March's Fitness Challenge

To re-cap, March's fitness challenge was 3100 situps (100 a day) and 400 pushups (~13 a day) for the month.

Let's see how I did:

Situps = 3060 (98.7%)
Pushups = 400!! (100%)

Not bad! Anyone else following along at home? If so, leave a comment and let me know how YOU did!

For April, we are going to keep situps and pushups and add in squats (15 a day). With the addition of the squats, we are going to decrease the number of situps per day to 50 -- otherwise the goal gets pretty hard to reach. Now, there is no penalty for OVER-doing it, so if you feel like still doing 100 a day, go for it.

To re-cap, the goals for April are:

1500 Situps (50/day)
450 Pushups (15/day)
450 Squats (15/day)

If you need any visuals to help you with these excersizes, please see the links below:

Crunches (there are lots of possibilities here, here are some of my favorites):
Elbow to knee crunch
Table Top Crunch
Bicycle Crunches

Pushups:
Push Ups
Knee Push Ups

Squats:
Free standing squats (no weight)

Good Luck!

Denmark Part Duex

Had another adventuresome day walking around Copenhagen. We walked about 6 miles today just looking at everything.

They are certainly European in their thinking of the human body. We passed a shop that had picture of women's underwear on models without tops in the windows. We also passed the 'museum of erotica' further down the walking shop street we toured yesterday. I can say I think America needs to go this route. :)

I'm learning a few words today so I don't feel so out of touch. Thank you = tak, one = en, welcome = velkomenn, erotica = erotica (lol), happy hour = happy hour (j/k) it is actually a long phrase that starts with doppel (double).

We also made a trip to our plant in Avedore just south of here on the ocean front. The side of the plant that faces the ocean is one big wall of windows - all three stories. It is quite the place. We only were given a quick tour since it seemed that no one works there (at least we could not find anybody we knew). We work tomorrow and are supposed to get the grand tour. We met up with a couple of other Hansen employees tonight for dinner at a steak place called hereford's. The smallest steak was 200 g (about 7 oz) at it was $40 US. Everything here is pretty expensive and then taxed at 20-25% on top of that. But we found out we can be reimbursed the tax when we leave if we keep all our receipts (which we were doing for the expense reports anyway). There are a few items that are priced pretty close to US prices like leather items (gloves, jackets), but everything else is way over priced.

Sorry no really good pictures today. Talk to you tomorrow it is bed time now (11pm). Got to get up at 7 am so we can catch the train to work.

In Denmark

This week, Max is in Denmark for work. It will be my first attempt at single parenthood (thank goodness for only a week) -- wish me luck! :)

Max left Saturday afternoon, flew through Atlanta and on to Denmark. He got in pretty late/early -- so he just emailed and texted me to let me know that he had made it safely. I did also get a chance to talk to him this afternoon, just before they headed out to get a bite to eat. Anyways, my tech savvy hubby has already taken the opportunity to send me photos from Denmark...not just once, but TWICE. So, I thought I'd share them with you...and his emails (minus some of the sappy stuff). :)

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Hey honey, It is nearly 12:00 here but I think it is 5 am at home. I did not sleep that well on the plane, so I'm going to try and take a nap before we go out walking about. The city is oldish with new buildings going up everywhere. Transit is crazy here. We took a taxi to the hotel and he drove just like any taxi driver you would find in the world, like a maniac! I took some pics of the hotel room. It is tiny. I think we have had bigger rooms at motel 6. All this for $200/night. Oh boy! Miss you.

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Good morning!

It is 1600 (4pm) here. (**Note from Stef: I love that Max has 'switched' himself to military time all of a sudden**). We just got back from walking around a small part of the city. I took a few shots of what we have seen so far. It is cool and weird all at the same time. They have mix of old building with LG signs and McDonald's and an over-abundance of 7-11's about every 5 shop fronts. Here is one of the many cool big churches:

The main shopping area is also the foot traffic walking strasgade (street). We ate at a Mediterranean restaurant for lunch. It was pretty good. We are avoiding the more local cuisine until someone that we work with recommends something palatable.

Here is an example of the weird dichotomy of old and new; the old Palace hotel with all these electric signs all over it. It is actually funny to go somewhere and not hear Spanish being spoken. Since we usually go somewhere in Mexico on our trips, this is throwing me for a loop. I can't read any of the Danish signs. We are supposed to be getting together with other Hansen employees for dinner tonight...

