Our Trip to Peru: Machu Picchu Day 4

After 3 flights and a bus trip, the day we’d been waiting for was finally here. But…not quite. We still had a train ride across the valley and then a bus trip up the mountain before we got to see Machu Picchu. We had purchased the first train out of Ollantaytambo so it was another early day for us. Our hotel was a little less than a mile from the train station, so we just walked there. It was a nice & quick downhill walk 🙂

The train ride was perfect. We booked the Vista Dome on PeruRail and it offered some really great views along the way. They also provided drinks (coffee, tea, water, juice) and a snack ( it was a sweet quinoa pastry). It all helped pass the time nicely. As soon as we got to Aguas Calientes, or I believe now they are calling it Machu Picchu Pueblo, it was time to get our bus ticket. There was a long line for the busses already when we got there and it was not moving quickly. We assumed this was the line for the tickets but then we realized that was a different line. OOPSY! So, I just stayed in that line while Jason went to the ticket booth to get the actual tickets. Our little mistake saved us about 30 minutes, though 😉

I was nervous that I would get motion sickness on the bus, but we got lucky and were the first ones on the bus so we picked seats right in front and I got the window seat too. The ride is about half an hour or so and it is straight up and up these narrow switchback roads. I only looked down once and it was enough to make my stomach drop, so I just looked straight ahead and hoped this wasn’t our driver’s first day! Finally we make it up to the entrance and there’s not much to see but more tourists. I knew there were no restrooms once passed the gate to Mach Picchu so I made sure to go! Another tip, make sure you take your passport, not only will you need it to get in to the citadel along with your tickets, there’s also a stand where you can stamp your passport with a souvenir MP stamp 🙂 BONUS!! Last minute, I decided to purchased a small book with a map highlighting the sights and giving tid bits about the various sections to Machu Picchu. It was just the right amount of information for us without being overwhelming.

As soon as we handed the guard our tickets I started to get super excited. Once we passed the turnstile and walked through the walkway it was like a curtain had been lifted and we found ourselves in another time, albeit there were a lot of other people who were transported along with us it but did not take away from that initial feeling of awe. Of course, I am not one for big crowds and I’m not gonna lie, it was starting to have a Disneyland-crowded feeling quickly.

But, I had a plan for this too. I’d read most of the tourists were there early and would probably be leaving around lunchtime and I was counting on this to enjoy the grounds a little bit more peacefully. So, my plan was to go on a small hike to the Inca Bridge as soon as we got there to allow for the majority of the tour groups to be on their way. It worked out perfectly. We took our time getting to the bridge and enjoyed the views. I got a little nervous as we got closer and I could see how close to the edge of the mountain we really were and how high up we were. I really held on tight to the cable along the narrowest part to get close to the bridge! EEK!

My plan worked out perfectly and once we made our way back to the main part of Machu Picchu it was noticeably less crowded and we began our own tour. I think we spent over 4 hours walking around the Incan citadel and can honestly say we saw just about everything! While planning our trip, I could not convince Jason to take the 3 day Inca trail to Machu Picch, so we decided we would walk back down the mountain back to Machu Picchu Pueblo. I had downloaded a map of the trail beforehand and we were able to see parts of the trail on our bus ride up so we were confident we’d be ok. The hike down was amazing, but really really hard, especially after already walking around for hours all day. It was literally stairs and stairs going straight down and when we were finally off the mountain, we still had another mile to get to town! By the time we got to the town, we were exhausted, starving, and dirty!

We found a restaurant with good reviews on Trip Advisor (love this site) and went in for dinner. I was so happy I packed a big comfy sweater in my bag, along with a rain jacket I never needed. I also changed my shirt and freshened up as best I could. Just having that change of shirt felt amazing! After a lovely meal, we walked around the town checking out the souvenir shops. The whole town is built for tourists, so it’s full of restaurants, bars, and souvenir shops. It’s not very authentic, but it helped pass the time. We booked the last train back to Ollantaytambo and still had awhile before departure, but we just couldn’t keep walking around so, we went to the train station and sat there waiting and talking until it was time to board. It felt so good to sit! Our train back was the Expedition, which is was pretty no-frills and I was so glad we paid the extra money for the Vista Dome on our way there. However, we rested and even fell asleep on the ride before we made it back. We were so ready to take showers, and sleep when we got there but those quaint narrow cobblestone streets felt creepy in the cold empty darkness. I don’t know where Jason and I found the energy but we trekked up that hill and to our hotel! That hot shower felt so good after our crazy busy day. We packed so much into this day but it was so worth it and I would do it all over again! Ok…maybe I would arrange a car to pick us up from the train station at night instead of walking 😉

Be sure to come back next week where we’ll share our last day in the Sacred Valley and our adventure getting back to Lima and if you missed the other recaps, here are the links: Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 !

