Summer Days Fun

Summer vacation for the kiddos has begun!

We went to the faux-beach, where they played with the faux-beach toys...

They literally played for hours before water restrictions kicked in (aka 3 buckets of water later) and moved on to some suntanning and drying up time.

Then it was nap time... kids went down pretty quick. Buckets of water play and sun apparently does that to you.

The two kiddos are pretty inseparable. They always play together and come up with things that drive mama mad. They always fight too and push each others buttons.. A LOT. Regardless, they are still always together. Today, they both wanted to nap together, so I let them.

After nap, it was more outdoor fun.

Climbing trees and pretending to be monkeys.

"Hear me roar!"

And the day isn't over until there's some kind of dirt, sticks, leaves construction. Here's their summer time Xmas tree.

And some jungle gym.

The two of them entertain each other all the time. So it makes my job much easier. I don't even have to push them on the swing sometimes!



Once Ryan is done developing an even bigger, cooler play area for us... I foresee we will rarely leave home!

Summer lovin'!!

Impromptu Snow Day!!!

Merry Be-lated Christmas??!! Happy Early New Years??!!

Liam came into the room early this morning ~5amish, and I vaguely remember him saying "Mama, it is snowing" and I thought, he meant it is raining. So I replied with a "uh-huh" and went back to sleep. I did a double take when I finally did wake to get the morning going...

I promised the kiddos to take them to see snow this year, and take a looky! Snow came to us! We skipped the morning routine and went straight out to the yard.

Do you want to build a Snowman?

The snowscape around our yard...

The avocado trees are not liking the snow though. Lots of the branches are getting weighed down and limping over. Hopefully this won't harm them too bad for next season's crops. There should be a path in the photo below, but the weighed down branches are covering it up!

Checking out the grove...

View of the nearby mountains.

Hiking around the snow... this would be perfect for sledding! If we only had a sled (Ryan will NOT let us use the trash can lids!)



Liam thanks Emilia for letting him borrow her pink boots! Note: We need to get Liam some winter gear.

Started snowing again in the late morning,



and finally it cleared in the afternoon. The mountain view after the clouds cleared:

Weekend of Yard Work and Dirt

Ryan rented a tractor one weekend day to move dirt around the yard. Kiddies, of course, wanted a front row seat, to watch the tractor action.

Since Ryan was moving dirt from one part of the yard to the other part, I had the fun of shoveling the moved dirt to fill up and flatten out a wide hole on another area of our yard. While I spent half the day practicing to engage the lats while shoveling, the kids apparently gave themselves a dirt bath...

It has been non-stop since September. Work has been really busy for both Ryan and I, as well as we are adjusting to new schedules to be inline with the kids schedule for school and the nannys. On top of that, we have all been through one round of sickness. Starts with one person.. in this case Liam. Then passed on to me, Emilia, and finally Ryan. It passed just in time for a double whammy of time sink --> big stress at work concurrent with planning Liam's birthday party and grandma's visit. All in all, I managed fairly well with stress coming at all angles. Of course, I am sick again though... which means forced down time.. and back to updating this blog.

2014 Summer Update : The Parents

So... continuation of the 2014 Summer Update edition.

Ryan Updates :

Ryan has been extremely busy with juggling home projects, work projects, maintaining everything, and taking care of the kiddies. The home project list is long as he continues to fix and create a great home and environment for us and the kiddies. Depending on near future events or plans, some projects get reshuffled to the top of the priority list.

Such as when the fires came through a few months ago. Re-assessment on fire safety led to the removal of the big pine tree close to the house. Pines are notorious fire hazards, and since this is a high fire hazard season, removal makes sense.



The deck is unofficially done! So.. that means it's not done done, but done enough so that we get to use it and enjoy it. We needed the deck to be safe and functional as we hosted a baby shower for a friend and Emilia and Liam's UnBirthday Party earlier in the year.

Here's how the deck looks populated with party people.

It can hold quite a few people. =)

The avocados were harvested around May this year and, as expected, it was the lowest yielding crop on the records. Other growers around here are also yielding 30% from their norm. With so much going on and a poor avocado season, we ended up not having the yearly AvocadoFest.. for a 3rd year in a row.

We usually save one tree from being harvested so that we can pick and eat for the remainder of the season. However, the end of the season is near and we had to pick off our last remaining avocado tree.



The last of our avos for the season...

Not only is the deck done, but also grass area under the deck. The kids and I love the under-the-deck area especially since it provides shade and has a relaxed feel hanging out on the lawn. I use it a lot for exercising on, and the kids like going bare feet in it and playing lawn games.