Sounds like he's having fun so far! I'll post the photos as he sends them, so stay in tune!

Weekend Lounging

Earth Hour US

Saturday, March 28th -- 8:30 pm LOCAL TIME

Join more than 1,500 cities, towns and villages in 80 countries in turning off your lights for 1 hour - 60 mins.

Crib Antics

A brief glimpse into our very blessed lives....

I love moments like these. I wish I could bottle them up and save them for those rainy days I know are yet to come. I'm glad I've captured these moments, no matter how fleeting, to look back on someday when I'm older. These are the moments that make me smile, that make my heart sing, that make me feel like I am doing a good job at this mom business (and Max at the dad business).

This is our life, today:

Walking in Circles.....

This video was taken about a week ago....and looking back on it now, I can't believe how much more confident of a walker he's become in only a week. He's not bad here, but now -- he is ZOOMING around the house in that same circle. Crazy!!

St. Paddy's Day Flashback

I do have some video to upload, but I'm too lazy....

So instead, here's a flashback to St. Paddy's day 1 year ago.

How time flies....

SIGH.

A Walk in the Park...

Max is still getting used to his new-found legs. He had a lot of fun walking around the squishy ground at the park and falling in the mud. Here are some videos continuing Friday's adventure at the park.



What a tease...after such beautiful weather we had a weekend of rain, which turned to sleet, which turned to ice, which turned to snow. BOO. Why can't spring just be here??

Fun at the Park

Yesterday we had record high temps in the upper-50s. So, we took the opportunity to go to the park...

Swinging fun....

On the slide...

Riding the squirrel...

smooshy sand...

Personalized plates...

Taking a stroll with daddy.

Independence!

Gymboree Fun

Tonight we attended our now-weekly adventure of Gymboree Open Gym with our friends, Steph, Max and Jack. What you say? Another Steph and Max? Oh yes...the whole story is here.

Anyways, now that Steph and Max are mostly settled in WI, we've tried to get together on multiple occasions. Steph is a member at gymboree, so she introduced us to this wonderful indoor play area. It is sure nice to have an outlet like that for crazy active little men in winter!

Here are a few photos of our adventures today:

Max really likes these wiffle balls because his fingers fit perfectly in the holes...easier to carry around!

Crawling through the tunnel...

Walking across the bridge...

Where's your belly?

Mommy taught lil Max to find his 'pee-pee' (don't even ask). Now look what happens when we ask him where his pee-pee is...

Wait, did you just take a picture of that? Delete that! You can't show that to my girlfriend!!

Happy Birthday Dr. Suess

Ok, so yesterday was REALLY his birthday.

But, TODAY, our library had the birthday party for Dr. Suess...so, we celebrated today.

This was lil Max's first trip to the library. And, MAN did he like it! He took the opportunity to start RUNNING. Yes, you read that right, RUNNING. We had a little time to kill before the birthday party started, so we went into the children's section to hang out and do puzzles. Max decided he wanted nothing to do with that, and took off RUNNING!! I was chasing him through aisles of books, and it was like a big maze to him, and he was having the TIME OF HIS LIFE. It was hilarious!!

After all of that fun physical activity, we headed to the birthday party room, where a bunch of other kids had come to celebrate as well! They had music playing, and everybody got a musical instrument of sorts to walk around in a big circle and dance to the music -- the dance line was led by, of course, the CAT IN THE HAT!

Max didn't know what to make of all the noise, and all the kids parading around. He did his best to keep up, but I think he was a bit scared of the Cat in the Hat...everytime the Cat passed by, Max stopped walking and shyed away. So, after a bit of parading around, we sat down to watch the kids dance, and then they had Dr. Suess storytime, followed by a bunch of fun games and crafts. Max even made a few friends his age!

Much of the activities and crafts were a little advanced for him, so we settled with getting some whiskers drawn on, and parading around the room shaking the maracas and jingle bells. He was tuckered out when we got home. But, it was a fun time! AND, now we know where to take him to get all his energy out!! :)

What just happened to me? Why does my face feel funny?

Hey mom -- lets go over here -- all the kids are doing it!

See my jingle bells??!!?

Walking and jingling...

Ok, yes, SOME mommies were also getting whiskers put on. I am NOT one of those mommies. Bad Stef...Sorry, Max...

Back home. One last silly smile before washing the whiskers away....