Picture Pages, Picture Pages

I went hiking today. Not incredibly strenuous hiking, but hiking nonetheless, up high in the Wasatch mountain range. It was amazing.

My parents and I took the boys on a geocaching adventure. A tour company set up a scavenger hunt for us, and gave the kids GPS units preprogrammed with six waypoints. At each waypoint was a box with some kind of prize - lifesavers, some stickers, juice boxes. It was SO MUCH FUN. The boys loved it, and so did I. We had gorgeous, gorgeous weather and they had so much fun playing around with the GPS's and discovering the treasures.

My parents were total rock stars, game for anything.



I wouldn't have had a good time doing this hike 50+ pounds ago. I'm not sure I would have been able to finish it, and I know I wouldn't have been able to do some of the climbs. I was so happy to be able to enjoy it and really be able to keep up. I mean, keep up with 5-, 6-, and 7-year-olds, but you get the idea.

The boys hung out with a sitter tonight and watched "Tooth Fairy." Mom, Dad and I went out for a great dinner. It was a spectacular day.

Can you see the reflection of our waiter taking the picture with my phone?

Also, do you see that little bit of light by my left hip? THAT IS OPEN SPACE, PEOPLE!!!

Incidentally, my port pain is gone. I didn't call my doctor because I won't be home till Tuesday so there's nothing he could do for me now anyway. I'll mention it at my next appointment, and I'll call if it pops up again. Thanks for your input on that.

Port Pain

Today I have pain in my port area. It doesn't hurt if I touch or palpate it, but it hurts when I'm walking, sitting, etc, and only in that area.

Anyone ever have this? Do I need to do something about it? My surgery was Jan. 4 and I haven't had any port pain at all in months, this just popped up this morning. I didn't do any strenuous exercise.

What say you, bloggers?

Checking in

Hello from Park City! I have to say, I do think there's something to that study from a few months ago that people have reduced appetites at higher altitudes. Between noon and 10 pm yesterday, I had not a single thing to eat. Not by design, just the usual madness of Day One of vacation - the flight, the drive, the grocery store, the unpacking, getting the kids fed and settled in bed. I was so tired I had some Doritos Munchies Mix and went to bed.

Today I had a Zone bar for breakfast, lots of water, some turkey, mozzarella and tomato for lunch and fish tacos without the tortilla for dinner. Almost no snacking, which is virtually unheard-of for me.

My parents and I took my two sons and my nephew (ages practically 5, 6, 7 and three quarters) to the Utah Olympic Park to check out the site of some of the winter Olympic games in 2002. The best part was definitely the freestyle ski jumping exhibition - the jumpers climb up huge ramps and then fly off into a swimming pool. There's a whole viewing area, and every time a jumper went a little further up the ramp the crowd would chant, "High-er, high-er, high-er," and then scream and clap as the jumper came hurtling down. Lotta peer pressure there.

We took the boys to dinner on Main Street, then let them run at full speed uphill after they finished their ice cream. Which turned out not to be the best idea, since my oldest threw up within 20 minutes of arriving back at the house. Sigh. Clorox Cleanup is my friend.

Up in the Clouds

The boys and I are midflight on our way to meet my parents and nephew in Utah for a week of hiking and exploring.

No seatback TVs on this flight, alas, but they do have WiFI so at least I can plug the boys into Hulu.com if things get desperate. There's a family behind us with a 15-month-old who is utterly miserable, kicking and screaming and having a conniption because she has to sit still for so long. I feel terrible for the parents, I know that stress well. It does make me glad I left the baby home with the Hubs, and it assuages my guilt a little bit.

The scale was down a little again this morning, to 212.2. I don't think the house we're staying in has a scale, so that may have to be my weigh-in challenge weight. We'll see.

I think the scale movement is at least a little because I've cut way back on wine. Bummer. I'll always have weekends...

The immediate challenge for me is to not eat my way through this flight. I tend to snack incessantly on planes. I'll let you know how it goes...

Weigh-In

Finally, the scale is moving! 213.2 this morning, thanks to leaving my cousin's grad party yesterday before dessert and arriving at last night's 50th birthday part after appetizers and missing the cake too.

Hallelujah!

MAGIC MIRROR!!

