Sunday

Today was the day that I practice for my triathlon that is coming up in SEVEN WEEKS. If you want to know what I did today, check here. I didn't do much else to report except go to the store twice to get things that Morgan remembered at the last minute that she needed for school and LAUNDRY. I am TIRED.

Boat Day

Today, we went on the Bond boat. Morgan had choreography, so I didn't have any kids! It was pretty odd, but I had so much fun laughing with Courtney and Lisa in the back of the boat while Mike and Travis were having quality Boy time. We cracked up at Travis having a bath mat that he puts down so that nobody gets dirt into the boat. That combined with him taking a shower before getting back into the boat after swimming definitely earned him some grief. :) Almost as much as the Wii pants. :)

We cruised around, swam, and sang to Courtney"s ipod tunes. We had a lot of the same running tunes. We both said that we don't care what people say, Miley has some good running songs. :)

Morgan, Mike, and I went to the pool after the boat. I swam laps, and then we played. I was sooooo hungry after a while. I was impatient and wanted dinner. So, we went to Cracker Barrel. It was yummmmmmy. I had chicken tenders that were grilled, green beans, lima beans, and apples. I did also have a biscuit. :)

Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday afternoon started with getting to see Courtney and Lisa. Yes, Lisa lives here, but I see her about as often as I get to see Courtney who doesn't live here. I must get better at planning things with people I don't see as often. :)

The Bonds had a party, and it was great to hang with everyone and to catch up with Courtney. We went on quite the shopping trip to Publix. :) Let's just say that the deli isn't too thrilled when you ask them to make a sandwich platter on the fly.

I didn't get into the pool or hot tub because everyone had gotten out already by the time i picked Morgan up from Choreography and got back. Camden was so sweet and laid down in my lap next to Morgan and said, "She is going to bed!" Riley was adorable too when Lisa said that Diet meant not for kids. He got this puzzled look, tilted his head, and quietly said, "not for kids?" It was hysterical. Reagan wasn't so sure about playing with me, but I love to watch him play.

This week was such a whirlwind, and it seemed like it went so fast and furious. I was simply exhausted by Friday and needed a break. It was such a nice treat to get to play in the afternoon since I took the afternoon off. I needed that.

Interesting Day in History

This morning, I was listening to the news talk about Ted Kennedy's death, and I was wondering what other things have happened on Aug 26th. For some reason, I thought it was rather interesting, so I looked it up.

Today is a pretty important date in history!

(1920) The 19th Ammendment allowing women to vote was certified by Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby.

(1939) The first major league baseball game was televised.

(1958) Alaska voted to become a state.

(1992) Hurricane Andrew made its second landfall in Louisianna.

Pretty neat stuff.

My co-worker

Sophie sits next to me all day.

Sunday - Last Day Before School

Today, we slept late (YAH!!!), and then Mike, Chris, Michael, and I went riding bikes at Flatwoods trail. I was on my new Trek 1.2 WSD bike, and I loved it. I LOVED IT. I was nervous that it wasn't going to be that great, and I had pulled a quad muscle at Busch Gardens. However, it turned out to be great. I now can see why people like to ride. :) Last week, we did the same ride, but I was so tired at the end. I was wondering how in the world I would ever run after that ride. Today, I could see it. Thankfully, I have 8 more weeks to train, but at least I can see it now. Chris was on his mountain bike, and we went ahead while Mike and Michael were having trouble with Michael's bike. We stopped to wait, and Chris said he felt like puking. I so felt like that last week, and I was so happy to feel good this time. At times, my heart rate monitor was reading 110, and last week it was pegged at 170 the whole time. :)

After the ride, I did my couch to 5K week 6 day 2 (two ten min runs), and it was tough. I did it though. :)

Then, Morgan and I got our nails done in preparation for the first day of middle school. I cannot believe my baby is going into middle school. The first day is her birthday. Kind of sucks but kind of fun.

