Day 26 and 27!!!

  Do you know what today is less than a few days from the end.  I can see the finish line and I am so happy to see it.  As I stated earlier I am exhausted at the extra thought it takes to plan a meal however it has gotten easier as I have gone along.

  Not to mention I have seen results and if that doesn't encourage a person I don't know what will.  If you feel your pants fitting different and see small changes what your doing can't be wrong.  I feel better and if you feel better you look better!

Day 26
Breakfast: fruit bowl
Lunch: salad
Dinner: chicken with rice and quinoa (Applebee's)
Water 75 oz
Workout rest day

Day 27
Breakfast: cereal with banana
Lunch: bowl of fruit
Dinner: I guess another cheat we ate at Ninjas (Japanese hibachi grill)
75 oz water
Workout: 20 minutes elliptical, abs

  3 more days and this journey is over.  I will not miss it but I will follow the plan maybe not as stringent but I will maintain a healthy meal plan, regular exercise and eat my favorites in moderation.  I believe that was my main problem.  I didn't eat in moderation and overate in the not so healthy food groups.  I have never eaten more fruit and vegetables in my life in such a short period of time then the last 30 days.  I have enjoyed making new smoothies and trying a few new dishes.  I know that I will still be able to eat out but I don't need to overeat and I don't need to wash it down with a gallon of sweet tea.  I don't think it will be hard to maintain because I feel so much better now than I did before.

Thank you for following my journey and in a few more days all this accountability will be over.

  Lastly on a good note as icing on the cake.  My daughter tried on her new school clothes and a few pair of pants didn't fit her.  I snuck off with them and wiggled into them.  They were a challenge to get over my calf muscles but I was able to pull them up and button them.  I didn't even have to slather in butter or lay on the bed to do it.  With a little more work they will not be as snug as they are now but getting them on is the first step. Yeah, me!!

Mariners Museum Exploration (Daycation)

Mariners Museum has as plenty of grounds to explore as well as a lake to explore.  I had planned our trip to involve a boat trip but was not able to due to their boat rental schedule.  Their boat schedule ended the weekend prior.  The museum's boat rental schedule runs from April-July.  Due to the heat during the summer they do not rent boats out for the safety of their customers.  I am sure I can't possibly be the only one bopping by to rent in July or even later in the year like October.  A nice boat ride on the lake to see the leaves changing.  Maybe they offer specials later in the year; I will have to keep an eye on that.  For now I will just explore other areas until next year.

  In lue of the boat ride we took a hike.  We got some great shots and had lots of time to talk about everything and anything on our hike.  My 4 yo is great on a hike. She just chugs along but, the 2 yo gets a little whiny and so he gets a free ride most of the hike duration.

  We have taken a lot of hikes this year.  We have visited a lot of state parks.  Not all trails are created equal.  Some have been covered in gravel and some more earthy and natural.  This trail is definitely not stroller friendly maybe you could swing a jogger stroller but it may be tricky as well.
 

  This trail was great. There were little overlooks, bridges, turns, twists hills going up and hills going down.  There was never a dull moment.  A walk around a lake is always different with every view.  You can always get a great photo of water.  Between the trees, water with the trees surrounding it.  I enjoy nature with water in it.

You know what's funny at the end of the trail (depending on the direction you went) we got an extra dose of excitement and motivation when we saw the Lion's Gate.  That was a neat site to see.  My camera (phone) was dieing so we drove back around to get pictures of it.

  Check this place out.  Walk the trails and explore this great lake.  My daughter and I may come back (minus little man) maybe we can beat our last record.   My last post I mentioned we had stopped at Sonics.  That Sonics was the best drink ever after that "little" trip!  

  The mosquitoes were actually not that bad either.  We heard them buzzing in our ears but we got around the lake without any bites.  However definitely bring your bug spray, water, a camera and wear your sneakers!

Daycations $4 8 hours of entertainment

Newport News, VA was explored by two peeps and myself.  Again we started our day out with a movie.  The paragon theaters
 show movies during the summer for free.  We had visited here last year and loved it.  Have you been?  Leather reclining seats

 for your comfort and a self serve butter

stop for your popcorn enjoyment!  This is without a doubt my favorite way to enjoy watching movies.  We watched Night at the Museum Secret of the Tomb.  As I write that I smile; I have watched this particular movie like 5 times I love the monkey and Pompeii scene.

