HOT!!!

"Illegally" eating our sandwiches from home instead of the $10 chicken fingers at the zoo.

The boys enjoying the splash park

Asher finishes up 1 1/2 pb&j sandwiches.

Cool customer Brandt rubbing in his sunscreen.The motherlode

The high for Friday and Saturday was 98 degrees Fahrenheit. Right now it is 92 with a heat index of 105. Wrong, I know.
Thankfully, we aren't in drought, and we have some generous friends who have opened their pools to us many times already this summer. Both Eli and Brandt are on the city swim team, and Asher is rapidly becoming a little fish (a bit of scary, wild, will-jump-in-the-deep-end-backwards-without-floaties-or-me-crazy fish, but a fish). I'm hoping to get him in lessons by the end of the summer.
Yesterday we decided to go to the zoo since Eric was off work. It was somewhat miserable, but we got to see the flamingos fighting (the only animals moving in the whole place), and the kids had fun in the splash park. Oh, and the llama spit on a lady--another highlight.
When we came home a big flatbed truck was parked in our driveway, and two men were unloading the 800+ pavers Eric ordered by hand onto the grass at the end of our driveway. They were almost done with the last pallet when we arrived, and Eric helped them finish. Eric has a BIG, HOT job ahead of him. He started moving a few after the boys went to bed last night, but the pile looked pretty much the same this morning. We may have to invite several strong backs over for a cookout soon. :)

BOO!!

I have a dear friend named Jan who loves art and is both talented and generous in sharing her joy and skill with others. She came by this week and helped the boys make paper-mache masks. They did the forming part on Tuesday and then painted the masks on Friday morning. We all really enjoyed it. I helped Asher a little with his design (though he did paint the majority of the surface area himself), but Brandt and Eli were the creative geniuses behind their masterpieces. Jan hasn't seen the final works yet--I can't wait to show her!

Livestrong

From now on I am going to log my workouts and nutrition on livestrong.com. Here is a link to my page: http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/diary/who/kellyefleming/

I'll put it on the side bar as a permanent link. I'll still write about some of my workouts and excursions, but my "log" will be on livestrong.

Stacy, Hannah, and Derek visit

Oak Mountain Camping Trip

Last weekend we camped with several other families at Oak Mountain Park. The weather was unusually pleasant, our bug repellent repelled, the hot dogs and marshmallows were delish, and we came home dirty and tired.

Workouts 6-1 through 6-11

It has been a while since I logged my workouts, so I may be off, but you'll never know!!

Monday 6-1: I ran the trails and around Sherman Oaks and back home. Total of about an hour. I also jogged 2 miles with Eli and Brandt at the Trak Shak.
Tuesday 6-2: I biked 53 minutes and did upper body weights
Wednesday 6-3: I ran about 10 minutes to warm-up then picked up the pace to about a 7:30-7:45 pace for 30 minutes then cooled down at about an 8:30 pace for 10 minutes.
Thursday 6-4: I biked 53 minutes and did upper-body weights.
Friday 6-5: I ran 5.8 miles with Ashley through the sports complex out to hwy 11 and back. Averaged 8:15 pace.
Saturday 6-6: We were camping in Oak Mountain with several friends. I will post pics soon. I ran about an hour there. I spent first 20 minutes mostly on trails then went out to the main road and ran the rest. Nice long rolling hills. I felt great.
Sunday: rest
Monday: 6-8: I ran the trails in the morning and jogged with the boys in the evening. Total of about 8 miles for the day
Tuesday 6-9: I biked 53 minutes and did upper-body weights.
Wednesday 6-10: I ran about 8 miles--down to the end of Cahaba Springs trail and back. I started kinda slow but ran about an 8:15 pace for the middle and end.
Thursday 6-11: I ran on the treadmill: 12 minute warm-up then twenty 40 second speed intervals with 20 second rests between. Began at about 8.6 mph and gradually got faster--I did the last 10 at 10mph. I cooled down for 10 minutes at 7mph. Then I did upper-body weights.

Zoo!!!

SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER!! (da-da-dum, da-da-dum) SCHOOL'S OUT FOR-EVAH!!

Okay, so not forever, but I am actually very excited to have the boys home from school this summer! Eli and Brandt start swim lessons tomorrow, we hope to do alot of pool-hopping at friends homes, and we have a ZOO PASS!!
I became burned out on going to the zoo a couple of years ago after I lost Brandt there (the 4 gray hairs I have all came from his escape escapades--and if I get heart disease at an early age I'll blame him for that, too!). But, after taking Brandt there on his field trip (in which he was excellently behaved), I decided it was time to get another zoo pass. Asher is at the perfect age to really enjoy seeing the animals, and Eli and Brandt are old enough to stay close to me and be helpful with Asher.
Our zoo has a splash park, so it will be a fun place to go even on the hottest days of summer. We don't have a huge zoo, but it has improved ALOT since we last had a pass. It's so fun to go often because one day the lion will be asleep, but the next time he may be up running around and growling. When we went on Friday, we got to see two kangaroos boxing, feed the giraffes, and the lion went and posed on "Pride Rock," just like on Lion king. AND Brand inadvertantly gave a butterfly a ride out of the "Butterfly Experience" enclosure.

Workouts this week:
Monday I ran 1 hour 7 minutes. I did three laps around Sherman Oaks (yes, I rock. That hill is a monster.) We also went hiking with the kids and family at Lake Guntersville State Park for Memorial Day.
Tuesday I biked 58 minutes downstairs.
Wednesday I did speedwork at the track: 1 mile easy warm-up. 10x300m with 100m jog between each one. Then about a mile cool-down.
Thursday: I got some stomach bug (so did Eric) and was a sicky. It didn't last, thank goodness.
Friday: I ran the Deerfoot loop. It is about 7.4 miles. I didn't go very fast, but it is hilly. Averaged 8:40 pace--pretty sluggish, maybe I was still recovering some from that virus.
Saturday: I biked downstairs. Live Free or Die Hard was on. It kept me goin for 1 hr 20 minutes. I did upper body weights also.