So...

yes it was torture, especially seeing the 7 year old and the 70 year old pass you...but we're hooked! Half marathon is coming up in February, and this time if we do it we're actually going to train for it!

As you can tell by our faces, it wasn't all a walk in the park literally. BUT after having a few days to think about it, it was totally worth it, and as I mentioned above we're actually thinking of going for the half.
On other news, life has been so busy I'm really looking forward to Thanksgiving. The only downer is, I'm not going to be 'home' to enjoy it with my sweet family. But I'll be in TN for Sara's graduation coming up in mid-December!!! Can you believe my little sister is a Nurse now!!! I'm am so proud of her. She has succeeded in breezing through nursing school without as much as shedding one drop of blood, sweat or tears. What can I say, we can't all be Sara's. =) Love you sis!

It's official!

We're running a 10k this Sunday!!!!!! 6.2 miles woohoo! Without working up to it, (we've been doing P90X, playing tennis, etc. but doing very little running) will we die or just nearly die? We shall soon see.

P90X

He believes that man's finest hour, the hour he holds most true and dear to heart, is the moment where he lies on the battlefield of life, exhausted, victorious.
-Vince Lombardi

St. Lucia, Niagara Falls, Cancun

The second leg of our trip couldn't have started any more different than our Aruba trip. While it seemed like everything went our way in Aruba, even just getting on our plane was a hassle on our way to St. Lucia. Unfortunately, our string of bad luck seemed to last well into the first couple days of our vacation in that tiny Island. If it wasn't almost missing our flight to NYC, even after having gotten there 2 hours before our flight (a Jet Blue mix-up) or getting security called on us because I started video-taping an encounter with a Jet Blue associate (long story), or arriving there and finding out that bums offering you drugs or asking you for a 'tip' where a dime a dozen, it was pretty disappointing. Finally, we went to church on Sabbath and there we met an amazing guy named John. Instantly our trip turned around.

This guy had the inside scoop on everything and everyone in St. Lucia! He drove us around later that afternoon and the following day, showing us the best places to snorkle, i.e. Jade Mountain resort hint: where the Bachelor filmed in St. Lucia (he also happens to be neighbors with the owners) get mud baths, hot springs, see caves, the botanical gardens, hike, get the best views, and relax. He also took us to a couple of mineral baths (one in particular) that many consider to be THE fountain of youth.

You instantly become 10-15 years younger, and lose as many pounds as you walk out of there. Hmmm...let's just say we're still waiting for the full effects. BUT it did leave our skin feeling amazing! St. Lucia will forever hold a warm place in our hearts.


From St. Lucia we took a short flight to NYC to catch our connecting flight to Rochester, NY. We spent the night there and enjoyed a full day the next day exploring Niagara Falls.


The Canadian side, it turns out, really does have the best view of the falls. In fact, don't even go there unless you can go to the Canadian side, from our experience. Thankfully we had our passports, which enabled us to do that. The falls are simply breathtaking! You can't help thinking about the guy who tight-roped walked/biked it. What in the world was he thinking??
Our trip just kept getting better and better. Cancun very well could have been the best part of our whole trip.

Our hotel was right on the strip, and every night turtles would swim in from the ocean, dig a nest, and lay their eggs.

It was late in the season for them to be doing that, so other eggs where starting to hatch while we were there too. We were able to see the baby turtle migration to sea several times.

Since we had a rental car, we were able to drive to different places while we were there. One of our favorite things was just driving to a small, authentic little town away from the tourist traps and grab a bite to eat-for cheap. We felt pretty safe for the most part, especially since we had two other guys traveling with us most places. Playa del Carmen was amazing, looking back we would probably just stay there next time since it is more authentic.

On Sunday we drove to a couple ruins, Chichen Itza and Tulum.


It was fascinating to hear all about the ancient Mayan civilization. In Chichen Itza, we pretty much had the whole park to ourselves, which was a real treat. As many as 4,000 tourists can pass through there on any given day.
From beginning to end, with just some minor hiccups in between, our vacation this year was one of our favorite of all!

First Stop: Aruba

Vacation: finally here. This year we are taking a series of small trips again, including a couple of long weekends. The first leg of our vacation took us to Aruba. We arrived on Thursday and left Monday afternoon. I can't even believe how amazing our weekend was!! To begin, the more we travel the more we realize how the local people can really make it or break it for us. Going to Bermuda last year, we had a real distaste in our mouth after several experiences where people seem to see you as an inconvenience or worse. (when in reality they wouldn't have the economy they do without tourists) Even just a friendly "So how are you doing today?" in the bus would seem like you were bothering them. Forget about asking for directions or advice. So coming to Aruba was so refreshing, a total 180.
Stepping out of the airport, we are immediately hit by two things: the humidity and the beauty of the ocean. Those two things never changed over the course of our time there. The beaches (especially Eagle Beach which was right across the street from our hotel) were amazing, the best in the world in my humble opinion. We would wake up every morning and go for a nice long walk, jog and then swim to cool off.

