Well the trip was incredible and I am just going to let the photos to the talking.

Today was busy. I started off by doing some laundry- towels. Then I tidied up the house and took Brewster to the groomers. I went to winco, costco and kmart getting all the thinsg we needed. Joelle's camera needed a memory card and that type of thing. Now we have packed and planned our meals and it looks like we'll be ready. I am charging all our batteries. I am looking forward to our trip. I was glad to hear the ferry tickets are two way. I most likely won't blog until we get back- then I will have photos!!

Ok this is too funny. I kind of caved in to Joelle- but not really. You see her friends that she wanted to have over are away at camps- so I told her she could invite them over, Bummer though cause they can't come. We'll have to do it when we get back.
So we mad a bit of a chart for the fridge. It basically lists Joelle's jobs- catbox, bedroom cleaned and such and then lists free time choices. She gets one hour of computer tie a day, but she can only do free time things once her chores are done. I tried to write down some free time things she doesn't usually think of- practice golf in the yard with her practice balls, shoot baskets, waveboard. It should get her motivated to try and do more besides swimming, jumping on the trampoline and watching tv.

Mitch got home from work freakishly early yesterday. I was cleaning the bathroom cupboards under the sink and Joelle was doing her chores- it was like 3:30. We took advantage of that and headed off to see The Dark Knight. It was good, but since I had seen some of the other Batmans I knew where it was going. I guess these are prequels or something.The acting was really good and the effects were too. I think some of the messages went over Jo's head. She didn't think the joker was scary at all- just some guy with makeup on. She didn't get the whole psychological thing.

Today we are cleaning up a bit, doing some laundry and I am going to get a few things at the store to bring with us. We are planning on eating lunches out and dinner and breakfast at the house. I am getting kinda anxious.

I am such a mean mom. Joelle has been wanting to have a friend over this week, but I have said no. This is mainly because I want to get ready for the trip and I don't have a whole lot of food in the house- mainly trying to eat the fruit and veggies that we have. I know it won't go bad over the weekend, but it doesn't make sense to just store food here while we are gone. I also don't want to deal with a mess or anything like that. It is not that bad when she has friends over, but it just adds to what I have to do. Maybe I am just a lazy mom. I do need to go to the grocery to get a few things to bring to the island as I don't want to buy groceries there.
I am a little bit sore from all that I did yesterday. I plan on having Joelle go golf tonight from 4-4:50. There is a class she can go to with the golf pro at meadows. It is a good thing we have meadows or I wouldn't know what to do this summer LOL. Anyway I have laundry to do and all that stuff- so exciting.

tired

I did do the whole gym thing today- twice for a total of 80 minutes of cardio. Next I went and played soccer- I stayed for two games and had two goals. By the middle of the second games my calves were both cramping- not just one. It came on all of a sudden every step was pain so I had to sub out and chug a bunch of h2o- took care of most of the pain. I took a hot bath tonight and I feel better. I guess three hours at the gym and two soccer games might be a bit much for the day. I hope I can move tomorrow. I have to get stuff done for the trip and go to the gym.

Oh I saw this article today about pedicures--- too odd.

We had a pretty good non-soccer weekend. :) Friday we did the gym and Jo did her SAQ. She is doing well and picking things up. We went to the gym again on Sat- but this time for golf. We hit a bucket of balls and then did some chipping and putting. Mitch has been cleaning up the yard- trimming and the like. He fixed the wood pile which had fallen over and found a opossum. (live) It was huge. So he shot it and buried it in the back yard about 3 feet down. Not that I have anything against animals, it is just when they are around and could possibly kill one of our cats or get in a fight with Brewster that they have to go.
On Sunday Joelle and I went to the movies. We saw Prince Caspien and Speed Racer. Yeah a double feature at the Kiggins. Jo was impressed with how old it was- and cold. They have strong AC. Anyway they have done the whole dolby thing and it was $4 each. So that was kinda a cool thing to do on a Sunday. When we got home Mitch was pretty sweaty and said he had been at the neighbors tearing a wall out of their house. They are changing the three bedrooms into two. Would be like us taking out the wall between Joelle's room and our guest room. Might be something to consider once we see what it looks like.
Jo had golf again today and I worked out- 45 min on the eliptical. I also did the sauna and steam room. I love the steam room. I have lost like 5 pounds- yippee! Ok sarcasm. Mitch has lost near 40 and I have lost like not quite ten. Oh well at least it is something. Jo has SAQ later today so I will workout again and then I have a game at 5;50. Not mush else going on. I have to call and talk to Mitch's parents about next weekend- the meal situation. I think we will be cooking breakfast and dinner. :)

Campaign Fun

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When you watch the movie, first scroll down and pause the music so you can han hear the song. It is great. I saw this earlier and had to add it hear.

