Wednesday, June 30, 2010

I said it before and I'll say it again...

The backyard in the evening sun is magical...


Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Eden




Thursday, June 24, 2010

The COOLEST thing EVER

We went biking one night, on some of the awesome bike paths that Fargo has to offer, when we came upon this strange circular sidewalk looking thing. It was a semi circle on either side of the bike path. It was surrounded by dirt, hence, newly laid. And I figured maybe they were going to plant flowers and put in benches and make it a pretty little sitting area.

Not so.

Later, on another bike ride, we discovered what the purpose of that circle was. Check this out...



What you are looking at are 6 outdoor exercise machines! I kid you not, it's like a little outdoor gym...and it's free!

Take a closer look...



Not only is it cool that they have put these machines on a walking/biking path for the public to use, but they've placed them right next to a playground! So you can take your kids to play and you can get your sweat on right there at the same time!

Genious!



Each machine has a dial so you are able to set the resistance.




They have an ab crunch bench...



A stair stepper




A chest/back press




A pull up/dip bar




A squat press




And row/push up bars





WAY TO GO, FARGO! I hope I start to see these popping up all over. It's so great that people have an opportunity to make use of a machine that they might not own, or afford to use through an expensive gym membership. Maybe people who have never even touched exercise equipment will get a taste for it and get hooked!

It's about time. How long has America been making us fat and unhappy? Super sized fast food, easy processed food with tons of added salt and sugar, cheap trans fat laden food, the low fat diet craze, magic pills and "snake oil" that promise fast effortless weight loss, the list could go on forever.

It's nice to see good things like this happening in my town. Get us motivated to get moving and get healthy!

Ants and stuff






Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Dragonfly

This beautiful creature was dangling from our front porch ceiling. I have been itching to get a photo of a dragonfly for a while so you can imagine my excitement when my husband pointed him out to me. I ran into the house to get my camera thinking it would probably be long gone by the time I got back outside. But there it was, unmoving, for a very long time. Enough time to take about 50 photos of it. It was an awkward angle for me but they turned out beautiful anyway.










Tuesday, June 22, 2010

A 'no pictures' post

I love to take pictures. I love to edit the pictures I take. And, I love to post the edited pictures I take. It’s fairly obvious looking at this blog. But somewhere along the way, I have neglected to write. Oh, I write some, but I don’t write write. This is probably because I’m no writer. Gosh I wish I had that talent. It would be super cool. Maybe I should go to school to be a writer so I could be super cool. Nah, that’s never gonna happen.

But today, I’ll just pretend I like to write and pretend you like to read what I write.

OK…what should I write about? Well, let’s see, I’ve got three kids…BAM! Kids give you TONS of things to write about, don’t they?

Like, about how they tell you they want to buy a 38 cent fish “with my own money, mom”, but, you have to spend the extra $50+ it takes to buy the aquarium, pebbles, fish food, and pretty fake sea weeds that make the fish feel at home. Then, watch as they have a meltdown in the store because you say no to the 38 cent fish, and have to endure the stares as strangers hear all about how evil you are for refusing the poor kid a fish that is only 38 cents!

Or, how about when you have a budding hoarder/possible shoplifter on your hands, whom Grandma has to frisk every time you leave her apartment to make sure said hoarder doesn’t make off with any “treasures” to bring home…so she can put them in a box…nested in another box or purse or bag of some sort… and stuff it safely in her closet (possibly in another box) to be forgotten.

Let’s not forget the tween who simply hates the effort it takes to groom herself (brushing teeth, brushing hair, showering, using deodorant, toilet paper….it’s all just over rated). Also, hitting puberty is very undesirable. She stands a mile away with her eyes tightly closed as you are trying to shop for bras that she desperately needs and refuses to wear. All I have to do is look in the direction of undergarments and she’ll scream “NO MOM!” and go hide under a rack of pajamas.

Oh the treasured moments with children. Seriously, the stories are virtually endless. Life would be dull without them.

When I think of something to write about, I’ll post it ;)