I Love Camping!

Bags of Popcorn always go camping with us (but never come home) ;-)

We always eat allot of fish too....

And I LOVE escaping in my kayak....

Its ALWAYS romantic......

We just got back from a several day trip at Lake Koocanusa. It was allot of fun and I did allot of things right dietwise. Here's a list of some of the "right choices" :

- My husband packed bikes for us all and led us on an excruciating trek up a mountain road. I peddled up Miss Moonbeam in the baby seat for an extra burn! After that we had to hike through the woods in search of a waterfall. It was quite the work out :-)

- I only ate 1 hot dog each time we roasted them (and only 1 s'more each time too). Our only left overs were hot dogs. The kids referred to them as "gross". It got me to thinking "Do I really need to bring hot dogs to roast to make camping fun?" Probably not. Now the s'mores, well old habits die hard (lol). We all prefer my daughters homemade grahms to the store bought ones hands down! Though they are made with a good amount of butter. The kids favorite camp meals I made which they claimed were "best ever" included :

• chicken quesadillas on home made wheat tortillas


• fresh caught native fish


• shrimp and brown rice in a garlic sauce


• nachos made with my own mashed beans and elk burger topped with veggies and salsa

case in point : all healthy, wholesome for the most part foods - hooray!

- bravely i did a good amount of kayaking. Two hair raising trips across Lake Koocanusa exploring. It was great fun, allot of arm and abd work and high adventure!!

- swam across to the end of the bay several times with the girls and did the whole perimeter one time. That was HEAVENLY!!

- drank allot of lime and mint water. Drank less than a can of soda the whole time until our date night.

- packed snacks to "fill in" for the things I knew I shouldn't eat allot of - like substituting that second hot dog for cottage cheese with strawberries or having half a banana with peanut butter as a late night snack or breakfast filler.

- Hiked all over, enjoyed the sun, friends, etc.. Though I made delicious meals and enjoyed them, they weren't the center of the enjoyment for the day :-)

I told all about our trip on my other blog, including this story, but its kind of a funny one :-) On the middle part of our camping trip some of our friends joined in with us. That Saturday afternoon, while the men were off fishing, the children were playing in the water near by. Us girls were relaxing at an ultra secluded cove. We were laying out on the sand in our bikinis laughing and visiting and just soaking up the sun. Here and there we'd dip in the cool heavenly waters or swim out to where the choppy cold waters met the calmer waters of our private bay.
It was probably in the 80's or 90's and I felt like not much could be closer to heaven on earth. Then all of a sudden this helicopter flies over. It flies over again. Then it flies over AGAIN!! Around that time, my friends husband was getting back. After it flew over 3 times, it circled us! We all wondered what on earth it was doing. "Why is that helicopter looking at us?" my 8 year old wanted to know. "They're not looking at us, buddy." He told him. Then he thought for a moment, perturbed and with a rather disgusted voice asked "Why would anybody want to look at women in bikinis?!" We all laughed.

I suppose it is time for me to change the name of my blog as I have been rather inconsistent in my sit ups endeavors. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I aspired for it. I did pretty good the first 6 months and my abs are allot better than I ever imagined. I just am so busy and can't seem to keep up with them, especially when I'm doing so many active things outdoors. That's okay. I will keep doing them, just not every day. So any new name suggestions?

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

"Fish Princess" and I swam across a bay at Koocanusa

Miss Moona feasts on Goat Girls organic Greens right out of the garden :-)

Me testing out the new wet suit :-)

First off with my terrible confession......this is rather..er.. difficult... errr.... i think i went a week without doing any sit ups.... oh that was painfull. Okay, now onto better news....

It WAS a super fun couple of weeks since my last post. I DID get in a 4 miler and 7 miler run before my company arrived. Then our family had an AWESOME week of fun with them. Every waking moment was FULL! From fireworks to lakeside life to games to hikes the fun never stopped. But I am reminded (via my blog and a little squish) that its time to get back to work!! I could party all summer, but if i did, I'd lose a lot of ground. Here's some proactive things I've been doing since all the fun.....

1. made a great wild rice and trout dinner for my guests at the last "party" so it was a healthy fiesta!

2. been making DAILY healthy organic fruit smoothies for the fam!

3. 7 mile run last night (met a moose)! ugh :-)

4. restarted my sit ups regime...

5. several days at the lake - got in some distance swims.....

6. THE ARCHER AND I REGISTERED FOR THE LONG BRIDGE SWIM!!

ooohhhhh the pressure is on now ;-) I'm always THRILLED when i can pass some form of passion for fitness down to my kids!

7. Hubby and I did an 11 mile bike ride together :-)

8. More fun athletic endeavors in the works!! Mojo is rising......

I see a lot of backpacking and camping in the near future too - which always burns alot of calories minus the hot dog and s'more factor ;-) There is NOT MUCH i'd rather be doing than hanging out at some remote sandy beach and frolicking in the water! I'm such a nature girl tho i never used to be! Really, everything is there. You just gotta see it. The forest is full of romance and privacy. Running, Hiking, Swimming and sunshine pulls out those happy endorphins and burns calories galore. Feasting on Huckleberries, fish and other Forrest edibles are naturally organic, naturally balanced..... Bathing in the fresh mountain lakes is exhilarating. A little lupine is intoxicating perfume....wild forest mint to freshen your breath before kissing your lover. I know i know - i'm getting corny on camping - lol!!

Anyhoo..... My wet suit is working out well, tho the lakes have been warm enough without it. My new bike is working good too. Still need to post one of those pics ;-) I'm excited about my new bikini toooooooo. My husband specified the cut and style he wanted and I ordered it from venus - fun!! I Love being married to you toytrkman!!

And so now you've agonized in my defeats, and shared in my thrills of victory for the week ;-) Till next time.............