You are currently browsing the category archive for the 'Photos' category.
Back in October, my brother and hubby did the Xterra Triathlon up at North Lake Tahoe. The day of the race, the water was so rough that all small boats were ordered off the lake and the swim part of the triathlon was cancelled. I just remembered that I never posted the below pics, which show that when there is a small boat advisory on Lake Tahoe THEY ARE SO NOT KIDDING.
Sorry I’ve been slacking. Only excuse is I don’t have much to say…
Took Little Miss to the grocery store tonight, where she turned into poltergeist child and started throwing a fit, which included chucking a can of green beans out of the cart and screaming at me, “NO I WILL NOT STOP YELLING AT YOU.” I went through the store doing my best to ignore her tantrum and the looks of bystandards, and when we got in line at the checkout as a last resort, I asked her, “do you need a hug?”
She did. Tantrum over. Had no idea this one would be so easy to stop.
(And to you people out there without children: if someone gets in the line behind you to pay at the grocery store with a child having a melt down, PLEASE let them go ahead of you. I wanted to strangle the lady ahead of me that didn’t show that courtesy, and then held up the express lane for 5 minutes with a price check.)
Here are the pics I promised:
I’m back from spending yesterday at the Squaw Valley Ropes Course. It was AWESOME. So awesome that I’ll call it my second best day of work, as the first best day was our ski day at Squaw a few years back.
Anyhow, we were split into groups, and my group decided I’d be the first person to climb. We were harnessed in, and then a man offered to be my belay… He was a tiny man who was LITERALLY FROM ETHIOPIA. I told him, “I’m sorry, but I really don’t want to make you fly when I try to rapel down.” He argued with me, saying he was sure he weighed more than me, and I had to be adament… I didn’t want to be the person that made the Ethiopian launch 5 feet off the ground!
Anyway, I did four of the courses.. The first one was a wire bridge, which was really easy. The next one was a climb up a 200 foot (at least) tree. It was like my childhood fantasies come true. I was so happy to keep climbing and climbing, and then you ring a bell when you reach the top. Another fun one was climbing up a telephone pole, then standing on top and jumping to catch a trapeze. The standing on the telephone pole got me so worked up with adrenaline that my hands got sweaty and I fell right off that trapeze when I caught it.
So here are my pictures. Wow. So cool. I’m totally taking people up there next summer with me!
(I used the multiple upload tool in WordPress, and it evidently didn’t like two of my pics, and then doesn’t provide a way for me to delete them… Sorry for the broken images below. Each picture can be expanded if you click on them.)
My parents are in town visiting, so we’ve been busy spending quality time with them and my brother’s family. On Sunday, Mom, Little Miss and I did the Race for the Cure in honor of my Aunt, who is a survivor of breast cancer. It was a beautiful morning, and it was so special having three generations participating in honor of my aunt. I actually did the 5K run, which was very challenging because there were like 5 gazillion hills on the course, and when I finished, I turned around and walked back to meet my Mom, daughter, and co-workers. I got to walk a little over a mile with them.
Anyway, here is the pic. Pink power!!!
Me, Mom and Little Miss at the Race for the Cure
Here are some pictures I took back in September. I tried to add captions, but evidently Slide.com doesn’t work on IE8, and the Compatibility View is disabled, so until that gets figured out, no captions for you!
And let me pull out one of my favorites from this batch… Here is the next Cover Girl, modeling Mommy’s mascara!
Not just for lashes anymore!
And without further ado, here are the rest of the pics, including my nieces’ birthday party and our last trip to Lake Tahoe:
Here are the pictures from our trip to Mammoth over Labor Day weekend. Enjoy!
Just got my hands on pics of me doing Human Bowling at the company picnic last month. Basically, you get strapped in this metal framed ball, and then two guys heave-ho you towards some life sized pins. OMG, IT IS SO FUN!!!!!!
Here are my pics from last weekend:
We had one of the best camping trips of my life this past week at Lake Almanor in California. My brother and sister in law had scoped out a primo group camp site, where 21 of us were camping. It was secluded, with our campsites being nestled in the evergreens, but with the beach only a 50 yard walk, and stunning views from our site.
We used our new-to-us (thanks G&J) pop up camper, which I just love. Most people in our group had kids, and Little Miss was entertained the whole time by the other kids, but namely her two cousins. Since we had a secluded group spot, the kids could roam from camper to camper, and we all kept an eye out for all of the kids. Little Miss got her first ride on a waterski boat (yeah, she hated it), but I did get her in the lake water a bit.
