2011 - 1.76 Mile "Long Bridge Swim"

My Eldest Son,
"The Archer" and I in front of the finish point.....

















Arriving at check in.....
Picnic afterward....

The Start of the swim....

The Archer in the middle (wet suit and green cap)

My son "Archer" again... isn't he amazing?!?!

Me..... try not to laugh ;-)

My husband states he can pick me out by my "wounded frog swim"

Hubby and I at the finish. So thankful for my wonderful supportive husband!!

Archer with the free ice cream!!

As usual, nothing was "status quo" about the Long Bridge Swim for me this year ;-)

The lakes had been cold and didn't warm up till Mid-July which didn't give me a lot of time to train. I almost didn't even do it except that I had told the kids that I would do their dishes turns for a month if they participated. My eldest, "The Archer", took me up on it. With some swim strokes tips from Blue Alice, he was all set for the day!

As usual, I obsessed over what I would wear. All my most comfortable, best hard wearing swimwear are bikinis. I decided to try wearing water shorts over the bottoms for added modesty. In the end the shorts dragged low and looked horrid. I guess the best thing I can do is laugh it off. Last year I wore swim shorts and a tank over my bikini top. That tank created a lot of drag and looked ridiculous. I guess I'm going to have to go back to the drawing board for next year.

In the early morning we arrived in plenty of time for check in. I phoned my husband and told him that Archer go scared and changed his mind.... hahaha. Neither my husband or the Archer found that amusing ;-) My Bloomsday buddie caught up with us and we hung out there awaiting the safety meeting. After boarding the buses, we anxiously got to our start point. It was so much fun having my son be there with me!! I felt so proud of him :-)

Once we got into the water, I lost him but I knew he was a strong swimmer and would be fine. He said he kept thinking of Dorie on "Nemo" telling him "Just keep swimming - just keep swimming" lol!!

Just when I settled into a groove, somebody dropped a cup almost on me from off of the bridge. As it floated by, I became rather leery of swimming so close to the bridge. On I went, a little further out......

Right away I noticed my swim shorts dragging. My goggles seemed too tight. Nothing seemed right but I kept on swimming anyway. I accidentally kicked somebody. Then I punched somebody. Oh dear. None of that was intentional. People just seemed to keep swimming in front of me. As usual it seemed like I was swimming in place and I had to keep focusing mentally to tell myself that I was indeed, moving......

To add insult to injury, as I finally got my mental train of thought back, some old guy accidentally grabbed my behind. I was shocked and he immediately apologized, but it kind of threw me off to say the least. You just never know whats going to happen in these things. Most normal people meet a lot of nice people and have a great time. Me, well nothing ever seems to go "normal". Hahaha.

My husband and kids expected "The Archer" to be ahead of me and so for the first half of the swim I never saw them. I was fine with that, figuring they were tracking him. Then, half way through, just as I was feeling weary there they were cheering me on. Turns out my husband states he wasn't cheering me on, but trying to signal me to pull up my britches - bwa ha ha ha. Really he did cheer for me and I felt the wind under my wings. I even think I might have drafted a little here and there. Though I was tired and worked hard, I never stopped once. I'm still awaiting my time results to post. I think since I didn't train this year and since I was about 13 people later I probably don't have as good of a time.

When I got out, I consumed ice cream, cookies, fruit and all manner of free snack food. Though my incessant craving for steak eventually won out. If ever my appetite was completely out of control, its when I finish something like that!! My Archer made it out of the water not long after me, but of course the kids had to razz him about his mom beating ;-) Really, I'm amazed and proud of his accomplishment. I'm so excited that he had it in him. Besides my most important desire of wanting to pass on a relationship with God, I hope all my kids will have a love for fitness. It is such a simple, yet profound way of expanding and enhancing ones life.

In conclusion, the swim was a lot of fun, but was not without mishaps and misadventures. I suppose if I couldn't look back and laugh at myself I wouldn't have an entertaining story to tell ;-)

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.............

