Beach Living

We're back at the beach this week, living the hard life. Morgan got to get away from work and join us, so it's been a fun week. I can't lie to you, though. I still want a post-vacation vacation, sans kids, when we get back. Let's face it, for most of us moms, most beach trips just mean moving your day-to-day responsibilities to a prettier locale. The kids still whine, the laundry still piles up, and meals still need to be prepped.

Despite the fact that the day-to-day chores don't take a vacay, it's still pretty relaxing. Here's how we roll at the beach:

6:45am: Without fail, Davis wakes up.
I give him some Fruit Loops/Lucky Charms/Apple Jacks (a beach treat) and turn on the TV. Then I brew the coffee, and watch an episode of Pretty Little Liars on the iPad.

7:45am: Ava wakes up. Sometimes it's earlier. She is groggy. Always. She can barely open her eyes and looks like she has slept for days. She's not a morning person, but she can't stand it if she knows Davis and I are up without her.

8:30am: If I'm feeling ambitious and it's not too hot, I go for a run. Today, it was a walk. I don't like the bright morning sun burning into me, so I often think it's too sunny/hot/late for a run. Lazy. The other day, I walked, and this was my view:

Tons and tons of pelicans

You can cross the inlet from Litchfield to Pawleys at low tide.

10:30-1:30 Round one of pool or beach. Ava loves the pool. Kind of hates the beach a little. Davis loves both, but as of today, prefers the beach. If Ava tells him to request the pool, though, he does. He's her minion.

1:30: Lunch. We eat a little late here. Then the kids rest. I don't know how this started, but they just assume that they have rest time after lunch at the beach, and they don't even fight me on it. It usually involves each of them having an iPad. Used to be, Davis always fell asleep. Now, not so much. Today, for instance, is our 5th day here, and he has not napped at all. He was falling apart right before lunch, so I am really hoping he sleeps.

2:00 - until my luck runs out: I often head to the beach by myself. Then, depending on how rest time has gone, the kids come on out.

3:00ish-5ish: Beach time with the kids. This is my favorite time of day on the beach with them. This week, low tide has come late in the day, and we've had a great time playing bocce, digging holes, and playing in the ocean. Oh, and happy hour starts around this time, too.

Starfish!

Cheers!

5ish: Bath/wind down time

6:45: Dinner. We usually eat in, but I have no idea what we're having tonight and I don't want to to go the store again, so we may go out. Once again, this will depend on if Davis  falls asleep this afternoon or not.

8-9: Kids in bed. Relax time for the grownups. And then sleep.

Summer Weight Gain

Blame it on poolside drinks. Blame it on the extra wine needed from having the kids home all summer. Blame it on the heat. Whatever I blame it on, I can't deny that these five (or seven) pounds that are following me around are real.

Like most women, my weight fluctuates within the same 5 pounds or so. Some weeks I'm up, but them I'm usually right back down with little or no changes. I guess I'm getting a little older now, and maybe that fluctuation is going to be harder to keep up with. I don't know. I just know that the number on the scale and the tightness of my clothes is not working for me, so now I actually have to do something about it.

I've got the exercise thing down, which is probably part of the problem. It's that mentality of thinking you got a really good workout in, so you can just chow down on whatever. We've all been there. I don't really overdo it on bad foods. It's not like I'm hitting the Krispy Kreme drive-thru on the way home from the gym. Okay, maybe once. The problem I've got is "healthy" snacking. And it's always in the afternoon. It's like, lunch comes, and I don't really like lunch, as meals go, so I'm not really satisfied, and the snacking begins. Three handfuls of Trader Joe's dark chocolate covered almonds can't be THAT bad, can they?

Kind of healthy.

Not fooling anyone.

So, today, I started counting calories. And I'm already kind of amazed at how many extra calories I have probably been ingesting.

I installed the My Fitness Pal app on my phone after hearing lots of good things about it. The thing I like most (so far) is that it seems to have a ton of foods already in its database. Everything I've searched for has been there, down to specifics like "Costco Rotisserie Chicken." The downside is that many things seem to be measured in ounces, and without a food scale, it's hard to figure out how much an ounce is. So I ordered an inexpensive digital food scale. Thanks, Amazon.

Here's a peek at the app:

The other cool thing is that in addition to your meals and snacks, you can input your exercise for the day. Based on your activities, My Fitness Pal adds your burned calories back into your daily caloric total. For instance, I input that I want to lose 1.5 lbs/per week. I also input my current weight, and I was given a daily calorie total of 1200. I about passed out from hunger just looking at that measley number. But then I put in my spin class this morning, which the app estimated burned about 500 calories, so my total cals for the day went up to 1700. Reasonable, but it does go fast.

I think it will help with making better choices. For instance, I was going to add some cheese to may lunch salad. But that was going to add about 110 calories. No, thanks. That 110 calories was saved for a glass of Chardonnay instead.

See? Making better choices already.

Tuesday Randoms

Happy holiday week, friends. Unlike the rest of the world, we are not at the beach this week. We were at Litchfield, SC all last week, and came back yesterday. I love the beach for the 4th, but I'm happy enough to be in Raleigh, too. We're also missing the nasty weather at the beach. We had one day of it, and that was about all I could take. Being cooped up inside at the beach is no fun to me at all. At least not with two young kids.

On an unrelated note, Ava has an iPod touch that she keeps by her side like she's 15. It makes for great ammo when I need to take something away from her. I didn't want to set up her on iTunes account, so I just use mine. She knows the password, though, and although she is really good about asking me before she downloads anything, I still didn't really like knowing that she might be able to make an unauthorized purchase. So, like a good mommy, I changed the password.

What a huge pain in the arse.

I didn't think about the fact that it would impact my iPhone, iPad, laptop, and AppleTV. In fact, I can't currently get my new password to work on the AppleTV. And that's really a shame, because I have big plans tonight that involve watching several episodes of Pretty Little Liars on Netflix.

That's right. Pretty Little Liars. Because I'm 17. Apparently.

When I'm watching, I can't stop thinking that I did not know anyone in high school who looked like these girls.

Speaking of TV, we just got rid of all of our premium movie channels a few weeks ago. But now Dexter is back, so I'm thinking we may have to ante up because there is NOTHING good on network TV now. Also, Apple just added the HBO Go app to the AppleTV lineup, which is kind of big news.

And, for the record, yes, I do have a crush on Dexter's star, Michael C. Hall. I don't think he's a serial killer in real life.

And while we're on the subject of my TV boyfriends, I'd like to mention that when Aaron Paul/Jesse Pinkman got married, I felt like I had been stabbed in the heart. RUDE.

I'm off to drown my broken hearted sorrows.