Pictures don't even do it justice, and I know that phrase is over-used oftentimes, but in this case it's truer than ever.


The heavy Dutch influence was pretty apparent in a lot of their architecture.

The lizards were all over the place! Most likely their national animal. They varied in all kinds of sizes and colors.

This green kind was the most common one. We saw several run over on the road. =(


Ok, so don't think less of us now that you read this, but we just had to try the Ostrich egg omelet. This is Teddy with his egg ready to dive in:

This is Teddy a few bites in:

Ok and for the record, I only had two bites!! It wasn't that gross, but it wasn't great either. Once in a lifetime experience, really, no need to try it twice.
This old fort was pretty neat, right behind it (you can kinda see a car in the foreground) I locked the keys to our rental car inside. Ugh.
Even though everything is shut down on Sundays, our rental company sent a guy out to unlock it for us with their spare. And didn't charge a dime! Time and time again we were impressed with the kindness and yes, even generosity of the people there.
While there we happened to have a conversation with a local about the whole Natalee Holloway deal. It's really sad how one or two people can really ruin a country's reputation, it seems the locals have paid dearly for the actions of a couple crazy people.
One night we had this crazy loud thunder and lighting storm! I really miss those, living in California you're lucky to get a few days of rain here and there.

The thunder was so loud, cars' alarm systems would sound every time it went off because of the ground shaking. Pretty amazing.
Here is the beach at night. Calm, peaceful, and ooooh I just want to go back!

This restaurant by the beach was delightful. It was 100% outdoors, right on the white-sand beach with an amazing view.

One of these days we'll have to go back. So far, of all the beaches we've been to (sorry Hawaii, Maui, Bermuda, Mazatlan, California, Florida, etc.) this one takes the prize.

Up next: St. Lucia

On being husbandless

Well, today my teacher let us out a whole hour and 15 min. early, isn't he a dear? So, instead of being 'productive' I decided to sit down and write a little blog update.
I am on day 6 of being husbandless, that is, of Teddy being away and off the grid. Whatever possessed me to let him plan an 11 day getaway so soon after the summer program, I can only imagine. I hope he is REALLY enjoying himself because I doubt I'm gonna let this happen again...fishing/canoeing/camping trip, to Canada, with no cell phone reception, WITHOUT ME! lol Yes I'm sounding like a bitter old wife, but in all honesty I'm actually just now starting to miss him. Seriously, I have had a house full of wonderful friends the last few days, and it's been so refreshing and entertaining I haven't had time to think about being alone. Not to mention having my sisters Diana and Sara over for close to a week, which was oodles of fun. Last night was girls sleepover night. I had three friends over and we hung out, made a couple Mediterranean Pizzas, (and ate them both) and watched an old movie. Needless to say I'm a little short on sleep. (I think Amy, Aleesa and Sara are probably in the same boat)
On other news, something really exciting is just around the corner: vacation!! This year's travel plans are SO exciting, I can hardly wait to get on that plane and fly off into the sunset. Let's just say this year, our trip will involve alot of beach time...alot of beach time. I need to wait until Teddy gets back to finalize the plan, so I can't spill the beans quite yet, but from the looks of it I'll be able to add a couple more countries to my list! Hooray for vacay! Lol
All this excitement is wearing me out, I think I'll head to an early bedtime. Nite nite.

Have you ever...

held a grudge for a very, very long time against someone that had caused you alot of pain? And a long time passes, and it still hurts, and you hope you never have to see them again. Yet, in the bottom of your heart, you know you're eventually going to see them?

But you don't want to. Because you are sure it will mean re-living all the pain, all the bad memories, all the hurt. For weeks before you know you're going to cross paths, you become more and more angry. Angry because this person has so much control over you still. Angry because you thought you were over it, but you're not. Angry because...anger is a secondary emotion, and really you know you have to face the music. Have you ever felt that way?

Finally the day comes. You see the person approach you. You exchange small talk. "Is this really happening?" You wonder. "Because I'm not feeling anything right now. I'm not feeling angry, or sad, or hurt, or any other emotion for that matter." As time passes, you realize they had become something in your head that was very far from reality. You actually sincerely feel absolutely nothing where there used to be pain. You're not angry at them anymore, because all of a sudden it hits you: you can't hate a person that you feel so utterly and completely sorry for.

It's amazingly liberating. Emancipating. Divine.