The Elliptigo

My parents got me a guest pass to the gym where they go while I was in Colorado. (I'm grateful for it because a yoga class the first day fixed the kink in my neck caused by my 20+ lb baby in the front pack). The gym rents out elliptical bicycles (a.k.a. "Elliptigo" -- which I had never seen before) for an hour at a time. My interest was piqued because ellipticals are by far my favorite pieces of gym equipment. I was slightly reserved about the idea of riding one though, but when my sister-in-law heard about them, she made a very convincing case for trying them out.

Riding the Elliptigo (especially up the hills of underpasses) felt a bit like riding on a bicycle without a seat. There's a "Would You Rather?" card game that gives two alternatives of not so fun things. One of the options was  "riding on a bicycle with just the seat stem and no seat for 100 miles"... that was kind of what I was imagining with the Elliptigo. The Elliptigo website clears up this misconception about their product. Apparently, it was originally created for runners recovering from injuries and not as a bicycle replacement.

 I really wish we had a camera. It was fun to see all the quizzical looks and hear the comments of the people we rode past. I don't have great balance, so I had to coast when we were going by anyone else on the path. I managed not to run anyone off the road and only ran myself off once.  I missed moving my arms like I would on a stationary elliptical... but I'm sure moving arms would NOT have helped my balance. Not moving my arms meant it was a total lower body workout. It was a little strange to have my thighs burn and not my calves like on a regular bicycle. It was nice that I got a second wind mid-way though the ride. 


I'm glad Marla was paying attention to where we were going because I didn't realize there were so many "spurs" to the trail and I took a wrong turn on the way back, but she just went on the other way and waited for me to catch up. It was amazing how different things looked going the other direction, which was an ironic observation on my part, because I had been thinking about what a shame it was to have to go back the way we came.


Riding the Elliptigo was an enjoyable life experience, but I'm not sure that I would ever need to own one... Well okay, maybe I would if money was not an issue, but not before I get a skeeball machine. I wonder if I could keep up with the boys on bicycles when they get bigger if I had one.

Awkward Family Photos

My mom wanted a family photo and we brought "Flat Daddy" along as a place holder for Ryan until we could Photoshop him in.

 

Here are the ones with the grand-kids. My brother is a professional photographer and has a automatic shutter release. The photos are self-explanatory, but a disclaimer is necessary: *** No Babies Were Harmed During this Photography Sequence ***

Father's Day 2011 -- A Day of "MAAAN Meals"

Ryan says that my cooking has gone completely "granola" so today in honor of Father's Day I made it a "meat and potatoes" sort of day. We ate 2 weeks worth of meat and I think it's going to take a while to recover from the fat content.

Ryan loves biscuits and gravy. In true southern style, the biscuits had 2 sticks of butter and 2 cups of cream in them. They were made from fresh ground whole wheat if that makes it any better.

I can't remember the last time we had steak. Alexander slept through dinner again and it looks like Ethan gave Benjamin a black eye on Friday when they were fighting because Benjamin was mad that Ethan left the tricycle in the middle of the sidewalk and Benjamin crashed off of his bike because of it... Like Benjamin doesn't leave his wheeled vehicles in the middle of the sidewalk all the time. But I digress...

The boys picked out Ryan's Father's Day card.

It made me chuckle because Ryan's been a little self-conscious of hair loss lately. According to him, there aren't many trees left in the forest.

Benjamin also gave Ryan a "coupon book" he made in preschool. I think Ryan made Benjamin feel self-conscious when he said Benjamin's drawing of him made him look like a pinto bean. I'm assuming B. got bored drawing before he finished. Benjamin was really proud of his choices of coupons.

Welfare Square

We went up to Salt Lake to visit my friend Kira who I knew when I lived in San Antonio. We took a tour of Welfare Square before meeting her for a picnic. 

 One of the sister missionaries who lead our tour was from Ukraine. She was really excited when Ryan started speaking Ukrainian to her.

 After to tour we went back to the cannery to buy some things to augment our food storage.

Ryan and Benjamin canned a bag of beans so we could buy a case of dried milk and some other things off the shelf. I was impressed with the dried re-fried beans. I think they're tasty even without being re-hydrated and would be a great addition to a trail mix.I'm a bad influence on our boys b/c they like to eat things dried or uncooked too like I remember doing as a kid (and still do) E.g. pasta, dough, potatoes, etc.

