizza place (can't remember the name...but it was apparently ranked the #5 restaurant in all of Shaumburg, IL...lol).  My first experience with Chicago Style pizza.  It was good, but what's up with the sauce on top and the cheese on the bottom?  Plus I'm not much of a deep dish pizza kinda gal, so it wasn't my favorite food ever... but glad I got to experience it.
-Went to Target after dinner.  In a city that felt unfamiliar, Target always has a way of making you feel at home.  Target is the same no matter where you are.

Wednesday
-Packed up and checked out of the hotel.
-back to the city to go to Navy Pier.

-STILL HOT.  I melted.  Went on the giant scary ferris wheel.  Max loved it... Jay and I were scared.
-After Navy Pier we headed to the beach.  It was an awesome beach!  Lake Michigan is beautiful and it felt great to cool off.  Bea is a little fish and she loves the water.  We had a blast.

-back to the car by 3pm, hoping to beat traffic..... TWO hours later... 15 miles traveled and we were finally out of the city. 
-Drove to Mpls.. pulled in around 1:30am.  Luckily the kiddos were great again during the long drive!

Thursday
-went to IKEA.  Ate Swedish meatballs as is customary whenever we stop there.  Max pooped his pants while he was in the ball pit at the children's play area.  Potty training on vacation lends itself to a situation such as that.
-Albertville Outlet Mall.  The usual fun. 
-Hit the road.  Home around 7pm.

All in all, it was a great vacation!  I envisioned chaos and crabbiness trying to navigate a huge, busy city in the heat with 2 kids, but the moments of crabbiness were rare.  Lots of fun spending time with my hubby and the dynamic duo :)

I think one of my favorite things about the vacation if I have to be honest was the road trip aspect.  This girl LOVES road trips.  I would take driving over any other form of transportation if given a choice.  I love the freedom to stop wherever you want, listen to music, sing loudly, look at scenery, have lots of laughs, and eat lots of snacks.  And I love when everybody in the car (besides myself of course, because I'm driving) falls asleep and it's just me, music, and my crazy brain.  While we were driving back from Chicago late at night, I was thinking about my love for road trips and came up with this list:

Universal Rules of the Road Trip
1.  I will always pack Diet Coke in the cooler as a cost saving measure
2.  I will rarely drink that Diet Coke, instead spending $$ on energy drinks or coffee at Starbucks
3. I always drive.  If, for some reason, Jay relegates me to the passenger seat, I will complain about carsickness until I am given back the driving privilege.
4.  Combos and Cheese Doritos are a road trip delicacy.  I rarely purchase these items normally, but they just seem necessary on a road trip.
5.  I know I'm not the only one who drives through certain cities and turns the name of the city into a song lyric or something dirty. 
6.  I have favorite rest stops.  I also have favorite truck stops (I'm talkin to you, Nelson Bros in Clearwater, MN).
7.  I become the best singer in the world while on a road trip.  You'd seriously mistake me for...someone who is a really good singer.
8.  Sometimes your iPod dies and you are forced to listen to regular radio.  Immediately upon finding a station that is playing a halfway decent song, the signal will fade, forcing you to hit the seek button a few hundred more times.
9.  Inevitably during any road trip you will find a station airing Delilah or the John Tesh Radio Show.  You will try to play it cool and pretend you're not excited....but you totally are. 
10.  I am annoyed by a semi truck at least once every 10 minutes.


This blog took me 2 days to write because I kept getting distracted!  Going to start training for my next half marathon next week- so excited!  More on that in my next post :)  

Today's crosstraining is brought to you by...baby chasing.

Excuse me while I catch my breath.....

Whew, okay.  This is going to be a rushed, disjointed type of blog post.... Not all of my posts can demonstrate my 8 years of experience as an undergraduate student majoring in English.  Nope, grammar be damned today. 

Why?  Baby is crawling.  She.is.everywhere.  Today has been spent running after her as she tries to eat electrical cords and shoes.  I am also moonlighting as a climbing apparatus, as she apparently thinks I'm a jungle gym.

This morning I had plans to do some running on the treadmill, but instead I've chosen baby chasing as my workout of choice.

