M+B=E2O2

Potpourri

Now that I am looking back at the photos I put here to help me remember what I wanted to share, I realize just how long it has been since I last blogged! It is pretty random, so I will apologize for that now! So first I will go though and comment on the photos, then see what else I can say to get everyone all up to date on my version of reality.

I made my first brined turkey for Thanksgiving.

!

Every year I make both cranberry sauce & cranberry relish. The relish is the family favorite- so yummy!

I made a batch of pierogies. This is the heart clogging goodness that those bits of heaven get smothered in.

 

I managed to keep my training going on cold foggy mornings. Actually, I kinda like running in the fog, though I had to laugh at the dogs, my lab would see a post or bush emerge from the fog and his fur would rise and he would prepare mentally to either protect me or pretend to be tough enough to do so, until he'd realize it was a post or a bush and pee on it.

 

We were lucky enough to have good friends stay the night with us the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Our boys have hot sauce eating contests every time they get together. This is the aftermath.

Love me some friend time. 5 hours away is just too far.

My pretty turkeys. (The brined one is in the front)

My handsome husband.

Getting the group shot on Thanksgiving. Thankfully he was able to hold the wall up at the same time.

I have the bestest running mates. They are very unimpressed with the continually grumpy Mr. Cranky Pants and with the boorishly lame couple that begrudgingly says hello. (Well, he has yet to, and she is not happy about it but does so anyway).

Sunrise on my long run.

Beach people are funny. Funny weird, not funny haha.

Love seeing all the holiday decorations going up.

 

Mr. O had some fun editing photos.

I have discovered the joys of ice baths. This was my first, and far too cold. After a bit more reading up on it, I switched to a full tub, cold water bath,with a small bucket of ice added once water was filled enough to cover my legs. Brrrr.

I love the kids feet during piano. Everywhere but where they should be.

The kids made felt Christmas trees for our December nursing home visit. Unfortunately, I was begining to get sick so I could not go inside with them. They went in with friends though and gave them out, sang some songs and played the piano.

I thought I was getting a bit of a head cold, no big deal...

Then Thursday rolled around and I was feeling a bit worse. I was pretty sure Pasole would help, so using my best Jedi mind control I managed to get my mother-in-law to invite me over to learn how to make it. :-) It was very yummy, very easy and did make me feel better. Unfortunately I didn't get any better. As a matter of fact, I got worse. Friday I lost my voice completely. I really didn't feel bad, just had no voice and a little bit of a cough. No big deal.

Meanwhile, we had our first real run inthe rain. It was lovely.

Our friend Franklin came over for a visit one night. Reina has a very strange small dog/animal anxiety problem. We have to keep her on leash and we have even sedated her to help calm her. This is something we are working on. She did pretty good on this occasion, crying a bit if Franky moved about too much, but all in all it was a good visit. :-)

This was from earlier in the day, its hard to really tell, but the surf was huge. The tide was just right for me to get some running in on the sand. This was my last long run before my half. 10 miles & my longest continuous run to date. I felt great (aside from the no voice, head cold, sorta coughing thing).

Started my Christmas cookie baking.

Is anyone else confused by this??

The best early Christmas gift ever! My husband is the best!!!

Playing with my new camera with all my balloon animal friends.

The Big Day!

What a great race! I started in the back of the group. I should mention here that I was on my 4th day of antibiotics. Ben had decided I had bronchitis. I was feeling significantly better and had made all sorts of promises to all sorts of people aboout taking it easy on the race, stopping if I had to. As it turned out, I hardly coughed at all and I felt really good throughout. I did have to stop at mile 7 to pee, that was my worst time split. I managed to pace myself at a very consistant 11:01 min/mile pace. I even caught up to and passed the 2:30 pace group. Honestly, when I started training, my goal was to start (and finish) with this group, but when I ended up with bronchitis I just hoped to come in under or around the 3 hour mark. My finish time was 2:24:15. I didn't negative split the first & second half, but I blame that on my mile 7 pee break- I had a slight headache before the race and realized I was under hydrated so I made up for it by drinking lots of water before the start. oops. That said, the first half was 1:11:46, the 2nd 1:12:29. I was 88th out of 132 in my age group and I was 995 out 1473 overall. Yay for being in the top 1000! LOL!

