My little Patriot (and Mandarin Speaker)

Motivation

So - I've started running again.  I really loved running when I was younger (I didn't start until I was a Senior in High School).  Mostly, I run on the treadmill at the gym during my lunch break.  With Mike still working in Nashville, I can't really run in the morning or evenings since I have the kids.  The problem is that when I do run in real life (aka outside) I feel like an elephant trying to run like a cheetah.  I've been kicking ass on the treadmill and was VERY discouraged when I tried to run while we were at the beach (on pavement).  Since then, I've been putting the treadmill on a slight incline to get a little more resistance. 

When I was doing WeightWatchers, we discussed motivations and how some times you don't feel motivated to go work out.  She said that you never you regret going.  You may not have the best work-out, but usually once you're there you get into it and you never regret going.  This has helped push me through a lot of tired days.  Even today, I almost bailed and finally decided to just go and if I wasn't feeling it 10 minutes into my run, I would quit.  But I didn't quit and I ran pretty hard and definitely don't regret going.

I'm running in my first 5K in two weeks, I may regret doing that, but we'll see.

First in Flight

I know, I know, I totally stole the title from the Wright Brothers, sue me!   When Tessa and I went to Chicago for Aly's wedding celebration (will be discussed in a future post) it was T's first time on an airplane.  We flew out to see Kirsten once when she was 10-weeks old, but she didn't remember that.  She was so excited and we talked about it for months.  Omi and Opa were on the same flight as well, so that made it even more fun.  She was great!  She played on my iPad some, but mostly she colored.  She really liked the tray table and of course the snacks they brought.  It was also only a 1.5hr flight, so that helped.  On the flight back from Chicago she slept in my lap the whole time.  It was right in the middle of her usual nap time AND we didn't go to bed until about midnight the night before.  We just had such a great time and I was very relieved with how well the flight went.

We saw the pilots waiting at our gate, so Opa took her up and introduced her.  Not only did she get her first set of wings, the invited her into the cockpit once we boarded!!!  She thought that was really cool.

Guess who got the window seat?  Omi and Opa were right behind us.

She, of course, had to let Helmuth the Hase look out the window at the clouds and the country side.  He also was buckled in with her most of the trip.  It was his first flight as well (he didn't remember the San Antonio trip either)

She also got to ride on the L (Chicago Subway) and it was her first time on a train.  We met Aunt Kirsten at the Air Port and she got to ride with us, although next time if we fly into O'Hare we will be taking a cab.  We had to change trains with all of our suitcases (and Tessa).

I love this picture.  This is when we got back to Atlanta, and she was just the perfect little traveler.  I'm so proud of her.