Our Trip to Peru: Sacred Valley Day 3

By day 3 of our trip we were feeling great! We did find ourselves way more winded than usual after a few flights of steps due to the higher elevation, but other than that we didn’t suffer from altitude sickness. We got up early to check out of our room in Cusco and make our way to the Sacred Valley. We knew we wanted to find a colectivo to take us all the way to our hotel in the Sacred Valley’s small town of Ollantaytambo. A colectivo is basically a hired van that fits about 10-12 passengers (it won’t leave until it’s full) and makes a few stops along it’s route. The cost for a colectivo is significantly less than a private car. The only problem was that everything I read was super vague about where to find them, although they all suggested and recommended them. During dinner the night before we asked where to go to catch a colectivo and were given two cross streets that were about a 10 minute walk from our hotel.

So, Saturday morning we took off in that direction. Not really knowing what we’d find, I was hoping for a sort of bus staging area or even a bus station. Boy was I wrong! First off, the walk took way longer than 10 minutes with our big backpacks and steep streets. Then, when found the cross-streets there was no actual sign or building, just a bunch of vans and cars parked alongside the road, so we assumed we were in the right area. Either the drivers or their assistants were walking up and down the sidewalks asking you to come with them, where were you going, practically taking our backpacks off our backs to get us on their vehicle and not the next guys. It was very overwhelming for me and I speak fluent Spanish. I can’t image how it must feel if you don’t speak the language. So, just be prepared to be bombarded by drivers! We found a van that wasn’t full yet, ensured the negotiated rate, and sat inside. We got 2 seats that were together and by a window, YAY! It didn’t take long to fill the van and off we went. Most were locals from Cusco traveling to the Sacred Valley, but there were a few other tourists like us.

Once we made it to the town, we dropped off our luggage, found a place to eat in the small plaza, then it was off to find another van to drive us to the sights. Again, we didn’t know exactly how we’d find a driver, as we weren’t part of any actual “tour group”. But, drivers could figure out we were looking for a car, so they mostly came to us to try to negotiate a rate. This is how we found our driver for the day. He was looking for 2-4 other passengers to fill his van. We negotiated our rate (always negotiate beforehand) and off we went for our adventure through the Sacred Valley. We shared the van with 2 other guys and along our stops picked up another person. Keep in mind that doing it this way, saves you money but it is not a tour and the driver is not a tour guide! He takes you to your stop, parks, and we settle on a time to come back to meet up at the van and go to the next stop. Totally no frills and this is how we like. We aren’t big on waking with big groups of strangers and following someone around. We prefer to do our research beforehand and have the freedom to go explore the sights ourselves. If you want a tour guide, you can definitely make arrangements in Cusco or in the towns of the Sacred Valley.

Our first stop was the ruins of Moray just outside the village of Maras. This place was so impressive! There are several terraced circular depressions, the largest is about 98 ft deep. Although the exact purpose of the site is unknown, like most Incan ruins, it’s believed to have been a sort of agricultural test lab. Due to the circular shape and depth of the terraces, they could study who different temperatures, wind, and sun direction, affected the crops and they were even able to create various types of potatoes!

Our second stop was the Salineras de Maras, salt mines located along the slopes of Qaqawiñay mountain. There are nearly 3,000 salt pans, shallow pools that are filled by a hypersaline underground spring. It is believed these salt mines have been around since before Incan times and are still active and hand-harvested by local families to this day. We even saw some men tending to their plot. This was my favorite from all the sites we saw in the Sacred Valley and of course, we brought some salts with us! I loved that we could walk on the edge and get up close to the pans, careful not to disturb them of course 🙂

The next stop was at a local artisan shop where we learned how the alpaca wool was cleaned, dyed, and turned into beautiful blankets and scarves using ancient techniques. I’m sure the ones we purchased were not made this way, of course! But they were still beautiful and made great souvenirs to bring back home.