We went to dinner with Grams and Papa at Outback. We love the $9.99 steak dinners there (especially with the blue cheese wedge salad - YUM). After dinner, we lit candles on the cake and sang again to Morgan. Mike pulled out the homemade ice cream, and we had a treat. Then, I was stuffed so we went for a walk with Sophie. It was fun to walk with Mom and Dad. I am sad they are leaving tomorrow. It went much too quickly and we didn't get to see them very long. :(

Mom and Dad brought Morgan's cantaloupe from the seeds she planted in Nashville around Easter. I was shocked to see the cantaloupe. Amazing! We cut it open thinking it would be green and not ripe, but it was perfect. Morgan was thrilled to eat it. Grams cut up the rest and put them in the fridge. :)

Busch Gardens

Mogan and her birthday party crew headed to Busch Gardens today. When Morgan first said she wanted to have her party there, I was skeptical. However, it turned out to be great AND it was cheaper than most of her past parties. I bought quick queue passes for everyone so that we didn't have to waste time standing in line. We got there around 11:00, and the line to park was the longest I have ever seen it. I was worried about crowds.

Tori was in line for parking at the same time, and my parents and Mark parked a few spots over. Perfect timing! We all went into the part together and headed for Montu. The girls loved it, and then headed to Gwazi. I am not a fan of Gwazi, but I wrote Lion the first time. After that, the kids went on Tiger and the adults recovered. Gwazi is an old wooden roller coaster, and it is really jerky.

My parents went to see Katonga while we rode the coasters, and then we all went to the Desert Grill for lunch. Mom, Dad, Mark, and I went to the chicken finger stand and got EIGHT chicken fingers platters. :) Mike took the girls and went throuhg the Desert Grill line for the two that didn't want chicken. The show was cute, and we ate during it. After the show, it started raining. We huddled at the Dippin Dots stand for a while as the girls ate dippin dots (Morgan had ice cream thanks to Daddy who jumped at the chance to go through the ice cream line that just also happens to sell beer). :) Then, we went to the 4D Pirates show to miss out on the rain. We had 40 minutes to wait, so Mike took the girls to "watch others play the games." 30 minutes later, I had to chase them down as they were all playing. Alexis and Alyssa won a Tiger, but Alyssa was SO very sweet and said that Morgan should have hers since it was her birthday. I was so impressed. What a sweet girl.

I guess Grams wasn't expecting the 4D, and she jumped when the air blew on our legs. It was hysterical, and I could hardly see the 3D as I was crying. :)

The rain slowed, so we headed to Shiekra. We used the quick queue pass to go, so we only had to wait through three coasters to get into the front row. As the gates were opening for us to get on, they closed the ride due to rain. Grrrr....We stood there waiting for it to pass, and Victoria had to go to the restroom. She tried to hold it, but the man running the ride said she might as well go as it would be a while. We rushed to the restroom, and as we are heading back they started the ride. Mike and the girls were on without us. :( We wanted to get a picture of the girls all together. Bummer. So, Victoria and I rode it and then met the girls. Of course, then we had to ride it again to get a picture. It turned ugly when Mike discovered that he couldn't ride in the middle of the girls as they wanted to be all together with no adults for the picture. I finally convinced him to ride in the row in front of them. DRAMA!

The picture turned out really well. The girls were happy to have their keychain of the day. :) My parents and Mark went to the Rock N Roll show at the Stanleyville Theater, and we joined them while the girls rode the flume. They joined us for the last few songs. The show was really good. The singers appeared to be of all ages which at first seemed a bit odd, but they were really great. The last song was "What a night" and Morgan was so funny as she realized she knew that song. :) My parents loved it as it was "their music."

Next, the girls wanted to do Tidal Wave. Mike, Mark, Mom, Dad, and I went on the bridge and stood behind the plexi-glass. It was fun to see Mark, Mike, and my Dad goof around like they were going to get soaked. The girls came off drenched.

