Cape Cod: In the Beginning

I'm in 'The Cape'.

I'm with my siblings/husbands and my mom.

I'm seeing things like beaches, antique shops, little baby's gummy smiles, soda shops with signs that say "Lobstah Bisque" and fire flies.

I'm hearing things like laughing kids, crashing waves, thunder, fireworks and phrases like, "Ya not goin to Rock Hoba. Yeel neva get tha", which translated means, "You're not going to Rock Harbor. You'll never get there".

I'm doing things like going to the beach, playing tennis, cooking meals, holding babies, watching movies, playing games, laughing with my family, going on jogs, catching fire flies, bonding with my kids and going to bed really late and sleeping in.

I'm eating things like BBQ ribs, chicken enchilladas, tortilla soups, homemade hostess cupcakes, all kinds of fruit, chocolate chip cookies, chicken breast, lobster, homemade granola and hummus, ice cream from the Sundae School, steamers, root beer and french toast.

The rain is gone. The sun is out. Life is good here on the East Coast!

Tagged...again

I was tagged by my sister, Brittany.

What is your current obsession?
Paying for my house

What do you hate that most everyone else seems to love?
Facebook

What are you wearing today?
Cut off sweatshorts and a T-shirt

What’s for dinner?
Chicken teriyaki shishkabobs over wild grain rice

What would you eat for your last meal?
Steak with a delicious salad. And something chocolate.

What’s the last thing you bought?
Strawberries from the friut stand

What are you listening to right now?
The US vs Brazil soccer game

What do you think of the person who tagged you?
Seriously, what isn't to love about her!?

If you couild have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?
Well, I haven't travelled enough places to know for sure, but for now I'd say Costa Rica.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Space.

What do you do for fun?
Dance

What’s your favourite quote?
"What would you do if you knew you could not fail?"

What is your favourite colour?
Shades of blue

What is your favourite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
Roxy Swimsuit

What is your dream job?
The physical therapist for the Oakland Raiders

Describe your personal style?
Wannabe surfer with a twinge of bohemian (is that right, I have no idea?)

What’s your favourite tree?
Washington Hawthorne Maple

What are you going to do after this?
Have sex. (He's waiting in the other room.)

What’s your favourite fruit?
Probably strawberries or raspberries, or blueberries...I LIKE BERRIES!

What inspires you?
The human body

Who was the last person you kissed?
My husband

What are you currently reading?
What is the What? By Dave Eggers

Go to your bookshelf, take down the first book with a red spine you see, turn to page 26 and type out the first line:
“On top of that, it is very hard to find any of the spirit of Taoism in the lifeless writings of the humorless Academic Mortician, whose bleached-out Scholarly Dissertations contain no more of the character of Taoist widom than does the typical wax museum."

What delighted you the most today?
My kids spraying each other with the hose, fully clothed.

By what criteria do you judge a person?
How self assured they are.

The rules:
1. Respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question you dislike with a question of your invention, add one more question of your own. (I didn't add another--this took me way too long!)
2. Tag eight other people. (okay, seven...) (how about six...)

Amy in AR, Lindy in UT, Laurel from NY, Clairissa in the Dirty South, Erin at a Mile High, and Suzanne the Chinawoman!

Tweet

Am I allowed to Twitter on a blog?

I just made brownies and ate like 1/3 of the pan. This is what happens when I decide to train for another 1/2 marathon. I run and run and then all I want to do is eat chocolate. Does anyone have a cure??

zucchini, birthdays, and anal...OH MY!

All of these things have been very prevalent in my life the last week. I shall explain.

It is official, we have zucchini from my garden. It seems that our garden is like a good hen. We get one new zucchini about every 36 hours! We make lots of zucchini bread and my kids devour it. I sneak the rest inside their everyday food like quesadillas, pasta, stir fry, etc. We're not sick of it yet, but give us a couple months!

BIRTHDAYS!
The BUBS (30) and the MINI Bubs (3)!
DOODIE Face (25)-I never realized how gross that nickname was until I heard her husband calling her that as a joke. Just for the record, she is only Doodie to me!

I love these three people with a love I can't even describe. Each one is deliciously unique and my relationship with each one is treasured in different ways.

When The BUBS turned 30 I almost choked on my protein shake. I have spent my life playing, laughing, caring, praying and simply enjoying this person. For 30 long years we have shared our lives. I wish we lived closer.

This year DOODIE turns 25. She may look the part, but the girl seems so grown up. Not necessarily an old soul, just grown up. It's like she spent her life looking ahead to what her older siblings had and decided she'd do it too, only sooner and in many cases, better!

Ah, my MINI bubs. He gets an entry all to himself soon so for now I will just say this, I'm pretty sure there isn't a sweeter thing in this world than my little boy!