Our final stop was to Chinchero, a small town with more ancient ruins, terraces, and a adobe church built by the Spaniards in the 1600s. As you can imagine, by this point we were exhausted from our long day of traveling and sight-seeing! The views from the hillside were beautiful, but we were pretty much done! After grabbing some snacks from a vendor, we made our way to find a bus to take us back to Ollantaytambo. And so began another adventure in public transportation! The sun was about to set, we were cranky, hungry, and tired at this point and just wanted to get back to town to rest. We managed to figure out which bus to get on, but it only was taking us as far as Urubamba, from there we had to figure out what to do. By the time we arrived at the bus station it was dark and we weren’t sure what to do. I asked and was pointed to the side of the station I needed to be in to catch a bus to Ollantaytambo. We ended up in a small van cramped with too many people. We were the only tourists in the van but we didn’t care. The ride took a lot longer due to the many stops along the way but we finally made it and couldn’t have been happier for the fresh air!

Once we were back in Ollantaytambo we found a small restaurant for dinner and enjoyed a nice! After we picked up some waters and snacks for Machu Picchu the next day, then took some much needed showers back in our room and got to bed! I was so excited to finally be heading to Machu Picchu the next day. Stay tuned….

In case you missed it, here are Day 1 + Day 2 recaps!

Our Trip to Peru: Cusco Day 2

Our second day in Cusco was jam packed. The day was unseasonably warm and sunny! We actually had amazing weather the entire week we were there, no rain at all! Considering we went during rainy season, we really made out great!

After breakfast, which was provided by the hotel, we went out to purchase our Beleto Turistico. It’s basically like a CityPass here in the states. You pay one fee and it includes admission for a lot of the archeological sites and attractions in and around Cusco and the Sacred Valley. Once we got our ticket we started our walk to Sacsayhuama citadel. It was not a very long walk, maybe about a mile from the city center, but it was a very steep walk uphill and there were lots of stairs. Thank goodness for coca leaves, which helped with the altitude sickness!

Once there we were greeted by the impressive Incan construction and massive walls! It was also here we stalked some poor llamas for selfies and I even got to hold a baby llama – cuteness overload!!! *Be sure to tip the women with the llamas for the photo 🙂

After a couple of hours at Sacsayhuama we took a taxi to Tambomachay, another archeological Inca site. This one was not as impressive as the fortress of Sacsayhuama but it had interesting water ducts and waterfalls. More of the impressive Incan architecture. We were pretty hot, hungry, and tired at this point so we took a local bus (quite the adventure!) back into Cusco. Unfortunately, we got off too early and ended up walking a lot more than we expected and maybe got a little bit lost but we found our way back to our hotel thanks to the awesome app CityMaps2Go. This app was super helpful during our entire trip. You can download the maps ahead of time, so it’ll work even without an internet connection. WIN!!

After lunch we went back to our hotel room to rest up and freshen up for the evening. We walked around and did some shopping, visited the Coricancha museum and then got kicked off the grass. But, not before we took our selfie 🙂

After that and a stop at Starbucks, we grabbed a bite to eat and then made our way to the Museo Del Pisco Bar. We tried a variety of piscos, which to my surpise are made from grapes like wine, but taste more like tequila! There was a live band playing everything from Bob Marley to local Peruvian songs. It was such a perfect way to end our night! I didn’t want to leave, but we had to get up early the next day to make our way to the Sacred Valley. We’re getting closer to the main part of our trip: Machu Picchu!

In case you missed it, here’s Day 1 of our adventure!

Our Trip to Peru: Cusco Day 1

Back in November of 2016, Jason and I took an epic trip to Peru as part of our 20th wedding anniversary celebration (our anniversary is Aug 28th). The trip was pretty impromptu for me, as I like to plan way ahead and we only had about 4 months to plan once we decided to go for it! Visiting Machu Picchu had been on my bucket list for a few years now, so when Jason suggested we take a trip there instead of remodeling the bathroom, he did not have to ask me twice! Planning a trip to South America definitely had it’s challenges and there were plenty of things we just had to figure out once we got there. But with doing tons of research, some major planning, and with tips from a friend who had recently gone, we were able to plan a great trip!