UGH!

Here's some pics of us girls before church the other day. The Sock Expert REFUSED to let me put up any of the ones of her - though she is totally adorable!! It was a big step for me because the dress I'm wearing is NEW. That's right. Its new and I didn't even buy it on clearance. I got it at Ross. Laugh, but spending $20 on a dress was a stretch for me. I totally panicked buying it - almost didn't. I FEARED whether my husband would like it or not. As it turned out, he loved it and my friend Elasta Woman says its her favorite ever!! Whew - relief! So I figured I'd put up the pics :-) I am also over due to put up my bike pics and my NEW WET SUIT pics.......

The wetsuit is a crazy story!! I was lamenting our return from a super fun weekend as we headed home. (See "A GRRRReat Weekend" post) Anyway, my husband decides to stop at our favorite used sporting goods place on the way through the big city. I'm feeling all disheveled and frumpy. I can't bear to go in until I pluck out the unsightly chin hairs that have popped up on my face over the weekend. I'm disgustedly sporting "the pms bloat". My shorts are a size or two too big and have a bizarre hang to them. Am I painting you a good "frump feel?" Okay, so in I go not really wanting to be "seen".

I head straight over to the wet suits which I have eyed for the last several visits. The water is just soooo cold and its almost July!! How will I EVER get any training in with out one? So anyways, this guy comes up and says "I just got done doing the same thing!" He's all smiley and friendly. "Are you an open water swimmer?!?!" he asks. Of course I love being labeled "an open water swimmer" and I'm all about it because, after all, I am one. After a while I start to get some weird vibes. Maybe he's being too friendly? Naaa. I'm frump city here. He's just being polite. We both just love open water swimming. Not to mention my entire family is milling around and its a small store. He shows me his purchase. It has short sleeves. I tell him the sleeves hindered me with my last wet suit. He tells me to "work my guns" displaying a playful a muscle flex for me with a wink. One of the clerks possibly picks up on the awkwardness of the situation and hangs around adding in a few comments here and there. After a while the friendly swim guy moves on. I'm trying on my 3rd wet suit and feeling a bit befuddled. I wasn't expecting all that attention.

Then he comes back..... He has this silly head thing and asks me if I've ever used one. Now I know he can't possibly be serious. This is an excuse. I swallow. This is more than friendly. He starts acting silly and flirty. I swallow again feeling nervous. Is this guy actually flirting with me?! Then he starts giving advice on wet suit fit and brushes my waist with a mock pinch. Okay now about a million alarms go off and my face is beet red. I'm flattered, but ugh!! Doesn't this guy see my wedding ring on? Suddenly the guys intense, flashy eyes change from "pursue" to a look of sheer horror. I follow his eyes to behind me. There my entire family is standing and staring at him with protective stares and arms crossed. My husband, particularly, does not look happy. His giant biceps seem flexed and there is a bit of a twitch to his jaw. I kiss his cheek, smiling naturally. He puts a protective arm around me. I turn back and the flirter has fled in terror........... My husband buys me the wet suit (cool). I wander out the door wondering what I should have done differently.........

The Continual Feast

Surprisingly, the sun made an appearance this week. He was wayyyy late, like by a month. We had pre-planned "doing something" on that first long awaited day of 80 degree bliss. I even did my chores and got out running early so I could take FULL advantage. At first I thought we were going to stay home, but by 1pm (prime sun time) my husband says "lets go to such an such a lake." We all rushed around like crazy packing up for it. My mental calculator kept trying to figure out how much time i would miss in the car from the prime sunlight while driving there. I had been emotional that day anyway, and so while driving, I found out he had to go to another city first to pick up a car part. My eyes started tearing up and I asked myself "am I really crying about missing prime sunshine?" Shamelessly, I was.......... Don't ask me my age, I'm not telling.

