Labor Day Visit to Arlington National Cemetery

This Labor Day we decided that since we were all together as a family it would be a good idea to go visit my Grandmother again at Arlington National Cemetery. 

We laid stones, flowers and walked around and paid respect to not only our Grandmother but rows of brave heros that served our country. 

Sadly, we noticed a new row of plots since our last visit. 

We quickly realized they were the Navy Seals, Air Force and Army Personnel  that lost their lives in the 8-6-11 helicopter crash in Afganistan.

 Just broke my heart to see....

These coins were placed at each grave site along with a flower and American Flag

So sad.....

Till Next Time,

Laura

Hurricane Irene

As I watched Hurricane Irene slowly move closer and closer to our area, I decided that it would be best to pack up the entire family (baby, dogs and cat) and evacuate to my parents house in Maryland. Of course my husband had to leave for a detatchment so I had to face this alone. 

 I wanted to get ahead of all the potential bad traffic from those evacuating from South and North Carolina. 

Sure enough as soon as we leave, later that day my area gets a mandatory evacuation due to potential flooding. 

The trip up to Maryland went pretty typical. We got stuck in a 6 1/2 mile back up through the bridge/harbor tunnel and Allie serenaded me with her lovely voice over half of the trip. 

We arrived at my parents' house about 5 1/2 hours later and soon began preparing for Irene to hit. Yes, I evacuated to a place where Irene was still going to hit but I decided I'd rather be with family.

We stocked up our pantry with water, canned food, baby food and filled all three bathtubs up with water. 

It was crazy seeing the lines at gas stations. People were filling up three sometimes four gas cans for their cars and generators. Stations were also hiking up their gas prices starting the day before the storm hit. 

Interesting fact: If you fill up ziplock bags with water and freeze them, you can put these bags of water in your fridge if the power goes out. This will keep your fridge cold for a little longer. 

The morning weather the day Irene came was ominous. There was a slight breeze and fast wispy clouds moving across the darkening sky. My mom and I decided to  try and get in a walk before the storm hit but that was short lived because around 10 am the rain started....

The rain and wind sarted to get worse around 1230/1pm and stayed really rainy and windy throughout the whole day. Businesses decided to close early and people finished their last minute errands. Stores were also depleted of water and camping equipment. 

We all stayed inside clued to the tv in order to stay updated on all the information on the whereabouts of Irene. 

We unfortunately lost power at around 8pm and enjoyed an evening in the dark listening to the howling wind and a battery powered radio. 

Side note: Our power thankfully returned the next evening but I know people who still do not have power! These people are also getting automated phone calls from the power company at 4 am telling them their power has returned when in fact it has not. Who does that?!

As forecasted, the major part of the storm passed by at around 2 am. The winds were strong and sometimes scary. My brother  kept "watch" and stayed up to date on updates from his phone via The Weather Channel app and twitter. I couldnt sleep because I kept thinking about all the trees surrounding the house that could potentially fall on Allie and myself. 

The next morning we woke up and were curious to see what kind of damage Irene caused and thankfully there wasnt too much except for this tree that fell much too close to the house! 

We also saw trees down on power lines (probably why all of the main road in and out of D.C. had no power) and some trees on houses. A few boats at the marina my parents keep their boat were turned on their sides and a few biminies  were blown off. 

Im really thankful that everyone was okay and that the storm wasnt "catastrophic".  I realize that we only lost a few trees and where I live didnt flood but Im glad I played it safe and evacuated to my parents' house. It's better to be safe than sorry!

Allie the morning after the storm all bright eyed and happy!

Enjoying the nice weather outside after Irene!

Dogs enjoyed being outside after being stuck in the house!

Till Next Time!

Laura

New Goals

I've posted before about how to stay motivated to workout. For me, the best way to stay motivated is to train for something. I've recently trained and completed a 5K but now I'm going to return to my favorite workout of choice...cycling! 

I'm planning on doing the Sea Gull Metric Century on Oct. 15th. The ride is about 65 miles. This means I need to start riding at least 50-60 miles a week. I also have to start doing long rides up to 30-40 miles too.

My challenge is now that I have Allie I no longer have the freedom to just get on my bike and ride outdoors. Most of this training has to be done in a spin class or on my trainer. 

So we shall see if I can do it! 

Till Next Time!

Laura

Spamtastic!

This past week we visited my Dad's hometown of Austin, MN. It's a small town in southern Minnesota that's about 2 hours from Minneapolis. 

One of the must-dos in Austin is visiting the Spam Museum

Spam originated here in Austin in 1937. It was created by the Hormel Corporation. The same guys who make canned chili, canned ham and other meats. 

Did you know that Spam is really just Spicy Ham.... and ALOT of salt, ha!

The museum had plenty of fun hands on games for kids of all ages to play!

Here we are canning Spam in a race against the clock!

 Apparently, the plant is more efficient at canning than me!

The military LOVES Spam. It was a great way to feed the troops!

Allie had a great time learning all about Spam!