Now, let me tell you about the awesomeness of this race. The organizers did a superb job making sure that we had support thoughout. There were commuity/neighborhood cheering stations, plenty of water stations, bands, and then there were the runners. Costumes were fantastic, fun and festive. The people were friendly and happy to be there. I talked to a number of friendly folks along the way, gave lots of kids high fives and thanked just about every police officer and volunteer that kept traffic at bay and made sure we were safe. Oxnard PD was fantastic. If ever you want to run or walk in a well organized, local event, this is for you! It was amazing. I will be there again next year! I am already thinking about my costume :-) Pancake tutu? I think so! I know a fantastic designer that I plan on brainstorming with this summer. If I am not gonna win the race I am all for winning the costume contest!

Ben and Evan ran the 5K. (Evan had already left by the time I finished). They both did great and had fun. Ben was 2nd in his age group and 15th overall. Yay Ben!

Just a few days before the race I had stopped by one of 3 local coffee shops that I frequent (depends on what end of the county I am in when I am in desperate need of coffee, but I have found 3 locally owned, independant, shops that have great coffee, great service and make me feel good about supporting local business). Latte 101 is one of the 3 and as it happens they have peanut butter syrup. If you have never had a peanut butter latte, I suggest you go out and get one. Now. They are that good. But then again, I am a peanut butter freak. I mentioned that I was doing the Santa to the Sea and it turns out they were one of the vendors. The owner (I am making an assumption here, I don't know for sure that he was the owner, but I am prettty sure) said that he would bring the PB syrup just for me! :-) Only a local business would make that kind of effort! Both Ben and I had one and it was awesome).

Now, have I also mentioned to you that the race also happens to fall on Nutcracker weeked? For me this means that the week before the race is production week at the theater. I have the unofficial/official job of taking backstage candid photos. I absoultly love that I have the privledge to do this. I take photos through out Satuday rehersals from October until the production. I think this is my 3rd or 4th year doing it, I'll have to go back and look at my photos and see. It has been so fun seeing the dancers grow and change.

Saturday we go to the show as a family. We have been going to this particular show since Owen was 18 months old. We had no idea that when our girls started ballet, they would be with this production company. To be a part of it from both the front of the house and the back is just awesome.

Sunday (raceday) is the day that I voluteer and hang out backstage. I was a little worried that it would be really hard this year, but let me tell you, the runner's high you hear about is the best! It was 10 times anything I've felt before. I was flying high for at least 4 hours post race. The last hour of Nutcracker was where I was starting to feel tired, but the really amazing thing that happens duing the last hour of Nutcracker on the last day of production, is that all the tension, anxiety and nervousness that the girls have starts to drift away. The smiles get bigger, the laughter backstage increases, the happy energy flows. So as my runner's high diminished, my Nutcracker high increased. Such a perfect pairing. I am already looking forward to next year.

The week after Santa/Nutcracker my two eldest children had belt testing. My big girl earned her 2nd degree yellow belt! She is transitioning from ballet to tae kwon do. I think it is a great fit for her. She still loves ballet, but it has been over a year since she has been able to take a technique class, the schedule just hasn't worked in her favor. She does take a floor-barre class once a week though and loves being involved. TKD will have it's challenges for her, but she is definately up to the task and our school is incredibley supportive, from the instructors to the families. She is having a great time and is very dedicated to trying her very best. She is also quite lucky to have a black belt as a brother! He has been very helpful in working with her.

Speaking of Owen, he also had to test. He is on track to earn his 2nd degree black belt, hopefully in May 2013. The 1st degree black belt students have to take 3-4 "credit" tests in order to qualify to test for their 2nd degree. Owen just earned his 3rd credit. We just watched a video clip of him taking his 2nd degree yellow test, my how he has grown!

Buka and Reina wanted to be festive since we finally started decorating for Christmas. They are not embarassed at all. Really.

The kids little tree :-)

No sooner did I get the tree skirt in place, did Buka make himself at home under the tree.

Owen wanted to try and put our angel on the tree this year.

It was more challening that usual. In the end we had to put her up as a decoration off to the side. We had to buy a smaller angel to work with this tree. This is the first time she has not worked. We have a different type of tree this year, we usually get a noble, this one is something else that starts with an "N", but I can't remember what it is. It looks a lot like a noble, but is a brighter green. The branches are as thick, but a bit softer somehow. The top was just not strong enough to hold our angel. I need to get a picture of our alternate angel.

The kids, ok honestly just the girls, helped make pretzels for our cookie bags. The boys made a few, but were just not really into it this year.

