Done with 3 days, 27 more to go

So far Glenn and I have done great on this Paleo challenge.  I feel super full most of the time and Glenn's getting there, it's because of the tastes in some of the meals that makes him not want to eat more of it...I will be changing some ingredients in the next few days.  Last night we had the paleo fajitas on romaine lettuce and they were so stinking good.  I'll be making those again and again, especially since they're easy for Glenn to take on the ship to microwave on duty days.  There was zucchini in the goulash that he didn't care for so we won't be making that again.  I made this stuff with cauliflower (turned into rice) and added onions, mushrooms and some chicken and apple sausage.....I would eat that for every single meal if it didn't take so much elbow grease to shred all of that cauliflower.  I'm thinking about adding shrimp the next time.  So far I've lost 3.5 pounds, I know, probably water but hey, I'm out of the 150's FINALLY!!!  Since that vacation in May I have let everything go and I'm sick of it.  Squishing into shorts that I fit into perfectly in the middle of May does not make me feel very good about myself.  Glenn's lost 4 pounds so far and he hasn't weighed himself for the past few days.

We all went on a bike ride/run (kids rode bikes, we ran) yesterday and sweated out almost every drop of water we had in us!  We took a turn on a back road thinking it would take us out a different route then it did....The kids had quite a bumpy ride in the neck of the woods we were in.  Today Glenn's changing the oil in both cars since they finally opened the hobby shop on base back up.  Little did he know that they jacked the prices up before they reopened.  Christopher is down at his friend's house for a Webelos thing, he is getting his pinewood derby car cut into the shape he wants for the race.  He'll have to sand and paint it after it's cut, then we will take it to the Den meeting on Thursday to get it weighed.  He was so close to winning the space derby I hope he wins this one.  The kids that do the majority of the work on their projects should win, not the ones with the dad that has the most woodworking skills.

Madison babysat a friend's kids this morning, we had to get up at 5:00 to make sure she was ready to be picked up at 5:25, waaaay too early but at least I was able to go back to bed since I kept waking up worried that I had missed the alarm and overslept, or that I wasn't going to hear the alarm or to go to the bathroom.  At least she had a good time and came home with some experience and cash.  Alexander did so good on the bike ride yesterday, he only complained once...yes, that's excellent for him.  He's the complainer in the bunch.  He earned himself some computer time after that long workout.   Tomorrow morning I think there'll be another workout at the park for me and then my ship shape class in the evening for the biggest winner challenge.  So far I've gotten all the points I was able to plus a few extras (5 max) for our team.  I wish Glenn was going to be here on March 9th to go to the final team challenge and results but he'll be away, again, with the stinking ship.  I'm hoping he'll be able to come home to some good news...Maybe I will win, you never know.

Other than that, not much has gone on here, the same old stuff happens day in and day out.  I should go get to cleaning the kitchen, I did make quite a mess with my cauliflower and fajitas and some of it is still there.  Have a great day everyone, so far we are. :)

Dieting or getting healthy??

So if you've seen my facebook post from a few days back you know that when Glenn gets back from this short deployment we will be starting the 30 day paleo challenge.  He said he will eat what I make and I am going to try to make meals that are actually appetizing and delicious so that we can stick to it for 30 days with no cheating.  No, there aren't any cheat days allowed in the version of the challenge that we're doing.  I'm hoping that we will get into the vegetable and fruit thing after these 30 days and try not to eat as many cookies and snacks that we tend to munch on.  It will be healthier for both of us as well as the kids because yes, I am going to make them eat some of the meals that I make.  There are some that I know they will most likely not have the taste for but others will be just fine.  I hope I don't go through fake sugar withdrawals.  I will post before and after pictures after we are done and hopefully you will be able to see a big difference.  

I have also signed up and started the biggest loser (they call it biggest winner this year) challenge at the gym.  I have to go to a nutrition class once a week on Monday evenings and Tuesday and Thursday evenings will be the days I go to the team workouts (because without the points I get from these things, I will not be eligible to win on my own).  I have only missed one of the MWF workouts at the park since starting the Monday after Thanksgiving.  They do cross fit up there and I have to say it's super tough most of those mornings but I feel so much stronger.  I can actually do the standing box jump onto a 2 foot box now!  I was so proud of myself that when Jessie and I went to the gym, she and I both tried the slightly taller box and were both able to get onto it!!  I think it was about up to my thighs!  I had to do a minute test of push ups and sit ups for the challenge and a mile run.  I did 20 push ups (yes, real push ups) and 22 sit ups in those minutes (this was after the cross fit workout at the park earlier that morning) and my mile run time was 9:53.  Under 10!!  In order to win you have to have the highest percentage of body fat loss and improvement on all 3 of the above tests.  We'll see how I do.  We are going to officially start the 30 days on the 20th of this month after we have all the groceries and supplies we need to get going.

