I just got home this afternoon from an epic journey away from
home. In the past 12 days:
- Baby Alex took his first airplane ride to
Alberta to meet his cousins, aunties, uncles, and new friends
- We had an amazing time at our cousin’s wedding
in Alberta. I laughed until I cried, and
let loose like it was my job. I can’t
remember the last time I had that much fun. I feel so much more connected to
Nick and his family, and like a bit of my old, non-Mom self is back. I blogged 6 weeks ago about having a goal of
fitting into a dress I bought, and while I chose not to wear it, I wore another
similar looking dress that barely fit me months earlier as well. Multiple “wins”
on this day for me!
- I visited the Rocky Mountains (Canmore and
Banff) for the first time in over 6 years.
I forgot how beautiful the mountains are. We reconnected with good
friends from our days in Alberta and their four adorable little girls. I
learned that even though we are no longer in our 20’s and have 6 kids between
us, it’s as though we never left Alberta.
We haven’t let being parents or our age define us. As I get older I
believe it can get harder to make really close friends especially if you do
spend a lot of your time raising kids and working full time…so those friendships
I have made and kept are that much more precious to me. I feel as though my
soul is that much more fulfilled from being with family and friends last week.
- We flew back to Victoria and the next day hauled
our 32 foot trailer to the north island for 5 days. About 550K one-way with 2 young kids is a
challenge and some learning for me that we may have to be less ambitious in our
outdoor adventures for now. That’s not
to say we will hang out in our living room all weekend from now on, but shorter
travels closer to home are probably less stressful for everyone. The northern
part of Vancouver Island is still so pristine, with logging roads being the
only way to get to some communities and areas we visited. I get so much energy
from exploring new places. I can‘t wait to go back and see Cape Scott
Provincial Park and Raft Cove Provincial Park (make note: there’s another
travel goal).
 |
| beach at Cluxewe (north island) |
 |
| Telegraph Cove |
 |
| driving on logging roads and seeing nothing but trees... |
 |
| ...and deserted logging trains |
- I exercised ONCE. I ventured out for a pathetic
6K run with Alex in his stroller last week when we were in Canmore. I blame bad eating, mild hangover and higher
altitude. I had a major cramp the entire
time and could barely make it up a minor hill.
I still have to complete my 20K training run for the half marathon which
is in ELEVEN DAYS! I abandoned all clean eating habits for almost 2 weeks too. It
was as though the wedding in Calgary happened, I wore my dress and felt great,
and then my eyes rolled to the back of my head like when a shark attacks its
prey and I ate every carbohydrate in sight. What is wrong with me!? I feel
disgusting and about 20 pounds heavier. I refuse to weigh myself until tomorrow
morning. My learning from this is that there needs to be an immediate goal
after a major one is achieved to keep me going.
I guess I had my eyes fixed on the wedding and fitting into my dress,
and when that day passed, I didn’t really have another weight loss goal. So as of right now, I’m getting back to good
eating, and I’m going to exercise tomorrow. As they say, just start, right? I’m going to do my 20K long run by this weekend,
which is a little late to be doing it but it’s the earliest I can have someone
watch the kids for more than 2 hours. My next health related goal is to run the
entire hilly route of the half marathon on June 2nd without excess
weight sloshing around my torso (as it is kind of doing right now) which means
finishing feeling great.
 |
| running with Alex in Canmore (downhill so I could breathe and snap a picture with my phone) |
No comments:
Post a Comment