Sledding

We've had a great winter, mild with very little snow to worry about.  If you were to ask Lucy, this is terrible.  We live directly across the street from an amazing sledding hill, the kind of hill you might not necessarily believe exists in Iowa.  The hill that we see every time we look out our front windows or walk out our front door.  It is a constant reminder of the lack of winter snow.  Each time it does snow a little, we make the trek across the street and sled until we're basically on the dirt.  We almost always bring a sledding friend.

Lucy slides on her back.

 She slides on her front.

 She slides on her bottom.

 Good illustration here of friend Silas on the last patch of snow.

Some great video of how much fun we had.  When I said it's an amazing sledding hill, I wasn't kidding.  It's HUGE.


Lucy Sledding from Kristin York on Vimeo.

Thanks to Silas who was willing to take a trip down the hill with Jamie.


Jamie Sledding from Kristin York on Vimeo.

And finally, my favorite wipe-out.  Whoops!


Happy face:

 Where am I and what is this unstable plastic disc under me face:

CFC Fizzle

First, the wild ride Lucy and Grandma took at the MOA:


Roller Coaster from Kristin York on Vimeo.

And the wrap-up details of my CFC week?  I approached this challenge with little thought or preparation.  I went to the co-op and stocked up on lentils, quinoa, raw almonds, raisins, and greens.  I planned on relying on the soup-making skills I've been honing, though I also intended to try a spring roll that will have to wait until this weekend.  I have quite a few recipes that I already make that are "clean" for the challenge.  Last time I felt sick for the first part of the week.  This time, it was no problem.  I was a bit cranky on Tuesday, having nothing to snack on besides raw almonds and raisins :) but other than than it wasn't hard at all.

I think one of my favorite parts of the week was talking to my students about what I was eating before class every morning.  In the land of the walking taco (anyone outside of Iowa know what that one is?) they were fascinated by my food choices.

I call the week a fizzle because I quit (mostly) on Friday evening.  Friday afternoon I was struck down by a back spasm so bad I had to call Eric out of work to rescue me from the floor.  I kneeled to change Jamie and couldn't get back up.  It was hopelessly helpless, and left me with little energy to sustain the focused eating or to prepare food in the way that the CFC requires.  Eric has suffered from back problems for as long as I've known him, spasms and bulging discs, and I think this was my punishment for being less than sympathetic in the past.  He knew just what to do to make me feel better, and I'm feeling back to normal now.  Yikes, though. 

Thinking about how the food week went for me, I'd re-name the CFC something along the lines of "Purposeful Eating Week".  It made me consciously plan what I was going to eat, instead of mindlessly snacking on everything in house and making meals out of what I can finish off the kids plates, top with a spoonful of peanut butter, or find in a bag.  Doesn't that sound terrible?  At least I had some serious nutrition one week this year.