We saw amazing sunsets every night, and I took my kayak out every day (many times with a kid in my lap). On Saturday, I did a REALLY long open water swim, which I estimate was between 2.5 and 3 miles (I was gone about 1 hour 40 min). I also managed to get friction burn from my suit, which apparently got infected by the lake water, so now I’m treating my infected armpit (yum) with antibiotic cream. (Sorry, that may be too much information, but I find it funny that I have an infected armpit).
I also got to take my road bike out for a long ride, and they have an awesome bike path that goes around the lake. I got to try out my new bike shoes and pedals, and they worked great!
So thanks to my brother and sister-in-law for arranging this awesome trip. I’m now scrambling to find one more open weekend before the weather turns cool that we can go camping again!
Here are my pictures… I somehow didn’t manage to get any pics of my youngest niece, but I guess that’s because Little Miss was hanging out with the older one the whole time.
Is it 5:00 yet?! I’ve had a rough day.
Here are the latest pics, including a trip to Tahoe with my brother and his family and 4th of July.
The reason I was quiet here for a week was that we were in Maryland getting all of the Bellin family together. Little Miss finally got to meet her two Bellin cousins, ages 3 and 2, and the girls had a blast together. The weather was rather mild, so although the humidity felt muggy to us, it could have been much worse.
We did a lot of hanging out as a family, going to parks, out to eat, and one trip to the Baltimore aquarium. During the girls’ naps, I got in some trail runs in a beautiful state park right by my brother in law’s house while JB and his brother went on bike rides.
We traveled via Southwest Airlines from Reno to Washington Dulles, and in typical Southwest style, we took the scenic route with multiple stops, and it took about 12 hours door to door each way. Little Miss was a champ, but I admit it was a rough trip for us. I showed up in Maryland with a splitting headache, just in time for Little Miss to choke on food at a restaurant and puke up her entire dinner. We also had a diaper explosion on the plane. Fun times!
But did you know that the new Southwest planes have diaper changing stations in the restrooms? I tell you, that was much appreciated! I can’t tell you how difficult standing diaper changes are during turbulance!
Anyway, here are the pics from our vacation. Sorry, but I’ve been asked not to put pictures of my Bellin nieces up on this site, so I had to weed out a lot of the pictures I took. Enjoy!
What a wonderful weekend. I spent both Saturday and Sunday afternoons on the beach of Lake Tahoe with Little Miss. Saturday, I met a good girlfriend up there with my kayak, and we took turns kayaking (Little Miss sat on my lap and loved it), and then just relaxed for 4 hours chatting and enjoying the mild weather.
On Sunday, we went back to Sand Harbor with JB to celebrate Father’s Day. He jumped in the water briefly, but it’s still too cold for my liking. Hopefully after the 4th of July I’ll be able to start open water swimming in the lake, which is one of my favorite things to do.
Here are our pictures from this fabulous weekend.
That’s right — I have a blog! I guess I’m supposed to update this thing, eh?!
So last weekend was the blow-out celebration of my brother’s big 4-0 birthday. We started with wine tasting in El Dorado Wine Country on Saturday afternoon, with 7 of us piled in my brother’s Yukon (aka the poor man’s wine tasting limo). My other brother, the one that likes beer and not wine, was our saintly designated driver. I truly don’t know how he dealt with a truck load of winos, which included sing-alongs to 80s Hair Metal on the drive home.
I digress. We then had a party/BBQ on Saturday night, and then on Sunday, a kickball tournament. Let me tell you, the family kickball tournament was an ingenious idea — what a blast!!! I hadn’t played since elementary school, and it was so fun playing with all of the kids. Even Little Miss got in the game, running the bases with me. The theatrics around the adults not getting the kids out were rather impressive.
So here are the pics. Enjoy!
Here are our pics of the last day of skiing this season at Squaw Valley USA, and Mother’s Day, spent on the beach of Lake Tahoe (Incline Beach).
I had a great Mother’s Day and weekend. On Saturday, JB and I went skiing at Squaw for one last trist on the slopes (this time I swear it’s the last of the season!). I applied sunscreen 4 times that day, and we had a lovely time and I didn’t burn myself silly like my last Spring skiing outing.
On Sunday, we did a picinic on the beach of Lake Tahoe with our family and JB’s parents. There was a cool wind, but Little Miss had fun collecting rocks and chasing birds. I have loads of good pics to post later on, but here is one to tide you over.
My present from Little Miss yesterday was a full 20 minutes of cuddling after she woke up from her nap. It was truly priceless!