I’ve been wanting to blog about this trip for a long time now, but I’ve had a hard time figuring out how to get started. There is SOOO much I want to share, from all the planning that was involved, tips for altitude sickness, to how and what we packed! Ultimately though I’ve decided to begin by breaking it down into 5 parts, each highlighting the main areas we visited in Peru: Cusco, the Sacred Valley, Machu Piccho, and Lima. This way the posts won’t be too long and boring. Plus, I plan to share more details as mentioned above in a later series with tips and tricks for traveling to Peru, but for now, here is part 1 of our Peru adventure: Cusco Day 1!

It’s important to note that there are no direct International flights into Cusco. We flew out on a Wednesday from Las Vegas to Lima, with a layover in Dallas and then took a domestic flight into Cusco. I knew I didn’t want to spend too much time in Lima, so I planned our flight out of Lima just a few hours from our arrival. We had plenty of time to grab our luggage, take a bathroom break, purchase some water and snacks, then head on over to the departure gate. We took the short 1 hour flight and arrived in Cusco early morning (local time) on Thursday. Knowing that we would be tired from a full day of traveling and that we would have to work on acclimating to the higher elevation, we took it easy this first day. The original plan was to purchase our train tickets from PeruRail for Machu Picchu at the airport when we arrived in Cusco, but their computers were down so, we had to go to their office at the main plaza in Cusco. We took a taxi from the airport and dropped off our luggage at our hotel, since it was too early to check in when we arrived. Since I already had our entrance tickets for Mach Picchu for that Sunday,I was anxious to ensure I had our train tickets securely purchased for the date and times we needed. Can see why I was anxious?!?

Here's the hubs at the entrance to our hotel when we arrived at Cusco. I loved the courtyard and we had the cutest room! — Here’s the hubs at the entrance to our hotel when we arrived at Cusco. I loved the courtyard and we had the cutest room!

On our way from the airport to our hotel, we noticed a lot of traffic. Although traffic is common in Cusco, this was more than usual and our driver explained that streets were being closed off for a sort of parade. Turns out, the primary schools of the entire town were out and students were dressed in traditional Peruvian dance costumes and were lining up on the streets waiting for their turn to perform in the main plaza, Plaza de Armas, for their graduation. The party-like atmosphere was a great welcome to Cusco and we just loved the bright colors and music! I was still pretty anxious though, so I couldn’t enjoy it too much until we finally made it to the office and we purchased the tickets. We’d spotted a Starbucks in the plaza (the only one in the city) that promised WiFi so clearly that was our next stop! We got some much needed coffees and enjoyed the scenery from the second story window. At this point, with our train seats secure on the date and times we wanted, I felt like the vacation was finally beginning.

Not a bad view from Starbucks, huh?

We ate lunch at a highly recommended sandwich shop called Pankracio and then made it back to our hotel to freshen up, take a nap, and get ready for dinner. We walked around and checked out some artisan shops and took in the sights before making our way to the dinner restaurant. Again, we based our dinner choice off of a recommendation, Marcelo Batata, and again it did not disappoint. Jason chose to be adventurous and ate alpaca steak (YOLO) I stuck to foods I knew, like empanadas and salad. The food and service were delicious and I had my first pisco sour of many more to come!

After dinner, we went to our room to rest up! We had a busy day and although we prepared as best we could for the altitude sickness, we both got slight headaches and felt super tired! We knew rest is what we needed because I had lots planned for the days ahead. Our next day in Cusco will consist of getting up close and personal with llamas, checking out Sacsayhuama (pronounced Sexy Woman), getting slightly lost, and drinking more pisco sours. Don’t miss it!

Have you been to Peru or any other country in South America? What’s your favorite memory from there?

2016: A Year in Review

Hey remember me? Yea, it’s been a hot minute since I blogged. OOPSY! These past 2 months away from the blog has shown me that I really do love blogging. Coming here and sharing our family travels, the ups and downs of life, and having a place to log my running and staying accountable to my fitness goals is really important to me. So why did I take a blogging break? Because I got lazy. That’s the plain and simple truth about it. And it cost me. Not being accountable with my fitness goals these last few months has definitely left it’s pounds, um, I mean mark. No, really, the pounds came on too! Plus, I missed having a place to share and update on what’s been going on in this messy life of mine.