  We packed our lunch this time which like I stated before definitely makes for a budget friendly day.  We walked around the friendly, businesses in the Oyster Point area and settled along the water for our lunch.

 I always make everything into a learning point. It was such a clean area because as I told them everyone threw out their trash.  If we left our trash out the area would look bad and the wildlife

might eat it.  This sunk in because when we were done eating she actually picked up a piece of garbage she saw on the ground and took care of it.

  We did indulge on some ice cream after our lunch at MaggieMoo's.  There was a sign posted for a special $1.99 kids special available after a movie.

The kids each got 1 scoop of ice cream and a topping.  This was a nice break in the air conditioning before we started back on our journey for the day.

  Our next stop was at peninsula spca.  I had visited here a long time ago and decided to share it with the little ones.  I am not in the market for a new animal at the moment but if I were I would look into a shelter first.  I did consider their smaller critters.  Gerbils, hamsters and guinea pigs however.  I brought my kids here and we did discuss why the animals were there and the concept of how much love, and "goodies/supplies" they need there until they find a nice family to live with.  My sole purpose of this visit was to show them the petting zoo.  The cost of this is $2.  You are also able to purchase feed for the animals but, I'm not one to encourage sticking food in your hand and letting an animal eat from it.  The zoo was not as big as I recall but should satisfy small ones you are trying to entertain.  There were goats,

chickens, llamas to name a few and a leopard.  That day he was sleeping it would have been nice to see him walking around.

  Lastly was our daily dose of cardio!  I had planned to do another boat ride and was so excited for a new location and surroundings to explore.  We headed over to the mariners museum. We made a pit stop at Sonics to replenish for the upcoming activities.  Everyday 2-5 (at least in my area) is happy hour.  Happy hour allows us to get drinks and slushes half off.  Today was a good day to get slushes!  We were not able to take a boat out and instead took advantage of the trail they had around Lake Maury.  All 5 miles of it!

The 3 official stops minus popcorn, sonics and icecream cost us $4 for the petting zoo.

Go explore Newport News there are lots of things to do and see.  Plenty of free or low cost activities.  Fun for the entire family. Whether you like animals, nature or are looking for something to do inside Newport News is your place.  We will get back over there soon.

Day 25!!! Almost done with 30 days

  I want to start out with I'm soo glad this is over.  Everyday is a challenge.  Not because it's hard to make healthy choices because that is getting easier than it used to be but because I consciously think about my meals. At breakfast I'm wondering about what I'm going to do about lunch.  Regardless of whether I have healthy food on hand or already made food on hand.  I'm so absorbed on trying to do the right thing.

  Well today I had a great workout.  Normally I workout but on cardio machines it's a half hour or 2 machines for 45 minutes. Today I hung out with a machine for an hour! Let me tell you I feel so awesome when I have pushed through an hour on a machine.  I have only done it twice but I need to do it more often.  I feel so accomplished when I look over the numbers of distance and calories.

Breakfast: yogurt, granola and fruit
Lunch: leftover salad with carrots and grapes
Dinner: olive garden 1/2 of all my dish with Water!!!
Water 75 oz
Workout 1 hour on elliptical, weights, abs

I have had two bowls of this new granola I picked up and I was so happy with it. It's delicious but read the ingredients today after breakfast only to have found sugar in the ingredients twice and an olgifructose ingredient.  Not a good sign.  So I will be officially concocting my own recipe based on the healthy ingredients in this granola.

  Tonight's dinner was obviously my cheat meal but I happily only ate half of it and my biggest feat was not washing it all down with a sweet tea.  I drank three glasses of water with my meal and had two bowls of salad!

  As I wrap up on this challenge.  I am going to continue with padding on recipes and posting workouts.  On twitter I do post some motivation as well as workouts.  My goal is to help if you want, need or are looking for it.

  As always thanks for following my journey.