And to my Mom, sorry I didn’t get to spend Mom’s Day with you, but you were on my mind!
We went to Folsom last weekend for my nephews’ birthday parties (one on Saturday, one on Sunday). It was fun to get together with my brothers’ families and have all the Cook cousins together.
Saturday was the oldest nephew’s party at a laser tag place, and JB and my two brothers got to have a round of shooting at each other. We chilled at my brother’s house Saturday night, and on Sunday, my SIL and I took the girl cousins to the zoo, park, and to ride a miniature train. After naps, we went to the second nephew’s party at a bounce house place, and everyone had a blast. Unfortunately, my camera’s card ran out of space, so I didn’t get nearly the pics of the parties that I had wanted!
Here you go!
OK, so it only took me a month to post these. Here are the pics from our weekend at Mammoth back in April. Enjoy!
I dedicate this post to my sister-in-law, who emailed me today pleading that I post again, as the booger post below this was making her sick. Life has been crazy hectic again. I’m finally getting over my cold, and now Little Miss got sick last night, and I think we got a total of 2 hours of sleep. Dragging today for sure.
So why did I post that picture of me with classic 90s hair? That is me going to my senior homecoming dance, circa 1992. (Click on the image to see a larger version of all of the hair in its glory.) I dredged up that pic last week, as I was asked to participate in a program at work where we bring in a bunch of high school juniors and seniors for our employees to talk to them about our education and career paths. In essence, I was asked to present to them the things I wish I would have known at their age, and to help them relate to us, we were to show a picture of us in high school. I showed two. The second will come later…
So what did I say? It’s hard to say it eloquently on 2 hours of sleep with a toddler chatting in my ear, but here it goes. I told them to start exploring career options in high school, by asking to do job shadows, and taking personality tests. I have had so many great personality tests in trainings from work, and I think having that information back then might have made me choose a different education and career path.
All of the speakers conveyed that college was FUN. But I helped bring the kids down to earth telling them how I lost my full ride scholarship by one tenth of a point on my GPA my first semester. In other words, I told them to have fun, but also remember what is at stake.
I told them about how I wanted nothing more than to leave New Mexico and find a big corporate job upon graduating from college, which I did. I loved the job, but discovered that WHERE you live is just as important as what you do, as I really detested living in Michigan and working in downtown Detroit.
I told them about some of the cool jobs I had in General Motors, and how at age 24, I had a mind blowing budget of $14 Million dollars. Then I told them how I decided to move out West and found a company to move me, which they did, and then proceeded to lay me off 5 weeks later. I think it’s hard for someone in high school to understand what that feels like, but I drove home the point of just because you’re young and educated doesn’t mean you’re immune to down sizing. I also told them that building your own networks was the key to being able to find a job (i.e. pick yourself back up when that happens), and illustrated that with how I convinced my next employer to create a job that was perfect for me.
Anyway, that was the gist of the presentation. Education is king (not to mention much more fun than the REAL world), and that they could take control of their own destiny. The kids were engaged, dressed to the nines in business attire, and really impressed me. I hope they learned a few gems from me.
On Monday, I started volunteering with the Junior Achievement program, where I go into a class of third graders and teach them about business once a week for five weeks. I had an absolute blast teaching the class (got to live out the idea of being a teacher for a short time), and am looking forward to continuing this process. Once again, the kids were really engaged and eager to participate. I got such a big kick out of writing my name as Mrs. Bellin on the white board (evidently chalk boards are passe now) as I introduced myself. I’ve always wanted to do that. I just have to say how cool my employer is for providing these types of opportunities for myself and other employees to give back to the community, as it really helps provide me with a sense of fulfillment.
So I’ll leave you with the second picture I showed during the presentation to high schoolers, a picture that I look at with a bit of sorrow, as I just miss this body:
That’s me at 16 as a drill teamer. I look back at that picture and remember that I thought I was fat back then. Someone even told me at that age that I couldn’t afford to gain any more weight. Well, I afforded it, that’s for sure, but I’m still healthy, even if a bit heftier. But still, I think that picture helps illustrate how warped a teenage girl’s view of reality and her own body can be.
Oh, and to the drill team picture, one of the high schoolers reacted, “it’s amazing how dated that outfit is.” Really?! I guess drill teamers and cheer leaders dress a lot sexier now-days, don’t they?
I’ll try not to let another week go by without another post.
I hope everyone had a Happy Easter. I thought about going to church. I really did. But then I decided to go skiing for a few hours instead. (God forgive me…) I made my first ham for dinner (which turned out really well), and my brother and niece came over to help us celebrate (sister-in-law was stuck at home with a sick niece).
