Summer of Adventure: Week 3

For this week we went down by the Boise River for some good ole treasure hunting, also known as Geocaching! We used some of our adventure money for a hiking GPS and were excited to put it to good use. Geocaches are small boxes or containers that someone has hidden inconspicuously on public property for others to find. Usually there is a log-book and small trinkets or treasures inside. The creator of the geocache logs the coordinates into the online database and anyone wanting a treasure hunting adventure can use those coordinates to find it. We followed the coordinates to the first location and dug around rocks and trees for awhile before concluding that the geocache had been erroneously removed. Luckily we had a back-up plan and we had the coordinates for another one hidden near-by. This one was a little off the beaten path, but the coordinates were pretty much spot-on. We found it without too much digging. The girls were so excited to find the treasure! We left our little trinket (a small magnet) for the next person and chose a small yellow dinosaur to take.

 While I took a good bit of video on this adventure, I still haven't figured out how to get it onto the blog. These are the only pictures I took of the day. It was a beautiful trail on which to hunt for treasure!

Two Little Princesses

I was never a huge fan of pink until I had two little girls. Now there is pink everywhere in this house, starting with their bedroom.

 The alphabet wall-hanging is one I made with the help of my good friend Rachel in Colorado.

 These were both gifts

 I love the built-in book cases in their room. They are the perfect spot to display their books and my musical snowglobe collection!

These are my favorite things in their room. I made these pinterest inspired silhouettes and I love how they turned out!

Now here are some shots of the little princesses doing what they do best--playing!

Clara's First Haircut

Well, there is a lot to catch up on. I will do a little at a time, starting with Clara's first real haircut!
Her hair was getting too long and straggly. She said she liked it long, but every time I tried to brush it she would scream like a banshee. I convinced her that a haircut would be a good idea. Luckily there was a Baskin Robbins next door to ease her anxieties/bribe her with. It was the perfect mommy-daughter date.

 Before

 After

I think she looks so grown up!

Summer of Adventure

As many of you may have heard, we received a very generous gift from my grandparents with the instructions to go on an adventure that was:
1. challenging
2. outdoors
3. memorable
4. not a cruise.
This was both a super exciting and very daunting task. Exciting for the obvious reasons. Daunting because
a. I am not a very outdoorsy person.
b. We have 2 small children
c. We wanted our adventure to take place this summer and our vacation time was already a little tight.

So this is the plan that we came up with: we are having a summer of adventure! We loaded up on outdoorsy gear and the idea is to have an adventure every weekend throughout the whole summer. We started just after the official start of summer on June 21 and will go through the official end of summer on September 21. We are including our kids on as many of our adventures as we can. We think this will not only create better memories and challenge them, but it will further challenge us as well to plan for their needs and still have a great experience for all.

So without further ado, here is the report on our first 2 adventures!

 To kick off our Summer of Adventure, Nate and I ran a 5k together. He is an avid runner. I am not. This was only my second 5k. He was kind enough to run with me and I beat my time by about 10 minutes! It was a Color Me Rad race which means we were covered head to toe in colored powder by the end. It was a lot of fun and a great way to kick off our summer!

For our next adventure, we got the kids packed up and went up to the Boise foothills for a family hike. It was Clara's first hike and she walked the whole way! For a girl who whines about climbing the stairs at home several times a day, that was a huge achievement! I loved seeing Clara realize the rewards of doing something a little bit hard. Grace was a trooper in the fancy new back pack. She loved it up there.  We got rained on on our way down, but the unexpected is what makes it an adventure, right?

 All ready to go!

 

 Clara touching the sky

 Enjoying our snack at the top

 Taking a turn with the pack

We made it!

Stay tuned next week for our next adventure!

Healthy Eating

I came to the realization a few weeks ago that most of what I eat are grains or dairy--not the most balanced diet. I made a resolution to eat more fruits and vegetables. I love fruit and vegetables, but they never seem to be as convenient as the alternative. So the plan I came up with is to substitute a bowl of cereal in the morning with something with more protein and/or some fruit or veggies. I have been eating a lot of omelets packed with veggies and as a result I don't snack as much.

 The second part of my plan is to eat a salad every day for lunch. For 3 weeks I have made a batch of salad jars at the beginning of the week. I just layer all the veggies I want, a protein, and pack in all the lettuce I can to fill the jar. Then when lunchtime comes I dump the jar into a mixing bowl, top with something crunchy (usually slivered almonds), and drizzle on the vinaigrette. I love it! I seriously think this is the best lunch ever. It is delicious and filling and energizing and healthy. This is way better than my typical quesadilla, nachos, or even a ham sandwich and I can feel a difference!
I have used all of the following in different combinations and it was all delicious:
bell peppers, cucumber, mushrooms, beets, grape tomatoes, feta, bleu cheese, diced chicken, garbanzo beans, hard boiled eggs, romaine, baby spinach, slivered almonds, crispy onions, balsalmic vinaigrette.
Yummy!

 I also cooked a spaghetti squash and substituted it for regular spaghetti one night. When I put lots of tomato sauce on it, it was quite good; by itself, not so much. While it seemed like a good substitute for spaghetti texture-wise and I liked the taste, it was not filling.  I found my self digging for snacks shortly after dinner.

And this stuff is not healthy, but it is oh so good and addictive! Have you tried it yet? It's at Costco. Go get some!

Cousin Time

One of the best things about living here is cousin time. These girls are the best of friends. This is what I found them doing at Nana and Papa's house last week. I think we have some future musicians on our hands.

Spring is here: part 2

We have had some gorgeous weather lately. We went on a long walk last Sunday along the irrigation canal that runs through our neighborhood. We love our new neighborhood and love the beautiful spring weather.