I'm running

A little over a week ago I decided I wanted to start running. Sort of random but it's something I've always wanted to do (weird I know). I've been unhappy with my health so and trying a bunch of diets was getting really old. I don't really last long on any diet. So I thought if I could work out some maybe that would help me start to feel better.

So I downloaded a couple of different apps on my iPhone and hit the local sporting store for a pair of running shoes. They guy was really nice and helped me pick out pair of shoes based on the way I walk. They aren't the most attractive pair of shoes but they get the job done.

I got up early the next day to run. Well I used an app that just tracks where I'm going, the time and distance. I hit the ground running. Literally. I maybe ran for a good 4 or 5 minutes (probably not that long but that's what I'm saying) before I thought I would slow down and walk for a bit. Well that little break turned into mostly walking the entire time I was out. Since I had nothing saying "you need to run now" I just walked most of it. I still did a pretty decent time of like 16ish minutes per mile.

I decided that maybe I should try the other app I got. Couch-to-5K. This worked much better. I liked that there is a walk to warm up and cool down and then alternating walking and running. I officially completed the first week of that yesterday. My times went up and down from 15ish minutes up to 17 minutes back down to 15 minutes per mile. So I'm getting there. I was REALLY tired on the second day.

I've tried several different routes. I think the one I did yesterday I might try again. That gets me the closest to 2 miles in about 30 minutes.

What kills me is the time I have to work out. Because of my work schedule and wanting to spend time with my family in the evenings I have to get up early to run. I get up at 5am on days where I have to go to work and 6am on one weekend day. That way I can be home and showered before work. That's kind of a big adjustment for me. I've always been a night showerer and now I'm doing it in the morning. I feel like I have to always shower in the morning now even if I'm not working out.

I'm more tired on days I get up to run and by about 2pm I'm struggling to keep my eyes open at work. But I think it will get better over time. I'm just really proud of myself for doing this. I've always tried dieting and working out and it never really lasts. I'm really committed to making this last this time. I really want to feel better physically and I think that with time this will help.

So wish me luck. Gotta get up tomorrow for a run at 5am! Week 2 day 1. Only 8 more weeks to go!

Philly Trip Day 3: Please Touch Museum

Our last full day was mostly spent at the Please Touch Museum. It is a giant museum set up for kids to run around and go nuts basically. We have a small place here like that. But the Please Touch Museum is that on steroids. It was nuts! I didn't even know where to start at this one. There was a car area right when you walked in so we started there. Kids could drive a SEPTA bus, operate a crane in a ball pit and change tires on little cars. Norah wasn't sure what to do with herself. It was kind of a free for all. She would run to one thing then get toddler ADD and run to another. We found ourselves trying to coax her to do things.

 

We finally got her to move downstairs. We saw there was a mini food store down there and thought she would like that. Guess again. She was like no way mom. She wanted nothing to do with the food store. She found the little "hospital" area and had fun playing doctor. She checked my temperature about a bazillion times. It was really cute. She used the clamp thingies to do something (I don't know what) to my arms. One at a time over and over again. Then it was Daddy's turn. More of the same. We finally had to drag her screaming from the area to try something else. More kids were coming in and wanting to use things and she had been there for probably 30 minutes. There was so much more to see! 

 

Well the next area we stopped at was called something like "front steps" or something. It was a little yard with carrots and potatoes to plant. And a little house area. One little room with a kitchen and one with chairs and a crib. Norah quickly got obsessed with this area as much as the hospital area. She spent lots of time in the little house just messing around. Then in the kitchen taking everything out of the kitchen and inspecting it. I finally got her out of the houses and to the garden area. She planted and picked the carrots. Then she collected all the carrots and put them to bed in the crib. They were tired and needed a nap. 

This was another area we had to drag her from screaming. We got her back to main level and decided she needed a snack. The snack helped her mood immensely. We made our way to the other side of the building to a water area. It was fun. There were little duckies and boats with all kinds of gadgets to play with to move the flow of the water. 

 

We found the giant piano from big over in the corner. Norah and Mitch had fun playing on that together. It was very cool to see this piano in person. Much smaller than I thought it would be but still very cool nonetheless. 

 

After piano time we rode the carousel. Because what trip isn't complete without a ride on the carousel? Did I say that before? I think I did. But it's true. If she sees one she must ride one!

 

We headed out after the carousel. I feel like we didn't even see half of what there was to do there but we had been there for hours and we still had more we wanted to do that day since it was our last full day there. We left and went further into the city. I had been watching Man V. Food while Mitch was picking up take out the night before and happened to see an episode where they went to an ice cream place in Philly. Well we found it and went. It was called The Franklin Fountain. It's an old fashioned ice cream shop where they make their own ice cream. It was amazing! I got chocolate with peanut butter sauce. Mmmmm my mouth is watering just thinking about it. 

