Back from Vacation.....

We had a wonderful family vacation in LA last week! Firstly, the weather was awesome! We didn’t see a cloud in the sky all week. We toured the Kodak Theatre, walked Hollywood Blvd, and looked at the stars on the sidewalk. The tour of the theatre was very interesting and it was a lot smaller than it looks when you see it on TV. Jackie and Brittany did lots of shopping as well. They walked Rodeo Drive but things were a touch pricey there! Most of the shopping was done at the Grove. The Grove was an outdoor mall that was really nice. It was a good place to look for celebrities. The TV show “Extra” shoots there most days and we were able to get ourselves on TV! That was a very exciting event for the kids. Brittany bought her grad dress for the end of this school year, it was a big deal for her. Brandon, well he picked up a new electric guitar at the Guitar Center in Hollywood. What about the food you might ask? OMG, all we did it eat. There were lots of high calorie desserts consumed as well. The only saving grace was that we did lots of hiking in the Hollywood hills. I was amazed at the quality of the trails, and we tried every one of them! It was a lot of fun.


We did a side trip to Vegas as well to see a Criss Angel show. It was entertaining but I would have to say not worth the money we paid for the tickets. We stayed at the Bellagio hotel which was wonderful. It was a step up from the hotel we had in LA and we didn’t want to leave!

From a health and fitness perspective I have gone a couple weeks without the leg pain I spoke of earlier. I have begun to run again (short distances) and ride the bike again as well. This is great news as it has been weeks since I was able to get a really good calorie burn in. I also bought some boxing gloves and have been experimenting with that at our local gym. I am toast after 10 minutes of hitting the heavy bag, it is a tough workout. Very high intensity, but short.

I gained some weight while on vacation, a couple pounds. I am still within 5lbs of hitting my goal but I am beginning to think I may never get there. It has been three months with no change in my weight. My current weight just might be the right weight for me. I will keep trying to get those final few pounds regardless as I am goal oriented and I want to say I did it.

That’s all for this week, be happy everyone.

Ramping up for Vacation!

Well spring break in my neck of the woods is fast approaching. This year we are taking the kids to Los Angeles for the week. All of us are really looking forward to the trip as we have not been there before. We will make a quick detour to tour a University as well in preparation for Brittany's decision for next month. She doesn't have much time left at home, next fall she will be gone.

From a fitness perspective last night I have my first "real" workout in a month. I did a 1 hour bike ride and burned 595 calories. It felt really good to sweat again. I am still struggling with health issues but managed to get through the workout. It felt good, very good. Today will definitely be a rest day to see how my body responds. I am down to 166.8 lbs now, only 1.8 lbs to go!!!! The last five pounds have been impossible. I have been working on them for three months now. Big party when I get there and you are all invited!!!

Jackie has also had awesome progress with weight loss as well, I am very proud of her. She is biking more than I did when I was in "training mode"!!!

Well time to get packing for the trip, I will update you all, with pictures of course, when I return!!!