Highlight of my day...

I

I was cleaning the bathroom when I heard this....

Good bye grass!

 We have somehow decided to embark on a HUGE back yard project. It all started with those dang piles of dirt from the greenhouse. They killed the grass next to it and my mom had an idea to put in a new raised bed to cover part of the bare space....then we realized we had a huge pile of rocks to use for something. So large blank spaces, rocks, a wish to get rid of grass in the back, an abundance of weeds encroaching into the garden each year...meant huge back yard make over!

We rented a sod cutter this weekend to cut up all the sod around the garden to put in gravel path around the whole garden & new raised bed.


Here on the right is the garden a month ago. It's hard to distinguish between the "veggie garden" and the grass pathway...but you can just barely see the difference in green. On the left is the new grass free area. We will put the raised bed in-front of the raspberries. And then gravel paths & wood chips on the area were we will eventually make more garden beds but for now just to keep the weeds down.

Here is the bare patches left by the greenhouse dirt...

 

Now big dirt patches...but purposeful! 

 

 This area will be slightly tricky because it's slightly slanted...

 And here is our first almost path looking like area! Complete with edging and ground/weed blocker. Too bad there are a ton of weeds to the right of it that still need to be dealt with! 

 And my funny girl! 

 

 And we decided that we are going to dig up the sod along the side of the ally which is just a huge mud/moss pit. It's annoying to mow and is just yucky. So we are going to put down wood chips to just cut down on the weeds and grass.

And now another huge pile of sod to move somewhere else... we seem to be really good at moving piles from one place to another. 

So hopefully we can continue our momentum next weekend. We need to continue to lay the area for the paths, and build the raised bed, get a load of dirt, and then the wood chips... Aaahh another project!

A half what?

A half marathon. Yes, you heard me right. I am training for a half marathon! Crazy, I know. It has never been one of my goals,  but it is now. I just recently joined Bellingham Fit, a training program here in Bham (and across the country).  I am (have been) feeling frustrated at my fitness/weight again lately. You might remember that I had a goal last year around this time to loose weight (baby weight) and I did... but then it stopped. And then it climbed again. Then I lost again before Christmas and then gained it all back and more... ugh. I know I am not cutting as many calories as I should but I also know that I need to increase my activity level as well. I really dislike joining a gym. I needed something that would hold me accountable and have a goal associated with it. I like doing exercise with other people. I have a great group of women friends who are all really active but I am so far behind them, I feel like I can't exercise with them. So another one of my goals is to maybe be able to "run" with them one day. Or at least go with them :-)

So a runner friend told me about Bham fit. You get put into a group with others at your same level. And then people train for either a marathon or half marathon. At first I thought I would just do it to get more fit, not train for a half marathon. But then I got excited and inspired by their goals. If you follow their training, I should be able to either walk/jog it! So I am going for it. I am in the "Red" group- a jogging/walking group.  We meet as a large group once a week on Saturdays for a big walk/run. Each group has a coach who works with you to help you, encourage you, teach you, etc.  Then 4 days during the week we train in times. It was really nice because at first they start you out with walk/jogging for only 15 minutes. It was really nice to start and be able to feel like you could complete it. Then slowly during the week, we are working on increasing our time. This week we are doing 20-30 minutes a day. Then this weekend we will increase our mileage to 3.5 miles. The half marathon I am going for is the Bellingham Bay Half at the end of September. I am excited! 

I have been starting to jog and then walking when I get tired. I have my little loop in Whatcom Falls park. I have also been getting up in the morning before the kids and day start. Somewhere in my head I had this idea that I didn't want to exercise in the morning so I could sleep. Yeah right. What life am I living now. Most mornings, Eliza is awake by 6:15-6:30. So as long as Adam doesn't ride his bike I can get in two-three morning jogs before he leaves for work. I do have to do after school on Tuesday since I already get up at 5:30 am on work days.

I have learned a couple of things about getting up early to exercise...
1. I love it.
2. I feel good getting it done with before the rest of the day, no excuses later.
3. I love the light & sounds of spring mornings.
4. The beavers are out in the pond in the early morning. I have seen them twice now!
5. It's more miserable to try to really exercise with a 3.5 yr old on a bike and an almost 2 year old in a stroller than it is to get up at 6:30 am in the rain. I never realized how much I stop in 20 minutes of exercise to get water bottles, fix bike chains, push kids up a hill, carry a bike across the street, etc...
6. Running with dog poop bag in your hand is not fun.