I am really into ginger right now. From Moscow Mules to Kumbatcha to adding it to my morning smoothies, I am loving it. So I really wanted to make a ginger snap type cookie to add to our cookie bags. (The standard for our bags consists of chocolate chip cookies, russian tea cakes and peppermint chocolate dipped pretzles). It took a bit of experimenting, tweaking recipies from the internets, but I did come up with a variation that I quite like and hope to put it into the bag from now on. I even wrote down the recipe so I can make them next year.

My cranberry infused vodka is done!

Because I have not used cranberries enough this season.... I made sugared cranberries a couple nights ago. Sooooooo yummy!!! Today we had them with water crackers and brie. Pretty much amazing.

 

So there you go. Almost all caught up with my crazy life. A few more bits about running, then I'm off to bed. Remember The Nag. Well, MapMyRun pulled a fast one on their users. The voice feedback feature they rolled out in October became a monthly fee feature in November. In the update notes they did not indicate that the paid features would be ones we were already using for free. I felt th price ($6/month or so) was a bit high, but did a 3 month subscription because I was scared to let go of a training tool that was really working for me. In the mean time I dug out my GPS watch and looked into other free or one time only fee apps that did what MMR was doing. One of the things I discovered was that MMR was way off in tracking true distance. Really off. I was not happy! I have found another app that is much more accurate (Runmeter), but I still have another month of MMR so I am alternating using it and taking my actual milage off my GPS watch. (More on all this in a future post).

I have also continued to pass the lovely cranky people off and on and they continue to be lame. I am pretty sure that the cranky couple have their own inside jokes about me- the Crazy Running Lady. I quite literally laughed out loud at them one day. I was near giggling as we approached one another, then I said my cheerful hello, he of course did not give me the slightest look or indicate that he heard me, she scowled and said hello. I couldn't stop myself, I burst into laughter. When we crossed paths again, they both smiled and said hi. So yeah, they must have a joke, but I don't care, I won a round finally- he looked and she smiled. So there.

Of course that was a few weeks ago. This last week when I saw them I happened to be the one feeling a bit cranky. I managed to get myself irritated and worked up about these Not Friendly Morning People long before i saw them, so when I saw them coming I decided I was over being the nice one. I brought up my most lovely post bronchitis cough as they approached (into my elbow of course) and then looked at The Lady with no expression as we passed. She did the same. I was all geared up and ready to scowl openly at them the next pass, except I haven't seen them since. Oh well. I really should go back to being friendly, but after 4 months I guess I'm a little tired of being the one that has to try, then that optimistic person in me wants to play nice, because surely it will make a difference. Then I get cranky and worked up and plot all sorts of diabolical plans about how to Show Them. I'm pretty sure I have issues. And maybe alternate personalities that should have their own names.

Ok, as much as I would like to share more fantastically weird stuff about myself with you all, it has taken me over 3 days to get this all written out and hopefully properly edited to make sense. There are more bits about running that you all must know and I am sure I have many other fascinating stories to share that I just don't have the time to write, however I am going to post this and move on!

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3 weeks to go!

 

Another week of training done, 6.2 miles into the new week! I am happy with my training, aside from the one bad day, I have felt pretty good. My legs are non-stop tired, but it is a feel good kind of tired. I think I have found a way to tape my left foot that works. I ran a 10k this morning, and felt no pain at all. I was supposed to try and run it at race pace, which I always find hard, when I am not actually racing. However I set The Nag to encourage me to run faster than 10:45/mile. I really don't know what kind of pace I can do for 13 miles, that is what today was supposed to help with. I ended up with an average 10 min/mile pace. I was really happy with that! Unfortunately Mapmyrun decided my device was not capable of capturing data for graphs etc. Weird since it is the same device I have always used and been able to see my splits. I like seeing where my slower splits are and seeing if I can negative split my last mile. Oh well.

 

I managed to see some pretty amazing sunrises this week, and somehow missed running in any rain. I have no interesting stories of random people this week. It seems as though we don't really have any "regulars" that are consistently regular. Oh wait, I did see one interesting thing on Tuesday I think it was. There was a young couple, maybe in their early 20's, on the public access dock. It was 5:30am. The guy was in shorts, no shirt or shoes. The girl was properly dressed in jeans and a sweat shirt. They were wrestling. Pushing, laughing & clearly having fun. At 5:30 in the morning. In the dark. On a dock. Over the cold water. On my 2nd pass they had brought it up to the grass, and he had put a shirt on. They said hello, so there was at least that.

