Vacation... finally!

Besides the occasional weekend getaway, my last actual vacation was in March of 2010 when my parents took me and the kids to Disney World.  John and I are thrilled to have a vacation planned!  My parents are going to join us in August as we head up for a week of relaxation and fun on the lake.  Plus I'm looking forward to spending time with family.  I haven't been up to my grandparents' in nine years.  I miss the tranquility that the small town provides and want the kids to experience it.  I hope they have a great time and have fond memories to cherish like I did growing up vacationing at Platte Lake.

We are very excited about the cottage we were able to book.  In order to avoid a week of restaurant dining and driving around, we are looking forward to eating breakfast, lunch and dinner at "home."  The waterfront deck has a gas grill and picnic table that will come in handy.  

Living Room

Front view of the cottage.  Zack is most excited about being able to fish, so being this close to the water will be great for keeping him nearby.

Considering this is the first vacation John and I have been able to take together, same for all four kids, I pray that the week amounts to everything I wish it to be.  Watch out Curtis; here we come!

Fifty Shades of Gre...at Reading

After all the media hype surrounding the Fifth Shades series, I decided it was time to purchase the first book and dive in. I was immediately hooked! Lol After finishing the first book in paperback, I'm currently reading the second one on my iPad. I'm simply addicted.

Health and Fitness Challenge

Standing at 5' 4" and 130 pounds, I wouldn't consider myself to be overweight per se, however, I most definitely consider my eating habits to be unhealthy and my body to be unfit. Finding the right balance has proved to be difficult as a divorced mother living in two homes 80 miles apart. Regardless, it's time to focus on myself and vow to become healthy and fit!

Challenge #1 is changing my breakfast habits. I don't traditionally like eating first thing in the morning and, more than anything else, don't want to get up any earlier than I have to. I have tried taking breakfast items to works; things like bagels, yogurt and Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches. The main problem, however, is that I begin my workday at 9am and tend to wait until around 10am or so before actually eating anything; which doesn't appear to be helping my metabolism. I've been trying to make a conscious effort to eat breakfast before leaving for work. It's not easy though!

Challenge #2 is avoiding fast food. That is a pitfall both for lunch and dinner. With my time divided between two homes in two cities, I find it difficult to plan meals accordingly. It's even harder right now with the kids' demanding baseball schedules (luckily I'll be down to one out of four after tomorrow). Thankfully my mother didn't want to fall into a habit of eating fast food every night throughout the season and has been packing healthy dinners.

Challenge #3 is exercising. I believe this will prove to be the hardest challenge of them all. When I was going through my divorce, exercising was therapeutic; I also had a free athletic club membership from the apartment I lived at. Now that I've bought a house and eliminated the perk, I have stopped working out at all. Now, more than ever, I realize that I'm not getting any younger and it's my choice to do something about how I feel.

Summer Plans

We had such a great weekend enjoying the gorgeous weather Michigan has recently been blessed with (cuz let's be honest... it never lasts long). We went with Lauren's Girl Scout troop to Maple Syrup Day at Kellogg Forest on Saturday and spent Sunday hanging out at home. After the kids rode their bikes and scooters around, we sat down and pondered the things we'd like to do this spring/summer. Here's the list the kids came up with thus far:

• Fishing
• Butterfly catching
• Walks
• Bike rides
• Beach
• Make our own ice cream
• Sprinkler/slip n slide
• Drive-in movie theater
• Sidewalk chalk
• Picnic

I'm sure they will think of plenty of other fun things as the time draws closer, but it was fun to sit and brainstorm!

Daddy Daughter Dance

Unless you have experienced the difficulty of blending two families, you can never fully understand just how hard it truly is. One set of children are constantly vying for the attention of their biological parent while the other set are looking for some reassurances that the non-biological "parent" wants them around. It can be exhausting and stressful! It is also quite difficult to suddenly form bonds with children you know very little about. You didn't watch them enter this world, you didn't experience their many milestones or their many tearful hardships. In our situation, John had yet to experience life through a daughter's eyes. When Lauren needed an escort to the Daddy Daughter Dance, I was beyond thrilled that John quickly volunteered. We had Lauren call and invite him, and the look on her face when he said yes was priceless. They talked about dinner and everything the night would entail. That night was purely magical for this sappy mom! They went to Finley's for dinner. Lauren was so proud to show off her "Daddy" and her beautiful corsage. Then it was onto the dance where they had such a fun time. Neither one could stop talking about it for days to follow. Watching that bond really start to form filled me with such joy!

Niagara Falls

It is incredibly rare that John and I get a moment to ourselves let alone an entire weekend. We decided to do something special and picked Niagara Falls. You might think that's a strange place for a winter getaway, but we absolutely loved it and can't wait to go back when the weather is warmer. People in Canada were so incredibly welcoming, and exploring a new city (and country for that matter) was so much fun.

These show the view from our hotel room. We ended up having three different rooms throughout our stay, and the last night was our favorite. We had a corner suite with a view of both the falls and the city. What an incredibly romantic experience! I'm so glad that I got the opportunity to spend it with John. We are always so busy battling two lives in two different cities that we rarely stop and take time to focus solely on one of the most important things: the love we have for each other. It felt great sharing him with no one. :)

No Luck with Pets

Zack got Spike, his pet leopard gecko, last June after moving into our new house. He was so excited! It was a well-earned reward for no longer sucking his index finger. I sat down with him and asked him to explain why he still did it and found out that he had some anxiety that started when his Dad and I got divorced. Sucking his finger was a comfort he could always resort to. I told him that I understood how hard it was to stop, since I sucked my thumb until I was 7. I think he was shocked to learn that fact. He agreed to try giving it up and did so right away! Spike seemed to thrive in our home for several months, but that stopped once colder weather arrived. Young leopard geckos shed their skin about twice a month. He couldn't recover from one round of shedding before the next started. I spent hours reading websites to find ways in which to help him. We would stick him in bowls with warm paper towels to create humidity and then peel part of the shedding skin off with tweezers. Pretty soon the poor guy was unable to climb, because his feet webbed together. Life for a non-climbing gecko isn't very fun! I really started stressing out when he stopped eating. Websites educated me on gecko hibernation during cooler months. Unfortunately, the webbed feet and no desire to eat caught up with Spike a few weeks ago when John and I were in Niagara Falls.

I told Zack that we were not getting another gecko to replace Spike, because our home just isn't the right environment. He was offered fish or nothing. He picked fish! Lol While Lauren had her "special day" with Grandpa and Grandma Converse, we went to Meijer to purchase an aquarium and supplies... plus a couple fish. Zack refused to get a beta (my favorite due to their low maintenance and long lifespan), and picked out a couple large goldfish-like fish instead. One was named Buddy and the other Goldie. Good thing I took this picture the next day to show Grandpa and Grandma, because Buddy wasn't doing well when we arrived back home. Zack watched him take his final breath and was completely distraught! :( I asked him why losing a fish he'd had for a day was worthy of so many tears when he didn't even cry over the loss of a gecko he had for eight months. "I didn't have to watch Spike die!" Poor guy cried for hours. Goldie's life came to an end on Friday. He was bummed, but no tears were shed since I was able to dispose of him before Zack's arrival home. Now I have a $250 terrarium sitting in my garage and a $75 aquarium sitting on Zack's dresser. Oh the joy of teaching kids how to nurture and be responsible. The terrarium will soon be listed for sale, and I'm hoping Zack decides a beta is better than nothing so the aquarium gets utilized.