A whole lot of catching up...

The McDowell's were spread across the country this last weekend and I have a ton of catching up to do so I'm going with a quick bulleted recap today.

1. Ryan and Ross were in Holton with Grandpa & Grandma Sharp. Ross learned to say "pa pa." He's repeating sounds all over the place but he looked at grandpa when he said "pa pa" and he said it a lot on Thursday when I dropped them off. The had a good time with grandpa, grandma, Aunt Cheri and some of their cousins. They even got to go to Eugene's birthday party.

2. Of course, Holton can NOT be uneventful. If I go out of town and leave them there, it means that SOMETHING will happen. One of them will get sick, grow some new teeth out of the blue... something ALWAYS happens. This weekend... PINK EYE! Poor Ross' eyes drained and drained and matted when he slept. I think they were the worst on Sunday and Monday so I took him to an urgent care clinic Monday afternoon for drops. Then I got to spend Tuesday at home with him so he didn't contaminate the whole daycare. Which actually didn't end up mattering as it sounds like more than half of his daycare had the same stuff. Here's how miserable he was Monday:

3. I was in Sterling, Virginia!!! Yes, I was RIGHT outside of DC... but nope, we didn't go to DC. Been there, done that! I hung out with my BFF and had the greatest time! We ate chinese, pizza, Olive Garden, got pedicures, played a LOT of Monopoly Deal and I cuddled and cuddled with her new 8.5 week old baby, Aaron. He's a DOLL, just like his big brother Ethan!! I learned my lesson - Friday to Sunday is too quick of a turn around for that kind of visit. Next time I think I'll have to stay ONE more night.

4. Russ and Reid were in St Louis. Reid went along with an Atoms team to play four games and they caught a Blues game as well. Sounds like they had a great time. They won all four games pretty easily. Reid played extremely well when he was paying attention but also had his moments of completely not focused as well. He's getting better as he gets older but he still doesn't have a whole game of focus in him for many of his games. Russ was pretty proud of how he played overall and even stopped at a park on Sunday to let him play for a while before they headed home (what a good dad!). Reid said that the Blues game was a ton of fun and really enjoyed the whole weekend.

5. Hockey Ross was in Boston for the weekend. They won 2 games and tied 2 games. He said they played pretty well all weekend. He missed his connecting flight on Sunday and got stuck in Newark, NJ. Apparently the train at the airport got stuck and most airlines tried to delay flights but his got released before they made it to the terminal. He was stuck with the two coaches and five other players so they made the best of it. They went to Times Square on Monday morning and even got interviewed by MTV. Pretty good weekend I think. And Hockey Ross turned 19 on Sunday. We celebrated with him the weekend before since we weren't all going to be together this weekend.

6. I did weigh in today, basically to pay my $2 to the deserving winner. I knew I'd be up (see number 3 above and I didn't even mention that I skipped my long run and didn't work out for three whole days)... but it was worth it. I was actually quite pleased that I was only up 1.2, I thought it would be much worse. This week I am getting back on the wagon and getting SERIOUS. I am trying to eat only whole, non-processed foods for 7 days. NO sugar, flavored water, preservatives, and a ton of words I can't pronounce etc. The ONLY exception I'm allowing myself is quaker oatmeal if I so desire. I am not about to eat regular oats with no flavor. I have guaranteed my competitors that I will lose 2 pounds this week and challenged them to up their game as well!

Weigh in Results:

The Lone Male: -2.40% (he lost 5.9 pounds and is ready to get serious too!)

Mrs Consistent: -0.92% (a solid 1.6 pound week, she totally got robbed this week)

Nancy Nazarene: -0.77%

The Cheater: -0.48%

Myself: 0.72% (I'm at 167.8. I have 37 days to get to 160 for the Rock the Parkway half marathon - no more excuses!)

7. I went to www.random.org and did a number generator to pick a number between 1 and 4 and the winner of the CSN store giveaway was #4. I'll be sending you the information on how to use your $20 gift certificate, Cheri!