Vacation Photo of the Day #14

The last time that we had a babysitter Bunny took on a lot of responsibility.  As a reward I told her that I'd buy her a little treat while we were on vacation.  Instead of going shopping, Bunny asked to just have a day with me at the beach.  I rarely get one on one time with either of my kids and every so often it's nice to get out with only one of them.

We had a good time.  We packed a picnic and took sand toys and bubbles to the beach!  Then we came home and played a mean game of scrabble.  We play by our own rules (and even trade letters sometimes).

As you can tell from Bunny's expression, it got quite serious.  She is so competitive.

Vacation Photo #13

I got up and worked out hard.  I can't wait to get back to the gym tomorrow!!!!

Then, my mom, the girls and I headed out to the Golisano Children's Museum.  They had a "kids only" room for kids who are ages 8 to 14 and Bunny disappeared into it for an hour.  She reappeared with a purse that she designed and hand sewed.  So awesome!  Unfortunately, Lila was not allowed inside.  Luckily, she grabbed a crafty souvenier (courtesy of my mom) on her way out!

Here are a few pictures from our day!

Vacation Photo of the Day #12

What a nice day.

My mom's trainer came over and my dad made a huge lunch/dinner.

But first I went to the gym and did a 20 minute run on the treadmill using an incline of 4.0 and pushing it up to 6.0 for my last few minutes.  Then I got onto the elliptical.  I skipped weights because I was just spent at the end of my cardio.   I'm going to join a 24 Hour Fitness when I go back to California.  There's one that is pretty close to my house and it doesn't seem too pricey.  I'm going to pop in and see if they have any good membership deals going on.

Here are a few pictures from the day!

screenshot from the treadmill

 Me!  Very gross and sweaty after working out.  It's satisfying to me to see myself so red in the face.

And now for the food!

 Peppers stuffed with onion and yellow squash

 Appetizers

 Homemade Calamari

Vacation Photo of the Day Update #10

What an excellent day.

I was really dreading meeting with my mom's trainer today but it ended up being a great experience.  I went into the gym at 11 and worked out with the weights for a half an hour.  Then, I met with the trainer for another hour and a half and she helped me correct a few of the things that I've been doing.

I am considering joining a gym when I go home.  I've just really been enjoying going each day.  A couple of days ago I knew that I had to go and I didn't really want to.  I was just feeling emotional and the girls were being wild and I felt frazzled.  I just didn't feel that I had the energy.  I pushed myself to go and ended up having a great work out and feeling so much better mentally and emotionally when I left.

Recently, my friend Laura said that she wishes she'd be a stress-work-outer instead of a stress-eater.  I have to wonder if a person can turn into this.  When I'm at the gym I do feel as though I am doing something that is all mine.  It's one little chunk of the day that I have and am devoting to myself.  Oddly, when I was a smoker I used to feel similarly about cigarettes.  What a strange comparison.

Tonight my Dad took the girls out for shopping, manicures and dinner at P.F Chengs.  My mom and I ended up at a restaurant in Naples for a girls night.  It's called Sea Salt and we had such a great dinner.  For our appetizer we had a cold plate of raw oysters, shrimp and lump crab meat.  Then we split a beet, hazelnut, arugula and goat cheese salad.  I had ahi tuna with seaweed salad as my main course and it was DELICIOUS.

Check out this ahi tuna.

Also, as a side note, though I appear particularly orange in that picture with my mom, I'd like to state for the record that no artificial tanners or tanning bed lights have touched my body.  The pumpkinesque nature of my appearance remains a mystery.

Vacation Photo of the Day #8 Cirque Du Soleil

I may not be able to update tomorrow because I'm meeting my friend Erika at St. Pete's Beach and then staying overnight in a hotel there.

We all went to see Cirque Du Soleil today.  My dad got the girls hoodies with angel wings on the back as souvenirs.  I couldn't take pictures inside, so most of my pictures of the day are in the lobby of the arena.

The show was good.  I thought that some of the costumes were a bit eccentric and strange, but the performers were so incredible.  I found myself holding my breath over and over though out the show, scared that someone would fall.

Picture of the Day/Vacation Post #7

Today was the sort of day that I relish.

The weather here was beautiful. All I really wanted to do was to sit poolside with a few magazines.  My dad took Bunny out to grab new golf clubs and gear.   Lila and my mom went to pick up a few Amelia Badelia books from the library.

I woke up and went out to the gym.  I did 30 minutes of weight training and then did a run with an extra ten minutes of cario (on the elliptical).  It was a hard workout.  I'm considering taking the morning off tomorrow, but I'll see how I feel when the time comes.  Each year we celebrate the kids birthdays in Naples.  We have a party for Bunny each year at Easter and we do Lila's in the summer.  Tomorrow is Lila's party (though her actual birthday isn't until August 25th).

When I came home from the gym this morning, I got directly into my swimsuit and relaxed the day away.  I swam.  I drank a little wine.  I read magazines.  I played in the pool with my kids.

My dad gave the girls a remote control boat and everyone had fun sitting outside of the pool and chasing all of the swimmers with it.

We all headed out to an Italian restaurant in Naples for an amazing, amazing, amazing dinner.  One thing that I sincerely miss about the east coast is the great food.  I started with a seafood salad and followed it with a mahi mahi over grilled polenta and sauteed chard.  Oh my god.  It was heavenly.  We haven't had much luck with food in California.  This was just incredible.