Benjamin's Birthday Dump Truck

After how long it took to make Benjamin's 2nd Birthday cake (http://randelewis.blogspot.com/2008/06/benjamins-birthday-cake.html) and how disastrous his 3rd was  (http://randelewis.blogspot.com/2009/06/bad-compressor-in-fridgefreezer.html), I thought I was done making 3D/intricate cakes... Especially with how disorganized I've felt since James' birth. I saw a train cake that looked pretty simple and thought, "I can do that"... But Benjamin didn't want a train, he wanted a dump truck. I looked at some photos of different ones people had made and this is what I came up with.

I liked the idea of using almond bark to assemble the dumper because I was dreading the thought of working with royal icing. I also used it for the windows which worked nicely. I liked the idea of an elevated cake. One recipe I saw used graham crackers filled with frosting to lift it up, but someone ate my extra graham crackers, so I had to use the cookies I had for the grill. It ended up working well.

One of the graham crackers on the dumper broke, but it was an easy fix.

I didn't actually get around to baking the cake until Sunday morning. Ideally, this wouldn't have been a Sabbath morning project... And we were 10 minutes late for 12 p.m. church because of it, but I was blessed by Ryan's unspoken prayer. He was supposed to be at a Ward Council Meeting (he's the de facto Ward Mission Leader) at 1000. At about 0900, Ryan said, "I don't think I should go to the meeting... You need me here." I told him he needed to be there. Less than 10 minutes later, the Bishop called and said they wouldn't have time to talk about missionary stuff and that Ryan should spend the morning with his family. I'm not sure how the morning would have turned out without Ryan there (the boys would have probably watched a bunch of Veggie Tales), but I'm grateful the Bishop was listening to the voice of the Spirit. It was pretty cool too because Ryan taught the Gospel Essentials Sunday School class about the Gift of the Holy Ghost... and we had a lot to talk about. (Including me watching a National Geographic Episode about Methamphetamine with Benjamin... but that's a topic for another day).




Since I have sworn off white flour in my house, I made the cake from scratch (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/cake-mixes-from-scratch-and-variations/Detail.aspx). I used this frosting recipe (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/gale-gand/quick-vanilla-buttercream-frosting-recipe/index.html). I've never made Butter Cream Frosting before so I'm not sure they're all like this, but it was HIGH in fat... albeit yummy. Does lack if trans fat make up for the fat content? (I can't stomach store bought frosting any more b/c it has 2 grams of trans fat per serving)... Maybe I'll find a coconut oil buttercream recipe next time.

We had macaroni and cheese (http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/creamy-stove-top-macaroni-cheese-10000001197219/) with white beans for dinner. Originally it was going to be pizza, but it would have been day 3 of pizza for the boys. Benjamin didn't eat much, but I think he was really excited for the cake.

 Alexander fell asleep about 30 minutes before dinner. Church is at a really hard time and he gets really grumpy when he's tired. We asked him if he wanted to eat with us and he didn't even stir... Even after I put the hat on him and got him with the flash 3 times for photos. He did end up waking at 2100 after Ryan left for work and was awake until I went to bed at 2230. So much for the weaning party. He nursed for 10 seconds before going back to sleep. I let him do it because I don't want to have him grow up with a breast fascination because it's the forbidden fruit. He nursed again for 10 seconds on Monday morning, but hasn't asked for it again. It's amazing how excited he gets about nursing (I wish I had a photo of the big fat grin he gets when it's time to nurse). I also think it's funny how he names things by their usage... for example: We have a Nurf projectile launcher that Alexander calls a "shoot"... so now he calls the water gun a "water shoot". The other day I was getting dressed and he asked me, "Are those your nursers?" Amazing how the human brain develops. Okay, probably TMI for those of you reading this who think I should have weaned my boys at 12 months...

 Benjamin actually made the cake a little simpler that I envisioned b/c I was going to tip the dumper with chocolate covered pretzels, but Benjamin said he wanted it flat. He is a boy after my own heart because he really liked picking at the "dirt" (crumbled up chewy homemade granola bars combined with a chocolate cookie).