I made yet another duck cake, which was a hit with the two girls, who weren’t interested in dinner much because they knew duck cake was coming!
Anyway, here are pics from our day yesterday, which included an egg hunt and some family time.
As promised, here are some recent pics. I included some to show off my new hair, which is like 6 inches shorter than it was before I got it cut.
Last month, I got the opportunity to go snow shoeing with a few people from work. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and I got some great pictures of Lake Tahoe. Enjoy the view — have I ever mentioned how much I love this place?!
No, I’m not talking election crap… I need your vote for a winter pic I posted of my niece on the Reno Gazette Journal site. Up for grabs are 4 ski tix, and ya’ll know I’d get good use out of those!
My apologies to the grandmothers, who have been waiting anxiously for me to post these pics. Here are shots of Little Miss’ first haircut, which was long overdue!
We had Little Miss’s second birthday party this weekend. It was toddler heaven with mass chaos, a duck cake and a Dora ball pit (courtesy of her uncle’s family). We also managed to get a bit of ski time in this weekend, where the conditions were wonderful — warm, bluebird skies with awesome snow.
Little Miss and I are off to the Bay Area this week. Me for work, and her for time with grandparents. I’ll write when I get a chance!
Party pics:
Here are Little Miss’s 2 year portraits, taken at Kiddie Kandids in Albuquerque.
After spending three days in Taos, I dropped JB at the airport and stayed in Albuquerque for 5 days to visit with my parents and my best friend and her kids. The week flew by, and we did a ton of fun stuff. Mom and I took Little Miss to the Albuquerque Aquarium, which she absolutely LOVED (look for the pictures of her making fish faces at the fish).
We also got her 2 year portraits done (will post those later), and my best friend and I took our kids to Explora!, which is an awesome kids museum. The kids just ate it up, especially the ball exhibits and the bubbles exhibit. On Saturday, we had a small early birthday party for Little Miss, and she was even able to blow out one of her two candles. She absolutely loved the divine carrot cake that my Mom whipped up.
All too soon we found ourselves on the plane again yesterday, which was about 5 hours delayed (oh, such fun with a toddler). We had a great time in New Mexico — thanks to my parents and my friend A for making it such a fun visit!
Here are my pics from our 3 day getaway to Taos, NM, billed as the steepest slopes in the nation. You can hike to some pretty gnarly terrain, and of course JB wanted to do so. You start hiking at 11,800 feet. I think it was the hardest workout of my life. It was also freezing cold — I stick to the saying of the coldest day of skiing is a sunny day at Taos.
Anyway, Rocky Mountain skiing goodness below:
Just back from a weekend in Kirkwood, where I witnessed one of the most impressive storms of my life. They got almost 11 feet of snow while we were there.
We decided to head up on Thursday, as we anticipated the roads to Kirkwood getting shut down during the storm (the roads did close, and didn’t open again until yesterday afternoon). I stopped by the grocery store after work to get supplies on Thursday, and I swear the whole town of Reno was there stocking up, as I think people thought they weren’t going to be able to leave their houses during the storm. It was crazy — shelves bare, people with carts piled high, and lines 10 people deep to check out. I had to chuckle at these people (many of whom were buying cheap flashlights), knowing we were about to drive right into the storm.
The ride to Kirkwood that night wasn’t bad until about the last 20 miles. I have to admit I was a bit white knuckled at that point, but JB was confident and assured, and hence why he was driving.
The ski lifts were shut down on Friday, as the winds were wholly impressive. It was a full on blizzard up there. So we just lounged in the one bedroom condo, which was very enjoyable with a good book and a cozy fire. In the early evening, we decided we had to get out a bit, so we donned our ski wear and headed to the fitness center, which was about 200 yards away. We had to march through 4 feet of snow and then dig out the door of the fitness center, which was frozen shut, but we managed to get it open. By the time we left about an hour later, the door was buried shut again and our tracks were filled in.
We had planned on putting Little Miss in daycare so that we could each enjoy the epic conditions together, but the daycare was shut down due to the storm. Practically everything was. But we each managed to get in a half day on Saturday and Sunday in truly epic conditions.
I have to say that I absolutely LOVE my new powder skis — the Salomon 1080 Guns. After injuring myself (ironically at Kirkwood) six years ago in the powder, I have had major issues skiing in powder. But with my Guns on, the fear subsided and I really enjoyed myself, and even went seeking the deeper, steeper snow.