But, this isn’t a blog post about regrets and feeling sorry for myself. With a new year, comes a clean slate and I’ve had some time to meditate on what it is I want to focus on with this blog and I plan on sharing lots of great things in the coming weeks and months. I hope you stick around around for the ride.

Before we get started on making It’s a Messy Life better than ever in 2017, I want to look back at all the fun and adventures we had in 2016.

The biggest thing for us in 2016 is that we purchased our home! After living in Las Vegas for 7 years, we finally decided to plant some roots. Although purchasing our home seemed to take up most of our time and resources this year, it was a great decision and we’re excited to be homeowners! I look forward to sharing more from our home, as we decorate and make it our own.

2016 also marked our 20th wedding anniversary in August! My family threw us a sweet 1920’s theme anniversary party at my sister’s house and it was such a fun time. And, Jason and I decided to put off the bathroom remodel in the house and take ourselves on an epic adventure to Peru! We took off without the kids for 8 days and crossed off a few things from our bucket list, including visiting Machu Pichu! I can’t wait to share more from our trip soon and share tips and tricks to traveling outside of the country.

Aside from these 2 major events, I also ran the LA Marathon in February. This was my first full marathon. 26.2! I was so grateful to have my family there cheering me on! You can read the recap HERE and check out the fun we had afterwards too exploring LA with the kiddos on THIS blog post.

In other running related news, I finished the year with a pretty low milage of 327.30 yearly miles. Although it was not a year full of a ton of races, the races I did run were great. I especially loved running the Terrain Mud Run 5K as a family! I just realized I didn’t blog about that, so be on the look out for that race recap, along with some pretty funny pics of my kiddos in mud 😉 For more race recaps of 2016, go HERE!

As a family, we had a pretty fun year too! We went on our 2nd annual summer camping trip to Lake Navajo in Utah. We traveled to LA twice and Ventura Beach. We saw the super bloom at Death Valley, enjoyed seeing it snow up in Mount Charleston in December, we spent lots of spring and fall afternoons hiking Red Rock Canyon, and visiting the water parks this summer.

Although it was a stressful and busy year (yeah, I know, which year isn’t, right?) I still think 2016 was noteworthy and we can always find some good in every season of our life. I hope you also took the time to reflect on this past year and were able to find the good in it too!

XO – Jessie

Race-cation | Southern Califiornia Getaway

One of the best reasons to choose a race in a different city is the opportunity for a race-cation! You know, where you sign up for a race and plan a trip around it! Because I love to run and I love to travel even more, it’s no wonder most of my races are out of town. I love being able to combine two of my favorite things! Mostly, these are just weekend getaways like for the L.A. Marathon and sometimes they are full-on family vacations, like for Disney’s Wine and Dine Half Marathon in DisneyWorld. Either way, it’s always exciting to get away and run in a new place!

Last month I got to race the Ventura Beach Half Marathon and we made a nice little family trip out of it. The kids had already started school, so we let them play hooky and we left Friday morning. We headed straight to L.A.’s The Grove shopping center where Elysse had an appointment with a personal shopper at the American Girl store! You can read all about her amazing experience and my recommendations when visiting this store HERE. While Elysse and I shopped and had lunch at the American Girl Cafe, Jason and Diego spent their afternoon catching PokeMon Go at the nearby La Brea Tar Pits. They also grabbed a bite to eat and even did a little shopping too.

In case you didn’t know, Friday afternoon traffic through L.A. is insane. We thought because we were leaving a few hours before rush hour that we would be ok, but it was still really congested and it took us quite awhile to get from Los Angeles to Ventura. When we finally arrived at our hotel, I realized just how chilly the evenings are in Ventura and we were not prepared! Elysse still got in the pool before we headed to dinner. She’s crazy and maybe I’m a little crazier for letting her get in. But hey, it’s a vacation!