I was in Target today with my boys and glanced over at my reflection in a mirror. It was miraculous! I had grown a good five inches and dropped another 50 pounds! I looked AWESOME. So much so that I had to take a photo to show you.

It was a pleasure to see that hot version of myself, and kudos to Target for making everyone feel better-looking in Target merch. For comparison purposes, I had my 7-year-old snap a picture of reality. Please excuse the wet hair.

The differences are subtle, but boy do they add up.

In other news, I was down a pound today. Fingers crossed for weigh-in tomorrow. NSV: I wore heels tonight without feeling that my feet might explode.

Does This Happen to You?

I've had this problem for a couple years now: I get lots of tiny holes in my shirts, right where the shirts hit the button and zipper on my pants. I assume this is because my belly is so freakin' big (and it never did this before, so I may have some leeway to blame it on pregnancies). I WANT IT TO STOP. Perfectly good shirts have been ruined by this, and it's irritating. Plus, my 4-year-old is always saying, "Mom, why does your shirt have holes?" because it's right at eye level for him.

Anyone else run into this? It's better if I wear a camisole under my shirt, but it's summer and I'm not interested in layering.

We're road-tripping tonight and tomorrow to see family in PA and NJ, then rushing home tomorrow night for my husband's partner's 50th birthday party. I'm sure I'll be a barrel of laughs by the time we hit that shindig. However, the guy is a total wine lover, so I imagine the wine calories I've been saving all week will be well spent there.

The scale this morning showed 216.4. Not a lot of movement going on here. I don't think I need a fill because I'm really tight in the morning and at lunchtime I'm still not able to eat a whole lot of solids (hence the black bean soup I have most days). I haven't eaten steak since before my surgery, I've had hamburger meat a couple of times when it's really crumbled, and I occasionally have chicken salad, although that hasn't gone down smoothly all the time.

I'm getting a little more into exercise and trying to drink more, which is easier in the summer anyway. Trying to ditch calories from alcohol because they're unnecessary. I'm probably snacking too much, and I haven't given up chocolate.

Any suggestions?

ZOOOOOOOMBA

So I finally got around to taking a zumba class today. I can't dance for shit so I checked with the instructor ahead of time because it was held at a dance studio. She assured me I didn't need experience, and she was right. So were all of you guys: It was SO MUCH FUN. Small class, just five of us and the instructor. I loved it, I really did enjoy it enough that I didn't feel like I was working too hard. My right foot and right knee felt it, though, so I'll have to be careful. But I will definitely go back.

I am (mostly) over my snit about the tight band and PB yesterday. Thanks for the sympathy and compassion. I had a Zone bar for breakfast and some soup for lunch and all is going down fine. I'm having an artichoke tonight, come hell or high water, so I'm being really careful before then. We're supposed to be having Chinese at my mother-in-law's house tonight because some cousins are visiting from Houston, but I'm planning to have a little soup and wait till I get home to enjoy my delectable artichoke.

I just finished a great book, The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance by Elna Baker. It's a memoir by a formerly fat Mormon girl who's trying to launch a performing career and find the love of her life while remaining a virgin in New York City. It was great, partly because I moved to New York after losing a boatload of weight and some of our experiences were similar (minus the preserving virginity part). The books spends a lot of time talking about how Elna's life changed as she lost weight, how the world treated her differently and changed the way she saw other people. Anyway, I totally enjoyed it and wanted to pass it on.

Public Service Announcement (For Women Only)

It's been said before but I'll say it again: My band is tighter during my period. For some reason, I forget that every month and then - BAM! - have some unpleasantness.

Off to warm up my soup...

Perspective

Well, hi there. Yes, I know I'm still on the left (GAINED) side of the Summer Meltdown Challenge weight-loss graph, thanks for the reminder. My period is due any day and I'm sure that will be followed by a precipitous drop. For sure.

We had the Hubs' extended family here yesterday for Father's Day brunch, which was fun. For the first time in a while, it really bothered me that I couldn't eat a bagel. I really, really would have liked one.

Later, we were sitting outside and the kids were playing and my husband looked at me and said, "This is the life. Our children are healthy, we're healthy and all four of our parents are healthy. We will look back on these days as the best we ever had." He's totally right. It doesn't get better than this. That reminder put missing out on a bagel into pretty good perspective for me.