I blogged earlier today- see below, but wanted to add a little. I did get the windows done and then washed and waxed the car and went to the gym. Jo and I biked there again. While I was there I saw a mom from school who I know pretty well but not that well. She is incredible though. This is so inspiring. In March she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had surgery and is doing quite well. She was running on the treadmill and looked fabulous. She was completely bald from the chemo- but still just looked great. So I guess when I don't feel like going to the gym I will think of her. What a brave woman. I am not sure if I would be able to handle things the way she is.

Brewster is starting to socialize a little more. After only going to the dog park twice I can tell she has loosened up quite a bit and is now open to mutual sniffing. Not romping and playing yet, but I think she'll get there. I also have notice there aren't any landminds at the dog park. Maybe people taking their dogs there are more responsible. There are plenty of garbage cans and lots of extra bags kept at the park. She really crashes after going there. We were running late because someone forgot to put their hair in a ponytail and needed a water bottle. And no it wasn't me and Brewster doesn't care much about her hair. :) So in the rush I forgot the camera.

 I also updated my ipod and cleaned yesterday. One of Mitch's friends gave him a dvd with a bunch of music on it. A lot of it I already had, but there were a few things I didn't. 

I think I spent about an hour scrubbing the tub. It gets a film on it and now it is all gone. Today I am going to get a new sprinkler for the back yard and wash the windows. I just use the windex stuff so it is not that much of a hassle.

Tomorrow Jo is having her cousins Hailey and Morgan over to play and swim and such. She doesn't get to see them that often. They live out in the gorge, but Shawn works in Vancouver so he is dropping them off and picking them up. It will be good for Joelle to see them. I know they plan on swimming and playing the wii. 

What a day...... so it started early for me for the summer. I had to get up before 8 am!

Joelle had golf camp from 9-11.She is doing it at CGM on Monday morning for the next seven weeks.  It is a pretty good deal since we are members- it is $110. She seemed to enjoy it.  While she golfed I did 45 min on eliptical and then did the sauna and steam room.  I also showered and all that. We have locker now at the club so it makes it super easy. Next we went to target where we got Joelle a golf glove and I got us some new chairs for soccer season. They are about $50 but they were on sale at target for $35. I figured if I waited they would sell out- I have seen people with them at tournaments and Tom and Suzie have them and love them. Anyway Jo's hand was red after golf so that is why she got the glove. I like seeing her on gold days. She has to wear golf dress code so she is not running around in her basketball gear.  So after that we went home for lunch and did some laundry. Then we headed back to CGM at 4:00 for Jo's SAQ- so while she did that I did 45 min on the eliptical. Then we showered and got ready and met the O'Leary's for dinner at Stanfords. They went with us to Florida last year and at great. Shannon is a year older than Joelle and has been drag racing for years. Talk about an expensive sport. Joelle grows out of her cleats- Shannon grows out of her car. LOL It was great to see them. They are leaving on Thur to go to Denver for an annual drag race. After dinner I was home for a little bit and then headed out to my game at 10. We lost by one goal. It was really physical. I am pretty tired but need to mellow out before bed.  I didn't write today. I will tomorrow though. I am going to go to the gym early in the day then write a little and then take Joelle to soccer and Brewster to the dog park again. This time I will bring the camera. 

I am burnt- the back of my legs and my tummy which means it is hard to get comfy.

I didn't do much today- hooked up mac #2 to the net so now Joelle won't be nagging me to use my laptop when I am on it. I didn't get a new one- it is the one from my classroom.

I didn't write today. I have been reading and that type of thing. I probably won't write more until Tues. I have some notes though. It is pretty bare bones and I will have to add quite a bit- aiming for near 300 pages.   

