I've been working out!

For the past several years I have been steadily dedicated to regular exercise in one form or another. When Miss O was a baby I walked with her and the pooch everyday, even in -20 C weather. I also learned to swim lengths around that time.  L.G was a great motivation and coach who taught me the finer points to the front crawl. I have to say I was probably my leanest while I was swimming.

This is obviously not me ( I am not even sure its a girl lol)

Then Spring of 2011 I joined the outdoor training program run by S.N. I loved it. At that time I was in moderate condition but I was not in the least a runner. I joined with the idea that I would walk the short distances and forgo the long distance days. Surprise, Surprise I started running under S.N's tutelage and LOVED IT!! We went to the Manitoba Marathon together and I ran my first 13.1 miles with several great running friends.

That year I also ran in two other half marathons with these gals.

The Red Lake Road Run

Las Vegas Rock n Roll Half Marathon

Later that winter however my body decided that running long distance, caring for 3 kids, and working full time was way to much and I spent the entire winter sick with one virus or another. Our has should have been condemned. I tried to stay active by walking or running when I could but I really didn't get much accomplished. In the spring I bought a Jillian Michael's DVD but that disappeared somewhere in the living room :( 

Finally this summer I was able to get back into it and I began running on a semi regular basis. Which was enough to get me through this year's Red Lake Road Run's 10K

But I still wasn't truly motivated. I don't have the time to commit to a class, and I am being cheap! lol

I searched the internet for great workout blogs but nothing really peaked my interest until I came across this fabulous blog:

http://backonpointe.tumblr.com/

I had been trying some over her workouts on pinterest and LOVED them. So I started looking back into her archives when I can across her October workout challenge. It was just what I has looking for!!

For nearly the entire month of October I have been truly dedicated to working out. Everyday I follow the calendar's suggested workout - abs, legs, arms, cardio, general and challenges. They are just right right level to be fun but challenging.

I can't wait to see how my body will have changed after one month!

It's been a busy week

This Week started off very busy! I started my day Sunday baking pies for Thanksgiving supper at Ed and Lori's house. I made my famous apple pie and a pumpkin pie as well. Both were very yummy!

The apple pie has a special ingredient that really sets the flavour!

R started her day with a 2 hour swim with goldfins. Almost immediately after swimming we all went to skating. O had her lesson first, followed by the other two girls. Several hours later we ventured to Grandma's and Grandpa's house for a yummy supper.

Monday was not much quieter as Papa Bear, Uncle S and little A joined us for yet another turkey dinner. The food was excellent as was the company. although we had school the next day we stayed up pretty late enjoying dessert with our great friend A.P. You can't beat fresh pumpkin pie with homemade whip cream!

Tuesday the girls headed back to school after having a 4 day weekend. That night we joined Dad at the firehall for a fun BBQ supper. The kids played in and out of the firetrucks while T and I cooked hotdogs for the community. It was the best turnout for fire prevention's open house and quite a few years.

Wednesday R headed back to the pool for another great workout, after running a quick 1 km with school. T picked the other 2 kiddos up and took them for a tour around town in his pumper truck. It is fire prevention week and they were looking for families performing their escape plans. Unfortunately it was also snowing and cold. So not a lot of people were braving the weather. E really enjoyed getting dropped off at her Jazz class in a fire truck!

I headed to the school for a Gr 7/8 Toronto Trip fundraising meeting. Even though not a whole lot of parents showed up for the meeting we did think of some great ideas to help us earn the last few hundred dollars needed to pay for the trip. I am following through with a citrus sale as my raffle ideas really have not amounted to much. Let's hope it will be a great sale. With both girls going on the trip I still need to raise over $1500. Yikes!!

Thursday we were back at the rink with all three girls having skating lessons. It is such a long night leaving before 5pm and not home until 8 pm. Plus  R had homework. :(  E had a really hard night, she was feeling really left out as many of the skaters were invited to participate in a competition in Winnipeg as was not. She still needs to work on her loop and flip, 2 requirements for the competetion. To top it off she was over tired and sad because she didn't get a lesson from both of her coaches. Neither R nor E are overly excited about skating this year. I have a feeling that this might be the end of a long 10 year run in skating as both big girls are venturing into other sports/ activities. :( :( I am sure little Miss O will skate for the next 10 yrs!

Finally we have made it to Friday! We survived work (I was busy everyday this week), sports, homework, and the firehall.

R raced in her very last elementary school cross country run. She ran a very cold 3 KM run through the snow with her friend CLC. The brat decided it was a fun run and nothing more. She ran, jogged, walked, stopped, and threw snowballs! Still her team brought home the trophy! Way to Go Ravens!!

After school she headed back to the pool. She swam hard for 2 hours with her favourite coach Kallie! Kallie is all smiles and motivation as she swims along side her kiddos. R and her friends are not only becoming fabulous swimmers but are having a ton of fun at the same time.

I capped the week off with pizza and the Nascar nationwide race while the girls watched t.v downstairs. O had a blast looking at pinterest animals. I have NEVER heard her giggle so much!

It might be Friday but that sadly doesn't end the craziness in our house as I have deliveries tomorrow, T has chores, the girls have stretch class and skating. Tomorrow night we have a play and the cup race. 

Wow my head hurts!

