Father’s Day Weekend

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This past weekend was Father’s Day and what a nice weekend it was. Alise has been secretly working for months with Marc and Jodi to plan a surprise 70th birthday party for Harvey. The party was Saturday and  was held at The Grand Chalet (where Robyn and I had our wedding and reception). Being that we didn’t tell our kids anything about it until late on Friday, it was a complete success.

Yup, he was surprised!

Yup, he was surprised!

It wasn’t a huge turnout but it’s always nice to get together with family and meet others as well. All the kids had a great time playing together and the food was delicious. We got home late in the afternoon and went for a walk since the weather was beautiful. We made the rounds of the neighbors’ houses to say hello and then stopped at the Thompsons’ house to chat for a bit while Chloe and Gabriel played with Leanna. There is something magical about that “golden hour” just before the sun sets.

On Sunday, after Robyn and the kids let me sleep in until 10:30, I opened my Father’s Day cards and presents and the kids made me a cup of coffee. So nice! Around noon we went to Alise and Harvery’s apartment to have brunch with Jay, Patty, Douglas, Hanna, Marc, Jodi, Wendy and Ilyssa. As usual, there was way too much food but I haven’t had a bagel in well over a month so I splurged and enjoyed the tuna and egg salad along with cookies and cake and all that good stuff. Harvey’s son and daughter-in-law are very nice and we all get along well so it was a good time.

On our way home, we stopped at Garrett Mountain for a quick look at the scenery.

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Although it looks very cloudy in the photo above, the weather cleared up and the four of us went for another walk when we got home. This time, we made a big loop around the neighborhood and ended up at the Sandages’ for a while. It’s so nice to have friends in the immediate vicinity! Then it was off to Applebee’s for dinner.

All in all, it was an awesome weekend!

Down 13!

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I’ve lost about 13 pounds since April 2, 2013. That’s pretty good and definitely the most weight loss progress I’ve made in quite some time. Of course, I’m working hard to stay on my diet. I’ve been busy with a project at work and it’s been unusually cold for April so I haven’t been able to get to the gym or out for a run as often as I would like. I guess it’s true that exercise alone will not help you lose weight.

Slow Carbs

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This has been my breakfast for the last week or so.

This has been my breakfast for the last week or so.

After hearing about it a few weeks ago on Jay Mohr’s podcast, I’ve been doing research on the “4 Hour Body Diet” or “slow carb” diet” which is a low glycemic index diet that is related to other low carb/paleo style diets. The point that really made the whole plan sound do-able was the single day off where you are allowed to eat anything. The hardest part, for me, of any of the low-carb diets is the idea that I can’t ever have high carbohydrate foods. I can’t imagine never eating another bagel or pancakes for breakfast and I think, for most people this is totally unrealistic. Giving ourselves a single, schedule day off just makes sense to me.

So, I started eating this way on Monday, April 8th. The overall plan has been easy to stick to and I’m seeing some results on the scale that will hopefully continue over the next few weeks.

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Flying down the slide!

Flying down the slide!

I love this shot of Chloe going down the slide at Modick Park in Hopatcong. It’s quite a steep slide and her hair is flying out behind her while her face shows how surprised she was. It had been a while since we were at the park so I guess she forgot about how fast it was.

Spring Has Sprung! Or has it?

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It’s almost the end of March and we’re still bogged down in cold, wintry weather that would probably be more at home in February than March. We got a few inches of snow about a week ago but we managed to avoid a storm on the 25th. The low temps aren’t the only thing that have kept me from walking and running as much as I would like; an ankle injury kept me out of the gym and off the roads for almost two weeks. At first I thought the pain in my foot and ankle was a stress fracture but what I read about them indicated that these types of fractures tend to be painful for a while and my foot seemed to get better relatively quickly. Since the pain came on in the middle of one of my Thursday night classes, I now believe we did some stuff in class that may have caused me to twist my ankle. In any case, it’s better now and I spent two weeks doing the elliptical machines at the gym to lessen the strain on my foot. The rest seems to have done the trick because I was able to run without much tenderness beginning late last week. When you start to get older injuries that wouldn’t have bothered you 15 years ago start to weigh more heavily on one’s mind.

Although I like the gym a lot for the machines, I’m really looking forward to getting out and doing some running in the slightly warmer weather that is surely just around the corner!

Still Running!

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Soon after her surgery back in October, Robyn started walking with me. We would usually go for about 30 minutes or so after the kids went to school. I sometimes ran for part of the time to keep up with my routine and after a while, Robyn would join me. This winter has been much colder than last so there were some days where it just wasn’t much fun to be out on a 22° day so in January, Robyn got a membership at Planet Fitness. Her membership allows her to bring a guest every day so that works out pretty well for me.

Robyn’s been going at least four times a week and I’ve been trying to get three in when I can. The big change for me has been using the weight machines and working on my arms and upper body strength. I’m actually seeing some results! I do miss running outdoors and I’m looking forward to getting back to it. As the weather warms up I’ll probably just work on strength at the gym and run on the “off” days.

I’m coming to realize that although cardio health and strength are important, it’s the ability to move freely that is probably the most important aspect of overall health.

My latest Instagram: The Moon over the Manhattan

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on Instagram: http://instagr.am/p/WJAtoxLfmo/

For our 11th wedding anniversary, Robyn and I decided to head into NYC again this year. I made a dinner reservation at Bond 45 for 7:30 but we had Gram come watch the kids at 3 o’clock so we could leave early and walk around. Here’s Robyn showing off her hot little dress on her “new” body. Amazing!

All dressed up with somewhere to go!

All dressed up with somewhere to go!

The first thing we noticed right after we parked the car was that it was much more windy than we had expected. Robyn did wear smart shoes this time but she was also wearing a dress so she was freezing. The first place we went was a store so Robyn could get some pants. After trying on a few pair, she purchased one and put them on under her dress. She’s so ingenious! We headed back out and walked all over Times Square. For a place that gets so much attention from the world, there’s not a whole lot to do in Times Square unless you want to shop. We went into a bunch of different places and bough the kids some stuff from the M&M Store.

Robyn in Times Square

Dinner was pretty good – not great. There was no comparison to last year’s feast although we did have a delicious meringue cake for dessert and I had a tasty Malbec with our meal. After dinner we walked south to the Empire State Building where we looked up and saw the full Moon overhead. It was a beautiful sight that’s definitely not fully captured in the photo above. We headed back to the car since things were closing up for the night. All-in-all, we had a good time out on the town.