On Saturday, only two of the lower lifts were running, but I noticed that people were lining up at my favorite lift, Cornice Express (expert terrain). I skied on over, and was one of the first in line. The ski patrol announced they were about to open the lift, and I couldn’t believe my luck at getting fresh tracks on this chair. Next thing I knew, all ski line ettiquette was broken, and people started pushing their way up to the front of the line. I held my ground, but turned to the guy next to me and said, “I’ve never seen people bum rush a chair before.”
He responded, “then you’ve never been here on a storm day!”
Everyone was cheering, and we were all excited… And then we waited. And waited. And this was in the middle of a blizzard, mind you, so it was REALLY cold standing still like that. After 30 minutes, we were told they changed their mind, and couldn’t open the chair due to high winds. Oh well. I almost made epic tracks that day.
It was really hard coming back last night, since two half days only wet our appetite for the pow-pow. But we were responsible adults, and got our tushes back into our cubicles this morning. (By the way, we have about 2 feet of snow at our house!)
Did you hear there is another storm hitting this week? My mind is already back on the slopes, where I’ll be this weekend. Mental note… Need to find a babysitter…
Here are pics from the weekend. I wanted to take more ski pics, but my battery died in my camera after my first slope side pic. I borrowed batteries from the TV remote to capture how buried our vehicle got before it took JB 45 minutes to dig it out last night!
Just back from a divine weekend at Kirkwood Mountain Resort, where we holed up in an extremely charming condo and enjoyed fresh snow both days. It will be a quiet celebration of the new year for us tonight, so I hope some of you will party it up on our behalf.
Here are a few pics from the weekend.
I entitle this one, “I’m too sexy for the snow…”
Little Miss and a wall of snow. But this isn’t “The Wall”, as Kirkwood enthusiasts would know…
Do you people get sick of my ski vista pics? Sorry, but I’m often struck by the beauty surrounding me, so here you go.
I think it’s time to talk to Elmo about the birds and the bees, because he seems to be reproducing at an alarming rate, putting rabbits to shame.
That’s right, we are the “proud” owners of FIVE Elmo dolls. Is it any wonder my kid has an Elmo obsession?!
Note to my Mom: she likes the two you gave her the best!
I feel like we packed about 3 weeks worth of activity into the past week. It has been strange today to return to the office, where 90% of people are off on vacation. So here is the download on what we’ve been up to:
Friday: Little Miss and I hung out with my parents for the day, dinner with my brother’s family, but my brother was missing because he got his snowmobile stuck and was trapped in the forrest until about 11pm. We were all imagining him hunkering down in a snow cave and losing some fingers/toes, but luckily he made it out safely.
Saturday: My parents watched Little Miss as JB and I went skiing at Kirkwood. We met my brother and his family up there. JB, who was in charge of packing our equipment as I made us lunches, was so focused on which pair of skis he wanted to bring that we managed to arrive at the ski resort with two pairs of skis for JB and NONE for me. I had intended to use my new powder skis. Luckily, my SIL let me borrow a pair of her rock skis, and considering the insane amount of rocks I hit that day, I am thankful that my powder skis did not get marred.
Sunday: Little Miss and I joined my other brother’s family and my parents on a sledding outing. We tried to find a sledding spot without lots of people, which meant trekking through snow as deep as my thighs whilst holding a petrified Little Miss and her sled. After about 40 minutes, we found a spot that was well packed, and Little Miss got in a few good sled rides (on a tethered sled with me pulling her).
That night, we all went bowling. It was a bit of toddler torture, as there were BALLS everywhere, yet she wasn’t allowed to play with them. I was shocked when she actually picked up an 8 lb ball and dropped it on the floor (thankfully missing her feet). Towards the end of the night, I decided to help her do one attempt at bowling. We went up to the end of the lane, and I encouraged her to “push” the ball. She did so, with my help, and away went the ball. Next thing I know, Little Miss is running down the lane after the ball. My immediate instinct was to run after her, which is when I quickly learned that the lanes are oiled and extremely slick. Within a split second, Little Miss fell on her back, and I fell backwards onto my elbow, sliding into her. It was like a scene out of a cartoon, except for the fact that it hurt like heck and she was screaming her head off. Here I am carrying her on my knees back to safety, as I knew I’d fall on my rear again if I tried to stand up.
Monday: We actually didn’t do much besides visit with family and laundry. That night, Christmas Eve, we went out to dinner with the family. Dinner at a restaurant with three toddlers is always an adventure, and my toddler proved to be the most challenging that night. After Little Miss went to bed, JB and I spent about 1.5 hours assembling her gift — a spring horse.
