A Pirate Treasure Hunt!

Today at school, William's team created a treasure hunt for him! He's been heavily into the book Treasure Island in the past few months, so his teacher, aide and therapists thought of a way to integrate his assessment with his therapy and turn it into a fun morning for William. Robert and I attended the all-school meeting, and once it was over, the hunt for treasure began!

William had to lead us to his reading specialist's room via the school elevator, where he supplied Star Trek sound effects as the doors opened and closed. Once in the classroom, the specialist showed us the first article William would collect.
William's task was to read the pirate making hat directions to all of us.


From there, William had to lead us to his physical therapist's office where he had to read his next task: bounce and catch a ball 10 times in each hand.

William collected a vest when he completed his ball bouncing challenge.

The next stop was speech therapy. His clue (task) was a scroll taped to the desk, which he had to read to us.

William had to match events to a time of day

He received a sword and instructions to go to another office where he read yet another clue, solved a maze puzzle, received a spyglass and was directed to see the Principal for yet another task.
William had to read his treasure hunt story so far and glue the matching pictures to the correct page.


After successfully completing his book, the Principal gave him another clue

The principal's clue led us to the map that showed where the buried treasure was

Following the map and counting steps

Ribbons marked the way to the buried treasure


Checking the map

Arrrrrr! Thar be the 'X'!!!


Digging for treasure!

Thar be the treasure!!!


Pirate William carries the treasure chest to his classroom

His classmates gather 'round

William had to read the instructions that were in the treasure chest

William shares his treasure with his classmates


What a great day and a fantastic way for William to show his progress through all the stations outlined in his IEP and his progress towards meeting his goals this year.

Thanks to his aide, Mr. G, for the photos today.

Friends, Fun, a 5K, and a Fabulous New Tattoo

In January I made a committment to myself to get healthy and fit. I began the Cool Running Couch-to-5K program and started working out diligently with the Wii Fit and then the My Fitness Coach programs. After the first workout of the Couch-to-5K program, I thought, "Okay, I can do this. I'm winded, but I'm okay." As I looked through the rest of the nine week program, I shook my head at week seven.

"Brisk 5-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.5 miles (or 25 minutes)"

What??? Me???? Yeah, right. Yet I trusted that the program worked; my daughter Mariko had given me the link and she said it really did work.

So I followed the program, which was less daunting when you read the article instead of just skipping to the workout table.

"It's easy to get impatient, and you may feel tempted to skip ahead in the program, but hold yourself back. Don't try to do more, even if you feel you can. If, on the other hand, you find the program too strenuous, just stretch it out. Don't feel pressured to continue faster than you're able. Repeat weeks if needed and move ahead only when you feel you're ready."

Once I completed the program in 9 weeks, I moved on to the 5K Training Schedule, although I got sidetracked in April when I sprained my ankle. I took one full day off from exercise, then taped my ankle well and modified my Fitness Coach workout to keep exercising without stressing my ankle. I was amping to run again, which I finally did again after fifteen days without. After a week or so back on my running program, I decided to sign up for the ADC's 3rd Annual 5K/1mile Race. ADC sponsored Rachel's second visit to Ghana last year.
Unsure of how healed my ankle was, I signed up for the 1 mile race. A couple days before I flew out to Salt Lake City for the race, I changed to the 5K. I needed to prove to myself I could do this.

Every now and then, some of my online friends and I get together. Last year we did the ADC 1 mile race together, so we decided we could make a weekend of it again this year. This all coincided with my tattoo date, which I had set up months ago. One of my best friends, Aly, came along this year; we hadn't seen each other in 3 very long years. We had a comedy of errors just trying to meet up at the airport in Dallas, which we both Tweeted about, but all's well that ends well and we talked non-stop from the moment we embraced until well into the wee hours of the morning. On Friday we met up with our other friends for fun, food, and loads of laughter.

We were up bright and early the next morning for our race.


How fitting was it that 'Defying Gravity' from Wicked was began playing on the loudspeakers as I crossed the finish line? Completely. That blew my mind. I was 5th in my age group; 82nd overall for women. Um, we also found out that somehow the measurement was off and we actually ran 4.1 miles rather than 3.1 miles. My time was 48:13.8~ and for someone who really only began to run in January, heck, I'm thrilled. The Couch-to-5K program really does work!
My friend Cathy won her age group in the 1 mile and was 2nd overall for women in that. Whoo hoo! Go Cathy! (and thanks for the photos above)

After the race, Rachel and Hopkins performed for the participants. (Thanks for the pic Stacey!)


Went for pedicures afterwards and that felt so great after my run! The rest of the day was a blast times a gazillion, and there was laughter well into the wee hours of the morning again. Sunday was a time for tearful hugs as most needed to go home. A few of us stayed behind and went bowling before my tattoo appointment.

Sarah of Oni Tattoo Gallery placing the design for my new tattoo

Aaaaannnnddd the finished product~

Thank you Sarah~ I love my new ink!

Challenges and Goals

Robert and I recently met a very nice young man. Trevor was here to set up the balloons for the cell tower balloon test~I'll blog about the cell tower in the future. Sometimes you meet someone that you can't help but like and want to help out. Trevor is in that category. He is training through the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program and working towards competing in the Memphis in May Triathlon. He's never done something like this before. That's his challenge. Trevor's goal is to raise $5,000. He is nearly halfway there. If you could, stop by his fundraising page and make a donation. For more information about the Team in Training program, click here.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is dedicated to funding blood cancer research as well as providing education and patient services. You can make a difference in someone's life and help Trevor meet his goal.

Thank you!!