So, now I'll get to the ANAL talk.

I had a friend from Colorado come out to visit. (I'm not going to say who it was because although I think this story is hilarious, she has the right to deny everything!) We decided to meet for dinner with a couple of her other friends from the area. I was the last to arrive (I had to wait till I ditched my kids) and sat down comfortably, happy to know I had the next 24 hours to visit with my friend. I sat down and brief introductions were made. She and I started talking and I asked what she had been up to that day and she said that she had actually been talking to her friends about anal alot. At which time one of her friends turned to me, looked me right in the eye and asked, 'Do you do anal?' I was like, "Hi, I'm Kara, I run and I like to wake board and to take long walks on the beach." WHAT THE? I mean, don't get me wrong, things come up in conversation amongst friends, but this was a perfect stranger! Needless to say, the rest of the night (in the car ride, in the hotel, in the spa, in the pool) this topic seemed to be discussed until there was just nothing left to discuss. The whole thing seems like a dream. And it could have been except that I made the mistake of telling my husband all about it and he now seems to find questions to bring the topic up again and again and again and....

Costa Rica

Put plainly, this trip was the trip of a lifetime. I love Costa Rica. It is beautiful and green. The people are refreshingly easy going and happy. The landscape is diverse. Not only can you choose between beach or jungle, you can decide if you want to be at a white sand beach or a black sand beach. Travelling without kids is a true joy. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids, but being able to go where you want, when you want and only having to worry about yourself is so enjoyable that although I missed my kids, I didn't miss them enough to detract from the fun I had.

Shout Outs.
My dad. The man with the plan. And what a great plan it was. He is fun and adventurous. He is generous. He was a true pleasure to have around.
Doodie and Dapper Dal. They know how to do things the right way. They are my jet setting mentors. They are to my vacationing like Yoda was to Luke. Relaxation is the name of the game. Eat Slowly, but often. Tip heavily. Challenges are always welcome!
Jim and Jennifer. The dear friends that I entrusted my kids to. They not only watched them for the entire time I was gone, they fed, clothed, cuddled, loved and carpooled them too!
My husband. Although he never wants to spend money on anything, ever, and is super picky about his vacation time, he had the good sense to let this one slide. There was not even any need for negotiating! I still have so much fun with him. It’s good to know that there is no need for kid buffers in our relationship.
Enrique. Without his knowledge, my vacation would have been completely unfounded.

Here are some pictures!

Zen, I mean my room!

The indoor shower led to the outdoor shower. I took every single shower there. I didn't' even touch the tub, it had nothing on this shower, trust me.

The happy, go lucky, kidless couple.

Doodie on a horse.

(Men are drooling all over the world.)

Hiking through the jungle.

The "secret" waterfall.

(Every country has one of those!)

They call this the "Murdering Tree".

What is now a hollow center used to be a living tree, until the viney things attached to it, rooted and killed it. Creepy and cool.

Shot from just one of the many chairs I rested and read in.

(Is that a pool or the beach? Wait, it's both!)

Boys like shade. Some like "deep" shade.

Harnessed and ready.


One of many bridges to cross.

Me being Spiderman.

(Tate would be so proud)

Warp Speed

Yesterday I ran a half marathon in Alameda. I missed my projected time by 2 minutes. Sometimes I feel good about that and sometimes I get really annoyed, like, really, I couldn't have made that up somewhere? Oh well. I ran it in an hour and 47 minutes, which I'm really happy about. I came in 46th overall and 14th in my age group.

Today I'm in Costa Rica. We flew down withOUT the kids and we're staying in a ridiculously nice house right on the waterfront with access to the Four Seasons.

I'm not exactly sure when or how I got here but I'm sitting in a robe after having taken a dip in the pool, blogging on my computer from the provided wifi thinking, 'Don't beam me up Scottie!'

Firsts

My first just lost her first tooth. I don't personally have any memories of my mom pulling teeth (I think the dentist pulled all mine) but I hear of other people's horror stories. For this reason I refused to pull her tooth. Chris spent many hours wiggling it until it basically fell out all on it's own today. She was so proud. She came running upstairs to show it to me and boasted about how it didn't bleed, it didn't hurt and that it was super clean.

This is her cute tooth pillow for her tiny tooth. The fairy left her a dollar and a fun note!

On a side note. Ellie tried out and made the swim team! She has been swimming everyday for the last 2 weeks and I'm pretty sure that will continue for the next 14 years! It's my first experience with swim team and it seems like a very tight knit, competitive community. She is loving it, although she's pretty sure she doesn't actually want to race anyone at the meets! And I can't complain, I love having an excuse to sit in the sun and chat it up or read a good book!

She especially loves her new get up. She walks around the house in full swimsuit, cap and goggles about two hours before practice.