Cabin, Kids & Fun

It’s Sunday late morning and I’m curled up in my robe with a blanket on the screened in deck, sipping my coffee while listening to a hard rain and lots of thunder cracks and booms. Occasionally the rain completely stops and it’s silent except for the owl I hear in the distance and what sounds like an angry bird in the tree that I could touch if not for the screen. Then the rain quickly starts up again, the sky lights up followed by more cracks and booms. It’s the best morning!

I’m especially enjoying this rainy morning because for most of the day yesterday, I thought it was Sunday. I feel like I have a whole free day to sit here and listen to it rain if that is all I decided to do today.

We’ve had a few busy weekends playing with the grandkids.

Kate

Looking good and feeling good!

Kate took a girls trip recently so we took three of her kiddos for a long weekend.

I picked them up on a Thursday and it was all about play time with Gigi. We played at my favorite childhood park, then went over and had lunch in Effie in my dads backyard. Lots of good playtime.

That Friday afternoon we headed to a cabin at my favorite lake where I like to take Effie. Since we all wouldn’t fit in Effie to sleep, I rented one of the cabins I’ve been curious about. It was so cute.

We pulled into the state park late Friday afternoon and kept things simple by ordering pizza for dinner. We finished the evening around the fire roasting marshmallows and playing games around the table inside the cabin before crawling into bed and turning off the lights for some creative flashlight play on the ceiling. I loved that we had no TV. The kids never missed it.

Coffee on the deck Saturday morning while everyone sleeps…….

Saturday was a great day playing by the water skipping rocks, looking for bugs and worms, flying a kite in a field by our cabin, playing at the park playground, swinging in the hammock, playing kickball and taking walks.

While it wasn’t quite warm enough for a swim, it was warm enough to play in the water and look for creepy crawly things, which these three love to do!!

Saturday we roasted hot dogs and chicken sausages over the fire for dinner.

While taking this picture, Mike went inside to see what the noise was we heard coming from the cabin. It was the weather radio alerting us to a tornado watch.

With little or no cell service at times, no internet or TV, that was our only notice of weather coming our way. After an hour of thinking through our options and chatting with a few campers, we decided to pack up and come home. We carried three dirty sleeping kids in the house at 10:00 pm and put them in their beds, fully clothed and filthy, but happy and safe. At 11:00 pm it stormed like crazy.

I must say, it was nice to wake up in my own bed Sunday. These three dirty kids woke up and joined me for my Mother’s Day coffee in bed. What’s not to love here?

After breakfast and much needed showers, Mike and I dropped off the kids at their house, then took a drive to Mikes folks for a quick Mother’s Day hello, then to my moms for the same. After that we went on our first dinner date with just the two of us in over a year. Nothing fancy, but it was nice to have a beer together and celebrate 22 years married! Cheers to 22 more years!

After dinner Jake and Jordan and Wrenley stopped by our house to wish me a Happy Mothers Day and Wren and I played with my Barbie house.

My inner child has been out for most of the month of May. I was so busy playing, I didn’t take any pictures so I had to borrow a pic of Wren from mom and dad. She has the best smile!!

Wrenley turned four in March! All of the grandkids are growing so fast!

This weekend we had three of Anne’s kids here overnight on Friday while mom and dad enjoyed a night out.

Mike and I played hard again this weekend and I failed to take any pictures, but we were back at playing kick ball, then a little ping pong, yahtzee, dominos, basketball in the driveway and we had a fire on the deck Friday night while watching a movie.

We’ve made some great memories recently with some of the grandkids and I’m looking forward to spending more time together this summer with our whole family.

Also, we might be exhausted. lol

With the scale creeping up and my body experiencing stiffness and swelling from head to toe, I DO NOT like the way my body feels right now. After an appointment with the rheumatologist this week, he put me on a prescription anti-inflammatory and I’m trying to take an even closer look at my food. He suggested the anti-inflammatory back in October when I first met with him, but I was hoping I could control this whole auto-immune thing with food. It seemed like it was working for a while. I dunno. All still new to me.

We have three plans available at WW. Green, Blue and Purple. I’ve been team Purple for over a year. Lots of food options for zero smart points on the Purple plan which means less commitment to weighing and tracking food choices. You only need to track the foods that have a smart point value.

The Green plan has fruits and veggies for zero smart points and all other food is tracked with a smart point value. With the scale creeping up and my body feeling like poo, I switched this week to the Green plan, so I’m more aware of not only what foods I’m choosing, but also portion control.

Hoping between the anti-inflammatory and tracking my food, I’ll see some improvement in the way that I’m feeling.

Food

Will always love my runny egg on smashed avocado and blueberries and nut butter.

I’ve been keeping seasoned cooked ground turkey in the fridge as we have been eating a lot of burger bowls lately. Basically a salad with lots of veggies, topped with cooked ground turkey and a variety of dressings.

I roasted some brussels sprouts and made a warm burger bowl by topping my brussels sprouts with the seasoned turkey and drizzling Dump Ranch dressing on top. Made for an easy dinner.

A Funny Thing Happened

I can’t leave you without a story!

I went to a park close by on Thursday. I like to walk around the lake at this park and it was a beautiful day. After my regular route, I noticed a few bicyclist on a path I hadn’t noticed before. I asked two of them as they came off of the path if this path was just a loop. They replied yes. So, after already getting in about an hour walk, I decided to get in a few more steps and off I went. Well, I don’t know what loop meant to the two that I asked, but I seemed to be walking forever but never actually looping!

I came out behind the football fields and realized where I was. The path continued on or I could walk across the football fields and see the parking lot where I had parked. After walking the length of the first football field, I realized I was fenced in. Thinking I would surely find an opening or at least an open gate, I continued on through a few more football fields. No luck. I was fenced in the fields. Finally finding a gate, I discovered that it was locked with a chain, as were all of the gates I came upon. I decided to climb the fence. Halfway up I slipped just a bit. An adult shoe just doesn’t quite fit in that little square of a chain link fence like it does when you’re a kid. I decided to head back to the path and go back out the way that I came since it really did not seem to be looping. The path was gorgeous so I’d let go of the idea of scowling at the two cyclist that told me it was a loop if I saw them again. Now I wan’t to go back to that park and start on the new path just so I know exactly where it does go!!

When I arrived at the park, I had 3,005 steps. When I left I had 15,227.

I must say, it was a really pretty 12,000+ steps!