Before/After

I knew that when I arrived at Tasha's house, I'd be starting up exercising again. I'm a big fan of running, although I had to cut down on running in Japan, which got me out of shape.

I was super stoked to get back into running!  Tash and Dewy taught me how to make 

protein pancakes (egg, oatmeal, cinnamon, vanilla, almond milk)

They are delicious! I got in the habit of waking up at 7 to eat breakfast with everyone, and then Tash and I would work out at 9.

On Mon, Wed, Fri we'd go to the gym and do weights & running, while Tue & Thurs had us running outside, P90X, or running up & down Tasha's 2 staircases 50 times. My favorite one is running outside. It's finally warm outside, and Tasha lives by river with a jogging path next to it. So pretty!

 I'd assumed that things would be difficult in the beginning, which of course was true. I felt like Jabba the Hut. I got shin splints, my face stayed beet red for a few hours, and the longest I could run without walking was 8 minutes. Did I mention Tasha regularly runs for an hour? I understood that it was all due to not running much last year, but I was still mad at myself. Back in Utah, I'd gotten to the point where I felt like a bullet when I ran, and I loved running. So even though I was frustrated and slow compared to Tasha, I just kept reminding myself that I'd gone through all of this before and succeeded. Knowing that helped me keep going.

Tash is the best workout buddy ever. At first I felt bad when we would run outside, because I'd have to stop and walk a lot. She'd stop and walk with me even though I knew she had plenty of energy to keep going. She'd also be really positive and motivating, and she'd time my runs to show me that I was improving. Timing my runs motivated me to try beating my previous time every day.  I don't think I'd have made as much progress if Tash hadn't been here! 

A few days ago, I'd worked up to running for an hour straight. I don't think I've ever run that long in my life. I was so freaking proud of myself that I sprinted for the last minute. It was a big day for me.

This is from today's workout. It was chilly, but I'm finally at the point where I enjoy it again. I still have random days where my energy doesn't feel very high, but I push through them and feel great afterwards. I'd always hated running outside til I tried it here, so I hope I can keep with it back in Utah. Tash has a busy life, so we can only run for an hour each day. So now my goal will be to keep achieving that hour mark, and hopefully start adding more speed into my run. Thank you Tash, for your motivation, and for  helping me get back into working out!

Castles, Turtles, and Dinners

Sorry, a catchup post of some of the small stuff in between the trips.

We went out to dinner with Liz and friends

Spinach Soup, anyone?

Tasha's gang, minus Kristina.

On the way out of dinner, we saw some flame throwers in the town square.

Tasha's batch of friends here is really great, she's so lucky to have them!

Some fun at the house. Tucker and his spaceship.

Some of the kids got carried away with goldfish on the driveway ha ha!

We tried a new place, chinese. Absolutely terrible, and the egg roll was bigger than Tasha's hand for crying out loud!

The kids are a fan of the "lyssa train", a 2 second ride down the slide. 

We took Liz to a castle on her last day here. Saw a frog sign ha ha! 

We passed lots of these. I'm told it's some sort of crop for a beer.

Ah, the castle ruins.

It was so fun chilling with Liz in Europe!

Wes was a bit insane, he wanted to hop down each step. Gave me a heart attack.

The boys, Liz and I climbed to the top.

Hi Tash!

We had lunch there as well.

Wesley showed he could hold my camera responsibly, so I let him take photos. It was tough for him to hold a heavy camera while trying to take photos, but he managed. He took around 150 I think? 

Mr. Danger Zone, sitting on the wall.

Here's one of Wesley's photos, he was a fan of taking Tucker photos.

Ah, Liam's 4th birthday party (neighbor). It was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle themed, and Max was given the role of Splinter ha ha! He had a rat tail, and Wesley would drag him around with it ha ha

The women out here go all out with their events.

Krang for dessert.

Michaelangelo!

A shredder Piñata ha ha! Man Angie did a great job with all of this.

Tuck already had a jacket, which added to his awesome costume.

Oh, 2 Easter photos I forgot about. You saw fountains decorated like this all over the various towns. 

Yes, they are real. I honestly thought they were wooden until I went up and saw a few that had cracked! Wow!!!

Tasha's yard is in full bloooooom


Just discovered Simon and Liam have a bearded dragon lizard. Is it just me, or did the movie "How to Train Your Dragon" suddenly make this little guy look really cute?

Aaaaaand here's a picture of a fun/crazy night. It was a military ball I got invited to by Kyle, a friend of mine out here. Luckily, one of Tasha's neighbors (Kristina and her husband) came along as well. Yay for Kristina, because she got me loosened up and chatty, not to mention she lent me a dress to use ha ha! There were some German officers seated at our table, Henrich and Stephan, who were a hoot. There were also lots of British officers, and I gravitated towards chatting lots with 2 officers named Phil and Prahkesh. And then I hung out a lot with Kyle's batch of friends, including a Sergeant Bassa who taught me some very energetic polish swing moves on the dance floor ha ha ha. It was a fun night!

Selfieeee!

Sister Selfie!

Dad just emailed me these 2, AWESOME

Keukenhof & Kinderdijk (aka Flowers & Windmills)

On our way to the Keukenhof Gardens. You know you're getting close when tulip fields start popping up.

We found a tiny little place where you could grab flowers to plant back at home, Rachel got some really pretty Hyacinths.

Keukenhof entrance

Ok I'll just say it now, this post is 90% flowers. I'm a flower lover and this place was HEAVEN. I had the flower market music from My Fair Lady going through my head the whole time ha ha!

Got some Brunch in the gardens. Silly Max. 

They had a shop inside a huge greenhouse, the art was expensive but beautiful!

The blossoms in the greenhouse had opened just a bit more than the ones outdoors.

The petals were huge!

And tall. Did I mention how tall some of these were?

These looked like fuzzy coral or something. So interesting!

I crossed that bridge, only to discover it dips a few inches in the water…whoops.

Definitely my favorite part of the trip!

 I'd never seen these orange ones before, they looked so tropical.

They had a tiny little animal section with lambs, peacocks, ducks, and little boars! The boars were adorable! Max went crazy over them.

There was a tree maze! We had Tuck the super-soldier lead the way.

Loved the purple poppies!

We found a hut and got some minnie pancakes. Back in Amsterdam we tried a popular Dutch treat called Stroopwafels. So tasty!

The weather was one of those days where the rain was like a floating light mist. No umbrella could keep you from getting a bit damp ha ha!

While explaining the order of healthy food THEN treats, I noticed Max looking at the food cart from a funny angle ha ha.

Many a strange abstract sculpture was found around the gardens.

On our way out we noticed something quite random. A gathering of maybe 30-40 dogs of this breed. Huge fluffers. They looked adorable, and I still have no idea why they were all gathering outside the gates.

On the way to Kinderdijk we saw lots of lambs and cows in the many many fields. Isn't this the epitome of spring ha ha!

Here are some more of those wallish trees, a bit easier to see.

We had to take a ferry to get to Kinderdijk. 

Kinderdijk, land of the windmills. We were already an hour behind schedule, so instead of waiting for a boat tour, we did a little bit of walking.

Last clog pic ha ha!

Loved the houses.

The Netherlands have immaculate and beautiful streets. All of them were tree-lined. We knew we'd crossed back into Germany when the tree-lined stuff disappeared. Things really do make an abrupt change when crossing any borders out here.