On another note, Alexander had his first sleepover last night with his buddy Sam and had a blast.  Christopher can bust out about 15-20 pull ups on the pull up bar we hooked up in the hallway (and I still have yet to do 1) and Madison is a machine on the pull up bar as well.  They are growing so fast!!  Only 128 days until we will be back in the states and we'll be able to see how much all of their cousins have grown!!  I know it's going to go by slow some days and then other days will seem to fly by, particularly the days that I need to last longer.  Right now Glenn is in Saipan and says it's just like a mini Guam.  I'm sure he's not excited about that!  We're over Guam and cannot wait to get back to the "real world".

So, I don't have any more news right now.  I'll leave you with this picture of my reluctant party-goer. :)

Peace out Dudes!

Almost Finished With Guam

We have began a countdown until the day we leave Guam.  We will be leaving about 3 weeks before Glenn so we will be able to spend more time on the west coast without him using up all of his leave time.  The ticket requests have been submitted and we're just waiting to see what they come up with.  May 20th is the day we're shooting for so we'll see.  I'm not sure if I'd prefer to fly through Japan or Hawaii honestly.  Japan at least has a McDonald's at their airport.  Hawaii has a Quiznos....Hmmmmm.  

Yesterday Christopher had a scouts camping trip but we ended up not camping overnight.  I'm happy about that because it ended up pouring last night!  We did however stay the whole day, and when I say whole day, I mean 10:00 am until 7:00 pm, at the campsite.  Glenn had his golf league in the morning and the plan was for me to take the kids there in the morning and swap out with Glenn at around 2 when he was done and I could take the other kids home.  Well plans change, he came there and we were both wiped out from being in the sun all morning but I hadn't been doing anything physical like he had so I volunteered to stay the rest of the afternoon.  Glenn hung out and did the activities with Christopher and then him and Alexander headed out.  Within 5 minutes, Alexander was asleep in the car.  Madison decided to stay because 2 of her friends were there.  

We went fishing with cane poles and had to scrounge up some bait.  First we tried to hit up the snails that are all over the place but they have this hard bottom layer that they slide over the "door" and we were not making any progress there.  I told them we should use the hermit crab, Madison was not having that...yet.  We tried to crush the snail shell but the rock crumbled and that was a no go.  Then we found a crab that was half smashed by a rock but still moving and decided he was a goner anyways.  We hooked him up and Christopher had some bait and was on his way.  We ended up walking around the little edge of the small island we were on and found some hermit crabs...Madison was to the point now that she wanted some bait and the hermit crab seemed like the only option.  We made this little guy so mad that he ended up jumping out of his shell, I'm not joking.  He just gave up on life, so we hooked him up and she was on her way.  Neither one of them caught a fish but they did eat up an hour just fishing.  Christopher wanted to slip and slide so we headed down that way and they were closing it down.  I was of course blamed for this because he wanted to go 5 minutes ago.  I let them decide whether or not they wanted to slip and slide first or fish...they chose fish.  They had a long day and so did I.  We hung around and ate some food and headed out at 7:00.  

I think last night was the first night I've gone to bed and haven't laid there waiting to fall asleep.  I was out the minute I put my head on my pillow and slept 12 hours.  I didn't realize how wiped out I actually was.  

I of course left my good camera at home because I didn't want to carry it around all day (yes, it's heavy) but I decided to go with my baby Canon...we got there and it was dead.  My phone was the only option I had left, thank goodness it takes some alright pictures or I would have been mad, at myself for choosing to leave my good one behind.  

The fire had been lit and the smoke was rolling, can't you tell?

Both boys had to cook their own lunch for a change.  I think they appreciated it a little more after sitting next to a blazing fire while the temperature outside was around 95 degrees.

Being instructed on how to shoot the bb gun he was about to get his hands on.

Waiting for Christopher to get those instructions and head back to the breezy side of the trees because it was just plain old hot.

Picking up the bb gun the way he was taught.

Line it up buddy.  I think he hit the target but those things were so small that I couldn't tell.

Happy that Daddy arrived mid instructions and gave him some shade under that nice visor.

Making his survival bracelet with Daddy.

Finding out that the spark that blew his way actually burnt him and put a nice little hole in his shirt.  No, he wasn't pouting, he was trying to look down at his burn.

Bracelet weaving with Daddy.

The second snail we tried to hook as bait.  He looks mad!!  Those little "eyebrows" actually moved around and it looked like he was shouting at us.

Christopher fishing with his baby crab on the hook.

Madison hooking up the hermit crab that so kindly gave up his life so we could catch a lot of nothing.

That's it for now, I'm not so good at remembering everything that has been going on.  I suck at blogging constantly although I have my moments.  Have a great day everyone!