Thursday, August 16, 2012

Best Sludge Ever

Many of you know that I have a thing for Diet Coke.  Addiction is a bit of a heavy word, but you get the picture. At the end of May I gave up Diet Coke.  Cold Turkey.  It was surpisingly easy. I don't miss it and have mostly replaced it just with drinking water.  But water can get boring and my wonderful husband decided that with all the training I have been doing for Ironman I needed something special to give me some extra vitamins and flavor...and a change from the nothing taste of water.

So every day he goes through this routine to produce the best sludge I have ever tasted.

He starts with whatever we have in the fridge and pantry.  Fruits, vegetables, nuts, berries, flax seed.  You name it...it goes in.  This morning I got strawberries, plums, raspberries, green beans, grapes, blueberrries, kale, banana, baby spinach, kiwi and carrots



It all goes into the Vitamix with the berries at the bottom and the green leafy stuff on top.


Blending, blending, blending....


Adding ice to make sure its nice and cold.





Sometimes I get green sludge.  Today it was brown...yummy.  It tastes just like a berry smoothie. 

And thanks to this sludgie concoction I don't take any vitamin supplements.  Everything I need is jam packed into each glass.


I have to say thanks to this brown sludge I don't miss Diet coke. Not even a tiny bit.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Catching up

Summer is nearly over - I can hardly believe it.  Lots of things to catch up on around here.

The kids had some excitement the day before Max's birthday when they spotted a brush fire and helped put it out. { I stole this picture from Michelle's facebook page :-) }


Then of course it was Max's birthday.....12...last year before I have another teenager.

Ciara and Natalie made him an awesome soccer themed birthday cake.


And I felt a little like it was my birthday too. Just before we went on our RV trip I found out that I had been sponsored by Timex.  So I am now officially part of the Timex Factory Team which is very exciting.  I received my first box of goodies in the mail...just like a big birthday present. It included a new watch which came in very handy since my old one was ready for retirement.




Somewhere in there Michelle and I did the Long Bridge Swim. A 1.76 mile open water swim across Lake Pend Oreille. This is why they don't call it the short bridge swim...um...because is it LONG.

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Of course we had our usual group of awesome supporters. Umm....ok so they were having breakfast at this stage.

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But they did come out and take some great photos and cheer us all the way along the bridge.

This photo was so funny. I was swimming along and then I heard all this yelling and cheering and as I turned to breath I looked up and saw them all directly above me on the bridge.  I really am so lucky to have family and friends that are willing to come out and cheer me on when they would rather be sleeping in.

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It was a super fun swim. The water was clear and NOT cold...always happy about that. There was a little bit of a swell in the middle but nothing too bad. Made it to the finish in 1:05. Let's not talk about the little detour I took. Let's just call it sightseeing.

And I wore my new Timex watch....the most comfortable sports watch I have ever worn.  When you have chicken arms like me there are not a lot of sports watches that fit my wrist properly.  This one is awesome...and cute...because cuteness DOES count.

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Michelle made the swim look easy. She looks like she could go out and do it all over again.

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Monday, August 6, 2012

On the Road

So after STP we hit the road and were ready for a vacation. Now I could give you a long winded description of our vacation but you and I both know that you just want to see the pictures.  So I'll keep the commentary brief.

First stop was Manzanita on the Oregon coast with our friends the Sidles Family.

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Then it was off to the Olympic National Park which is a wild rainforest on the western tip of Washington. 

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Matt made us stop and see the biggest Spruce tree

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We found some natural hot springs at Sol Duc in the park. It was nice to soak our muscles although the springs smelled like rotten eggs.

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After that we rolled the RV onto the ferry at Port Angeles and took a nice leisurely ride across to Victoria B.C.

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We had the most awesome RV park in the middle of the city, right on the water, within walking distance along the harbor foreshore to downtown Victoria. This is our actual camping spot.

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Spent a couple of days enjoying the fact that Canada still has some strong culinary ties to Britain and being colonial cousins to Australia it meant they have a lot of the same food we miss so much. Jack ate a salad and Max tried clam chowder. Both landmark events for a vege and seafood hater respectively.

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This was the most amazing old world hotel. The Empress. Next time we come back sans RV we want to stay here.

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Matt found an a bread shop just like home. {{love}}

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We caught the ferry back to Washington via Sidney BC and then drove to the little German town of Leavenworth where we spent a couple of days chilling out and eating bratwurst burgers before heading back to Spokane.

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Fun trip. When we got home Ciara said, "Wow our house is huge Mum". After 5 people living in a 30 foot RV for 10 days , she was right.