 

I am proud of Reina, this was her longest run to date. Also the fastest. She was a trooper. My mom sent us a set of dog shoes for Reina. In Vegas they have to put shoes on their dog in the summer when going out for walks. She had two sets, so we are borrowing one set to see if I can get Reina's feet healed and allow her to run with us still. They worked beautifully! Her pads had no extra wear on them and she didn't seem bothered by them in the least. Yay! Once she has healed I will take her out on shorter runs and walks without them, hopefully getting her to the point of not needing them on the long runs.

 

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Hitting the Wall & The Ending of One Part of a Journey

I'm pretty sure I have hit the proverbial wall in my training. The run that should feel easy and almost effortless, hurts and drags. Today was an "easy" 5 mile run. I was quite happy to get up and go. I should have known that it was going to be an ugly run the moment that I let the dogs outside and realized that the TWC's version of 56* was much colder than reality. I mean it was supposedly 16* warmer than the last few days, surely I could wear my arm warmers and a tee. Ummm no. It was too cold. As I've mentioned I am somewhat lacking in the Proper Attire For Running in Cooler Temps department. Moreover, I get all my stuff out the night before so that I don't have to search around in the dark for anything. Now I needed a jacket, or something. I finally settled on a fleece pullover. It was ok, but was far from ideal.

 

I was worried about Reina's feet, they still had not really had time to heal. At one point I had bought little booties for her, but I think I must have given them away. I spent a good half hour looking for them last night to no avail. So I improvised. I have these elastic reflective bands for the dogs, but I rarely put them on their ankles. I do have a few looped on to their collars though. So I dug into the lonely sock bin and found two socks and put them on Reina, held in place by reflective bands. Really I should have taken a picture, but it was really embarrassing for her. The first on came off at around mile 1. I had decided to run to the beach today- mostly for Reina's sake as well. I thought being on the sand would be gentler on those tootsies. Once in the sand I ended up taking off the other sock, it was just getting mucky and wet, and probably would do more damage than good. Running on the sand is hard. Especially when the tide is such that the only real choice is to run on the soft sand. After what was surely a mile I pulled out my phone to check how far I had gone. One. Half. Mile. I think I may have cursed at this point. When all else fails and I am not happy, my MO is to look for something to take a picture of. In this case it served a duel purpose in that I got to stop and rest.

 

 

Fortunately one of the dogs pooped, so I had to leave the soft sands and find a trash bin. Then I had to find a bench to sit on and dump the and out of my shoes. I'm pretty sure that is why my 3 mile split was 20 min.

Everything seemed to hurt on this run. We've been playing with various KT Tape applications on my left foot. If ever I feel any discomfort running it is usually on the bottom of my left foot, precisely where the tendon tore two years ago. The most recent variation seems to be good. I can feel the tape, so I am aware of my foot, but I dont really feel any pain. I even remember thinking about that somewhere during mile 2. I was thinking how cool it would be to be completely unaware of both of my feet. I briefly marveled at how unaware in was of my right foot. Reality soon set in. Mile 4 was all about my right foot. And my hips. And my lower back. Oh and the top of my right foot. None of this was at the same time, but it was as though all my parts and pieces wanted to be sure to make themselves known. Eventually I made it home. I think my average pace was around 14 min. It was long & slow and felt horrible. I am pretty sure this is supposed to happen. Every once in a while anyway. I remember the swimming version of it anyway, so the former athlete in me knows that this is now a mental game to get through the physical. I know I can do it & I will. Tomorrow is a 3 mile easy run. I do hope that those 3 miles are as easy as Last Friday's 4.5 hard.

 

On to a totally different topic now. I have been on one heck of a journey for the last 3 years. It was in October of 2009 that I first consulted with my surgeon and subsequently made a life changing decision and embarking on a sometimes painful, often uncomfortable journey. The first part of that journey began Dec 22, 2009. On that day I got my braces on.

(I will insert a photo here, but I have to get to my desktop to get the proper one)

I do have a blog that I started but kept private when I started this whole thing. I will open it up soon and link the handful of posts at some point. This photo is not quite accurate though, I was pulling my lower jaw forward in order to show my bottom teeth. My natural bite was such that my upper teeth covered my lowers.

Anyway, this is where I started. By March of this year my bite looked a bit different.

 

 

Better, but still not done. Major upper & lower jaw surgery on March 21, recover, recover, recover. And now here I am. 8 months post op. Still in recovery mode, but I get to complete one part of the journey.

My last photo before heading in to the office.

 

I actually got my lower braces off 3 weeks ago, but that is not as much fun to show off, plus, those uppers were still there, so I still had braces.