Ryan has a grand plan for the overall development of this place. Even I don't know what it is! But this here is the foundation of something I know the kids and I will like. I cannot wait for this area to be built up. I am pretty sure once the grand plan is done, we'll be staying home even more often than we do now!

In the meantime, we're using this area as a makeshift Spartan spear throw training area and the kids use this area like a dirt box (not at the same time.. since that wouldn't be safe.) I'm even contemplating setting up a temporary gladiator jousting arena.





And the kids area has gotten a few upgrades.. a climbing structure, a bench, and a newly cut pine table/boxjump/etc.

Mr. Bunny makes a frequent appearance too. It lives in back of the workshop.

So, you remember the Spartan Race we were suppose to do back in January? Well, that never happened since I had knee surgery. The Spartan Sprint (3+ mile race) was postponed to the next available Spartan Race in our area. Well, that is the Spartan Beast (12+ miles, 25 obstacle) course this coming September. At the time we did the transfer, it was still a good year away. I had hoped we would ease into the Spartan Race series with the Sprint, but the ultimate goal.. my goal for the past 3 years, has always been the Beast. So.. in 3 months time, Ryan and I will be running the Beast. Crunch time!

So, in Ryan's free time (which is none), he has been building obstacles to help with our (really it's more for me) training. He has built mens/womens slosh pipes, a rope climb, bucket carry, rock carry, and spear throw. All according to Spartan guidelines.




(Notice our different techniques to get up that rope.)

Connie Updates :

Obsessive compulsiveness is still ever present and any free time is spent on training. Focus is still getting the knee back to 100% and myself back to pre-injury condition. Currently the knee is at 85-90%. Goal is to get my knee (and mind) functioning confidently to run long distance and to handle jumping. Training has slowly increased as the months passed, and now am at a good point of doing cross-training regiment, 6 days/week, which include physical therapy exercises, Pilates, Olympic weight-lifting, rock climbing, trail or hill running, and HIIT (High-Intensity-Interval-Training) with plyometrics.

Yes. Olympic-weightlifting! I am part of a barbell club now and get Oly weight-lifting training from a 20+ year USAW National coach. Turns out MOST EVERYTHING I learned about weight-lifting from Crossfit was WRONG. Back to re-learning the basics and already seeing the benefits. (Roger, if you are reading this, you HAVE to come down and have a one-on-one session with my coach!)

Doing some "cleaning" on a weekend. =)



My form still needs work. The barbell still travels a little horizontal versus straight up vertical, but it's slowly coming along. Oly lifting has helped tremendously in posture, recognizing left/right side imbalances, and has allowed the knee to strengthen faster and regain a wider range of motion.

I also completed the 2 month Paleo challenge back in February through April and successfully decreased body fat by 3.7%. Since then I have maintained a modified Paleo, focusing on more veggie/fruit intake and varying my protein intake to incorporate a little of non-Paleo plant-based protein (non-GMO soy and chia seeds) for protein variety. I have happily steadied to a 17% body fat and back in the "athletic" category.

Other than working out as much as I can and experimenting with healthy food recipes, I have also been hosting a "Mama's Workout" group Sunday mornings where the neighborhood mamas and kids come over and the moms get a workout while the kids have a play date (multitasking!Score!).

It's been going pretty well that we've even had a few friends and acquaintances, Spartan dads, join for a Spartan Obstacle Training workout session. With the current run of American Ninja Warrior Season 6 on TV along with Spartan Race prep, there is an excitement of discussing new obstacles and obstacle strategies and developing a "wish list" of obstacles in our yard. I cannot wait to see what more obstacles Ryan will build in our home training playground! Stay tuned!

Here's our "Devil Steps" obstacle (yes.. it's just an open staircase):

Pretty much the yard has become a playground for both the adults and the kiddies. Lots of fun for all of us.

Tropical Weather

East Coast is getting earthquakes and we're getting tropical thunderstorms. This weekend was hot, humid, and muggy with lightning and thunderstorms. It produced an amazing rainbow right outside our front door though.


Emilia and I took in the sight outside with a few snapshots. Then proceeded indoors to sit together on the dining room chairs (which she loves to sit on.. it's her way of joining the grown ups) with the lights off as we watched the sunset light dim fast and the rainbow fade.

Backyard Snowscape

One of these days I'll get around to providing a current update, but for now, another back post from Em's very first birthday. We had a pretty good cold weather storm that moved through here and gave us a day of awesome view of snow atop the local mountains. A rare sight. Em loves to look out at the window and point at all the various scenery and "talk" to me about what she sees. I don't know what she's saying, but it is a lot!