Sun 25 Aug

We are safely home and I will try to find the rhythm of my home routines again. Feels strange to know that Michael is in Oregon for an extended time and not here just down the street. He (and friends) did spend some time in the house while we're gone, so he will still have a presence today as we clean up and put things to rights. Bottle caps are turning up all over the house. Overall, he didn't leave too much of a mess, but it is somewhat comforting to know he was here. Vacation was great! I plan to try to write on my Wandering blog as soon as possible before I lose too many of the details. We had too much fun and were tired at the end of each day, and internet access was often spotty to non-existent so I didn't attempt to keep up while we traveled. Today we do church and visit Grandma. She had a little excitement while we were gone. She was having some shortness of breath just before we left and an xray done at the home showed some fluid on her lungs. Luckily the doctor didn't completely trust the home xray service and requested she go to the hospital for a second check. Since I wasn't around to accompany her, it sounds like Melanie from Whispering Pines met her there for support. That xray showed much less reason for concern, only a small amount of fluid in the bottom of the lungs that could be treated with three days on water pills. They also left me several messages that her breathing sounded much better and she was relieved that the xray showed no reason for concern. We'll get the update today. Felt REALLY good to get back into morning exercise today. I'm not looking forward to weighing in after vacation as I feel like I did put on a little weight. We hiked on 5 out of 15 traveling days, but we ate quite well though not excessive quantities. I just feel a little thicker, possibly because the workouts were not as varied using all body muscles as I usually do. It felt good to concentrate on core during ballet, stretch all muscles including feet, and move a little more quickly during the dance DVD. Good all-veggie supper tonight - grilled Blue Top corn and grilled golden beets with a side of Ginger Woodchuck. Yum! Food: 8:15 am 1 c Trader Joe's multigrain flaxseed cereal, 1/2 c light vanilla soy milk, Oregon peach, coffee 11:45 am 2 eggs over easy, 1 slice French toast, 1/2 tbl whipped butter, 1/2 tbl pancake syrup, 3 slices bacon, coffee 4:30 pm 1 1/2 c watermelon chunks 6:30 pm 2 cobs grilled sweet corn w/olive oil, 1 c grilled golden beets w/olive oil, 6 oz ginger Woodchuck Exercise: 6:50-7:40 am Ballet DVD 7:40-8:10 am Cardio Dance DVD