After ice cream we walked back to Franklin Square to see the fountain. There was an Asian/Pacific American festival going on that day. We walked around and looked at the fountain. As we were leaving we notice that Brother from the Bearenstein Bears was there. Norah said she wanted to hug him. We waited our turn and she back out of the hug. I had to hold her to get a picture. We walked a little further down and found Sister. Norah did hug her and we took another picture with her. 

It was a good end to a good day. I was sad that our last full day of vacation was coming to an end. We had a good night in the pool. There was lots of drama that night in the pool area. Maybe I'll write another post about that? It was pretty interesting.

Anyway that is all for our touristy trip to Philly. Did I mention I grew up in the burbs and had only ever been to the zoo on a second grade class trip? So those were all new to me too! Good times.

 

Read about our first two days here and here.

Philly Trip Part 2: Adventure Aquarium

The second day of our trip we went to the Adventure Aquarium across the river in Camden, NJ. We had never been there before so it was new for all of us. We got there right when they opened which, unfortunately, was also when all the school groups were arriving. Thank goodness it didn't take long to get in!

We just started wandering around with no real purpose. Norah wasn't really interested at first. There were lots of little exhibits that she was ready to move on pretty quickly. We finally found a HUGE tank that had all kinds of fish in there. There were different kinds of sharks, fish and giant sea turtles. They were very cool. We spent quite a bit of time around this tank. 

We found penguins and seals outside. We happened to be outside when the seals were doing a little show. We watched this guy swim onto the rock and catch a Frisbee. There was also an area that was a kids play area. Norah really liked climbing on the animals. And she REALLY liked those metal drums. She spent a lot of time playing them all. 

This aquarium had lots of different areas to pet different things. There was an area to pet sting rays and sharks. Norah acted like she wanted to pet them but then freaked out last minute. So Mitch pet them instead. I did pet one of the sharks. There was one that swam around the edge of the area showboating. He had his head out of the water and was very "look at me look at me!" So I did and I pet him. He felt like sandpaper. 

Then we found the piece de resistance. The HIPPO exhibit. Yeah that's right there were hippos at the AQUARIUM. And let me tell you these guys were WAY cooler than the ones at the zoo. You wanna know why? Because you could stand at the big glass tank and watch them under water. It was so freakin cool. I didn't want to leave that spot. 

I may have enjoyed this a little more than Norah did. But come on! Look at them! So huge and so awesome! Definitely a highlight for me. I love this picture of her standing there watching it walk by. So cool! 

Another great day of vacation and still more to come. One more fun day at the Please Touch Museum. Post to come later. 

And if you missed our first day checked out: Philly Trip Part 1: The Zoo

Philly Trip Part 1: The Zoo

This weekend we took at three day trip to Philly. Not really far from home but it was fun to get away for a few days. We took advantage of the City Pass (pay one price to get into a bunch of different attractions). The first place we went to was the Philadelphia Zoo. 

On our ride there I asked Norah what her favorite animal was. After a significant pause she said. "My favorite animal is......a hippo. Yeah I needa nice the hippo." I have no idea where that answer came from but I think a hippo is a pretty solid favorite animal. And I would like to say that now even several days later she still answers that the hippo is her favorite animal. And guess what they have TWO at the zoo. I googled it on the way and it said it was a newer exhibit so we were in luck! Yay hippos! They were kinda boring to watch they just kinda sat there almost all the way submerged in the water while we were there. We went back again on our way out and they were still doing the same but had moved slightly to the side. But Norah loved it. Hippos are pretty cool.

We spent most of the day wandering around the zoo. We saw giraffes, rhinos, zebras, flamingos and so much more. There was a really cool gorilla that was just hanging out in the one area of the habitat literally posing for pictures! He would shuffle around, sigh, and place his chin on his hand like he was posing for the pictures. One of the staff members walked by while we were there and said "oh that's, fill-in-name-here, he's always getting into trouble." We commented on how he was posing for pictures and apparently that's normal for him. He likes it. Who knew? 

 

 

I have found through our various trips to zoo's over the year that I kinda like the red panda. They had them there and I saw a glimpse of it's tail but there were people blocking the opening to look at them and by the time they moved the it was in a crevice where you could only see it's hanging tail. But I know it was there. Here is a picture of one that we took at the D.C. zoo last year. So cute! 

 

 

The zoo was so much fun for all of us. It was great to see Norah get so excited when she saw different animals. Or not really be impressed with some and be like "let's find a different one." Seriously I don't know where she comes up with the stuff that comes out of her mouth!

Later that night after checking in to the hotel and vegging out on the bed watching a movie we finally decided on where to go for dinner. We went to a place called Tony Luke's for cheesesteaks. Traffic was terrible getting there, I seriously don't know how people can travel on the Schuylkill every day. That road is terrible! Anyway, Norah was in the back watching Yo Gabba Gabba on her iPod touch and we thought she was being so content watching it quietly in the back seat. Well the show ended and I heard nothing from her. I turned around to find that she had let the iPod fall into her lap and she had passed out! Did I mention she didn't take a nap? Yeah so she had a nice little nap while sitting in traffic. 

