Flying With My Dad

On Sunday I went flying with my dad.  I refused up until this point because I was afraid of heights and his plane is a bit....old.  After riding along with Brent Handy in a Pitts S-2B (highlight of my summer!), I realized I could do it.

My dad flew into the Langley Airport, from Chilliwack, and picked me up.  We went over a few safety items, like how to open the door in an emergency, and then off we went!

I like that it wasn't as high as I thought it would be.  It was a gorgeous day but this also meant it was a tad bit stuffy in the plane.

Mt. Baker above and the Westminster Abbey below.

We flew to the Sandpiper Golf Course to eat at the River's Edge Restuarant.  You see that gravel strip along the water? That's their landing strip!  Pretty wild to land right next to all of the golfers.

It takes about 20 minutes from the Langley Airport to fly to the Sandpiper Golf Course in Harrison.  Not bad!  We each had a salmon dinner.  I also interviewed my dad about his trip around Canada because I'm writing a piece on it.

Then it was back in the plane (Cessna 172) to head home!

We went to check out Harrison Hot Springs on the way back.   The five minute flight there from the Sandpiper is right between the mountains so it was a bit more bumpy than I'd like. We also had to fly above the electrical wires that cross between the mountains.

We love Harrison Hot Springs Resort and Spa and go once a year.

I think it's fun to fly with a purpose like going out to eat.  I'm not sure I would go up just to fly around.  Thanks, dad! I had a great time.   

Love,
Louise

PS The corn mazes looked really cool from the sky AND Sumas Mountain is way bigger than I thought!

Kelly-as per your comment, here's a picture of The Chilliwack Corn Maze!

I Lost Something

NINE POUNDS! So far.

About two months ago I noticed a friend of mine had lost a significant amount of weight.  I asked her the secret and she told me... `Trim Healthy Mama'.  I'm not into diets.  At all.  I know weight just comes back.  I don't want to obsess over the scale because I spent 10 years doing that.  I was not willing to count calories or deprive myself of what I love (chocolate!).   I felt for the past 2 years that trying to lose these extra 15 lbs was not worth it.  Until now.  It reached the point where clothes were just too snug and I just felt so bloated. 

I've tried several times since Nya has been born to lose weight by exercise alone.  It did not work like it used to!  I don't know if it's my age or hormones or three pregnancies where my belly stretched to astronomical proportions,  but I could not lose the belly weight.  Now it is a priority.

This way of eating is based off a book called `Trim Healthy Mama'.  I will tell you now that the book is huge and I think half of what is written does not need to be in there. I'm an efficient person and it's not written concisely.  That aside, the ideas in it make sense and totally work.  If you have fat + sugar (carbs), then excess energy will be stored in fat cells.   I was definitely storing excess sugar/carbs as fat, mostly in my belly.

What is the plan?  Here is the gist of it (from me skimming the way too long book and putting it into practice):

1. Protein at every meal (I learned in pregnancy that this keeps you full longer!)

2. Eat every 3 hours.

3.  Little to no sugar (this includes white rice, potatoes, most fruit, carrots, etc).  I think this is what has helped to alleviate my bloating the most.

4.  You can have a meal with higher fat but then you must have low carbs.

5.  You can have some carbs (like brown rice, sprouted bread) but then you need low fat.

You can't have high carbs AND high fat.  For specific numbers, a meal with less than 5g of fat can have 20-40g of carbs.  More than 5g fat should have 10g carbs or less.

My old breakfast would be toast and peanut butter.  Now?   Either an omelet (egg with cheese, tomato, green peppers) or Greek yogurt with blueberries.  I also add some Qi'a from Costco (hemp hearts and chia seeds).

My snacks before?  Oh man, I was such a carboholic!  Crackers, cookies, granola bars and muffins  Now? Nuts (I'm allergic to almonds), cucumber, pepper, a cup of berries, a green apple, or some quinoa crackers and hummus.  I always make sure to have a container of nuts in my purse.

I  just adapt our regular meals to make it work for me.  If we have `Taco Tuesday', I omit the wraps and have it on a huge bed of lettuce.   If we are going to have potatoes, veggies and meat, I replace the potato with sweet potato or pureed cauliflower.  If we are going to have a curry or Thai sauce, I just don't have it over rice.  You could put it on brown rice but that is just a slower weight loss.  When we were on holidays with friends, I was probably only able to eat 60% on plan so I gained 1 lb back that week.

For a treat?  I have 85% dark chocolate.  Yes, there is sugar but very little.  Or, I can make my own chocolate with coconut oil, cocoa and a sugar replacement (xylitol).  I'm not really sure how I feel about alternative sweeteners...they taste fine but make me a bit nervous.