Tuesday: Merry Christmas! Little Miss loves her spring horse, which she seems to be calling Pacey for some reason.
Mom and I spent most of the day cooking, and that night, we hosted dinner for 13 family members. There were 8 adults and 5 little people under the age of six. It was a fun form of chaos in my house, and we had a blast watching the cousins unwrapping their gifts and playing with all of the toys. Little Miss spent a lot of time with her 3 year old boy cousin, with whom she was dancing while holding hands and rocking with in our recliner. My brother’s family and their dog spent the night.
This morning, I was in denial, but was thrust back into our routine as I took Little Miss to daycare and got myself to work. It has been a quiet day, which makes for a relaxed working environment.
That’s all for now. Here are pics from the past week. I fought with Slide.com way too long for this show. It managed to delete my captions multiple times, so I gave up and here is the show sans captions.
Thanks to my co-worker and travel mate D, who took the below pictures on our Seattle trip. Even though we were in REALLY long meetings most of the time, we did get out for two fun activities. One night, our group went to the Seattle Glass Blowing Studio, where we had a catered dinner, drinks, and we were able to create our own glass masterpieces (with the help of the true glass blowers). I came home with a really pretty bowl and a sphere (that Little Miss is obsessed with, as she thinks it’s a ball to play with).
Then, on our last day, we had about 4 hours to burn before our plane departed, so we headed down to Pikes Place Market. I got a lot of my Christmas shopping done, and the atmosphere was just lovely as the market was all decked out for Christmas, and there were a lot of singers and street musicians adding to the ambiance.
So, here are the pics. I just love Seattle. It’s a great place to visit, but I really would prefer not to live there. I’m a desert girl at heart.
My office Christmas party was this past Saturday. We stayed out pretty late, going to a Martini bar afterwards, and the Heavens aligned the next morning, when Little Miss slept until a record setting time of 9:30 am. You people without children don’t know how absolutely amazing that is. And it’s a good thing, too, because anything earlier would have just plain hurt.
Last year, I felt totally under-dressed for the Christmas party. So this year, I went out and bought a new dress, hose and stiletto heels. I paired the outfit with my wedding rhinestone jewelry and guess what?! I was totally over-dressed this year. *grumble grumble* I guess it averages out, eh? I was barefoot by the end of the night anyway, as I just suck at walking in heels.
Here is a pic of us at the party. There were two pictures of us — one where I looked good and JB didn’t, and one where he looked good and I didn’t. Well, since this is my site, I’m posting my good pic, so sorry JB. Concentrate on opening your eyes next time!
To fully chase my ba-humbugs away, Mother Nature finally sent us the gift of snow. We’re having quite the storm hitting us, and I was so excited to see about 5 inches of snow in our yard when I woke up this morning. I was even more excited to see Little Miss’s reaction, as I’m sure she doesn’t remember snow from last winter.
As I expected, she was very intrigued, but tentative. I fully documented the experience with pictures and video (did you expect anything less?!).
Video of Little Miss experiencing this winter’s first snow
Here are the pics:
Just uploaded the last batch of photos. Enjoy!
I finally got the pictures developed from the underwater disposable camera I took on our cruise. I am horribly disappointed with the quality of these pics, and it was pretty darn expensive once you pay for the camera and the developing!
Anyway, these pics show our Mazatlan ocean kayaking excursion and our Cabo San Lucas snorkel excursion. The kayaking was a blast. They basically took us out and around this little rocky island with a ton of birds. We were in a two person kayak, and the guides said that the person in back was the ‘captain’. Of course, JB stepped up to the task, and took it very seriously. I do have to say that we had a good groove going on with our kayak, especially as is counted out like drill seargent “left, right, left, right”. After the kayaking, which lasted about 45 minutes and was over way too soon, we had some time to burn, so we body surfed for at least an hour. JB, who went to college near the beach, is awesome at catching waves. I caught a couple, and one even took my swim suit top off! (Don’t worry, family, no one saw!) After our beach time in Mazatlan, we met my cousin and her family on board another Princess ship for lunch.
The next day we went to Cabo San Lucas for snorkeling in the Sea of Cortez. We were in a tour with a bunch of tentative swimmers, who were shocked when we asked if we could ditch the life jackets, and then jumped in and swam to a far off cove for some uninterrupted snorkeling. The rest of our tour group stayed about 10 feet from the boat. Our guide then caught up with us and had managed to catch a blowfish. He told me to go get my underwater camera, and then took some pictures of me holding the blowfish. This was way too cool, and one of the highlights of my trip. It was all slimy, and I could feel it trying to puff up bigger as I held it.