Day 24 of 30 healthy challenge

  I'm back as promised.  I finished off my day with healthy takeout.  I like to cook/bake but love to eat out.  So eating out and being able to combine it with healthy eating makes it a win win.  I hope I can maintain self control when this challenge is over and make better choices when I do eat out.  I by no means will skip my cannolis, a slice of cheesecake, cheesefries or sweet tea.  I will however maintain discipline and eat in moderation.  I don't need to eat all of it in one sitting.  You may ask how it is I can do that.  Outback! Appetizer would be cheesefries, and dessert would be cheesecake all washed down with several glasses of sweet tea.  Another local restaurant I would get cheesefries as an appetizer and dessert would be a cannoli all again washed down with sweet tea.  I don't need to skip my favorites; I just don't need to over do it either.

I had a great day. Workout and meals!

Breakfast: banana and oj
Lunch: yogurt with granola and fruit
Dinner: salad from Chipotle!!!
Water 75 oz
Workout: weights

My salad from Chipotle tonight had all the fixings minus shredded cheese and sour cream. This is the second time I have eaten this salad. I am loving it!!

I used my Buy One Get One Free coupon. The other meal went to my husband.  It makes me smile knowing he ate healthy and I don't think he really knows it.

I have added the coupon on the site! Help yourself everyone!!

A little pamper for the 4 year old

  My youngest daughter is 4 but that doesn't stop her from trying to do, play, see or participate in what her older sisters or I are doing.  Recently we took a long hike (haven't posted that yet) and instead of a detour to the car for our sneakers we humped it in our flip flops.

 I let baby girl know I would pamper her feet when we got home.  How much of that she understood I don't know but after the whole ordeal was over she thought this was a pretty good deal.

She was instructed to sit her feet in the foot spa.  She sat on the edge of the tub and rubbed them on the various components and enjoyed the heat and bubbles.  I didn't have to even tell her to sit still or keep her feet in the foot spa.  She sat right there and enjoyed herself.

  I even threw in a mud mask for her salon experience.  Next time maybe I will add the cucumbers!

After her feet had marinated and felt much better I gave them a massaged with some of her favorite smelling lotion.  She liked that!  She knows a good thing when she gets one.  I took this time to let her know in her very far future her husband may rub her feet after a hard days work.  She considered that and I think was not to interested in the future as she was about the present.  I find this surprising as she already knows whom she wants to marry (Justin Bieber) and will randomly let me know she wants her marriage at the place we are at or with flowers over there.  

After her foot massage she got to choose her nail colors! Isn't that what they do at the real salons?  She decided that 10 colors was enough.  One color for each toe and each finger.  Nothing like adding some tedious work to a fun filled night.  She likes to get her nails done. Usually I paint them when she's napping so she got the benefit of picking her colors, watching it applied and patiently waiting for it to dry.

  Our time spent together was nice.  She was the sole center of attention and I was focused on her for once.  Although I spend all day with her we have her younger brother with us as well.  She enjoyed her quality undivided time with her mom too.  She even wanted to return the favor by painting my nails but I declined her offer for now.

Day 24 of 30

  I am still hear just haven't posted any pictures or updated you.  I apologize for leaving you hanging.  I am still hanging in there.  It is the last week.  The weekend gets hectic to post and by the time I eat dinner sometimes (I eat past the universal 5-6 time frame) I hang out, go to sleep and go about my business.

  You haven't missed anything.  I have eaten salad for lunch and dinners. Nothing fancy except young chef made dressing from her cookbook.  She loved it and even though I used regular oil versus olive oil it actually wasn't that bad.

  I am having another salad tonight and will post my 3 meals today and get back to posting.  Yesterday was nothing spectacular as if any of them were.

Tuesday: day 23
Breakfast: yogurt
Lunch: bowl of fruit
Dinner: salad with chick peas and carrots
75 oz water
Workout: 33 minutes elliptical, abs, weights

Monday: day 22
Breakfast: cinnamon oatmeal
Lunch: salad
Dinner: Chick fil a grilled chicken sandwich no bun with fries and sweet tea
Water 75 oz
Workout 1.95 mile walk

Don't let my lack of posting set your motivation stop if you are considering a new healthier move.  I am still watching what I eat, eating in moderation and working out!

  Any questions or comments are always appreciated.  Dinner tonight is a salad but it's take out (I'm sooo excited!!!!)