Family Reunion

It was certainly a busy week, and then weekend, for us! I mentioned that my kids were gone to camp, and I had a really nice week off. Besides floating in my pool every night, which was a given, I also spent each night weeding our tomato garden. We got 7 inches of rain in June, and it was just impossible to get in there and deal with all the weeds. Here’s what it looked like after I did a couple of rows of tomato plants.

And here’s what it looks like now:

It’s nice to be able to see the tomatoes and peppers again! Unfortunately, we lost a lot of plants to the rain, but hopefully will be able to get something out of it this year.

I ran nearly every morning last week, and some were cool, while some were very hot. The sun is rising later these days, unfortunately, so my sunrise pictures aren’t quite as impressive as they were a few weeks ago.

With the boys gone, I was pretty lazy about cooking. I had meals all planned out for the week, but then, when push came to shove, I said to heck with it every night and ended up just making a salad with whatever leftover protein I could find.  Friday, my husband went to camp to get them, because they didn’t get home till late, I had yet another salad. I had forgotten how much I enjoy putting together my own salad… I get to put on all the things I like, like cucumber, tomato, carrots, croutons, bacon bits, green and red pepper, and of course, chicken or shrimp. I make a pretty damn good salad, if I do say so myself.

Yes, that’s the same picture I used last week, but it’s still pretty. 😉

The boys got home fairly late Friday night, and I swear they grew 2 inches each while they were gone.

I must admit, I did miss them a little. 🙂

Saturday (actually, Friday night) was the start of family reunion weekend for us. My dad’s side of the family has a reunion once a year, and it’s usually a pretty big event. My dad came into town with my nephew, and my sister and brother-in-law came in with my niece. I also got to see an aunt and a cousin that I rarely see, and then of course, all the relatives that live nearby whom I see more often were there, as well.

There was a golf outing in the morning, but I don’t golf, so instead, I ran 7 miles before they were even on the course. I could’ve slept in a little, but I knew it was going to be miserably hot day, so I tried my best to get it done when it was cooler. Didn’t really work, but I tried. :p It was a long, hot, miserable run, but I got it done, and got a few pictures along the way.

Later on, at the reunion, we had a great time, and of course there was plenty of food. There was fried chicken, roasted potatoes, green beans, and mostacolli, among other things. I took a plate, and then made sure to take a picture, so that I wouldn’t later forget what I had eaten.

When I went back for dessert, I took another picture.

When I was taking the second picture, one of the party guests, not actually related to us but a close family friend of my cousin, saw me taking a picture of my food, and asked me about it. I told him I was on Weight Watchers, and had lost 80 pounds.  (I didn’t say it used to be 90… :/ )

I explained that when I come to a party, the best way for me to stay on plan is to quickly take a picture of my food, so that I can track it later, without interrupting my fun. He was actually pretty impressed, and congratulated me on my success.

I think that’s probably one of the biggest factors in my continued success with Weight Watchers: I’m no longer embarrassed about being on the program. I don’t try to hide it from anyone, and I make no excuses. There was a time when I wasn’t so forthcoming about my weight loss/maintenance, but as the habits became more ingrained, I became less concerned about what other people thought of me.  Along the way, I discovered something pretty amazing: no one has ever ridiculed or belittled me for my food issues.  In fact, everyone who’s heard about it as congratulated me and has been impressed! I think a lot of people admire my dedication and my no-excuses attitude, and maybe even wish they had those same traits.

It was definitely a hot day, and it was hard sitting out in the sun for most of the afternoon. I did get to hang out with all my relatives, though, and I especially enjoyed talking to my cousin who lives in North Carolina, near my dad. He started running about a year ago, and we enjoy badgering each other online using the MapMyRun app and Facebook, to see who can run the farthest are the fastest. Speed-wise, he’s got me beat, but I way out-distance him. 😉 We decided that when I go visit my dad at Christmas, we’re going to try to find a race to do together. He’s never run more than 5 miles, so I’m badgering him to do a 10K with me. Hopefully I can find one!

I made dessert, which will be the subject of another post, but I’ll tell you now, it was damn good. 🙂 By the time the day was done, I’d had three pieces, but I made sure to track them all. I ended up only using 30 points for the day, which meant I only used 4 activity points. I thought that was pretty good!

Sunday morning, my siblings and my dad came over for breakfast, made by my wonderful husband. Oh wait, I actually did make one thing, the breakfast bake:

That may or may not end up as another post. It’s really good, but I don’t know if it’s worth putting together recipe post for. At any rate, we had a great time at breakfast.  My sisters and I really do love each other…

Too much, maybe?

And we definitely love our dad.

After breakfast, they all went off, and my boys and I decided to enjoy a rare day off for my husband by going on a 7-mile bike ride as a family.

It was hot, but we worked up a sweat and jumped in the pool afterwards. Later that night, we enjoyed a family dinner and just hung out.  It was really nice!

Today was back to work and reality, but it’s going to be hot all this week…and you can bet I’ll be in my pool as often as possible! I was going to post a weight update, but I have a lot to say on that, so I’ll save it for tomorrow.

Thanks for reading!