 

When you are a grown up getting your braces off, you get to choose, water bottle filled with candy, red, or white wine. That was an easy choice!

 

I admit I was having some fun taking these pictures so I could tease Ben.

But finally, here I am. And I have to say, I cried. As soon as Maria (the assistaint who has been mine through out this whole process) took them off and sat back and looked at me. Before I had even seen myself, she smiled and told me how good my smile looked, and I cried. I can not even begin to say how good it feels to be at this point. I can breath, my teeth all meet and touch where they are supposed to and it worked. Surgery worked.

 

So despite hitting that wall & feeling every aching muscle from the waist down today. I am so incredibly happy and so very thankful that I am now that much closer to the finish line!

 

 

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Fun day!

I had to go to SB to see my surgeon this morning, so I decided to make a day of it with the kids. I was done by 11am so we had plenty of time to play. The plan was to go to the Maritime Museum, however we got slightly sidetracked by all the random pianos on street corners. We found a place to park and went to investigate. Turns out it was a project called Pianos On State St and it was very cool! They had 12 pianos set up. We did three of them before the kids were hungry and ready for lunch. I would have loved to have gone with a bunch of our piano playing homeschool friends, too bad the installation is over on the 12th!

 

 

We headed to the harbor for some lunch, then couldn't resist a short beach walk before hitting the museum.

 

 

 

The museum was awesome, very hands on and kid friendly. We spent well over two hours there and could have probably stayed longer, but I really wanted to get home before dark. Unfortunately, we were driving while one of the most beautiful sunsets was happening. I made sure all the kids turned around to look since I couldn't.

 

 

 

I love spending time with the kids like this. This is by far one of the best parts about homeschooling. Impromptu piano street concerts, awesome lunch time discussions (we discussed which super power we would want and why, also talking about the downfalls of various super powers), walks on the beach and a near empty museum, full of amazing stuff to play and learn with. A fun filled day, capped by an amazing sunset and homemade chicken soup in the crockpot waiting for us. I don't know that it could get any better.

 

 

 

 

 

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Morning training and the people you see

37 days and I will run my first half marathon! Really enjoying the training that I'm doing right now. Getting up at five is not my favorite thing but once I'm out there feels really good I love the cool crisp air. My new running shoes seem to be breaking in really well. This is the first time I've used a shoe aside from Nike in over 20 years. Aside from being totally cute and very comfortable and they seem to fit I would say as good if not better than any Nike I've ever worn. Today's run was 4 1/2 miles. It was meant to be at a hard pace. My goal pace was around 11 minutes per mile, which is 30- 60 seconds faster than I think I might be able to do the hal,f but now I'm not so sure. My splits were: 10:55, 10:33, 9:38, 9:18. I don't have a split for the half-mile. I'm pretty sure 9:18 is the fastest mile I've ever run and that includes when I was regularly running 5ks. I wasn't wearing my heart rate monitor so I don't quite know where I was at in that regard, however I felt pretty good and didn't feel too terribly taxed. I came home and dutifully used my foam roller and spent a good 10 minutes stretching. Tomorrow is a rest day for me and then Sunday is a long slow 7 miles. I'm not sure where I'm going to do that run or if I will take the dogs. Buka seemed to do pretty well and was still ready to keep moving when I got home. However Reina was definitely tired and I think ready to be done so I think 4- 5 miles is her max right now.

One thing I love about morning walks and runs is the people you come across. Most people say "hi, good morning", or at least give a quick nod or wave. I'd say at leat 90% of those I come across do, maybe more. I'm always sure to make eye contact with people when I see them. Especially men. I want them to know that I am able to identify them in a lineup if I should ever have to. Mostly I see other runners and walkers, no one I'm really all that concerned about. A few weeks ago, when I saw a cholo at 5:30 in the morning it did give me a little pause for concern. Didn't quite fit in with the neighborhood I was running in; a private, gated, albeit public access walkway. But the classic uniform of white socks pulled all the way up to the knees, khaki shorts hanging down, white T-shirt and dark blue dickies jacket, he just didn't fit the M.O. of your typical morning exercise kind of dude. However he smiled said hi and made eye contact with me when I passed by. I haven't seen him since, so I don't think he's made a routine of this morning thing.

