Done! and Friends!

We finished our 100 miles today! 

It's been a good few days back home, I got the carpets deep cleaned, got Chan's braces paid off, Suzette came to visit for several hours, this morning I got my 'vitality check' for out insurance (down 10 pounds!) and in unrelated drama, a new tire on the van, Austin got to spend the night and we hung out at the park with Gina and Bobby!  We need to leave town more often!

A few photos!

 

The boys tried to balance on a see-saw.  For about 20 minutes.  They kept sliding off and falling off and when one went off, the other topped as well, often slamming into the ground first. 

I hope Austin can still walk tomorrow.

 

Kind of!

Chan sat on the swing trimming leaves with her safety scissors...

Afterward, we all went to Dairy Queen for an ice cream and this sign caused me some amusement and then reflection. 

One of the many advantages of living on a large parcel of private property out in the boonies is that I can walk a couple miles each evening in the driveway.  And this evening I wore shorts and a tank top, a bath robe and fleece socks.  Rock out.

100 check-in

Averaging 5 miles a day for 9 of the past 10 days since I checked in last, we are up to 90 miles for the month!  15 to go!

We are home from our trip, that was a FULL 2 weeks.  Tellico Plains, Raleigh, the Outer Banks for a full week, 2 nights in Savannah and 3 nights in Jacksonville, FL.  We walked on trails, along beaches, through wildlife refuges, along city streets and through national parks exploring forts, battlefields and even Andersonville in Georgia.  I am tired through and glad to be home, looking forward to getting things back in order, running errands, seeing friends and knocking out these last 15 miles to reach my goal for the month.

 

walking along the riverfront in Savannah

 

Hiking to the salt flats at Skidaway Island

 

Exploring the tidal pools at low tide on Tybee Island

Walking driftwood beach on Jekyll Island

Mid-Week

Another 21 miles, we are doing 5+ miles a day!  60 miles to go for the month!

We have hiked at Pea Island, walked the beach, climbed the lighthouse and the dunes at Jockey's Ridge, walked all over Kitty Hawk and there's more walking coming up!

The vacation is going well, we are sticking to our budget and Matt FINALLY got the money back he spent on the last business trip yesterday.  Just nearly a month after the trip.  Grrrr.  The van is having no issues-well there was one.  The brakes were smoking in the mountains!  I just got work done on them about 2 weeks ago and Mr. Holmes put grease on the rotors because they stick.  Between that and the brake pad/rotor fit working itself out and coming down from 6,000 feet there was a little drama!  It's been so flat since we passed the last round of hills leaving Ashville that it has not been an issue at all.  Oh, and I drained the battery the first night on the island by leaving a flashlight plugged in to charge overnight.  Oops. 

The kids seem to be enjoying themselves.  We went to an aquarium today and Jake had a little angst, he does not like aquariums.  He was a general pill until we left, but had a great time all day.  There are times I'd like to kick his hiney.  We had lunch at Taco Bell, which only helped things-though they did not have chicken burritos!  It was a KFC/TB combo and he got fries and a soft taco.  He was so thrilled, it was the first thing he told Evan about when we got back.

From our walk at the wildlife Refuge

One of many walks along the beach

 From the top of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

Dune walkover

From our walk at Pea Island

We have more exploring planned as well as some down time to just hang out and be at the beach.  We got our fitbugs in last Thursday and have been doing 10,000 steps a day nearly every day so far!

It's been interesting being away from home but in a house and not a tent or Poppy or even a hotel room.  This house is a workout all on its own-6 levels and stairs everywhere.  I have seen about 10 houses out here I would like to live in forever, but this is not one of them!  hahaha  It's great for the week though, but I am looking forward to my own little one-level hacienda when this trip is over.

Day 6-end of week one

Quick update on my 100 mile month plan.  We walked 2.25 miles Monday, 2 Thursday, 4 Friday, and walked 3 today and biked (Matt and me) 7 miles. 18.25 miles total so far!  Just 81.75 miles to goooooo

Hiking at Huckleberry Knob

100 Mile Challenge!

I issued a 100 mile challenge today to walk or bike 100 miles in the 31 days of October.  I had one 'maybe' response.  Oh well.  Maybe I should have made it 100 miles before the end of December.  Slackers.  ; )

At any rate, I will tag this post and all the rest with our progress as '100'.  Matt and I decided today we would try to get 100 miles in on our 2 week vacation later in the month, but I think 31 days instead of 14 is a more likely goal.  Any extra is just bonus.

Speaking of bonus, we earned enough points via our insurance hoops to order 2 Fitbugs plus a year's usage for free!  They should hopefully be in this week and that will just add to our insanity for a little while.  They are basically pedometers with a usb cable that we can upload once a week or so to the insurance website and earn MORE points for 'verified workout'.  Yay! 

Off to walk our first miles off!