A quick summation of the events/exercises/"healthy" eating that has happened over the last week:

Events
We are going on a road trip to Mpls/Chicago/Madison!  We leave on Saturday morning!  One night in Mpls, 3 nights in Chicago, 1 night in Madison!  Maybe another night in Mpls on the way back?  Not sure.  We are being impulsive and JUST decided to do this trip.
Road tripping with a toddler and infant- WAHOOO!  Good thing I have a hair appointment scheduled after we return because I'm guessing there will be a few extra gray hairs to cover.

Exercise
Inconsistent.  Last week was solid.  This week..... um... dangit.  I ran 3 miles yesterday.  That's it thus far.  I still have the chance to squeeze in a couple more runs or bike rides before we head out on our trip on Saturday, so I hope to turn it around. 

It's been a low motivation sort of week.  I'm not going to beat myself up about it- these weeks happen.  Unfortunately next week might be a little lacking on the exercise front.  I always have the best of intentions to exercise on trips, but it never seems to come to fruition.  Meh.

I think I am just in need of a training schedule to keep me on track.  Luckily I plan to begin training for the FM half marathon as soon as we get home from vacation!  More on that soon :)

Oh!  And I just got a road bike.  I fell victim to peer pressure.  Soon I'm going to fall victim to flying off a super fast bike and dying.  Road bikes frighten me.  I wonder if I have a greater chance of dying on a road bike or being attacked by more angry birds?  Birds frighten me now too.  Birds and Bikes...  eek.
 
Healthy Eating
ice cream and hot dogs and pizza are healthy...right?  Like I said... low motivation the last week.  Turning that around soon too.  Hold me to that, okay?

Alright, it has taken me half a day to write this little bit.  I tried looking up how many calories "baby chasing" burns per hour, but it is nowhere in the database.  Darn. 

My Hitchcock-esque bike experience (or, When Birds Attack)

People! I just risked my life, RISKED MY LIFE in the name of cross-training.

It's true.

And I don't know if I'm ready to talk about it.

*****************************************************************************************************************************

Okay, I think I'm ready.

It was just an ordinary Wednesday. A day in which I dinked around all morning playing Bejeweled doing important things and met my hubby for lunch. All was going along quite smoothly, really.

I've been alternating days running and biking (oh, and my 2 week break from running is over and the couple of runs I've done have been awesome! But that's not important right now), so today was a biking day. The weather was beautiful and it seemed there was hardly a breeze! I thought today would be a good day to venture out and ride some of the bike trails in Fargo, since I've exhausted all the routes in Moorhead.

Fargo has lots of bike paths to choose from, so I was excited to get out and explore. As I started riding, I realized it was much warmer than I thought and also a great deal more wind than I thought. Initially I felt like punking out and doing just 6 or 7 miles, but as I rode, I felt I could go farther.

The path I chose to take took me from south Fargo by the interstate and into West Fargo (this means nothing to you if you don't live here). The ride was going great and I was really enjoying myself.

Until......

*SHUDDER*

I was minding my own business, blasting some Spice Girls er, Glee, er...some music that makes me seem cool.... when out of nowhere a huge Black Bird (not sure of the type of bird... maybe a Blackbird I suppose) swooped down and ran into my head. RAN INTO MY HEAD. MY HEAD. While I was riding my bike! Its sharp devil talons momentarily caught in my hair and he flew away smirking with his evil little beak (the last part might just be my interpretation, but I imagine it to be true).

I felt totally violated. I liken this experience to the time I was shat upon by a duck in 6th grade. My on-again, off-again "friend" Tammy M. laughed at me and made fun of me for months after that incident. Imagine walking around with crusty white duck fecal splatter all over your hair and Esprit t-shirt..... still traumatized years later.

So, that's pretty much the noteworthy event of today's bike ride. I did come across a trio of wild Turkeys crossing the bike path, but I stared them down and they ran away. All of this took place in the West Fargo city limits... I think I may avoid that area for a little while while I take time to heal from the experience.

I wasn't able to take a photo of the attack, so I have provided a drawing for you. Let's just pretend that I let Max draw it.