Vacation Post....FINALLY ...AND some Pics!

Well I'm finally making a little time to get some stuff posted about my vacation. I'll probably have to do this in a couple of different posts since I have so many pics.

My vacation began with me getting my blue belt.  It was hard. One of the hardest things I've ever done. The test was nearly 4 hours long. I was working most of that time. I sparred twice, one with a red-black belt and another with an adult black belt. The teenager red-black belt hit me with a crescent kick to the face (not allowed at my level), but it didn't stop me. I just kept fighting. I broke my board with a round house kick, first try. It was about 2 inches thick!  I won't say it didn't hurt a bit. My big toe was bruised and hurting  for all the next day.

If you can see it, that shadow of purple-black on my left chin is the bruise from the kick to the face

This weird angle is me trying to get all of me in the pic.

After my test, my son tested and got his red-black belt. He's just one step from black now and we are so proud of him. He worked super hard to get it. His test was nearly 6 hours long!  Immediately after his test we ran home, showered, locked up the house and headed to Oklahoma to pick up my BFF and her kids for the trip. We rented a Suburban so all 8 of us could ride together and share the driving.  From there we drove all the way to Kearney, Nebraska where we stopped at the Great Platte River Archway which is sort of a museum all about the Oregon Trail and the Transcontinental Railroad. The kids enjoyed it and after all that time we needed a break.

From there we drove over to Paxton, Nebraska which is a tiny town. There they have a famous steak house called Ole's Steak House. It was started by a big game hunter in the 1930s. He had a huge taxidermy collection and it is now displayed there. They had all kinds of animals. Our table was near a giraffe. There was an elephant and even a polar bear.  The food was good. Of course I had steak.

From there we drove to Chimney Rock.

And then to Car Henge. The kids LOVED this stop. They ran around climbed on all the cars and we took a ton of silly pictures.

Finally, we drove to Custer State Park in South Dakota. We rented a Cabin there and the surroundings were lovely.  As it turns out, we were there the same week as the annual Sturgis Bike Ralley. That's right.  We shared the road with thousands and thousands of bikes. It was amazing. I've never seen so many in my life. Luckily we didn't run into any problems and the bikers we interacted with were super nice.  Tomorrow I'll post some pics from inside the park. There's so much more.........

Back to this week....
So far I am doing well. I'm super tired and still trying to keep my head above water with work, kids and back to school stuff. Today I went to the gym before work. It was a very pleasant way to start the day. I needed to work out SO badly. I did 35min on the elliptical. Tomorrow I meet with my trainer. Pretty sure it's gonna hurt. Then I'll do my first (finally) blue belt class at TKD.

Food wise I've been spot on. Today I had an Atkins shake for breakfast followed by an apple for snack. For lunch I packed a wrap sandwich on the Flat Out wrap with ham, lettuce, cheese and mustard. I had some carrots and 2tbs hummus for snack. Then in the afternoon a peach. For dinner I had a salad with tuna and green beans and watermelon. My calories for today are at 1187. I have to say I was very hungry today, especially in the mid-morning. I didn't eat enough breakfast and not enough protein for my workout. The office lunch was enchiladas, queso and chips and other tasty forbidden fruits. I did not partake, but I did enjoy sniffing it. I wanted to. Really did. But, I know better. PLUS the sodium!

We're half way through the first week of school!  Hanging on and staying on track. How are you this week?  Had to avoid any temptations lately? Hang in there and stay focused. In the words of Dori: Just Keep Swimming!