Anyway, around 4pm we pulled up at the busy busy lake. The tip of the boat landing had a rather large, loud, obese and smoking family gathered there with lawn chairs. It was the best part to swim in for little kids. I thought to just pull up by them and tolerate the smoke and obscenities and stares but my daughter didn't want to. After forever, the men and boys loaded into boats and floated off. I took the truck to the only other available spot which was along the road. There was green slime in that part of the water and an old jar of fish eggs on shore. Reluctantly, I pulled out my sheet and placed it over a couple of rocks. Moonbeam dipped her toes in the water. Sock Fashion Expert popped some Benedryl and curled up to take a nap inside the truck, miserable. It was nearing 5pm by now, and the beautiful day had somehow slipped out of my fingers.

When Moonbeam insisted on hanging out in the middle of the road, I knew I was nearing the end of my sanity level. The day I had so anticipated was not turning out at all like I'd expected. It seemed like EVERYTHING was going wrong. Suddenly that overwhelmed release came and I started giggling. I reminded myself several times that a person with a merry heart has a "continual feast". I thanked God that I could soak up the sun - for the time I had now. I noticed the loud family had left and decided to drive back over there. Soon we were parked in their spot and had taken up residence there, watchful for boaters who wanted to use the landing. I relaxed while Moonbeam splashed around. I dove into the cool waters and felt refreshed, and again found my oasis on the sheet with a magazine and lime water. Sock Fashion Expert popped out of the truck and looked around. She didn't seem quite so miserable. Just as I felt completely relaxed, another large loud group pulled up behind me and a bunch of rowdy kids piled out. "Continual Feast" I said to myself. By then it was nearing 5:30 or 6pm. We ate our sandwiches and I decided not to care about the other smoking people playing loud music and yelling at their kids. Soon the men came back and we got ready to go. Super Catman's shorts got wet and he forgot to bring new ones. He had to wear his sisters. He was thoroughly disgusted with that turn of events.

On the way home, my husband decided to take the scenic route. It would take a couple of extra hours with stops. I was tired. "Continual Feast". We explored a realty property that my husband was curious about and my kids loved looking in the windows and peeking around. They seemed excited. At long last, around bedtime, we arrived home...... Things continued not to work out like I planned, but I kept trying hard to remember "Continual Feast". I lost it sometimes, but not as bad as I would have had my attitude been bad to begin with.

The next day I had to work all night. We couldn't make any plans. I felt mopey but started my chores. Then the phone rang. My friends wanted to meet me at the lake (the nearby one). All in all the day was a lot nicer. My husband even watched the baby while I floated out in the lake on a little blow up boat with Dear Elasta Woman. I felt kind of frumpy next to her lean bikini body, but I reminded myself "Continual Feast". We had a great conversation. Shes one of the very few I can actually talk to without holding back. She has more depth and she understands me. She's a good friend. When I had to leave, my husband came back with me. We had all rode bikes over and some of the kids were staying. He let me snuggle up to sleep on him and drool on his leg for half an hour before I had to leave........ When it was time I started bawling. Again, don't ask my age, I'm not telling. I badgered him about what he thought of my swimwear. He hates that and never complies with my insecurity. That sets me off. As I was saying, "Continual Feast". I tried to be thankful he let me drool on his leg and drove off to work. I had a good shift. Later that next day I put on my $3 second hand store bikini and layed out in the sun. My husband had a lot of nice things to say about it. I looked in the mirror. It wasn't half bad. Isn't it funny how just a different cut of material can give a totally different look to a person? Why my $3 bikini? Who knows. Continual Feast............................. Okay, your turn :-)

Proverbs 15:15 "All the days of the afflicted are evil, But he who is of a merry heart has a continual feast."

work smerk

Everything takes blasted work!

