Hawaii Trip

How cool that Dustin's "work" brought us to Hawaii a few weeks ago?!?!  He had an important face-to-face meeting that required his presence, so why not bring me?  In doing so, we got to spend 4 days in the beautiful Waikiki.  It wasn't nearly long enough, but luckily this client and a few others in Hawaii warrant us going back next year "for business."

We stayed at the Halekulani Hotel which was gorgeous and 5 star all the way!  We mostly just relaxed, layed out, enjoyed nice dinners, and did some light shopping because my foot was still severely fractured.  (I was wearing the boot, just not in pictures).  Next time, we will do more site seeing and hopefully go to the North Shore and island hop...

The view of Diamond Head from the beach in front of our hotel.

Lunch at the Outrigger Hotel beach bar/restaurant.

Drinks poolside at our hotel.

Predinner drinks at the House Without a Key restaurant.

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It's known for it's patio overlooking the ocean.

The kids pool at the Sheraton next door ... we had to snap a photo!  So cool!  One day, we'll bring the kids.

Enjoying tequila!

... and the fact that we didn't have kids to wake up to the next morning.  Makes tequila a little easier to swallow.

I iced my foot daily in ice cold buckets of ice.  This was such torture that neighboring guests would often come out to their balconies to see what the noise (my screaming and groaning) was about. 

Dustin tried paddleboarding and was a natural!  Of course!

88 degree ocean water!

Lunch at the Reef @ the Sheraton.

I was in love with the pillow rafts at the Sheraton's adult pool!  The Diamond Head view was nice, too!

Views from our balcony!  We had gorgeous sunrises and rainbows daily!

The Waikiki Beach was seriously like a postcard!  Crazy busy!!!  Looked like Port A in the 80s :).

We worked out in the hotel gym daily.  All I could do was the bike, but I had to keep my sanity.

Beach sunset on our last night.

Dinner at the Shorebird toasting to an amazing and successful trip!!!

This is all we do!

I'd love to have an exciting post about fun summer outings but day in and day out we go to the gym and then come home to either swim in our pool or go to the neighborhood splash pad with Tara and the kids.  It's not terribly exciting but the kids love it!  Parker usually cries to put his swim trunks on before napping ... he's that obsessed!  And now that Carleigh is full fledged swimming ... it sure makes for an easier time for Mommy!  Except when a goggle crisis occurs ...

Memorial Day

It's been 3 years since all my sisters and I have been together so over Memorial Day when Julie and Stephen and the boys were in San Antonio we all got together to see them and say good bye as they made their way across the country and overseas to Stuttgart, Germany where they are stationed for the next 3 years. It was great to see Lori and Jennifer and their little peanut, too (Jen's 13 weeks pregnant)!

We were supposed to take professional pictures but with the crazy storms and everyone's schedules, it didn't work out.  Oh, well.  At least we got a few pics anyways!  So good to see everyone!  Doesn't happen near enough!

Mother's Day Part 2

With walking out of the question and my entire family at my beck and call, I had everyone doting on my on actual Mother's Day.  I was definitely bummed out but Dustin let me lay by the pool most of the day and waited on me hand and foot.  He was awesome!  The kids were super sweet and when it came time to unwrap my presents, I saw the familiar lululemon bag and was delighted with lululemon gear.  Dustin knows me too well.  I can't ever have too many speed shorts!  Then they brought out a long wrapped present... I wasn't sure at all what it was.  I started to unwrap it.  Carleigh looked excited.  It was a photo collage of the kids holding letters spelling out Mommy like I'd done for each one of the grandparents and Dusty in the past.  I remember remarking one time that Mommy's always get the short end of the stick because no one knows how to get creative.  Well low and behold, with Tara and Aunt Shay's help, Dustin made this happen over the last month!  I was overjoyed and it was my favorite present ever!  He said he had a new respect for me with regard to trying to get the kids to cooperate for photos.  Haha.

I didn't get a photo with Andrea but it was an eventful, though still wonderful, weekend to celebrate Mothers, including my own!

