Jen Paxton

We’ve been having a great time so far. Saturday morning we got up really early with a bleary eyed little girl and headed south. Around 8 am we stopped at the Gap Dinner and ate some breakfast. Noe had a Mickey Mouse pancake and some sausage links. When we got down to the beach we unloaded our things, and then headed to Louie’s for a grinder. When we came back we made our beds and unpacked. Then we hung out and ordered Nicola’s for dinner. Even though we are 2 blocks away, the wait for delivery was 1 1/2 hours, so I walked and picked it up. After dinner we went down to the boardwalk to Funland and played Frog Bog and Whack-a-Mole. Ben won Noe a monkey, 2 bananas, and a duck. We let her do the pick a duck game and she won a shrek’s baby plush, which is uber creepy. We came back home and Noe was a bear to get to go to bed. I had to lay down with her on the bed of her room in the dark until she was falling asleep, and then she still fussed when I put her in her crib.

Sunday morning we got up and George made bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast. We laid around in the morning and then went to the beach after lunch. I forgot to pack Noe’s bathing suits so we had to stop on the boardwalk and pick one up. Its green with a watermelon on it. Then, we were off to the beach to meet up with George and Nancy. I was concerned she’d be afraid of the ocean, but she squirmed to be put down and headed straight for the water. She was very cautious, but managed to go in to get her feet wet. We then decided we should put her suit on before we let her do more. We had a great day. Noe played in the sand, played in the water, and took a walk along the surf. She got pretty tired, so Noe and I headed back to the house to clean up and nap while everyone stayed at the beach. Sunday night I made fajitas for dinner, and they were very yummy.

Monday morning we got up and Nancy and I went to the day spa for massages and pedicures. My masseuse took her elbows to my back, and I’m still paying the price. It was really nice over all, very relaxing and much needed. Afterward, we stopped in a couple shops before heading back to the house.

Nancy made Lasagna, salad, and garlic bread for dinner. It was ton of food, but it was nice to have some vegetables. There is so much snack food here, its crazy. After dinner Nancy, George, Noe and I went for a walk to some shops, only to find them closed. So, we walked around downtown for a while and then came back. When we got back Noe was pretty tired, so Nancy put her to bed with no fight. Nancy and George went to bed shortly after, but Ben and I stayed up watching tv. It was nice to just relax on the couch for a while.

Tuesday morning we all got up and Ben, Noe and I went for a walk while George and Nancy went to the beach. We walked all over downtown stopping in a couple of toy stores and getting some coffee. We probably walked about 10-15 blocks. Noe was beat afterwards, so we came back, fed her lunch, and put her down for a nap. Ben went to the beach while she napped, while I hung out at the house and played cards. When she woke up we went down to the beach, where she walked up and down the beach for 3 hours. We had a really good time and I was able to get some seashells to make her a picture frame. After the beach we came back, got showered, and let Noe nap for an hour. Then we all piled in the car and went to Dewey Beach for dinner. We ate at the Rusty Rudder. We wanted to eat outside, but they didn’t have the full menu. I ordered 1 alcoholic beverage, and I got pretty toasted. Dinner was really good. I had the sirloin medallions with mashers and they were full of flavor. After dinner we went back to Rehoboth and stopped at the Royal Treat shop for some ice cream. Noe enjoyed partaking in our cones. Afterwards we stopped by the boardwalk and had our picture taken. Noe decided she’d rather walk home than drive, so George, she and I walked while Ben and Nancy took the car home. It was a very long walk, and Noe definitely started to slow down by the end. At one point we had an elderly couple who was staying at The Plaza behind us using oxygen. Noe was walking right in front of them, and I think she was slowing them down. That’s how slow she was. We eventually got back and she started running around playing again. I eventually managed to get her pajamas on, and when I put her down, she immediately rolled over and went to sleep. Us adults hung out on the balcony for a while, but we were all very tired. We were in bed by 10 pm.