Its been a muddy, wet June. Everybody started dieting in April and May. Not me. Nope. I knew better. You start dieting back then and you totally lose your motivation by the time real pre-swimsuit season hits - say Mid June? I'm not kidding, tho i wish i was ;-) Really, there has only been a handful of sun bronzing days so far. Most of them have been rain rain rain. I'm SUPER THANKFUL that the one nice weekend we had we got to camping. Anyhoo, in light of it being MID JUNE, I and my girlfriends decided it was time to start planning for swimsuit season. We launched a full scale assault on belly fat. One decided to eat 2 eggs for breakfast every morning and start running. Her goals - successful. The next - no bread. Her goals - well she changed them. Mine was to do 2 weeks of 1500 calories, then I added in a week of no bread.

It was a rather tumultuous week. I didn't have much energy when I was out running. I felt kind of ravenous at night, and I turned into a mutant zombie monster. My sister had the kind heart to talk some sense into me. She insists that my belly fat and love handles are supposed to be there ;-) Anyhow I am rethinking my pre-season swimsuit strategies and am, alas, again, open to suggestions. I just don't do well on diets when I am super active. I guess healthy is the better goal dang nabbit!! I did lose a lousy 2 lbs and 2 inches off my gutt..... BUT I WANNA BE SWIMSUIT READY!! Here's where I hit the floor kicking and bawling and throwing an all out tantrum...............

So, as I was saying, back to the drawing board for me. In other news, my husband bought me a cool new (used) bike. Its a Giant brand mountain bike which he acquired from the Lucky Logger Pawn and Dime or some such place. He made me go in and wheel and deal them tho - ugh! Theres nothing more fearsome than trying to bargain with a pawn shop owner ;-) Thankfully, the shrewd lady came down a good amount and I now have something better than a 10 year old $35 dollar clearance bike from Wal mart. Can't wait to ride it! We have plans in the future for a 20 mile loop ride and then a 40 mile trip to the nearby city. I'm excited to do the new challenges. Also have been running several days a week and getting in hard sit ups days half the time and chumpy easy ones the other half. I wish for the days of open water swim season, only God knows when they will arrive......

Marshmallowology

Our young subject agreed to participate in a study regarding what would happen should she sneak into the marshmallow bag unsupervised... hence our title post.
Note the first picture (the marshmallow high) and then comes the next one (the marshmallow crash). Does this ever happen to you? She even still has one in her hand - lol!!

Every time I put up a post on here, I wonder exactly "what did I do for the past week or two?" Despite the claims that my blog is "painfully boring", its actually a good form of accountability for me which is hopefully just a bi product - as I hope to motivate you as well!!

Last week seemed to fly by, though us girls did have a good accountability meeting and bronzed together in the sun afterward. I feel so blessed to have girlfriends who love the sun as much as I do ;-) Finding swimsuit season upon us, we decided to crack down for the next week or two. My resolution was to do 1500 cals a day again for a couple of weeks, but we all agreed that with the upcoming camping trip we would take the weekend off from our goals. After all, whats camping without a few hot dogs and s'mores?! I got a few runs in this week so far and also a couple last week, did my sit ups like a good girl (getting better about doing them before I am too sleepy for too many). Also got a good kayak trip in while we were camping. Now I'm bound to that 1500 calorie promise along with a bread (white flour) fast - ugh :-) Why do I always plan big anyway ?

So far I have been eating good - peaches and yogurt, salads, steamed broccoli with feta, cottage cheese and strawberries, corn on the cob - yum! It really hasn't been all that hard. Spending money on good food is a lot more beneficial than you would think, especially if you are wanting to lose weight and be healthy. You just feel good. I know so many people who skimp on fruits and vegetables saying they "can't afford" them, but the same people have money for soda, ramen noodles and all manner of things that have absolutely no nutrition. Those kinds of foods are not just non nutritious, they are harmful to our bodies. Sure a treat now and then is fine, but living on "treats" is no way to treat our body. Just a little food for thought - lol. I guess the marshmallow pics say it all ;-)