You’ll then see a picture of JB eating the infamous meal at Cabo Wabos that made both of us SICK, and landed me in quarantine in our room for about 14 hours. I swear almost one month later, our guts are just now recovering. As for how I was the ony one to get quarantined, I was the only one stupid enough to believe the postings I had seen saying that if you had stomach issues, you would get treated for free. What really happened is that as soon as I mentioned that I had stomach issues (a PC way of saying it), the on board doctor and two nurses announced that I was to be quarantined and could not leave my room. That is NOT what you want to hear when you’re paying a lot of money to be on a vacation! (Since Norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships, they take any reports of stomach ailments very seriously. And I didn’t even have Norovirus!!!)
I ended up back in our room crying as I was going to miss formal night with the lobster dinner. I sent JB to dinner without me, as I didn’t want him to pay for my stupidity. Anyhow, minutes after I returned to my room, a team of sanitizers dressed in white suits and masks. They wiped down the entire room, including the walls in the bedroom area, which I found pretty funny. I kept expecting them to put some crazy quarantine sign outside our door. And of course, the only thing playing on the cruise TV was 1980s movies, so I spent the night watching When Harry Met Sally and Pretty Woman feeling pretty sorry for myself.
The next morning I was feeling better, and I managed to convince the ship doctor to let me out of quarantine just in time for spin class. We took three spin classes on the ship, which were excellent, and kept us in good shape. In fact, I love traveling with my hubby, who is just as nutty as I am about working out. He didn’t bat an eye when I asked if he wanted to work out twice in one day on our at-sea days, and we’d work out after our excursions on the other days.
Anyway, to end my rambling, we both ended up losing weight on our cruise, thanks to the crazy gut issue and working out a lot. I guess I’ll wrap up my comments on the cruise with the only thing that really annoyed us, which was the Cruise Staff that seemed to show up at every bar/party we attended. We’d be dancing and having a great time, and then the Cruise Staff would show up and start at least an hour of cheesy line dancing songs, like the Marcarena, Electric Slide, Tush Push, etc. The first night, we humored it, but after six nights of this (the same line dance songs every night!), we were ready to empty our drinks on their heads!
Alright, enough rambling. Enjoy the rest of our vacation pics!
Little Miss is a University of Nevada, Reno cheerleader today. Before you fellow Aggies jump down my throat, I didn’t have access to a New Mexico State University outfit! Thanks to her Aunt A that provided not one but TWO costumes for her today, which is a good thing, because I fully expect the cheerleader to be dirty when I pick her up at daycare. I’ll be taking her to a costume party at my work this afternoon, at which time she’ll transform into Tinkerbell.
Hapy Halloween!
Here are some pictures from a costume party last weekend and from today’s bike ride outing. It was a beautiful day today, so we headed to the Truckee River bike path. Too bad Little Miss SCREAMED the whole way. She simply hates the bike trailer. JB is bound and determined to return it (we’ll see if REI will let him!).
Anyway, more later!
Although I have a lot to share about our vacation last week, I have been completely swamped in work this week, and my system has been in shock jumping right back into my normal schedule. So, in brief, we were on a 7 day cruise to the Mexican Riviera onboard the Golden Princess. We had lovely weather, and stops in Puerto Vallerta (where we rode zip lines in the jungle), Mazatlan (where we sea kayaked and body surfed) and Cabo San Lucas (where we went snorkeling, ate at Cabo Wabos, and got SICK from eating the food in Mexico). Oh, and my parents graciously watched Little Miss for the whole week, granting us our first child-free vacation since she was born (if you don’t count the weekend ski trip last Spring).
In Mazatlan, I got to hook up with my cousin, who’s husband is a captain on another Princess ship. We boarded their ship and lunched with them in the Captain’s quarters (pretty cool, I tell you). They are raising a 14 month old toddler while living on a cruise ship, the thought of which baffles my mind.
Anyhow, here are the pics from the cruise. I only have pics from Puerto Vallarta right now, as the pics from our other shore excursions are on a disposable underwater camera. Lord knows how long it will take me to get those old fashioned pics developed and posted!
Here are the pics I took after we returned from the cruise, including some great pics of a hike I took with my parents on Sunday to see the Aspens turning colors.
Here are pics from this past weekend. It starts out with Little Miss putting beads on our dog, Shadow, and then leads into pictures from the Xterra Nevada Triathlon, in which my brother and JB participated.
