OUR WEIGHT LOSS CHALLENGE

We're all going to lose some weight - Mom, Dad, Jennifer and I. Here are pictures of all of us from this past week. There's an extra one of Jennifer from before she started her diet back in October to give you an idea of how far she's come in such a short time. I'll post monthly updates so you can see how we're all progressing and to give those of us who need it a little more accountability.

Goals:

Jennifer - 96 pounds - 1000 calories per day and lots of walking
Valerie - 115 pounds - low carb diet & lots of walking
Mom - 49 pounds - low calorie, low fat diet with biking and possibly water aerobics.
Dad - 85 pounds - low calorie, low fat diet with walking, biking, free weights, rowing machine and traditional calesthenics








Here's a picture Jennifer sent me that was taken in April 2007. She started her diet in October 2007, and has been making great progress. She's already lost 54 pounds. Way to go girl! I hope we can all live up to her example... she's been an inspiration to the rest of us.

We were walking along the river trail and Brandon picked up a rock. He came over to me and asked me to take a picture of it to put on our Blog. So here's Brandon with his rock, and the fate of the rock as it's tossed toward the river. It didn't make it to the water, if you're wondering...

Another cold day for a hike - but this time we went off the paved trail and into the woods. They've built a new trail that runs through the woods next to the paved North Little Rock River Trail, near the Big Dam Bridge. Laedyn got to have her first ride in the backpack. I thought Brandon would be mad that he didn't get to ride, but he surprised me. He says he prefers to walk!
The trail is a loop, and it's not too terribly long, but I had my camera with me so it took quite a while. We found all kinds of abandoned objects for me to photograph. You can see some of the shots at my Flickr page (the link is over to the side...)
Here I was off the trail taking pictures of a freezer chest that had "FRESH FISH" painted on the side of it. While I was doing my photography thing Brandon was practicing his Limbo skills under a vine. Eventually, Jennifer came over and pushed the vine lower to make it more of a challenge for Brandon.
Nick was showing off a potential walking stick to Brandon. It was actually a long piece of vine, so we called it a jiggle stick. Brandon found a Brandon-sized one for himself too. It wasn't very sturdy though, and pretty soon it broke in half -- much to Brandon's dismay.
Brandon did get tired a couple of times and Nick had to be Super-Daddy. It's much easier when we're using the stroller because Brandon can ride on the front or on Nick's shoulders. Obviously that's not an option here... and he's getting HEAVY!!!
Check out this cool vine "swing" I found along the trail. Brandon had a great time swinging once he got the hang of how to hold on and not slide over the side! Well, he was having fun until Nick looked up and wondered how much weight the thing could hold. Then Brandon became concerned & was ready to move on. No one else was willing to test the weight capacity of the vine, but it was pretty sturdy. I pulled on it pretty hard before putting Brandon on it in the first place.
Look at the poor baby...she was leaning over the whole time to see around Nick's head. eventually she fell asleep that way and her nose dripped snot all over the backpack. YUCK!!!We finally couldn't stand the sight of her all tilted over with her neck at such an angle, so out of the backpack she came. Jennifer carried her for awhile, and then I took her. She fell asleep while I was carrying her. Finally she got too heavy for me, and Nick took her again - but not in the backpack ... Brandon had taken that seat for himself immediately upon Laedyn's vacating it! We've all agreed to stash the backpack back up in the attic until Laedyn's a little older - maybe she'll be ready by early March. Then we'll go looking for some more off road trails to explore.
Our excursion this day ended with a much brisker walk across the Big Dam Bridge and back. Before we did that though, we traded the backpack for the stroller - much to the relief of Nick's back, I'm sure!

Walking has become a big part of our routine, if you can call our day to day flailing about a routine! Here are some pictures from a recent walk we took out at Two Rivers Park in West Little Rock. It was pretty chilly that day, and there was a brisk breeze along the river. Laedyn got to test the new snow suit that Grandma Audrey sent her for Christmas.
Mark brought Taz along too- needless to say, Taz was very happy to be there. He must have felt like he was back in his element even if he did have to be on a leash. He behaved very well as long as there weren't any other dogs coming along posing a threat to his little family. Luckily the portion of the trail we were on was relatively deserted.
We had one bit of excitement when the front wheel fell off of Brandon's tricycle. Jennifer and Brandon retraced our steps and found the missing parts and then Nick improvised and used his keychain to tighten the screw. The fix held up for the rest of the afternoon! As you can see, Jennifer was rather pleased with herself having found the vital missing pieces of Brandon's wheel. Hahaha - just kidding. Doesn't she look great? Her secret? About 1000 calories per day and alot of walking. She should be pleased with herself! Way to go JG!
Brandon brought along his tricycle and actually rode it the entire walk. I don't know how far we walked but it was more than 3 miles. He's such a trooper!
Of course, he didn't have to ride unaided. Nick found a big thick stick that propped very neatly into a notch on the frame and made it really easy to push. All Brandon had to do was steer. By the time we got back to the car and he got off of it though, he complained that his bottom hurt. I told him he was probably saddle sore from riding the tricycle so much - he thought that was really funny and proceeded to tell everyone we met for the rest of the day...

This area of the park has some relatively new trails that are being developed into various planned gardens. You can see the baby pine trees along the side in this picture. There are tons of saplings planted all along the path. They have a big posting board at the entry explaining the plan, complete with illustrations of how it will look over the course of it's growth. It should be rather impressive when it matures.