Let's talk about that for a sec. I knew that it would be a challenge to pack light(er) for them. I mean, c'mon, we only get to wear cute summer clothes for so long around here. So, I laid out pretty much every article of summer clothing we own, all categorized by type. I then called Jeff in to help me cut it in half (or more). You know, because men are minimalists; or at least much more than we women.
"Okay, so we have these two dresses, which look almost exactly the same. Which one should we leave home?"
"Leave home? They are both really cute - let's take both. Can't you just picture them running around in dresses the whole time?"
And so it went. (I still don't know who that guy was and what he did with my husband.) I had to take control and be the one to leave a few of those adorable outfits here in dreary Sea-town. Challenge accepted, and challenge overcome -- well, mostly.
So the girls are packed, and that's about it, but I figure I have time. The house needs to be cleaned from top to bottom, a blog needs posting, and sheets need to be washed. I don't think I'd know what to do with myself if I was actually ahead of schedule -- okay I'll be honest -- on schedule at all.
We are leaving early in the morning. This trip has had a four month build-up, and I have to admit that I'll miss that part. I'm beyond excited that we leave tomorrow, but I'm kinda sad about the end of the build-up. The girls have been talking about "Hawai - hee" (K's pronunciation, so now mine out of habit) for months, and getting more and more excited about the plane ride and the trip. I can't wait to wake them up tomorrow (well, I think...hopefully they will be too thrilled to be cranky). Oh, and we are thankful that Jeff still has bachelor friends who can stay at our house and dog/fish/house sit while we are gone...perfect.
Aloha!!
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In other news, I officially gave my
Here's the thing about training for a full marathon: It's hard. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm doing this as a challenge, and that's exactly what it will be. Aside from one run where I didn't give myself enough rest before (or maybe it was just plain one of those not-so-good runs), I feel pretty darn good on those 16 milers. Let me rephrase that: I feel good for running 16 miles. I'm not skipping to the finish or anything -- those last few miles are a mental game -- but I'm not passing out or in tears so I figure I'm good for now.
I have about two and a half months to self-talk my way through the anxiety that comes when picturing myself running 26.2 miles. I KNOW that at least those last six are going to be pretty brutal. It's going to be a mind game for sure. Again, I have to remind myself that it's not meant to be easy; it's meant to be hard. Toward the end of some of those long runs, my mind goes to the "why am I doing this again?" and "how on earth am I going to run TEN MORE MILES after this?!" place. That's okay - I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in that. It helps to tell myself that I'm only running 26.2 once. Also, imagining -- no, knowing -- how I will feel when I finish. That is part of what gets me up in the morning every Saturday when I'd rather stay in bed (I never regret it!)
I am so lucky that my body allows me to do this. I don't have any major physical ailments, and this is part of me not taking that for granted (there are many other ways to do that, too, of course ;)) I'll continue to post short updates about my training journey. Currently, I'm trying not to stress about finding somewhere to run that far on our trip...
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And a Collins update, mostly in pictures:
Someone got the side taken off their crib (finally). The in-between until her picky mama finds a the big girl bed from her mind. She is doing excellent. In fact, bedtime in general in this house is going so smoothly that I'm afraid to type this. Since neither of the girls is napping anymore, they are both asleep within about ten minutes of laying down. And, since they are so tired, they don't get up out of bed. This is sure to be disturbed by our trip.
She fell out twice the first night -- one where she woke up, the other where we found her sleeping on the floor in the morning, not having made a peep. We now have a rolled-up towel under the fitted sheet that is working like a dream:
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| The girls were pretty excited to eat AT Panda Express, instead of bringing it home. (Guilty pleasure) |
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| Silliness |
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| "This is you and Daddy at your wedding." -- K, age 4.5 (Melt.my.heart.) |
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| Happy Saturday in April. That's my girl! |
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| Menchies date. Yes, I'm a pig. That's how I roll if we go out to ice cream. |
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| Jeff's proudest moment to date, I'm pretty sure. Austen got a set of golf clubs for her bday (putter, iron, and driver). I wasn't there, but apparently K hit balls for almost an hour and made good contact with almost every one. I hope Jeff comes down from Cloud 9 in time for our flight tomorrow... |
Foam pit! Of course, Mama had to do a few cannon balls, too (no pics, darnit!)
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| Buddies - Austen and Audrey |
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| Our little artist |
Austen's morning routine is to get up (sometimes on her own, sometimes after calling for me), go potty, and change into unders before coming downstairs. This morning she did it all on her own, and when I came up for something I found this. She had put a pair of unders outside of K's door for when she got up. Ha!
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| Baking cookies. I sent them, or rather forced them, to Jeff's work so I wouldn't eat any more. (Four in one sitting was enough.) |
My silly girls before taking K to school:
Aust and I headed to Trader Joes for airplane snacks while K was at school this morning. This was her first time with her own cart, and she did not take it for granted. She was very pleased, and walked around with me saying things like, "Let's see...we'll need these, and this, and oh, I'll put this in the cart." She had some folks cracking up in the vitamin aisle, telling me that I should buy some vitamins for when I have a baby in my tummy. "When ARE you going to have a baby in your tummy, Mama? What should we name the baby? Maizy? We should name her Maizy." For the record, my answer was, "Never." Although I may have said it in more three year old friendly terms.
(The girls are really into seaweed right now, which cracks me up because I thought we had somewhat picky eaters. I suppose you can still be picky and eat seaweed, but I really did not expect them to like it. They would eat it all day if I let them.)
Posting without reading...time to get packilackin'! (Yup.)
ALOOOOOOOOOHA!!!!
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