Tears on the Treadmill

In early March, I entered into a weight loss challenge with my father, brother and husband. At week 4, I was down 11.4 pounds and I hit a couple of personal goals in the process. But, I feel like I still have a long way to go.

I would like to lose another 30 pounds to reach my goal, and yes I have 30 pounds to lose, which leads me to the theme of this post. I believe that throughout my life I was never fully confident about how my body or face looked. Yea, I act like I am super awesome and most of the time I believe that, but sometimes I feel less than awesome and unsatisfied with how my body looks or how I feel.

So, this is where the sappy stuff comes in ...

Today, I went to the local Y for my lunch break. I went on the treadmill to run/walk for a half hour. I just got back to the gym after a few years off, so it is more of a jog than a sprint. By the time 28 minutes had ticked down and the sweat was dripping from my forehead, the song switched to Lady Gaga's "Born this Way." I raised the speed of the treadmill to run and started to listen to the lyrics ...

"There's nothing wrong with loving who you are,
She said, 'Cause He made you perfect, babe,'
So hold your head up girl and you'll go far,
Listen to me when I say ..."

As I mouthed along to the words, I felt myself starting to well up. I was running and crying, but not because I was in pain; it was because of the lyrics. The words were really resonating with me. I actually felt like Gaga was talking to me, which I think is the real point of her song. Weight loss isn't just a physical journey, it is an emotional one too. Ask anyone whose image in the mirror has been seriously altered. I've been there a few times in my life.

"I'm beautiful in my way,
'Cause God makes no mistakes,
I'm on the right track, baby I was born this way ..."

Since day one of the challenge, I've been trying hard to get healthy and lose weight. I've lost a chunk so far, but no matter how heavy I think I am or what size my jeans are, there are still people who love me and depend on me. And, I am still proud of myself for putting this initial effort forth. I can be my biggest champ or my biggest enemy. It's my choice.

"Don't hide yourself in regret,
Just love yourself and you're set,
I'm on the right track, baby,
I was born this way (Born this way) ..."

It's OK if I work my butt off and only lose 20 pounds. It's OK if I only go down one dress size. It is OK if I don't win the weight loss competition, but I won't stop trying, no matter my shape or size, this is me. Like it or not, I was born this way. 

Splashing Around at Great Wolf Lodge

We planned a family trip for January to drive up to the Great Wolf Lodge in Scotrun, Pennsylvania. Since the kids like splashing around, I thought they would love it. At the time of the trip, my kids were 4 1/2 and 1 1/2. Great Wolf was only two and a half hours away and the drive was rather easy. I remembered it well because it was also how I traveled to and from college.

On the way up, we stopped at the Red Robin that was about 10 minutes away for lunch. We met Carrie, Dan and Christian there. After the kids smacked us around with their free balloons that I unfortunately gave them before lunch instead of after, TK, the kids and I stopped at Giant for some groceries. I needed to get milk, bananas and frozen pancakes for the kids. I knew we would end up eating breakfast in the room, so I wanted to make sure I had something for them that could be microwaved and stored in the small refrigerator.

When we got to the resort, TK dropped me off to check in. There was no line, so I walked right up, got our bracelets and headed back out to get the bags. Luckily, they have little carts that you can pile your bags on to get them to your room much easier and quicker. The receptionist even gave us little wolf ears for the kids, so they put them on immediately and started howling.

Our room was a standard room with two double beds and a pull-out couch. We also asked for a pack-n-play for my daughter. I brought her sheets and a blanket from home. We knew our son would just sleep with one of us every night, so I only brought a blanket from home for him. Carrie and Dan got the Wolf Den room with a king bed and bunk beds in a little cove in the room. It even had a little television for Christian. The kids had a great time jumping around in there. It was really cute, but I didn't reserve that type of room because my children are daredevils and I didn't want to spend the weekend in the hospital.

When we unpacked, we took a quick walk to see the water park and amenities. It was wonderful to have our room on the same floor as the water park. It did get a little loud at night with kids running back and forth, but my kids sleep through almost anything, so I wasn't worried. Kids were playing a game with magic wands that had certain interactive stations around the resort. We didn't let Jackson play because he was still too little to run around the resort and it could get really expensive.

The water park had a section for little ones, another section for not-so-little ones, an indoor pool and big slides for big kids like us. We spent most of our time in the toddler section because Jackson and Christian loved going down the slides by themselves and Addison just liked standing in the water and pointing at the woodland characters that decorated the water park. I brought Jackson his life vest from home, so he was able to go from slide to slide with no issues. When we went in the pool, he did a great job floating and trying to swim. He pretty much loved every minute of Great Wolf.

At certain times of the day, the adults would break off into groups of two so we could enjoy the big slides. I screamed my head off and loved how fast some of them were. There was a nice variety of slides and we rode them in groups, so it was a great bonding experience. By Sunday, Paul, Kerri, PJ and Jenna arrived and we had more folks to ride the slides with.

For lunch, we brought food from the room to the tables that surrounded the water park. I ended up buying macaroni and cheese from the for my kids because they were inhaling the mac & cheese microwavable cups that I brought from home. I also had to buy a refillable cup and a soft pretzel. If there is a pretzel on the menu, I have to try it.

Our trip was for four days, so by day three, TK got bored watching Jackson go down the slides a million times, so we hit The Crossings Premium Outlets. We shopped at Under Armour, Converse, The North Face and Nike, but not before we hit Sonic for lunch. We find a Sonic during every road trip because who doesn't like shakes and burgers? I mean, there are no diets on vacation. The outlets were pretty empty too because it was a rainy Monday afternoon when we went shopping.

After Carrie, Dan and Christian left, we looked for some stuff to do that didn't include the water park. So, we went mini bowling and I took the kids to the souvenir shop to pick out one item each. We also had dinner at the buffet, which was completely empty. The food was OK, but there wasn't anything I especially liked. At the end of the night, we changed the kids into their pajamas for the dance party in the lobby. Jackson hated that, but Addison loved it. After Addison got bored, we headed back to the room. We were leaving the next day, so I went down to the pizza place to buy a bottle of wine to relax with and they even gave me a corkscrew to open it ... that I could keep.

We had a great time at Great Wolf Lodge and the surrounding area. We hope to make this an annual trip or a biannual trip because the kids had so much fun. Next time, I am bringing my own wine.

Things to know:

• The refrigerator is a good size, so you should bring food with you.
• The food on site is not great, so consider the surrounding restaurants for meals. 
• Pack n Plays are available for the little ones. 
• If your kid needs one, bring a life vest because they were abundantly available at some points and at some points folks had to search for the size they needed.  
• Laundry rooms are available and to use a dryer, it's a quarter. The washing machines cost more.
• There are no clotheslines in the bathrooms, so bring quarters.
• The staff is very accommodating, so if you need something, just ask.
• The Crossings Premium Outlets are close, so are Red Robin, Sonic, Longhorn Steakhouse, Chili's, Wendy's, Moe's and DQ.
• There is a Starbucks on site, but they don't have the same menu as other locations, so there are no breakfast sandwiches.