Gotta love SPAM

Till Next Time!
Laura

Fly Me to the Moon

This past weekend we took my little brother, who like my husband, loves anything airplanes or engineering related, to the Virginia Air and Space Museum

For a small fee of $10.50 (military rate)/person we were able to enjoy airplane and space exhibits! We saw exhibits about the Wright Brothers, WWII planes and Airforce planes from the past and present. We learned about how wind tunnels work and have changed through the years as well as how planes actually fly. Space exploration was one of the major themes at this museum too. We learned about exploring the moon's surface with robots and got first hand experience about what a space mission to Mars would be like. Let me just say, that would be a LONG time in SPACE! 

There were many hands-on exhibits that I even enjoyed because lets be honest, airplanes and space aren't my first choice topic of conversation. We took vision and reaction time tests to see if we could become pilots and we were able to fly a few flight simulations in a jet plane, airliner and a lunar landing module. My brother really enjoyed sitting in the cockpit of the DC-9 as well as trying his hand at flying the Boeing 717 flight simulation within the DC-9's first class cabin.  I personally enjoyed flying the jet simulator. I'm really great at barrel rolls!

At the end of our time there, my brother and I decided to ride the Max Flight simulator. 

Without hesitation, he wanted to be the pilot so I became the gunner. (We were able to switch during our three minute adventure). This was such a cool ride! Paul and I couldn't stop laughing as we turned upside down and right side up, spinning until we couldn't stand it. I even did the same ride a second time with my husband because I wanted to see how it would feel like to fly with him being an actual pilot. He was successful in making me sick but also another three minutes of laughter that wouldn't stop. 

Such a great way to spend an afternoon with some airplane enthusiasts! 

Till Next Time! 

Laura

Happy Half Birthday Allie!

My baby girl is 6 months old today! 

I can't believe how fast time has flown! 

4 days old

Our  "little blueberry" has grown to our "little one"

She has grown so much these past 6 months and it's so amazing how many things she learns to do each day!

She loves to play with her many toys, these include her exersaucer, jumperoo and play mat. 

Her favorites though are my wallet that she loves to hold and chew on while we're at the store as well as a set of ribbons of different lengths and sizes. She also thinks mom and dad are fun toys too. She loves being swung around, balanced on top of my knees, or being lifted or bounced up and down.

She's such a little talker, babbling about everything. She loves to talk to herself while we are in the car. She is starting to mimic sounds such as "Hahh" and "Mmm" and "aahh". My favorite moment with her talking has been when my mom said hi to her and she said "Haaah" back with a great big smile! 

She loves people. She always smiles at everyone she sees especially when she recognizes her mom and dad.   She loves her grandparents, aunts and uncles and anyone that wants to hold her, ha!

She is discovering many new things and these new things have to go directly into her mouth! She likes to hold and bat at new discoveries with her hands. About few weeks ago she learned how to switch toys back and forth between hands. She is always practicing putting her pacifier back in her mouth, though most of the time it's upside down or sideways. We have also had to start clearing anything from her arms reach while at a dinner table. Ohh and she has recently found her toes too. It's so cute when she sucks on them.

She has started to not only recognize our voices but she has started to recognize the cat and dogs. She watches them while she plays or eats and grabs for the cat's tail any chance she gets. She also loves kisses from the dogs. She has learned how to give kisses as well! Although, they are definitely wet open mouthed kisses!

As of yesterday she started sitting on her own for a short amount of time. She still loves when I hold her while she sits. She still needs to sense that that I'm right there behind her in case she falls.

I love how I can tell if she likes a new food or not. She not only smiles when she likes a new food but she says "mmm mmm mmm" while she eats the new food. She really does this with pears! It's also funny when she smiles while trying to eat because the food comes right back out. I just love how happy she is.

She loves the water; boating, bath time and now swimming! Last week my brother and I took her to the pool for the first time. She loved splashing the water and looking at her feet. She even stuck her face in the water for a brief second a few times. I didn't like this very much, definitely scared me but she would quickly pick her head back up with her eyes closed and shake the water off her face! She also loved when I spun her around in a circle. Too cute!

I'm excited to see what the next 6 months are going to be like!

Till Next Time!

Laura

Mom and Baby Exercise Part 2

Kiss the Baby Push-Ups

Here's an exercise that Allie really enjoys!

Place your baby underneath you while you do push-ups, kissing your baby each time you lower to the floor. 

To make this exercise harder you can:

•  Extend one leg up in the air as you do the push-ups
• Make sure to squeeze your gluts to work the backside
• Bring this extended leg up to your chest after you lower your body to the ground to work more core, make sure to squeeze those abs, alternate legs each rep
• Do a triceps push up
• Keep your arms close to your body as you lower to the floor
• Grab two heavy weights ~8-10 pounds and do a push up while holding the weights
• Do a one arm row after each push-up to work your back

(Move your baby for this last variation, you wouldn't want to hit him/her with the weight!)

To make this exercise easier you can:

•    Place your knees on the ground

Till Next Time!

Laura

Mount Democrat: Not A Walk in the Park

Mount Democrat is located in Colorado's Mosquito Mountain Range. 

