Hit the Y one too many times

Joined the YMCA a while back to give my work out routine some variety.  AND to get a moment away from the monkeys without messing up the "family time" schedule. 

The kids LOVE the child care area, so that was a huge plus.  Ty has a little separation anxiety, and over time it seems to be getting better.  The staff is really good with helping him while I'm gone.  He puts on a good show for me as I turn around and walk out the door.  Usually the mom checking in behind us will find me and let me know he stopped crying as soon as I was up the stairs.  I love how the moms at the facility support each other!

I'm excited to have found a huge variety of equipment and classes that challenge me.  My favorite classes so far are group cycling and Bosu boot camp.  On my own, I like (what I call) speed hill walking and a few of the programs on the elliptical.  The elliptical that I like the most is Octane's run stride.  I can do sprinting and intervals without killing my back and knee.  I've been doing the 30:30, which is 30 second sprints, 30 second rest and every few minutes you get a 3 minute recovery.  That style of exercise is HUGE for weight loss.  Get your heart rate up and down throughout the work out. 

Anyway, I'd been working out 4 days straight!  This morning when I woke up and couldn't sit down on the toilet, I decided today is my rest day.  Ouch!  Tomorrow I'm going to try the 10K on the elliptical.  Maybe lift some weights too. 

I feel SO good these days!  I'm super excited I'm back at a gym and taking time for myself.  Even if I have to drag everyone out the door and leave one screaming at the child care area.  It's totally worth it to have a happy momma again!

TV Off Night = Game Night

Last night we tried "TV Off" night.  It was more successful that I thought it would be!

About 6:00, the TV went off and the games came out.  We made popcorn and the family played games for about 2 hours.  It was a little trying because Ty can't actually play the games and his attention span is way too short.  I kept him busy with other things while Jeff managed the big kids. 

It was all worth it when Ali asked if we could have game night every week.  Definitely something we want to keep up.  Making Memories!

Tale of a mouse

I've been MIA for a while.  I've spent the last 7 days on vacation with my family.  My parents, kids, hubby, my sister, my brother, and my nieces.  It was a fun time.  Exhausting, but fun!

So, I'm pretty tired, but I wanted to at least share the story of our little cabin mouse.

We arrived on a Friday.  Sunday morning, my sister and wake up to a hot dog bun looking a little crumbled by the kitchen sink.  Huh!  Do some more research and find mouse poopies on the counter.  We intend to get a mouse trap, but forget.  Monday morning we wake up to more mouse mischief...and yet again we forget to buy some traps.  Tuesday brings more mouse messes and enough is enough!  We grab some wooden old fashion mouse traps.  It takes us a while to figure out how to set the traps; a couple of failed attempts and we're set to catch that trouble maker! 

Wednesday morning, the peanut butter is licked out of the traps...which were still set.  We also find our new friend has a sweet tooth and ate the chocolate out of some M&Ms and munched on a sucker.  Mouse-1, sisters-0.  Carefully set off the traps so we can re-bate.  This time we used taffy.  Sticky enough to make the mouse work for it, set off the trap, and get stuck.  We've got him this time for sure!

Middle of the night, I'm settling Ty back down to sleep and SNAP, SCRATCH, SCRATCH!  Yay!!  We got him!  His sweet tooth was his demise. 

Mouse trapping hint #1.  Use bate that is sticky and satisfies the mouses cravings.