JB has been busy training for the Xterra Nevada triathlon in a few weeks, meaning he has been doing a lot of mountain biking on the weekends. Since he has been preoccupied, I have been venturing out lately with the jogging stroller to go hiking with Little Miss and our dog, Shadow. This past weekend, we went to Thomas Creek, which was a bit rocky for the jogger, but do-able. I even had a few people comment on “you pushed that stroller all the way up here?!”
I may try to use our backpack soon. I’m just a bit hesitant to use it by myself, as I’m not sure I can get it on and off in the middle of the forest by myself. The jogger enables Little Miss to get out and stretch her legs by hiking on her own a bit, and it also has a tray for her snacks when she gets hungry. I’m sure I’d get a better workout whith the backpack, though… Carrying 30 pounds on your back would definitely up the intensity!
Does anyone recommend any other trails for joggers in the area? I’ve found the Galena Creek trail off of Callahan Road to be the most jogger stroller friendly, but I am looking for some variety here.
Anyway, here are my pics from Sunday’s hike. Enjoy!
Here are a couple of pics of Little Miss at her cousin’s birthday party this past weekend. She is such an outgoing girl that she just eats up parties. She pretty much did her own thing, and I got to hang out and relax with friends and family.
This picture I caption “drinking while driving”.
And I post this pic for my brother, who is convinced I am a scrouge that never lets my kid have sugar. This is the aftermath of Little Miss enjoying some chocolate birthday cake. Yum!
I have to admit that I have been extremely stressed lately due to work, and that stress has been magnified by having to be away from my daughter for two weeks recently. I had been increasingly miserable, and my body was reacting with stomach afflictions, headaches, and fighting off a cold.
Yesterday, a half hour after I dropped Little Miss off at daycare, I got a call saying that she had a fever and needed to go home. I picked her up, thinking she looked fine to me, and I took her home and took her temperature, which was a 98 degrees. Turns out she was fine, but they wouldn’t allow her back for 24 hours. Which I tell you, it just what the doctor ordered for me.
I decided to take a mental health day, and it has made all the difference in the world for me. I turned off the computer and just spent quality time with my daughter. We danced, ate, napped, and then went for a hike with our dog Shadow, and played at a playground. It was an amazing day, and I have such a better outlook on everything now.
Hopefully this feeling will last! Here are pictures from my mental health day yesterday.
(This is the THIRD time daycare has kicked her out for a nonexistent fever. Next time, they will have to take her temperature in front of me before I permit them to kick her out for 24 hours!)
Yesterday evening, we headed up to Tahoe City for a concert on the beach. Although it was a bit cold for our original plans of swimming before the concert, we had a wonderful time dancing and hanging out as a family in an amazingly scenic venue.
Here are the pictures I took this past weekend at the Donner Lake Open Water Swim and then the Folsom International Triathlon. I didn’t get as many pics of my brother as I would have liked because he started in a different wave, and watching both of them was a challenge. Anyway, here is documentation of JB’s first triathlon!
We had a nice, relaxing weekend at home. On Saturday, I took Little Miss for her 18 month portraits. I tried Kiddie Kandids for the first time, as I had frequented JC Pennies up until now. I found that the picture quality was about the same, but Kiddie Kandids got me in almost right at my appointment time (compared to Pennies where I’ve had to wait over an hour), and they print your order out on the spot (Pennies makes you come back to pick them up 10 days later). Kiddie Kandids is about twice as expensive, but honestly, I think it’s worth it, as I have limited time as it is.
Anyway, drum roll please…
The belly button pic was my idea… Pretty funny, isn’t it? They fixed the background on that pic for the one I purchased.
This was my last weekend to train for the Donner Lake Swim that I’m doing next weekend (2.7 miles across the length of the lake). Both Saturday and Sunday, I did 4100 yards (164 laps). I haven’t done that kind of yardage in one sitting since high school, and my arms are definitely tired. And let me tell you, training for a distance race like this can be BORING. Like yesterday — I did two sets of 2,000 yards free. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Even JB said that it looked like the most boring workout ever. After next weekend, I’ll go back to doing interval training.
That’s all I have to report.
Thanks to my SIL for taking these pics at the Donner Lake Triathlon.
This pic would have been perfect if I would have been able to stay out of the picture (I was trying to fix her hat).
Here are some of my pics from the weekend. Enjoy!
Yet another fire has been burning on the outskirts of Reno this week, and this one I can see from my office. It is 2,900 acres and only 5% contained right now… So sad. Here is what it looked like yesterday from my office.