It's one of Colorado's many "14ers" meaning that it's elevation is 14,000 plus feet. 

This was my third time climbing a mountain so I was excited for the challenge. 

Part 1: It's EARLY!

We left bright and early around 5:45 and arrived at the trail head at 6:30. It's best to start as early as possible because of how fast clouds and weather can build up. You don't want to be on top of a mountain in a bad storm! We also made sure we had plenty of water, warm hats, gloves and coats as well as plenty of snacks such as apples, bananas, pb and j sandwiches and granola bars. 

Here's Jesse making some pb and j sandwiches for the hike!

The challenge at hand!

Part 2: The Start and Below Tree Line!

Here is the start of the trail, as you can see it has been a cold summer so apparently this is what it should have looked like around May. With this being umm... July, this added a new challenge of having to hike through some deep snow. Thank goodness for my waterproof boots!

 First stop: Snack time and Flowers! The forget-me-not flower is such a beautiful wild flower here in Colorado. As you can see it's super tiny too!

This was our first snack break. Jesse and my father in law enjoyed some fruit and I enjoyed my granola bar. Even though I wasn't quite hungry, I knew I needed some carbs and protein for some extra energy. 

Here is also a look back from where we started. You can also see Kite Lake (named after its shape). It's still pretty much still frozen too, ha!

Part 3: Snow and the Start of the Rocks

This is when it started to get more technical. We weren't just hiking up a dirt trail anymore. Instead we had to trudge through foot and knee deep snow and a brief amount of three point climbing up steep rocks. Three point climbing means using your hands AND feet.  

I was just thinking to myself...how in the world are we going to get down this snow faced side.... we ended up having to slide down on our behinds and basically "ski" down. 

 Second stop:  We needed a small rest break. We also took some time to enjoy the views and the sun breaking over the mountain side. I was really starting to feel the lack of oxygen here too. Its crazy how you hike a few 100 feet and your heart is just racing and you are breathing as if you had just sprinted a mile. 

 Part 4: Getting higher

 We had to jump over some snow run off about three times throughout our hike. I really didnt like doing this. I had my cellphone, camera and ipod in my pocket so I REALLY didnt want fall in, ha! 

At the end of our day on the LAST water section  we had to cross I ended up falling in when the snow pack broke from underneath me. VERY SCARY! Don't worry though, my gadgets were okay. It ended up not being that deep either. My leg got pretty soaked though and I about had a heart attack. 

Here is a view of the trail, thankfully we got a small break from climbing up rocks. We also stopped to get our breath back. 

Part 5: In the Saddle

 Now we are about 2/3rds of the way up. It's starting to get windy, colder and more rocky so our hats and gloves became even more essential. The saddle is where we stopped for our lunch break before the trek to the top. This is also where you can start the hike up to Mt. Cameron, Mt. Lincoln and Mt. Bross. 

It's a great way to summit several mountains in one day but you have to start a lot earlier and of course be in that mind-set of doing several summits. This was not in the cards for us today but that was okay with me!

The views were beautiful but it reminded me of how high we were actually getting. As you can see there are more rocks and snow and not so much green anymore. 

The trail up to Mt. Cameron

Almost there!!

 Part 6: Some serious climbing!

 More three point climbing!

This was the section that was the most challenging for me mentally and physically. Not only was it harder to breath but there was a steep drop off the face of the mountain. Rocks can be slippery especially when there are several smaller rocks together. You have to be careful where you put your hands and  feet. Jesse had to keep reminding me to lean into the mountain in case I fell or started to slide. 

We also encountered more snow patches. This particular one I had to punch holes into the snow with my hands and feet in order to keep from sliding down. This also gave myself enough traction to get up the section. 

Part 7: The Summit!

After a false peak (sorry Jesse) and a water break, we finally got a view of the top!

We had to trudge through another snow pack, luckily it wasn't as deep as the others.

 The views were spectacular. The snow covered mountains were so beautiful!

I was so excited to finally reach the top so I decided to run up to the summit!

Finally there after 3 1/2 hours of climbing!!!

Part 8: On top of the world 

It's cold and windy when you get to the top so normally there is only time for a few pictures and a quick snack. I also enjoy calling my parents after I summit. I love telling them I'm on top of a mountain, ha!

It's also crazy how fast the clouds move up here. Weather can move in fast!

 View back towards town

 The "official" top

So proud of us!!

Part 9: Back Down We Go

The decent took about 2 hours. 5 1/2 hours of total hiking. The hike down has its own challenges but goes a lot faster. You really feel it in your quads going downhill. Mine were actually shaking at one point. We also had to maneuver over those rocks and snow again. I prefer sliding down snow than climbing up it. That part was actually kind of fun! Although a wet butt is not, ha!

Here is some weather rolling in on our way down. I told you it moves in fast!

It was such a great morning and I really enjoyed the challenge and hiking the mountain with my husband and father in law. Mountains really make you stop and think about life and yourself. They have a funny way of breaking you down and then building you back up!

Till Next Time!

Laura