This picture is embarrassing because I don't love showing my belly.  However, I do want to celebrate progress.

{6 weeks and 9 lbs down. Yes, I'm getting a hair cut this week.}

Do I miss anything?  I still have about a glass of wine or a beer once a week so that part is okay.  I miss my ice cream.  I know there are low carbohydrate ones out there but I miss the really good stuff.

My plan this fall is to start working out a bit more to aid in the weight loss and toning up.  I want something that I can keep up so we'll see what happens.  I currently run just 3 km two times a week and walk or bike 3 days a week.  My hope is to lose 18 lbs overall to be my pre-kids weight.  It's a huge goal but I'm in no rush, so if it takes 6 months or 6 years, I'm totally fine with it. I love where I am now; my pre Nya weight.

I don't like talking about diets or losing weight BUT I'm sharing it in case it's something you were interested in addressing in your life.   It is the easiest time I've ever had losing weight (well besides when I was sick with a hyperactive thyroid) and I'm not hungry.  I'm trying to be very careful about talking about weight loss around my kids.  Eating healthy? No problem.  Weight loss?  Not a topic I want them exposed to.   Gary, also a carboholic, is on board with eating differently too so we will see how it goes!

Love, 

Louise

Thankful Thursday

Thankful for:

1. Being healthy enough to donate blood.  I'm embarrassed to say how long it's been since I've donated.  I used to donate often and then through pregnancy, Graves' Disease, years of sleep deprivation/breastfeeding where I had no extra energy, travel in SE Asia which made us ineligible for a year...it's been a while!   My iron levels were awesome and I donated in 11 minutes!  I encourage you to donate because you know, `It's in you to give!'.

2. Finding a sport Kai loves.  He loves most sports but this is something he is quite passionate about.  It's totally affordable too!  Just $125/3 months at Coastal Climbing. ALSO, if you are looking for something to do during the strike, they do have drop in for kids and you can see the link here.  Two hours for $17 and they are harnessed and belayed while you can enjoy wifi and read a book :) 

3.  Opportunities for family activities through blogging.  This summer we were able to go to Splashdown, the Abbotsford Airshow and to the Applebarn. 

4.  Long term friendships. Gary has a great group of five friends that he has known since 1993.  I love when we get to hang out with their families because I love them all too!  Only one other family lives in our area so it was awesome that we had the opportunity to hang out with a couple of them this weekend.  

5.  Twelve (?)  years of friendship with this lovely lady.  I met Ali while we were teaching. I tried to convince her to date Gary.  She didn't. Phew.  We taught together, played football on the same team, found our spouses, had kids, and I was there for the birth of each of her kids...you know, a lot of time together.  We get the dynamic of energetic young boys :) Their family is moving away and I'm torn. I'm happy for their adventure but sad that she's just, you know, 6 hours and 31 minutes away (according to google). Hey, that's not too bad!

7. Koen being in school.  He is a January 2 baby so he has been ready for a loooong time for school.  He's just part time so he will be home with Nya and I on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I think that a little break from each other might be healthy :)

8. A daughter that tells me daily how much she loves me. Sometimes you don't realize how much you need something until you have it.  The boys don't ever say `I love you' unless I make them so I really love it.

9.  An easy meal.  I tried the newest Costco salad (it has crispy quinoa and an avocado dressing!) with roasted chicken. Yum.

10.  Koen's quirkiness.  He said the highlight of his day, on Tuesday, was cleaning the sink.  I started giving him chores when he misbehaved and he was either using reverse psychology on me or he really liked doing it.

That's my Thankful Thursday, friends!  If you're ever stuck on what to be thankful for, take a quick look through your phone photos and hopefully there's a smiling face or a beautiful sunset to remind you of blessings all around.

Have a wonderful weekend...almost there!

Love,
Louise

The Three Monkeys

I love having stats about the kids documented so that is what this will be!  It's so interesting to me how different they are.  A lot of it I saw when they were just babies but now the differences are just....exaggerated.  They love being together, but wow, can they fight.  This has been alleviated a bit in the van because someone (KOEN!!) has been moved to the backseat by himself.

Kai (8 years old): 

-60lbs

-4'3"

-loves American Ninja Warrior (the tv show) and practicing to be one.

-would like to marry an American so he can try out 

-loves school and his new teacher and the fact that his very good friend is in his class

-competitive

-loves to play Wii

-great hiker

-very `even keeled' like Gary.  Tends to be more serious.

-started climbing lessons and is so happy about it!