I went to Winco today and did the ironing and then we watched Stand by Me. That was just a great movie.  

Not much news to report today. It is hot- in the 90's. We spent sometime in the pool and it was nice. Mitch went to the gym and I wrote a little more. I now have about 11 pages. It is pretty bare bones and I will need to fill in a lot more. I am going to head to the gym myself and the have dinner and maybe type a bit more later. It takes a really long time to get a page and dialogue is pretty tough. Not much to say. Mom you really need to blog more.

It is Friday night! Yippee!

So today was a clean the carpet day. Not too exciting, but well worth it.  Mitch was off and he worked in the yard. Joelle was busy cleaning out her drawers so all in all it was a nice day. Not exciting, but not stressful.

Yesterday Jo had her dentist appointment. I had made a mistake about the day so it was yesterday instead of Wed. She had both fillings done with no problems. Maybe because I told her when it was done she could get a new webkin.  Wed. afternoon she had Dani and Sara over and they played rockband. It was funny! Sarah was singing and the band name came up and Dani told her it would be easier for her cause it was a girl singing. "See it says Molly Hachet". LOL. Needless to say the girls were a little surprised. 

Well the cat is out of the bag. I told Jackie that I finally have started writing that book that I have had knocking around in my head.  Jackie told mom so now I might as well fess up. It is a book for kids- not a kids book with glossy pictures but a book with chapters. It's a historical fiction novel. It seems to me that a lot of authors for kids started as teachers so why not me?For me the idea is exciting and I have written a total of seven pages. I guess by actually telling people I am doing it that I will keep at it. So I sent the first few pages to mom and we'll see what she thinks of it. I don't want to say too much more about it here, but I am full of ideas and feel like I just need to jot it all down when it comes to me. I am going to get a small notebook to have with me. I tend to be thinking about it a lot and not always when I have the laptop. I mean one minute I am doing dishes and then I have dialog going in my head. It's kinda weird.

Good news! We found a house and I made reservations for the whale watch tour! Mitch's parents are going with us so it will be a lot of fun.

Funny news- I took Brewster to the dog park. We went while Joelle had practice. Funniest thing I had ever seen. Brew is very people centered and didn't know what to make of all the dogs running around. She mainly stayed with me and walked the path. She did finally decide it was OK to drink from the doggie fountain. It was funny to see a line of off-leash dogs waiting to get a drink and not one was pushing or growling. Pretty cool. I think she had fun. We'll see when we go next time. 

I got my weeding done. (for the most part) I weeded most of the back yard. Along the back fence we have this area where Mitch took out the old hedge. It was like the bushy thing with yellow flowers. Anyway just keeps coming back. It is not like something I could pull out. So i cut it super sort- like an inch left and then sprayed it with round-up. It was hot yesterday so after that I floated in the pool with Jo.  She had spent the day cleaning out her closet. She now has  a garbage bag of old school uniforms. Since she will be in middle school she won't wear the plaid anymore- now it will be khaki (or as Joelle say ky ah key)  That is strictly for Megan to laugh at.  So I am going to have to find some skorts for her. At least I do not have to but them at Dennis like I did for her like the plaid. The khaki one are about $20 less than the plaid- even at Dennis. She had practice yesterday and I went to walmart. I had somethings to pick-up.  I wanted to find a nice outdoor clock for the back patio so when you are in the pool you know what time it is. It is not like I swim with a watch on.  Today Jo is going to the dentist to get the filling she needs. Hopefully it will be uneventful. :)

Yesterday was exercise day. Jo and I went to the mall where we got some back packs. Each is big enough for clothes and everything we need to go to the gym. Mine will also be great for hiking or anything else. Jo will also use hers for school in the fall. She got some gym shoes- to wear only at the gym. We biked to meadows and I did my workout while she did hers. Meadows has a junior strength training class M,W,F from 4-5. So she did that. There were no other kids so it was just Joelle and a trainer for the hour.  It was tailored to Joelle so it was SAQ (speed agility and quickness).Best thing is it is included in our membership so there is no charge. While she did that I did my workout. Afterward we hit the outdoor pool and the grabbed dinner with Mitch at the club. He offered to throw the bike in the back of the truck, but we rode home instead. It only takes 15-20 min to get to the gym on bike. So we got home a little after 7:30. I changed and went to my game. I was a little late, but subbed onto the field and scored a goal within one minute of being on the field. We ended up tying 4-4. 

