Do I look like bird food?

Fall is here and it is the perfect time to set new goals. One of the things I am working on is becoming more 'green'. My husband has always called me a little crazy when it comes to recycling but for me it is a no-brainer. Why would I put something into a landfill when it can be recycled or passed onto someone else?

One of my ideas for being more green is to run my children to school every Monday. Something that has really worked for me is running them to school, running with the empty double chariot to Target, get all the groceries for the week then run them home. I even bring bags from home. Super green right? So far so good. I just have to be careful with the eggs and where they are placed in the stroller. Oh, and the ice cream, well, let's just say my run home today probably qualified for a faster than usual tempo run. 

We live in the city. I remember reading a blog post by my great friend Kara about how she was scared to run in the wilderness due to, well, the wild. I am the same way. I have had a bear encounter (that is a whole 'nother post) and really don't want to repeat that. However, in the city you don't have to worry about that, right?

As I was running home from Target today at full tempo pace, I spy out of my eye something large falling out of a tree. Taking a closer look, it was a bald eagle soaring right towards me. Yep. With a scream and a duck behind my stroller, the eagle soared back up into another tree. Did I resemble something to eat? Not sure, but I AM sure I'd rather take on a bear.  A bear seems like a quicker way to go.....

I will keep trying to be green in hopes that the eagle doesn't get any ideas about me. I never thought a creature so majestic and one that I have been in awe of my whole life would ever gun it for me.  In reality, the eagle probably didn't come as close to me as I thought and if it really did want me for bird food, I am sure he could've caught me. Regardless, it was a little too close for comfort!

I saw something else interesting on my run today. There was a jeep driving slowly along a park and his dog was running along in the grass. That dude was too lazy to walk his dog! Unbelievable, I think he also needs to work on his 'greenness'. My kids were still with me when I witnessed this and as the "What the F*#k, what a lazy ass" came out of my mouth I realized my children were listening. I guess another goal might be to not only clean up our earth but my mouth as well. Workin' on it!

We Made It! AND...I am still sane.

Back from the road trip I mean.

We had fun. My kiddos did great thanks to the 1,144 minutes of Spiderman DVDs we had! Seriously, the 1960's Spiderman episodes were a huge hit!

We left last Thursday and arrived in Denver Friday afternoon. I lived in Denver for approximately 7 years so we have some really great friends there that we shack up with(they have 7 full bathrooms in their house, so there is room). They have two kids as well, so the kids had a ball and we just got to hang out. 

It is hard to have fitness goals when you are doing a road trip with very young kids. The two days on the road meant a lot of sitting. I don't do so well with that. At rest stops I was running around with the kids and doing pull-ups on the trees. I would stretch and do downward dog in the field and my kids would jump on me. Have you ever held a plank with two kiddos on your back? That's tough stuff! Back in the car....

Saturday morning I HAD to run. I went. I forgot about the altitude and the lack of moisture in the air! I accomplished my goal for the day though....probably about 7 miles. Sunday we woke up and went up to the Red Rocks Amplitheatre. I spent an hour running up and down those bleachers. At an even higher altitude than my first run, I can't remember feeling that wiped in a long time. It felt great and I had a reason to take the day off on Monday (which would be spent back in the car). 

On Monday we drove to Omaha. We made reservations at a cheesy water park resort. It ended up being awesome! Charlie became the little fish I knew he could be. Willie was acting like a 2 year old for most of it, but we managed. We played for a few hours Monday night, got there at the opening Tuesday morning, played til lunch, had a questionable lunch there and took off for home. Matt and I took this time to talk about our next year as far as our home, his job, my goals and what not. It was great to reconnect with him on a trip that was mostly about the kids. 

AND, because I am still a kid at heart, I think I had as much fun as the kids. However, I am happy to be home (where the exterior paint job is in full swing) to a clean house and to get my family back into our usual routine. I am looking forward to school starting so I can start working on some of my goals(more on that later). FINALLY!