So far I have kept up with my training schedule. I like having a schedule I need to follow. I did take off one day this week because my knees were really hurting. Then the next day I walked. I tried jogging again today but they are hurting again...so I think I need to take it a little easy.

My friend Jen is also doing this with me. So we can encourage each other. We have only been able to walk once outside of our Saturday morning group runs. But maybe this summer when both our husbands are off from school and our schedules get less busy. The only thing I really miss is our family Saturday morning pancake breakfast... Sunday just doesn't seem the same. But oh well! I will keep you posted on my progress.

Staycation 2012!

Spring break has come and gone. This year we could have done more projects, the list is still long, but the money is short. So instead we had some pure fun, relaxation, and little day trips! It was not Mexico but it was fun.

On Monday we headed to Seattle for a trip to the Seattle Science Center. Adam comes with his students every so often and of course as a kid but this was my first time, as well as the kids. We got a membership which will allow us to visit the museum in Vancouver and also in Denver when we go this summer.

There were some fun things but it was much more geared towards older kids. Corbin did enjoy the bugs though!

Butterfly room.

Corbin would not go into the Dinosaur exhibit, which really surprised us, since he is so into dinosaurs right now. But they moved, were really big, and they just scared him. He said he knows they are not real but still wouldn't go in. Maybe when he is daddy's age. He did go see the Imax with Adam while I tried to get Eliza to sleep. He got scared multiple times, it was a prehistoric sea creatures in 3D. But they stayed and he watched the majority of it without the glasses!

After the museum we went and visited our good friends Nikki and Mark in their tiny apartment. Good thing the kids could do circles between the rooms!

Then on Tuesday it poured down rain, so we hit the FIG at the Whatcom Museum (kids museum here in Bham). Then lazed about while it rained.

My mom came into town on Tuesday afternoon. And we headed up to Vancouver on Wednesday to go skiing at Cypress with the kids. It was a foggy morning but great day once the fog burned off. It was gorgeous!

Corbin skied to the little lodge from the parking lot. We had hot chocolate and snacks. Then he got into the Chariot and Eliza got carried by Grammie! We were all on Skate skis, which I am not strong enough yet to go up hills, especially carrying an almost 30 lb toddler! But Grammie Dani is in super shape these days and took Eliza!

We then headed in for lunch. We all took turns taking a couple of extra loops while the kids played in the snow. Here is a picture of the old ski jump landing hill that used to be here.

One last loop for us. Eliza fell asleep and Corbin was close. Then Grammie tried to pass Adam and lost her balance. She did a great job of falling not on Eliza but she still woke up on impact. Now she says "Gammie bapack boom" which means grammie carried me in the backpack and we went boom!

On the way down into the city we stopped at an over-look. It was gorgeous! And we got some great family shots. This is the shipping lane just north of the City. Amazing views!

Adam unfortunately was so excited to head to the park that he was going too fast down the hill and got stopped and ticketed by a BC police man. He was the nicest police man that we have ever met but still it's no fun to get a ticket!

We then crossed the Lion's Gate Bridge into Stanley Park for a little stroll in the sun.

My mom then treated us to dinner at the Tomahawk BBQ in North Vancouver. It had recently been featured on Diners, Drive-in's, and Dives. It was yummy! Thanks mom!

Thursday we just hung out, went on some errands, the library and then Adam and I had a date! We went and saw "Hunger Games", had dinner at D'Anna's, and then met friends to celebrate a 40th birthday! A multiple hour date!

Friday was errand, garden, and relaxing day. And coloring eggs!

Just like Daddy!

Easter! Grammie Susan and Grandpa Mark came up for the night and day. The Easter Bunny visited last night. He left clues to find the baskets. Corbin got some rhyming riddles. He figured almost all of them by himself! Eliza got to follow the pictures!

We had a super yummy brunch. I got up at 3 am to put the ham in the crock pot. But couldn't fall back to sleep for over an hour. Eliza woke up at 5:30 and she and Adam got up at 6 to start the Hot Cross Buns, which wouldn't rise! But despite those hiccups, it was delicious! Ham, poached eggs over roasted asparagus and arugula!

Then we had an Easter Egg hunt in the yard but my camera got filled up so we only got these pictures.

We has some slight sugar coma's, short naps, and general over-tiredness this afternoon but everyone was asleep by 7 pm tonight! We hope you all had a wonderful Easter! Yay for spring!

Oh and enjoy this jumping bunny!