Today I am going to work in the yard. The back has some weeds in the pool/trampoline area.  It is looking good though. I re-painted our old plastic patio set last week so it looks lots better. I also did the front fountain.  Mitch's mom and dad got it for him last year and he was cleaning an touched it with the power washer which took off a little of the paint. It looks good as new now with the paint.  Ok I am off now to get some work done.

As for my skinny bitch book I am now disappointed. It is basically about going Vegan. I don't think I can give up dairy and animal products completely. There are some things I can do and once I am out of soda I am not going to buy more. 

When I was in Boise I went shopping with Joelle and she got some plaid Bermuda shorts! wow. I know you all know that back in the day I wore plaid bermuda shorts- like all the time- with polo shirts of course. So once she got her's and a polo shirt I was thinking to myself now if only topsiders were around life would be perfect. I guess thinking back to 1984-87 had me longing for my own pair of bermudas and some topsiders. So on the 4th I went to Macys and found them! I was so gosh darn excited. I wore them to the BBQ and was asked by more than one person where I found them. Maybe they will get holey a rot off my feet like my old ones... LOL So I got this outfit but my shirt has sleeves and I wore it with my new topsiders. I even called mom to tell her I found them. I am getting so old that the things I grew up with are coming back. Wait till I find an espirt bag.....  Ok I don't know if anyone besides Tiff will understand this one.

So yesterday we saw Get Smart- too funny. It was just the girls. Jo, Dani, Sarah, Suzie and I. It was really good. I haven't laughed that hard in along time.  

My WWJE diet is going ok. Jackie do you think you could blog daily- you know just what you ate? I got myself a book to help keep me motivated. It is called Skinny Bitch and it is great. Such awesome advice as get off your fat ass and quit eating crap.  Such great little tidbits as Soda is liquid satan. Anyway I am hoping it combined with the WWJE the book will give me the verbal slap upside the head to keep me on track. If I could get a recording of Jackie saying Jen I didn't eat a brownie I would be in heaven.... lol  Today I am going to tiddy up a little and the Jo and I are going to bike to the gym. My game is at 8:20.... go underdogs.

It has been so long since I have blogged. It is not that I have been busy so much as I have been lazy. Boise was great and it was so fun to see everyone. It was great for everyone to see each other and for some family members to get to know Mitch better. 

Joelle's team took second place in the tournament. She played a lot- which surprised me since she had missed practice. She even started in the Sunday games. In the top photo you can see Joelle getting ready to stop the ball. Sh e has been working really hard with balls in the air. In the final championship game her team played against the timbers. It was her friend Sarah's team and also the team Hans coaches now. HB lost but it was a good game and a good thing they lost. Otherwise they would have had huge egos going into our other tournaments. last week Joelle had Sarah and Dani sleep over. The girls had a blast swimming in the pool and playing our new video game. Wii rockband. They got pretty good at it. I had to sing a couple of the songs for them- they kept failing on Creep by Radiohead and then I had to give Roxanne a try. I did get 100% on Roxanne- shocking. For the fourth of July we went to a BBQ at some friend and Jo stayed over at Dani and Sarah's. Mitch helped Tom tear out some carpet in their living room. Their 16 yr old cat has kidney failure. It is a pretty sad situation. Yesterday we saw the movie wanted. It was like a combination of Fight Club, Matrix and Office Space. Kinda odd. but Mitch and I liked it. Them we went to Tom and Suzy's for dinner and picked up Joelle.  Today I am doing laundry and catching up on stuff. Not much going on. Starting tomorrow Jo and I will be doing the gym thing- she is going to start with a trainer for speed classes.  Not much else going on. I hope everyone is doing well. 

We are trying to plan a trip up to the san juans. It looks like the weekend of the 25th would be best for us- Mitch has vacation.  So Megs would that work? I know it is super close to your birthday. I was thinking just the four day weekend. Jo has three tournaments in August, so we will be pretty busy when that hits.