Easter Light & Bear Crawls

We spent Easter weekend at the farm with Ken's family. We enjoyed:
- planting trees,
- loading wood on the trailer,
- filling & hiding Easter eggs,
- the egg hunt, and
- a great Easter meal!

Bear crawls are one of my favorite bootcamp exercises. The kids took it up a notch doing bear crawls up and over a labyrinth of tree limbs.

When the sun broke through later in the weekend, it was glorious. Also glorious was Carrie Underwood's "How Great Thou Art" with Vince Gill. Wow.

Questions for You:
- What's your favorite or least favorite bootcamp or bodyweight exercise?
- Elvis' version or Carrie's version? Or Susan Boyle's version?

photos by me.

P.I. Streak II + G.V. Minigolf

Last weekend we played indoor mini-golf as a family. In Wisconsin it can snow even in May, so the indoor option is nice.

I grabbed my new pair of Pearl Izumi Streak II shoes (thanks to Outside PR & Sports Marketing & Pearl Izumi) to see how they'd handle the turf.

I noticed the fit of the shoe first in the heel--it felt like the shoe cradled my heel in a good way.

The shoe felt light, but supportive
and I really liked the honeycomb webbing.

As a safety girl I appreciate the reflective bits along the laces, toe, heel and side of the shoe and we tested its reflective performance within the mini-golf glow room.

Learn more about the Streak's seam-free interior, energy foam cushions and more here.

photos: Walk this way please. There are many slides along the course.

photos: Mini-golf at G.V., the capital at G.V., my P.I. Streak II in the glow room. Actually two years ago one of our kids had an accident in this same glow room .... beware of potential glow-room streaks in your neighborhood.

Questions for You:

- What's the weather like where you live?

- What's the first thing you notice about a new pair of shoes?

- When I read the word Streak I think of two words: naked and steak. What comes to your mind?

photos by me

Potty Mouths & Stalkers: I ♥ Writers!

Last weekend I attended the Writers' Institute in Madison, Wis. It was awesome being back on campus and learning more about something I love -- writing! I pitched my triathlon project as well!

Writing conferences host a strange variety of personalities, including:

• The potty-mouth: an attendee who draws attention to his or her idea by throwing in random swear words.


• The hi-jacker: an attendee who attempts to take-over a speaker's session with his or her own information.


• The stalker: he or she stalks a designated agent, editor or speaker hoping to pitch his or her idea. During the Q&A panel a male agent specifically outlawed men from approaching him in the bathroom between sessions... but he left the option open for women (humor is good people).


• The close-talker: hopefully he or she is not a coffee drinker ... if so, offer this attendee a piece of gum or strong mint.


• The cookie thief: pockets extra cookies during the mid-session break.


• The bold forgetter: he or she boldly stands to ask a question during a session or panel and then can't quite come up with his or her question.


• The space hog: even in a packed session this participant spreads out, arranging his or her laptop, purse, conference tote, coat, umbrella and more. Odds are he or she also has claim to the power outlet too.

Questions for You: - What personalities have you met at conferences? Who did I forget? - What cookies are your favorite mid-session snack? I chose white chocolate macadamia nut. - Do you love the rush during a pitch, triathlon or interview? - If you had to sell something what would it be?

photos by me: The Pyle Center, The Red Gym, The Memorial Union & Rathskeller (I worked there in college.)

3 Little Birds: Sports & the People You Meet

photos: Holding a chick, Oreo the chicken, Marmalade the cat.

We call it our swim date--my husband and I share a lane at Masters' swim on Sunday afternoons. The 90-minute session is one of the highlights of my week and I hate missing it. I love being in the water. I love learning. I love the people.

One of my swim friends is also named Sara, but with an h. With her permission I call her Chicken Sarah--we trade table scraps for fresh eggs from her chickens once a week.

This week Chicken Sarah got a package of live chicks in the mail so I went out to meet the brood.

Fun!!!

This picture reminded me of one of my favorite songs "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley.

Questions for You:

- Have you tried fresh eggs? The pretty brown ones remind me of the eggs Caroline Ingalls always tried to sell to Mrs. Olson on Little House on the Prairie. Now, having them in my own hands, I can tell you they're real and they're spectacular!

- What's one of your favorite Seinfeld scenes?

- What sports have brought you the most friendships? Or best memories?

Passion, Adventure & the Wild

I love reading. As a girl I especially loved adventure-experience books. Here's a few: The Call of the Wild and White Fang by Jack London, Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (*note this is not The Blue Lagoon...), My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George, and of course the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

And as a married mom of three, I still love adventure-experience books: Shane by Jack Schaefer, The Endurance by Alfred Lansing, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and any Dirk Pitt adventure written by Clive Cussler.

Over the years I've had similar adventures, of a different scale, to those stories I loved in print: -While not a wolf pup, we do have a lab named Sherpa. - I swam with dolphins twice. - A hawk likes to visit my front yard (photo). - As kids my mom made us matching Little House dresses for Christmas. - I like cowboys, especially cowboys with rosy cheeks. - We survived the Storm of the Century while visiting the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. - We traveled the U.S. via Winnebago (see top photo). Though we didn't bring Rose of Sharon, or lose a grandma overnight, we squeezed in many relatives and friends for trips across the U.S., complete with break-downs and emergency repairs, similar to the Joads. - Dirk Pitt adventures are wild. My grandpa loved Clive Cussler and my dad, husband and I do too. We don't have much real-life in common, but I'll refer to wild situations as going all Dirk Pitt.

ON TOPIC - Check out 23 Feet, a documentary on simple living and outdoor passions. - Read about the Family on Bikes and their completed 20,000-mile trip along the Pan-American Highway. See this post to experience how windy the land of fire is. - Breathe Magazine looks interesting, it's geared for those who participate in adventure and endurance sports -- me! - And read my espnW.com feature about Kat and her adventures locally and globally through Impossible2Possible.

- I did rent Into the Wild, which combines Alaska, campers, adventure, busses and bears! I've been to Alaska & came very close to a Grizzly in Yellowstone (photo). My Youtube clip here. Questions for You: - What experience-adventure books do you love? - What books relate to your life? photos by me