Then there is Mr. Cranky pants. I've seen him at least 3 different days. He is a walker not a runner and he stares straight ahead the entire time he's walking. The first time I said hi I thought maybe he just didn't hear me. I happened to pass him again in that same morning. This time I made sure sing out "good morning" as loudly as I could. He didn't flinch, he didn't look my way, he didn't even remotely acknowledge that I was existing in the same space. Hmmmmm. That wouldn't do. I didn't see him again that morning but had already decided that if I did come across him again I'd be sure to try a little harder. Sure enough, two days later I saw him again. So again I called out as loudly as I could "good morning sir", and he again did not look my way or aknowledge me in any way, shape or form. So I added in a much too cheerful "have a great morning!". I passed him twice on this occasion, both times trying my very best to get him to, at the very least, flicker his eyes in my direction or down at my dogs or even completely away. Something different than just the staring straight ahead blank look on his face. Score 4 Mr. Cranky Pants 0 me. Didn't see him for about a week but this morning I saw him again YAY! Another chance. One of my dogs was actually peeing as he approached us so I was at a standstill as he came up to me. I gave it a good hearty try, lots of "good morning" and other cheerful words as he stared straight ahead, never flinching, never changing his pace, never turning his head, just walking straight on past as though we did not exist even a little bit. I even had a very cool flashy, blinky, seizure inducing button light attached to the neck of my shirt, He had to look at that! Nope. *sigh*. Since I was nearly done with my run at this point I didn't have much hope of passing him again and having a second attempt. However as I came around the corner I looked across the harbor channel and there he was. I think maybe he was glancing my way but I couldn't be sure so just in case I raised my white gloved hand and cheerfully waved across the channel and called out "good morning!" He didn't look. Ah well, I have at least 3 early morning runs next week, I won't give up!I may be down by 6, but I am not a quitter!

Big Bear Birthday Fun

We spent another 4 days in Big Bear.  This was our second trip up there, last year we went mid April.  There wasn't much snow that trip, but it was a peaceful & fun-filled and had us eager to return.  This time we really wanted to go when the mountains were snow filled so that the kids could really have a chance to *know* snow.  It ended up working out that we were able to go the weekend before my birthday- not a bad present!  We were able to leave Friday afternoon, however it was not quite early enough to miss LA traffic.  It got dark before we got to the bottom of the mountain, so we opted to just spend the night in San Bernadino, there were a few sections of 18 that had snow showers, and being non snow drivers it just seemed like a good idea.  The kids are always up for a hotel sleep over so they were happy to stop. We had dinner at Denny's and were seated next to two nuns.  My kids love to eat, so restaurants are not much of a chore for us.  They are well behaved more often than not which is nice.  As we were leaving the nuns stopped me and complemented our family.  It really just made my day.  (After 4 hours of driving in LA traffic with them- well- sometimes it is nice to see them through the eyes of others!) 

Saturday morning we hit up IHOP for breakfast then hit the road.  Olivia tends to get a little green after a while if the road is too curvy.

She asked for some sunglasses as we got further up the mountain.  I couldn't resist taking a picture of her.  Not too long after this shot we put the headphones on her and she fell asleep, thereby skipping out on motion sickness. (FYI if you didn't know, listing to music on headphones can help out). 

We had the privilege and honor of using my friend's family cabin for our stay, it was home away from home without a doubt.  More on that in a bit.  We got our stuff in the house, shoveled the icy snow off the driveway and had some lunch.  After lunch we went on a mission to find someplace to do some sledding.  We found a little spot with some little hills and had some fun.  The snow was soft enough to make some snowballs (if you look close at the photo in the top right corner of the collage you can see Owen throwing a snowball- Daddy and boys had a grand time having snowball fights!) 

Evan 's primary objective was trying to fall or crash, he is such a ham!  Olivia loved the sledding, as evident by the look on her face.  Emma made friends with a mom on the same little hill as us. She is the owner of the green and yellow inflatable Evan was using and the snowball makers that Emma is using.  She spent quite a bit of time making the snowballs, but she didn't throw any of them, she just wanted to make them! All and all the kids had a blast and could hardly wait to go to the "big" hills for some snow tubing!  Saturday night we ordered some pizza to be delivered and just had a quiet night in.

Sunday we had breakfast at the house then went to Church.  It was a beautiful, beautiful church, really lovely.  The service, however, left us missing our home parish!  By the time Mass was over it was lunch time and my parents had arrived for the day.  We had some lunch with them then Ben & I went and got some stuff we needed from the store while the kids hung out with Gramma & Poppa.  My Mom had also brought a dinner for us all so we got to enjoy another nice evening in. 

