Snake #2

How did I never see any snakes until after I saw the snake crossing sign? 🙂

And no, I don’t care that it was just a cute little green garter snake. Still creepy. 

Katie’s eventful walk in the woods. 

We all went out for a walk since it was such a nice day. It was also a test for Katie—she always wants to go with me/Owen but it’s two miles and I know she’d want me to carry her…and that ain’t happening. (Daddy usually ends up carrying her so she’s spoiled…but I can’t do it.) So…off we went. Some days she likes to be the Line Leader. Today she wanted to be pokey and hold daddy’s hand.

And before we even completed the first mile, her legs were tired and she wanted to be carried. See?! I knew it! So Tom carried her off and on. And then…she had to go potty. So off they went for her first potty in the woods! Which didn’t go very well and she peed on her pants (but we were almost finished by that point so no biggie).

New year, new trail!

Owen and I started the new year with a great hike on a neighborhood trail (we’ve been on parts of it before, but not the whole thing).

And we saw the Whomping Willow!!

And a baby Whomping Willow according to Owen. 🙂

I just ran a mile.

I haven’t ran a mile in, um, EVER?!

I got on the treadmill tonight for my usual mile walk and at about .75 miles I thought “Hey, let me try running the last quarter mile.” I’d run two, walked two, run two, etc., a time or two before, but it was always hard and not enjoyable in the least.

But tonight I felt good and I wasn’t winded so at the one-mile mark, I thought “Hey, let me go to finish out a full 20 minutes” (a mile would have been about 18 minutes, so I was adding another two minutes of running.)

At 20 minutes I was still feeling good so I just kept going. And then I thought “Hey, what if I ran a mile? NAH. I can’t run a mile. But what if I did?” I had a good song on repeat so I just. kept. going.

So tonight I walked .75 mile and ran one mile.

I’m gobsmacked.

Walking and watching

Katie loves to bounce in the bounce house…except she wants you to watch her. 🙂 So whenever I walk on the treadmill, she bounces. She’s actually a riot to watch—with jumps and kicks and tossing big soft things around. Tonight she had to run and get her bear so they could jump together. 

  

Afterward, heading upstairs:
Me: Katie, you did awesome in there!
Katie: I know, I had awesome kicks!

Sunday walk with my protector. 

It was COLD this morning—in the high 40s, I think—when we set out. We were in multi-layers, Owen had gloves, and we both had our hoods up. 🙂

Today’s weapon was a lightsaber. 🙂

As we were walking along, I was getting the usual commentary about weapons and which bad guys are in the forest and why the minotaurs are no longer there…and then suddenly he stops, turns around, and says “Shhh! We’re in skeleton forest!”

I love this boy. :heart:

Welcome to Minotaur Forest!

We were all on our Sunday morning walk and Owen, as usual, talks about his video games the entire way. Stuff about zombies and poison shields and earning gems and potions for magic sticks…and when we got to this point on the trail, it was “WELCOME TO MINOTAUR FOREST!” 🙂

Then as usual we stopped at the bridge to throw over some sticks and stones.

And then we told them this was a zombie house and they should go check for zombies (it’s an old prison building).

We have fun on our walks. 🙂

Sunday morning walk

It was just me and Owee this morning. I was feeling good in my new walking outfit—XL pants and XL shirt!!—after hitting 60# this week…that I had Owen take my picture!

Then I wanted a nice picture of him. This just reminds me of a senior picture…which is far away but will be here before you know it. /sniff

 

Sunday morning walk!

  

Katie and daddy hiding from us!

  
Surprise!

 
Daddy and Katie running up the hill!

 

We learned the trail takes an hour if Katie is walking. If she rides most of the time on daddy’s shoulders it only takes us 47 minutes. 🙂

  

Playground again!

Owen didn’t have activity camp this week so we did this instead! They played while I walked around the path for my mile walk!

Today he brought a shield and sword.

Katie likes to be pushed high!

Her same friend was back—this time with a scooter. Katie desperately wanted to use the scooter, but didn’t want to actually move on it. 🙂