After the tidal wave, Mike, Mark, and my parents went to ride the train, and I took the girls to the Congo River Rapids and Kumba. On the way to the River Rapids ride, there was a PHOTO BOOTH!. Please Amy, Please Miss Amy, Mommy, please. Oh, for the love of God, get in the picture booth. They had a blast taking pictures.

Next, they rode the River Rapids. Some guy shot Victoria with the water gun perfectly, and she was giving him lip from the boat. It was hysterical. Then, we went to Kumba. We had a great time on that ride. It is my favorite. It is smooth and long.

My parents were done and ready to go home. The girls wanted to go to Montu one more time. So, we all jumped on the sky ride and headed toward Montu. The girls were old enough to ride alone which thrilled them. It brought back lots of memories of my friend Alyssa and I going to Opryland and talking to all of the buckets as they passed us in the sky. I am so not ready for the teen years.

We said goodbye to Mark, Grams, and Papa. The girls got to ride Montu two more times. I rode the first time, and Mike recovered from the day on the bench. We FINALLY headed out to the exit, and I was pretty tired. The girls all got some candy to keep them going, and we headed out of the park. What a great party! I hope Morgan loved it as much as we did. :)

Morgan's 11th Birthday Cake

Thankfully, Morgan's party is a little smaller this year. It was supposed to be 6 girls plus Morgan, but one didn't show up. Good thing...6 is enough. Mike said, "I think they get louder as they get older." Too funny.

As they arrived, BEAM was first (Belize, Erica, Alexis, Morgan). They went swimming, and goofed off waiting for the pizza. After pizza, they played outside for a bit with silly string, played hide and seek, and then had water gun wars. We had cake and homemade ice cream (that was ALL Mike).

Tomorrow, we are doing Busch Gardens. Should be interesting. :)

Wow, Time Flies

I have been so busy that I have even struggled to find time to post things here. On August 6th, I got up at 3:30am to go to Denver for work. I had the 6:00 flight, and all was well. I landed in Denver around 10, and I met up with Krishan and Phil. We went to get a rental car, and Krishan picks this moment to tell me that he didn't get the rental car online after all as they were sold out.

Every car place was sold out except for one..Advantage Rental. They were charging ridiculous prices because nobody else had cars. Not only that, but everything was manual on the car. The windows had cranks, the doors didn't auto-clock. It was a riot.

We worked late and ate at Tokyo Joe's. It is kind of like Pei Wei, and it was good. I had shrimp and veggies with rice. We were going to get settled and then go to the hotel. I was amazed that the Hilton Garden Inn had supplied a welcome basket with my name printed on it and everything. It had nuts and stuff and two bottles of water. I keep trying to call Phil, and I give up and tell Krishan that I am going to head down. Phil was already there! He was on the treadmill (there was only one - boo hiss on the Hilton Garden Inn for only having one). When Phil finished the treadmill, I moved from the elliptical to the treadmill. I was doing the couch to 5k program, and I noticed that my left side was hurting. I only jogged for about one minute and I knew I needed to stop. It was really hurting.

We hung out for a bit talking and then hit the hay. I woke up a lot during the night, but by morning it was a dull ache. I went ahead to the treadmill and did the couch to 5K program. It hurt a little in the beginning, but then it felt fine. However, when I finished, it wasn't so fine. It was actually pretty painful. I figured it must be a kidney stone. I showered, and when I went down to meet the boys, it was very painful. In the car, it was really bad as I felt each and every bump. Finally around noon, I gave up and went to a doc. They ordered a CT and gave me pain meds. She put in an IV, and it was pretty funny as she made quite a mess. She told the doctor that they really needed to get better equipment as it looks like she shot me. :) I was a bit loopy as I drank the lovely gallon of stuff before the test.