Still alive, but very busy. We’re getting the house ready to put on the market and have been very busy fixing and cleaning. Noe is fantastic, as usual. She’s learning new words every day. Lets see if I can list some

- wowee (water)
- doggy
- kitty
- meow meow
- cow
- moo
- rawr (what a bear says)
- momma
- daddy
- book
- read (she says “lets read book”)
- ok
- yes
- no
- please
- thank you
- me
- milk
- more
- ball
- boo boo (and she’ll point to the scrape on her knee)
- night night
- bye bye
- hello
- there you go!
- what’s that?
- what
- ei ei o
- key
- momo (elmo)
- up
- dow (down)
- nana (banana)
- eat

There are other things she says, but that i haven’t figured out yet. An example would be “dodgy”. Not sure what that is, but she says doggy, so its not that. Ok, i have a list that I can reference later. Good night to all of you who don’t read this blog.

Here’s a recent picture of the wee one.

Rosa sat so Martin could walk. Martin walked, so Obama could run. Obama is running so our children can fly.

So, I managed to get up at 7 am this morning despite going to bed at 12:30 am last night. I “exercised” for 32 minutes total. I started with some strength exercises and then moved on to aerobics. I finished up by doing some yoga poses. I didn’t do better than last night in everything, but I’ll keep working on it.

I really liked the new advanced step aerobics. They’re a bit more challenging and also more fun. There’s a side step that involves putting your feet up on the board sideways. It took me a few steps to get used to, but it’s pretty cool. Also, there’s a step and knee lift of sorts. Its kind of hard to explain. You step your left foot up onto the board and then lift your right knee up and then back down to the floor. Your right foot never touches the board, but the game can tell if you do it right based on the shift in your weight and the pressure of your left foot. I have to say that’s some cool technology.

My plan is to get up at 7 am again tomorrow morning and to work out again. I hope I do it!

I finally found a wii fit! Target opened up at 8am with 40 and when I got there at 9am there were at least 20 left. Woohoo! So, I waited all day to try it out. I knew that if I started I wouldn’t want to stop and I had homework to do. So, once I got almost all my homework done I broke out the wii fit. I was a little nervous to try it out and I wasn’t shocked when it told me I was overweight. Well, not overweight, but obese. I’m not sure if that is accurate and I’m in self denial, or if its just being plain old mean. I guess I’d have to have Ivy test it out to see. She’s probably one of the most health-conscience people I know.

Anyway, back to the WF. I really liked the aerobics. It felt more like a game to me than excercising. I have DDR in the basement for the same reason, but this was a bit easier. I was having fun and I felt my heart rate increase at the same time. The yoga was much harder than I thought it was. I knew I didn’t have very good balance, but I couldn’t even do the tree one where I had to balance on one foot. I guess I need more WF training. The mini games are cool, but they too wanted to jump out of the screen and yell at me “YOU HAVE NO BALANCE!”. I got terrible scores, one of them being a 0. I imagine most people would tell me its almost impossible to get a 0 in a game like that, but leave it to me to prove people wrong.

So, after 33 minutes of WF timed play, I have 1 complaint. I wish they had a workout program to set up. A program that would start with a warm up and then get harder and then a cool down. I would love it if I could say, “I want to work for 26 minutes today” and it would come up with a routine that took that much time. Instead I have to figure one out on my own and page through all the screens to get from one activity to the other. I just looked online and I see that many people have the same complaint. Unfortunately, I think the only way to resolve this issue is to make a new WF game, which means more money out of my pocket. Too bad they can’t do updates for games on a disc…

I have low expectations but high hopes for this new exercise program. I’d like to say that I will work it into my daily routine and keep it up, but I have low expectations that I actually will. I’m already having issues figuring out a time I can do it every day besides before work, and we all know how terrible I am at getting up even 1 minute earlier than I have to. On top of that its already 12 am and I don’t relish the idea of getting up at 7 tomorrow to exercise before work. I guess all I can do is set my alarm and try. We’ll see how that goes…

I swear it wasn’t me who honked the horn!