Monday we took the kids to "Snow Play".  It was next to empty which was awesome!  The kids had an absolute blast on the hills.  Evan and Olivia were required to ride with Ben or me, but they were ok with that and were just fearless.  We were there for 2-3 hours I'd say.  Even though they have that "magic carpet" lift it was still a lot of work!  The kids were hoping to go back Tuesday, but that was our departure day so it was just not in the cards for them.  I can't wait to have them try skiing or snow boarding! It has been years since I have done either and I look forward to getting a chance to go again.

I put squirrel food out the very first day we arrived, but it took the squirrels a couple of days to figure it out.  The blue jay's found the peanuts right off though!  This little squirrel cracked me up, he finished off the seed in the other feeder first, one that didn't require him to put his head all the way in.  The kids got a real kick out of him sticking his head inside the bird feeder to pilfer food.  It was too cute and so much fun to watch.

The Home.  There is just not enough that I can say about the home we stayed at.  A few years ago my friend had mentioned that her family had a cabin in Big Bear and that should we ever want to use it to let her know.  I knew that a few other friends had used it and just raved, so when we had decided to use Ben's days off to go play in the snow I contacted my friend and as luck would have it the cabin was available.  The family does not rent the cabin out, it is just for family and friends of the family.  I can not tell you how honored I am to be included in her circle of friends.  When we arrived the kids were thrilled to find a few sleds in the garage and a small  pile of snow on the side of the driveway to slide down.   Let me just tell you about my favorite things.  First I have to say, it felt like we left our home only to come home.   There are knick knacks and photos, personal touches that clearly let you know you are in a loved place.  In the above photos are some of my very favorite things.  Cross stitch samplers done by my friend's mom.  The village that overlooks the kitchen, and of that my very favorite were the nuns coming out of the photography studio! The picture that was above the TV (bottom right corner). That picture just made me smile every time I looked at it.  I also just loved the arrangement of crosses that greeted you as you came up the stairs into the family room/dining room.  My favorite cross is the one singled out above.  I loved lighting all the candles each night, I don't do it enough at home and I now want to figure out just where I can put lots of candles to enjoy.  There were so many little details in the decor that just made the house so special, such a home.  Best of all, rather than take any payment to offset any costs to the family, they ask that if you have enjoyed your time that perhaps you'd like to like to make a donation to Habitat for Humanity.  We had the opportunity to spend time together in this amazing home and we get to help others achieve the dream of owning a home.  Nothing short of inspiring.  We have dreams of owning a cabin in Big Bear someday and I am more inspired now than ever.  What they have done, what they are doing is exactly what I would love to be able to do as well.

And finally my birthday.  We left Big Bear on my birthday.  Kind of sad in a way, but it was nice to come home to family.  I'm not really a cake fan, however I do love angel food cake with strawberries.  So that is what Ben got for me.  The gift of spending 3 days with my family in such an inspiring and beautiful place was the very best gift I could have received.  I am blessed with 4 beautiful children who inspire me to be a better person every day.  My husband is my best friend, I don't know  how I got so lucky.  I have a circle of friends that grows continuously. One thing Facebook has shown me is that good friends are always there- even if nearly 20 years has gone by since we last connected.  I love that. 

Collections

 

Way back in the day (last week), we went to the beach in search of rocks for a project. (Which has not come to completion yet, thanks flu).  The kids love to collect things.  I haven't' quite figured out what to do with all of them yet.

We have

                                         our stick collection

                            our pine cone collection

                                our rock collection

                              more rocks in our collection

and shells, rocks and sticks recently collected at the beach.

As long as they don't want to collect spiders, I think I will be ok.

We Wii, We Twitter & We Twirl

I know I know- I still pretty much am sucking at blogging.  I got issues  what can I say!

Last week Ben got us a Wii.  It is the first game system we have bought- apart from the V-smile and a leapster L-max.  Both of those game systems go in and out of fashion around here, and both have gotten quite a bit of use.  Both Ben and I have shied away from the big game systems-  we both love to play video games and know that we'd get sucked into a world we really don't have time for right now.  I have a hard enough time staying away from the computer in order to get things done around here (So you'd think I'd blog more huh?).  Any who, we both have been tossing around the idea of the Wii, mainly because it is a get up and move kinda thing.   Upon returning the birthday bike that never was (Got it put together only to realize it was defective) Ben had to return it to TRU first thing in the morning and it just so happened that they got a Wii shipment in the night before- so he was third to get one from them. 