When I got back after the CT, they gave me more pain meds through my IV and told me that the CT showed diverticulities and a partially obstructed colon. Lovely. We rushed out the door as all of this pushed us to barely make our flights. Phil and I were on the same flight to Atlanta, but I was upgraded so we weren't together. Thankfully, Phil got my old seat which turned out to be a pretty good seat.

The poor man next to me was miserable as I proceeded to puke in the barf bag all the way back. I haven't used a barf bag before, and they are pretty great little inventions. I was very thnakful to have it, and I felt really bad for the man next to me.

In Atlanta, Phil walked me to my gate. I made the next flight ok and only puked once. I have to say that on both flights, the Delta flight attendants were FANTASTIC. I need to write a letter. They were so kind to me, and they didn't make me feel badly for being sick. I got home around 1am.

Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were pretty boring, and the doc said that my colon had twisted but looked better now. He said I could only exercise once I was feeling no pain. :( By Tuesday, I was feeling good enough to go to the Triathlon training session, but I wasn't good enough to do the cycling the whole time. I hadn't ever been on a spin bike, so that was kind of fun. I started having bad pain though, so i didn't do the whole thing. I did get to hear what they were saying and to meet the other people, so that was nice. I had missed the first 2 sessions as I was out of town.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were MUCH, MUCH better. Morgan had choreography camp Mon - Wed, and their routine looks pretty cool. I can't wait to see them put it all together.

Saturday, Mike and I went for a bike ride after I went to step class (I had missed two weeks in a row), and then Morgan left for Universal with Alyssa. Mike and I went to the Rays game and to the B-52's concert afterward. The Rays won 8-3, and the B-52's rocked.

Sunday was triathlon prep day. We swam 1/4 mile, rode 11 miles, and walked/ran 2.6 miles (the tri is actually 3.1 miles but...). I am so happy to have done all of that in the same day even though we had long breaks in between each type of activity. We have 8 weeks to bring them closer and to get faster. What a great weekend.

Two Years of Blogging

On 7/29, my blog turned two. I just realized it. Seems so odd to remember those first posts where I wondered what in the world to say. :) I have really enjoyed blogging, and I hope to continue to be active.

Thanks to those of you who actually read it! :)

No More Cast!

Morgan got her cast off today. Whew. Hopefully, we will be castless for a LONG time. She had cheer practice at the new gym. The inside of it is really nice, but the outside is a bit scary. I am so used to the other gym that I completely forgot and went there. Thankfully, they are close together. It was so great to see all the cheer moms. I have missed seeing everyone.

I had Biko today, and I completed week 3 on the couch to 5K. Loving it.

Ginnie Springs Weekend

On Friday night, we drove up to Ginnie Springs to go camping. When we got there, it was raining and all the sites were wet. We drove around by Dogwood (our favorite spring to camp by), but the sites were either taken or wet (as in puddles). We finally decided to check out ones by Ginnie, and we found a perfect one that met all of our criteria (dry, near a spring, and next to a bathroom). We set up camp for a couple of hours in the rain, and then we went to the spring (of course the rain stopped once the set up was completed). We had smores for dinner since it was 10:30 by the time we were ready to eat and nobody was that hungry. Smores are the greatest.

Saturday morning, I woke at the crack of dawn to Michael telling stories about his dreams at the top of his lungs. I tried really hard to go back to sleep, but it didn't work. We did three trips down the river and countless trips to the spring. We griled hamburgers (well, Mike grilled and we ate). Mara, Kraig, Alexis, and Kylie came up for the day and we had a great time (even during the rain storm). We made hobo dinners on the campfire. YUM. We made smores before they left for the drive home. Alexis stayed for the night with Morgan in a new smaller tent. :) It was fun to introduce her to camping.

Sunday, we started tearing down camp and gradually did it all day. It was nice to do it in stages and not rush to get it down. we got the tents down early in case it rained. We did more river and springs, and we made smores ONE more time. We drove back with Outback calling my name for the Blue Cheese Wedge the ENTIRE TIME. We had outback and then headed home to unpack. BED felt sooooo good.