Irving 1/2 Marathon

Two weeks before I injured my foot, Dustin and I ran in the Irving 1/2 marathon.  I was running with a severe respiratory infection (pleurisy) so it wasn't my smartest idea.  I finished, not fast, but finished.  This has definitely not been my running month.  Nevertheless, Dustin finished, by my side.  I finished in 1:56:34 (6th in my age division).

 

My body needed a break.  Who knew that the fracture was going to be what it was going to take ...

Pre-Mother's Day

I should've prefaced Mother's Day weekend with the fact that both grandparents came up for a one night stay at Great Wolf Lodge!  My foot accident overshadowed that (for me), sorry!  The kids, especially Carleigh, were ecstatic about going back there after last month's visit and staying at a hotel!  She did the water slides Thursday evening and all day Friday and even got a magic wand to play the "quest" game.  She was in heaven!!!  It was a great way to start the weekend!

 

Mother's Day Weekend Part 1

Mother's Day weekend was supposed to be all about me.  And indeed it was!  Dustin was totally all for me doing a 5K, sleeping in, laying out, whatever I wanted!  Plus, we had both our families in town to help out with the kids!  So, I haven't run a 5K in a while, and I've been running a lot with my competitive racing friend Jessica lately who has been trying to get me into semi-competitive racing.  We've been doing lots of track workouts (think sprints and middle distance runs) and less long runs.  It's been super challenging and very cool to run with someone who challenges me!  

Well, the Saturday morning of race day, (race was Run for Sarah 5K), I head to the race with her and am fully intent on winning 1st in the 30-34 age category ... or at least that's my hope.  I've been running sub 7 min miles and know I can do it!  2 miles into the run, there are only 3 women in front of me, my friend Jess (she's 1st - she always is), a 10 year old and an older woman ... I know I have my age category in the bag and I'm pacing 6:53/mile with reserve in the tank!  I'm feeling good.  I look at my watch at 2.4 .... not too much further, time to pick it up.  As soon as I speed up my pace to 6:30/mile, I feel a twinge in the top of my left foot.  Then less than a minute letter I audibly hear a crack coming from my foot and feel a sharp pain that nearly stops me.  Each step I take after this on this foot is accompanied by that same cracking/snapping noise and the pain gets worse.  The sinking feeling hits me.  I want to keep going.  Only a half mile or so left.  But I know, I just physically can't.  I can't even walk.  I can't put any pressure on the foot and have to hop to the side.  I'm in tears and a nice couple stops to help before EMS comes to get me and I know ... something bad has happened.

At the Urgent Care clinic less than an hour later (my girlfriend Jessica did win 1st place woman's overall - no surprise there), I got x-rayed and it was clear as night, a stress fracture of the 2nd metarsal. I got splinted up and told the rehab time would be most likely 4-6 weeks on the hopeful side. Crutches were absolutely necessary the first week.  It was so bad, crawling was easier half the time.  I couldn't wear the fracture boot because it was so heavy, the pressure of the weight of the boot on top of my foot hurt to lift.  I just started wearing the boot Sunday.

As far as progress, the biggest aide in healing has been the bone growth stimulator medical device that I've been using to help with the healing process.  I can't believe how I can already put pressure (just some) on my foot already, where last week, I was in the doldrums thinking I'd never walk again!  

We'll see how the healing process continues... hoping to be walking by Hawaii ... but that's probably wishful thinking.  In the meantime,  I've been biking like crazy!  

Oh, and that was just the beginning of my Mother's Day weekend.  So much for getting what you ask for!

First time to get in our pool!

Still a tad chilly, but no better day than Mother's Day, to get in the pool!  Up til now, we've only swam/played in the hot tub!  The kids played in the water for over 2 hours and the shelf area was perfect for Parker!

Just like his sister, Parker is going through a "lining up" phase. They differ in that he likes to destroy his nice lines.

 Even with a fractured foot, I had a great relaxing day, poolside!