I have to say it has been pretty darn fun!  I was sore for 3 days after the first night of boxing.  Seriously.  I've also discovered I am much better at Wii bowling than in real life bowling, and even better when I bowl lefty.  All the kids but Olivia can play it with some degree of competence, and it is easy enough to fake Olivia out since we have two remotes.  We have had so much fun creating Mii's ( the Wii people). We have made characters for every family member and several of our friends.  I even made a Severus Snape. (because you need an evil looking fellow wandering in and out of your games)  Making the Mii's is almost as much fun as playing a game.    We haven't pre-ordered the Wii Fit yet, but I am seriously considering it.  It looks pretty darn fun.   I used the boxing game today to complement my workout.  I walked 2-3 miles, then got on our spin bike for 30 min and since my heart rate was up (I wear a hr monitor) I thought I'd see if I could keep my hr in fat burning range while playing wii boxing.  Oh Yeah I can!   I boxed for 15 minutes and was truly sweating!  The kids got a kick out of seeing me use the game to "work out" too.  All in all a great purchase. 

As for the Twitter and twhirl- well if you take a gander at my side bar there is something labeled Twitter Updates.  I had heard of Twitter a while back but never got around to actually looking at it.  One of the blogs I read regularly (Just Enough Nothing More) recently posted about it and that was all it took to get me looking.  (in the past I heard about it on the radio, no where near a computer).   So now I have something else to get addicted to use regularly.  What I like about it is Twhirl- I can keep Twhirl on my desktop and jot lame quick thoughts without bothering to log in and all that fuss. 

So if you haven't already looked into it go have a Twitter and Twirl and look me up- I'll follow you!

yikes

So I am pretty much sucking at blogging lately.  And I've had all sorts of good stuff to write about too.  I hereby solemnly swear to blog again someday soon.  Right now I am going to shed my jammies and dress for the day.  The dogs need food, the crock pot needs a hunk of meat,  lunch will have to be eaten,  and we have piano at one end of the county then taekwando at the other end.  then I'll empty the crock pot and fill all the bellies around here.  Sadly, our latest  netflix won't arrive until tomorrow so we'll have to find some sort of nonsense to veg in front of, or maybe we'll just go to bed early-  goodness knows I am pooped.   We've recently discovered 24, so we've been obseesed with that- we just finished season one and we are eagerly awaiting the start of season two.  So cool that there are 6 seasons left and one more in the works!!!

Some quick points about  our recent adventures.

• Had a great birthday in Vegas.  We went to see Spamalot-  we are huge Monty Python  Holy Grail fans so this was an awesome show.  John O'Hurley is the star-  and later that night as Ben and I were learning the ropes of roulette-  (we'd never played and had a great dealer who gave us tips and strategies)  Mr. O'Hurley sat next to me and played a few games.  I wasn't sure it was him (he didn't have on his crown- though his voice is pretty unmistakable), until after he left and the dealer confirmed our suspicions.  I *knew* I should have whipped out my camera phone and taken a self portrait with him!!! LOL!  We  won a little money and had a blast.  Ben got me a purse and a longboard skateboard  I am loving both!  We also had a great visit with my parents.    I also got to see my Aunt and Uncle - the last time we saw them Emma was 5 months old.   That was a treat. 
• Easter was a great day- church, family, fun and food- couldn't ask for more.
• Evan has discovered polymer clay- and he is really into it.  (note to self *take pictures of his beads and sculptures and post them*)
• We went whale watching on Friday-   windy, choppy, swells at 5-10 feet-  puking people all over the place- but my kids  weathered it nary a hiccup.    YAY!!!  And we got to see a cow and calf pair PLAYING.  They were breaching, rolling and lolling about.  We were able to get fairly close to them- though I think one of the times we got  pretty close it was more that the whales changed their course and popped up near us- the captain was doing his best to stay the required distance away.  It was a great day and all my kids are looking forward to going out again.  I'll have to get the pictures off my camera-  most of my shots are of choppy white capped water, but I did get a few flukes- but missed the money shots of the breech.  Hard to play master photographer with a oversized (lifejacketed) kid in a sling attached to you who is only slightly interested in the playing whales and not at all interested in sitting on the bench while you try  for a few good pictures.  The pitching and rolling of the boat didn't help much either. 

Ok I really need to get dressed now-

Great Pacific Morning

Great Pacific Morning, originally uploaded by ourlibertybeach.

How lucky am I to live next door to this?  I love the smell of the air, the sound of the waves, the colors of the morning sun on the clouds.  Daisy and I have gone on our morning walk here the last two Saturdays.  Makes for a great workout- even a casual stroll is tough in the semi soft sand and I fall in love with the ocean again each time I get so close to it.