The Power Went Out

We woke up yesterday morning to a yucky rainy day. By lunchtime the weather seriously began to change as heavy snow began to fall. The hwy to Ear Falls was closed around 11:30 am due to a serious accident. Rumour has it that a young woman flipped a dump truck closing both lanes of traffic.
Around 2:30 pm  when he power flickered the first time it was quickly restored. The second time we were not so lucky.  

I picked the kids up from school at 3:30 pm to find that the entire region was without electricity. The girls and I slogged home through the snowy streets and decided to make the best of a bad situation. We made snow men and snow forts outside until T can home from work around 4:30.

T and I hauled the generator out of the garage and powered up the pellet stove. We didn't realize then that we could have also powered up the fridge, T.V and satellite!!

None the less we were warm and dry and had the BBQ to cook dinner. Hydro One stated that the power was going to be up and going by 8 pm so were were not worried.

Leftovers on the BBQ was a little tricky but I was creative and made it work!

We spent the rest of the evening playing cards, colouring and watch movies on the Macbooks.

The kids set up a comfy bed next to the pellet stove to keep warm.

The power did not come on as planned. T had to zip into work around 10p, as his sewage plant had difficulty when the mine's generator kicked in. He was out until 1:30 am. He had heard that Hydro workers tried until near midnight before calling it quits for the night. Our generator ran until around 2am before running out of gas. Wisely we had the stove running full blast to keep the house hot.

We woke early, T went for more fuel while the kids and I lounged around the house. We had received a lot of snow over night and many of our trees had taken a beating. 

I boiled hot water on the BBQ for porridge, coffee, and hot chocolate.

The kids decided it was more fun to play outside than hang out inside in the dark. They created a pretty awesome snow fort and spent most of the day trudging trough the snow rolling and shaping snow balls.

We finally realized that the generator could support the pellet stove and T.V late in the afternoon, so T and I watched a little Nascar to pass the time.

After being told the power would be restored several times (10 am, 3pm, 5 pm, 6pm) it finally came on at 6:30 pm.

Facebook has been filled with stories of how local families survived the 27 hours without electricity. Some of us were lucky enough to have generators and wood stoves to keep warm. Many others however spent the day and night cold and in the dark.

We learned a lot from this adventure : keep extra gas and propane on hand ( we ran out of both - I waited at the pumps for nearly an hour to get gas). Have emergency cash! We often don;t have cash- luckily the girls are loaded!! Store extra bread in the freezer - pb&j go a long way if needed! other than that we did ok! 

Finally, I have to say how proud I am of the girls, they handled the situation very well. They didn't complain at all and had a ton of fun playing together both inside and out :)

Weekend Recap

We enjoyed a long weekend this past weekend as the kids had a P.D day at school on Friday. The older girls had a few friends come over and made cupcakes and played man tracker in the bush! O and I met with her little friend J and we and her mommy went to the library to return our books. After choosing a few new reads we headed over to my favourite local restaurant - The Lakeview- for some lunch.

The girls played with the iphones while T.A and I chatted and enjoyed our lunch.  

After lunch O and I played on the swings in the backyard before taking R to swimming.

R has decided to swim competitively this year, 4 days a week. Her swim team, The Red Lake 

Goldfins, provided dinner after swimming to all the Gold Fins and their families. I love not having to cook :)

After supper R and O and T and I enjoyed an hour of open swimming. O is so brave jumping off the wall and can now swim a pretty good distance by herself!

Saturday was another busy day. After T did his rounds at work we all loaded up in the Sorento and headed over to the farmer's market. We didn't need much veggie wise as I still have plenty in our own garden. We purchase some honey, pickled beets, and fresh ground beef. Beef products are currently being recalled across Canada due to an E-Coli alert. The fresh burger was fabulous in our tacos Sunday Night!!  We were also lucky enough to get our hands on some freshly made donuts!! Yummo

After the market we walked over to the museum. As it was cultural days in the Red Lake the museum was free to the public. We were lucky enough to have the curator give us a personalized guided tour!!

Once home T took the girls for a short Harley ride (probably the last of the season). R had never been on the bike before are went for a very short ride. It seems she prefers horses to engines.

E loves the bike of course and went for a much longer ride around town.

After a quick supper we headed to the high school to watch Magascar 3 on the big screen. Goldcorp hosts free family movies every couple of months. The kids love the movie and popcorn. Its a real treat!

We topped the night off with a quick visit to see C.W's new house. 

Sunday

As if that wasn't enough fun we started Sunday with the 2nd annual Red Lake Road Run.

T and R ran a solid 35 minute 5K. T has been struggling with getting in shape and absolutely hates running. He managed to run the entire 5k with only walking up the library hill. I am very proud!!

I ran the 10K this year in hopes of getting a decent 10K time. Although I was 5 minutes off my goal time (I ran slowly with T for the first 3 Ks) I am proud of my accomplishment. I went into the race feeling very out of shape and under trained. I guess I was wrong. I chased V.E (a fantastic local runner who inspires me) most of the race and ended up "racing" across the finish line. She definitely helped me earn a good time.

After the run, T and the little girls went chicken hunting while R and I chilled around the house. We passed on swimming and skating that afternoon and really enjoyed some down time.

T and I finished off the afternoon with the Dover Race. Kyle Busch (my fav. driver) came so close to winning the race after leading over 300 miles!! I was so disappointed :(

We ended the night with tacos (that the kids helped make) and Heartland - R's favourite show!!

Wow What a Great Weekend :)