-plays with Koen at home.  They love to play Wii, a made up game with the stuffies, Pokemon, or practicing their American Ninja Warrior skills.   

-eats and drinks everything but still doesn't love dairy

Koen (5.5 years old)

-48lbs 3'8"

-started part time kindergarten (full days on M, W, Fri)

-enjoys playing Wii

-can physically keep up with Kai in most outdoor activities.  They are both very determined but where Kai has endurance, Koen has strength.  

-is emotional

-can make me lose my mind.  For real. I have no control over myself when parenting him sometimes.  This usually happens when disciplining him.  He will either be goofy and throwing his body around laughing OR he will continously ask the same question over and over while I'm trying to talk to him and if I don't understand, he cannot rephrase which makes him angrier and angrier.  This is so frustrating when trying to discipline him that there have been several times that I have had to chase him and carry him up to his room.  I hate the feeling of losing my mind but it can happen so quickly with him (usually on days when he spends a lot of time making Nya scream).

-bugs Nya all day long BUT is very good with her at the same time.

-loves to be silly

Nya (2.5 years old)

-27lbs (wow, not sure when that happened!), 2'9"

-loves older kids and Koen is her best friend

-loves Dora. Too much.

-can climb well

-speaks quite clearly and in long sentences

-very affectionate with her family.  She will tell us daily that she loves us so much.

-loves to be held

-strong willed.  Wants to wear a dress every day with flip flops. And not wear a sweater.  Or a bib.

-was potty trained for at least 6 months and then struggled a bit over the past 2 weeks (I think due to final molars coming in and holidays?!) we are working hard to get her back on track. 

-loves music and singing and dancing

-is somehow more attached to Koen than Kai.  She doesn't like to hold Kai's hand which hurts his feelings.  She also doesn't love to give him hugs.  She really, really loves the one that pesters her the most.  

-a smaller eater than her brothers but eats most types of food

-no more bottles :)  

-sleeps through the night 7pm to 7am

-hasn't napped in about 6 months 

-has a scar on her forehead from when she fell down the front steps.  There may be a little rock imbedded in there.

{Kai's first day of grade 3}

{Koen's first day of part time kindergarten.  His thoughts on the first day were that the toys weren't that fun and that there are only 99 days left until the 100 day party.}

{Yay! Two kids in school!  Less fighting in the house!  Now we just have to see how Nya does at daycare when I work later on this week.}

I feel bad for those that are not back in school.  I'm sorry :(  It's such a bad situation for the teachers, parents and students here in B.C.  I don't know the numbers on how it's affected the private schools but I know in Kai's class of 25, 5 students are new to the school.

I hope you're able to enjoy some sunshine this week!

Love,
Louise

Taves Family Farms Applebarn

Years ago I saw a picture of a bunch of kids sitting on `Mater' at a place called the Applebarn and I knew we would have to go one day!  Usually people go in the fall to visit the pumpkin patch but we decided to enjoy it on a summery day when it was a little less busy.  We went on Saturday for a couple of hours and we all had a great time.  It's located in Abbotsford and is known as an `Agritourism Attraction'.

The cost for a family is $25.50 (or $29.50 if you want the tractor hayride too).  You can also go to the U-pick area for free, you just need to pay for what you purchase ($1/pound for the appples we  picked!).  Is it worth it the $25-$30?  Yes, it has the Chapman Stamp of Approval! Oh man, I really want to make a badge for that :)  They also have a special during the teacher's strike where an adult can go for free with each child (a child is $7.25).

The big bouncy pillow was very fun.  You can see one of the slides in the background.

See, I tried it too!

There are a lot of animals to check out there. You can also feed the goats corn for 25 cents.

We then did the corn maze!  Check the map first so you know which direction to head in.  They have a kid maze area first where the kids need to collect 5 different colours on their finger.  The colour combination they choose will tell them what task they need to perform (act like a ninja, charge like a bull etc).  The kids loved that part. 

Many times we heard Nya say `Look! I have a bracelet!' (wristband).

We then continued on and did the rest of the maze.  It was dry, dusty and humid in there.  Just warning you!  Fun though. It ws my first corn maze!

We did the hayride which takes you around the farm.  Nya and Koen really enjoyed it.  Kai just wanted to pick all the plums we passed.

We ended in the apple orchard picking 10lbs of apples.  It takes about 2 minutes to pick that much. 

It was a great way to spend two hours and we recommend it.    

I had to make a badge. This is meant to be funny. 

If you go, let me know what you think.  Make sure you take a quarter to feed the goats some corn!

Love,
Louise

**Disclaimer: We were given a family pass to the Applebarn and these opinions are 100% our own.**