Great Music & a Worthy Cause

A few months ago, I looked at the tour dates and found out that Dave Barnes would be perfoming in Boston on March 21. I first found out about Dave Barnes from John Mayer's blog a couple years ago. After listening to a sample of Dave's music on iTunes, I quickly bought and downloaded Brother, Bring the Sun and Chasing Mississippi. Sarah loves listening to him too, so she had me add some of his songs to her mp3 player. Since then I bought Me and You and the World, and an EP~ You, the Night, and Candlelight. You can find them here.

Anyway, when I found out Mr. Barnes would be in Boston, I asked Robert if he would like to take me to a concert. Silly question, huh? Love those grown up dates! So I bought the tickets, booked a room for the night, asked the older sibs to watch Sarah & William.

Saturday we drove over to Boston (well, Cambridge for the hotel), checked in, freshened up, and walked over to the Paradise Rock Club, a nice brisk 20-25 minute walk from the hotel.


We had a yummy meal and some cold Stella in the lounge while we waited for the club doors to open. At 8, we went in and found a nice place right at the front of the stage. Looking around, I realized Robert & I were probably the oldest people standing this close to the stage. Most of the people around us were young enough to be our kids. The opening band came on at 9~ The Gabe Dixon Band. I'd not heard them before; I really have been missing out on a fantastic band! Gabe's vocals & keyboards reminded me of a Billy Joel concert I went to 30 years ago. Amazing. Robert said I need to keep tabs on the band's site to see when they'll be in our area again, because he would love to see them again.



Before I knew it, it was time for Dave and his band to take the stage. Robert & I were every bit as excited as when we saw John Mayer play a couple years ago.

I love how it shows when someone loves what they do~ the joy, the excitement, the energy~ just shines.


A Worthy Cause~

Halfway through the show, Dave took a moment to tell us about The Mocha Club, an organization Dave supports. I have been meaning to sign up for awhile, but things kept popping up and I'd forget. I did sign up that night. Want to know what $7 a month can do?

Afterwards Dave sang 10,000 Children, from Me and You and the World.


How close was this? Well, he was right in front of me, and Robert thought Dave's guitar was going to hit my head.

These was not posed *wink wink*



Great voice, great music, great guy.



For the encore, Dave came off the stage to sing "Until You" with the crowd



Gabe, Nathan & Dave


I'm a happy fan!


Meeting Dave after the show after telling him that it may seem like it, but I'm not really stalking him on Twitter!


Dave & Robert


If you get a chance to see Dave Barnes or Gabe Dixon, go! Meanwhile, if you would, please visit the Mocha Club and make a donation.

Feeling Fit

Last summer, we bought a Wii Fit to go with our Nintendo Wii Game system. I loved the idea of working out in my own home. We live in the boonies and I think the nearest gym is 15 miles or more away (I could be wrong; I've never looked). I'm not one for working out around other people. I get pretty self-conscious.

In the past year, I gained enough so that my favorite jeans didn't fit me. A few years ago, when Robert & I lost weight on the South Beach diet, I donated the clothes I'd shrunk out of and swore I would never be in those sizes again. When my favorite jeans got too tight, I started doing the Wii Fit workouts, which were going quite well until I banged my bum knee one day and workouts were too painful. Then the holidays hit and I did a lot of baking. And ate a lot of the baked yummies.

When Mariko was home at Christmas, she told me about Coolrunning.com's Couch-to-5K Running Plan. I decided that once the holiday's were over, I would make my health and fitness a priority. I realized that I could make a bunch of excuses why I couldn't exercise, but the one reason to exercise was more compelling.... I want to live a healthy long life (okay- maybe 2 reasons.... a long healthy life and fit into my favorite jeans!). Sure, there were days I didn't want to get up, or I had some aches or pains, major headaches, start of a cold, but I knew if I gave in to one excuse, the next time there'd be another excuse, etc.

So I began the Running Plan, after Robert fixed our 8 year old treadmill. Heh heh heh.. the treadmill.... I have to digress a bit here and tell you about buying the treadmill eight years ago.

When William was nearly a year old, I thought it might be time to try to shed some of the pregnancy weight. After deciding the best option to get some exercise was to buy a treadmill, Robert & I loaded the kids in the car and headed to a sporting goods store. We looked at the various models, compared features and prices, and finally decided on one that was within our price range. We went to the register to pay for it, but our debit card was declined. We knew we had more than enough money in the bank, so the clerk ran it again... declined. Bewildered and slightly embarrassed because we knew we had enough in the bank, the clerk said a code came up that we needed to call the 800 number for the card. While I kept the kids occupied, Robert talked to the customer service person for our account. Fifteen minutes later he walked over and explained what happened. Our purchase of exercise equipment threw up a warning flag on our account because we have never bought any kind of exercise anything since we opened our account many years before. The bank wanted to make sure that someone hadn't stolen our debit card, so Robert had to verify with the person on the phone that he was indeed Robert. What's more embarrassing~ that the card had been declined, or that the purchase had set off a flag because we had been such couch potatoes? Purchase completed and Robert tied the box to the roof of the mini-van. We headed home, laughing that yet again, one of our major purchases would have a great story to accompany it (oh, yes, we've got stories).

So, that's the story of our treadmill. The sad thing is, I really hadn't used it much over the years, and for the longest time, it was being used as either a towel rack or basement coat tree.

Not anymore.

I'm currently on week 7 of the Couch-to-5K Running Plan, and have only missed one or two days on the Wii Fit since mid-January, because I was away from home. Recently I bought My Fitness Coach program for the Wii. I love it and I love what all this is doing for me. I'm feeling fit, more energized, less blah about the lack of sun, and I can wear 4 of my favorite 5 pairs of jeans again! My next fitness program for the Wii will be the EA Sports Active, which is due to be released in May. I'm determined to be be down to my goal weight and size by my 48th birthday in June. I'll get there too.