 

It was a great day at the zoo. Here are some pictures of us from the day. Watching animals, riding the carousel (because what trip isn't complete without a carousel ride?), and just plain being cute.

 

 

Day two of our trip was the aquarium. But I'll tell you all more about that in another post so this one isn't hugemongus.

Carnival Time

This past weekend we went to our local community days fair. We have gone every year since Norah was born but his was the first year she was really able to enjoy it. We went with Norah's friend from daycare and his parents. They live a couple blocks over from us and the park where the fair was is just a few more blocks away. So we took a nice walk together to the fair.

When we got there we scoped things out. There looked like a lot of rides that the kids could ride. We were super excited for that. We walked around and tried to get some dinner while we planned out what the kids could do or so we thought...there were so many rides that we thought the kids could do. We got a bunch of tickets to split. While we were waiting to get our tickets Norah spotted a ride that looked like hot air balloons. She got really worked up and demanded to ride the purple one. She was freaking out and trying to get out of her stroller. There was a long line to get the tickets and she was not having anything to do with being patient. Finally, Mitch came back with the tickets and took her to the ride. *cue the sad Snoopy music* She was too small to ride that one. WHAT? So it turns out that most of the rides were 30 or 36 inches tall to ride. BOOOOO!!! We just got a TON of tickets!

We walked around trying to find some rides they could actually ride. We found two. There was a train and a merry-go-round that had cars on it. We had to keep waiting at the merry-go-round. They weren't tall enough to ride by themselves and only two parents were allowed on the ride at a time. Parents were only allowed in the bus or the firetruck. They were on opposite sides of the ride so I think they had to balance each other out. It was a great time to practice waiting your turn in line. NOT! Did I mention my child did not nap that day? So....yeah good times.

But no in all seriousness we had a great time. We also played some games. I won a "Clifford" for Norah using my superior water gun skillz. I call him "Clifford" because it's a giant red dog with black ears and Norah thinks that because he's red and big he must be Clifford. I tried to get a cute little brown dog. I handed it to her and she crossed her arms, said no and demanded the Clifford.

In summary: Good night. Good food (perogies!). And good friends. All in all a good night.

Here are some pictures on Norah on the rides.

Wordless Wednesday: Showing off her potty stamps

7 Years Ago Today

Seven years ago today I woke to a text from my future husband telling me to get out of bed and check my email. It was like 8:30 in the morning at the time and I did not feel like getting out of bed but something inside me said to do it. So I drug myself across my room to my computer to check my email. When I opened it I found an email from him telling me that today was a special day. It was our 19 month anniversary on the the 19th of the month you see.

The email told me that I was to be dressed and ready to go by 11am sharp. It told me that he was taking me somewhere but he wouldn't tell me where (and not to try asking because he knew I would). He told me that I could wear flip flops if I wanted (the man know I love me my flip flops). I started to panic. What on earth could he be talking about? I had to know! But he wouldn't budge. I rushed to take a shower and do my hair and get ready.

11 am fast approach and I was getting nervous. My roommate kept telling me he was going to propose but I kept telling them they were nuts. That was really me trying to calm myself down in case that was true.

11am on the dot he knocked on my apartment door. What? He's never been on time the entire time I had known him. This couldn't be true. But it was! We got in the car and he started driving. I tried to pry out of him where he was taking me but he wouldn't budge.

He drove all over the place. Down winding roads and past Amish farmhouses. I had NO IDEA where we were going (although that's not hard since he grew up in the area and I did not). Finally we arrived at a local industrial park. We got out of the car and he took a picnic lunch out the trunk. We walked across the street and he "randomly" picked a spot by the pond to sit. We sat and had a nice lunch by the pond. Ok I thought THIS was the surprise.

After we finished eating he gave me a gift bag. I was nervous but thought "hey this is too big to be a ring." I opened the bag and found a little photo album with a post-it note on the front. The note told me not to skip ahead and to just go in order. OOOOOKKKKKKKKK. I started looking through the book and there were pictures of us. Pictures of the cats we were planning to adopt in just a few short weeks. Then there were pictures of things that were around us. The weird statue thing behind us. The pond in front of us.Then there were pictures of letters from random signs. Like an "L" from the Lowe's sign (that is where I worked in college). It started W I L L. (OMG OMG OMG!) The letters spelled "Will you marry" and then there was a picture of him holding a sign that said "this guy?"

OMG this is happening! I looked over at him like "are you for real?" He grabbed the bag of chips and dumped it all over the blanket and out fell a plastic baggie with a ring box in it. He got down on his knee and asked me to marry him. OMG YES! I said YES!

The rest is kinda history now but I like to remember that day every year on April 19th. The day my life changed.

Happy Engagement Anniversary!