Here are a few pictures from the day:

 Lila and my dad, chasing Bunny around the pool with the remote controlled boat.

The famous boat.

My billion dollar toes.

Bunny and her golf gear.  

She tells me that her Bunny is for her driver. 

Dinner

After dinner bike ride.

Vacation Picture Update Day 4

We had a really great and active day today.

I got up early and went out to the gym while the girls went to breakfast with my Dad.  I did a whole body workout on the weights and then got my cardio on the treadmill.  We all met back up at the house and my mom and I headed out to the beach with the girls.  I really love the beach and they are just so pretty here.  At this time of year the Gulf of Mexico is as warm as a bathtub and I ended up spending most of my time in the water swimming and treading water with Bunny.  We came home for a late lunch and while the kids swam, I ran out to get a few books.  I need one to float around the pool with and another to fulfill Lila's summer reading requirement to enter the second grade (how in the world is my baby going into the second grade????)  Unfortunately, my favorite bookstore has closed and is being turned into a grocery store.

Later in the day I took the girls out to buy them new helmets for their bikes.  When we came home we went out for a ride.  Though Lila's a great bike rider,  Bunny finally got the hang of it today.

After dinner we jumped back in the pool for a few games of Marco Polo and now we're settling into the night, waiting for the Olympic gymnastics to being and having a bit of dessert.  Everyone is tired.  It should be an early night for all.

Here are a few pictures from the day.

Vacation Photos Day 3

It was a great day!  Bunny and I slept till 11 (which is 8 our time) and we're surely going to pay for it when we are up until the wee hours tonight!

After waking up we all headed out to the gym with my mom.  I got in a nice run on the treadmill and a bit of weight training while the girls met with a personal trainer.

After our workout we had some lunch!

 And then we headed back to the resort for a little swimming.  As luck would have it, no sooner had we put on our swimsuits and headed to the pool, the sky opened up and began pooring on us.  But that didn't stop Lila.

Here she is, dancing in the rain!

 The nice thing about swimming in the rain is that you get the pool to yourself!

When we came home we had an excellent dinner!  

Grilled tuna, steamed asparagus and yellow squash.  Yum!

Naples

For the record, I tried to post this blog update on the ipad and failed miserably.  First, I was unable to add the picture and then I couldn't find spell check, but the final straw was when I wasn't able to separate my thoughts with spaces.  So, in conclusion, the ipad is great for many things, blogger is not one of them.

The girls and I flew out of San Francisco on the red eye to Naples last Wednesday night and got here early on Thursday morning.  Abandoning all reason, care for beauty, aging and health, I continue to be a sun-worshipper.  There is just something about the sunshine that is like medicine for me.  Laying waterside, pool or ocean, with a book and a cool drink makes me feel incredibly joyful.  I love watching the girls playing without anywhere to go or anything that has to get done.  I love California, but since moving there our lives have been incredibly hectic.  Between the accelerated demands of private school education, all of the girls' extracurricular activities and their social lives, Jay and I have had very little time for ourselves or each other.  My days have been pretty saturated with the stuff of new surroundings.  Not only settling in, but errands, cleaning, caring for Sidney Holler's failing health and trying to help Groovy James assimilate into his new family.  On top of that, I have my crafts, which I've been trying to make a little time for each day while the girls are at school.  There's a project waiting for me at home, on hold, that I can't wait to return to.

Jay is sitting this vacation out.  His new job is simply too new for him to leave for a week, which I completely understand.  He's begun taking on some real responsibility there and is coming home feeling happy, satisfied and fulfilled by his job with Twitter.  I'm crazily proud of and excited for him.  He's definitely found his place in the world and the culture there suits him.  He's going to be working 12 hour days and will have every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off, plus he'll have every other Saturday off.  We are really looking forward to this.  Honestly, Jay has worked a lot of 12 hour days in his career, but done it 6 or 7 days a week, instead of 3 or 4.  I have a feeling that every week will feel like a vacation.  I am really looking forward to the summer, when we can take advantage of our days together.  We can choose to be lazy and enjoy our new backyard, or to adventure together as a family.  Speaking of family adventures, on the tail of one huge move there is already talk of another.  It looks as though we may have the opportunity to move internationally with the girls in 2013.  This, of course, is a tough call that I think we should revisit at the end of 2012.  At the moment, I'm exhausted by what feels like constant relocation.  I want my girls to feel normal and for things to be quiet for awhile.  Also, what about our pets?  I do not think that Sidney could survive a flight in cargo, so she'd need to be re-homed. In and of itself, that feels like an impossible obstacle to overcome.  On the other hand, we have always said that if offered the opportunity to live internationally with our children, we'd take it.  My time abroad was certainly more an education than college and I do wish the same for my children.  So, I am going to focus now on making our home in California, keep an open mind and just wait and see what happens next year.

So often, when I'm busy I fall into some unhealthy ruts.  For instance, I drink too much wine and not enough water.   I don't get enough exercise.  I eat the leftover toast off of my children's plates.  These small things really add up and work against me.  I have done a little soul searched over the last few days and have decided to make some changes when I go home.  Truthfully, I feel pretty terrible when I act in unhealthy ways, and when I fall into these types of bad habits things like my weight feel out of my control.  So, I am ready to take control.  

But for now, I'm going to go and slip into my swimsuit and head over to the resort pool (pictured above) with my mom and the girls.  The kids are working out with my mom's trainer today and I'm going to lounge in the sun with a book and let my skin soak in the vitamin d.