Saturday morning, was packet pickup and our family day at the beach. The first thing we did, was head to Old Navy to get some sweaters because the morning was cold and cloudy and I knew the evening would also be chilly. Then we headed to Trader Joe’s to grab food for our beach picnic lunch later. At this point, we’re all starving, so we had to find a place to eat a late breakfast on Main St. Finally, around noon, we made it to the beach. Packet pick up was right next to the pier and super quick to find and get my bib for the race the next day.

After all of this, it was finally time to relax at the beach for the day! The weather was cool but it did get pretty sunny once that morning fog rolled out. We spent the day lounging, making sand castles, and gathering shells. Diego had gotten a skate board while in L.A. so him and Jason practiced skating along the bike trail. It was seriously one of the most chill out days at the beach we’ve ever had. Even though it was too cold for actual swimming in the ocean, it was a blast! We were all so stuffed from our big breakfast, that we didn’t even have our lunch or snacks until we got in the car to leave.

As soon as we got back to our hotel, Elysse was ready to jump in the pool again! I don’t know how she has so much energy. But, because we didn’t swim in the ocean, we figured why not! So her and Jason stayed at the pool while Diego and went up to the room to get a head start on showers and get ready for dinner.

Sunday was race day and it was perfect! You can read all about my race recap HERE. Unfortunately, with school on Monday, we decided to head back home soon after the race was done. After my race, we headed back to the hotel to check-out and for me to get myself all cleaned up from the half marathon. After breakfast we decided to take the scenic route and find the Musical Road in Lancaster, CA. It was originally made for a Honda commercial. It’s a quarter mile bit of road that when driven on it, it is supposed to sound like William Tell Overature or better known as the theme from the classic Lone Ranger tv show. Was it worth taking the scenic route for this? Absolutely! There are only a few of these musical roads in the world and even though it wasn’t perfectly in tune, it was still a fun little side track.

Click the photo to see and hear our drive over the Musical Road!

We also got to see one of the largest wind farms in the world as we drove back to the interstate. We had no idea we’d be seeing that, but when we kept seeing so many rows of windmills, I quickly googled and found out it was the Alta Wind Project, also called the Mojave Wind Farm, the third largest onshore wind energy project in the world. Pretty neat bit of trivia 🙂

All and all, our family race-cation was a much needed break from the busy months we’d been having with packing and moving and the kids starting new schools. I highly recommend when looking for your next race, consider making it a race-cation! I’m sure the idea of traveling and getting away will be a nice motivator as you put in those training miles!

Ventura Half Marathon | Race Recap

You guys I PRed!!! Woohooo!! I am so excited to give you all the details from the Ventura Marathon & Half Marathon event earlier this month. I got to participate in this awesome race thanks to RacePlace. As an ambassador for RacePlace, I was offered this race entry at no cost, but this review and recap are my own thoughts and opinions.

The marathon and half marathon took place on Sunday, September 11 but they had fun events on Saturday too. There were also various bike race distances, an adventure race, 5K, kids races, and K9 Shuffle! Packet pickup and expo were held outside right next to the pier and there was a live band and some food trucks too. It was definitely a beach party atmosphere!

We left Vegas Friday morning. Totally let the kids skip school for this trip! Every year we take a 3 day weekend getaway to the beach right before school starts and this year we just didn’t make it. So, this became a fun little race-cation! More on that part of our trip in another post 😉

We kept to our plan and got to the beach right around 11am or so after our huge brunch at Cajun Kitchen Cafe right on Main St. in downtown Ventura. First stop was packet pickup. Like I mentioned, the expo was held outside right next to the pier. It was super easy and quick to get my bib and swag bag. I loved the goodies we got! Just look at all the stuff I got! I really like that hat and the bag is great too. Roomy and useful. I gotta say I was getting tired of the drawstring bags mot races are giving. Plus, race photos were free!

The expo itself wasn’t super big but that was fine with me. I don’t particularly enjoy those big expos where it’s inside and stuffy and there’s a ton of people all around you! Anyhow, once we were done looking around and getting the kids some ice cream we spent a relaxing day on the beach. Dinner was my usual carb-loading pizza with some protein and lots of veggies 😉

Race morning was smooth and easy. Jason was just dropping me off, so parking was not an issue for us, although it seems there was plenty of parking options. The folks that were directing traffic were friendly and showed us where he could park to drop me off. I had forgotten my Garmin in the room, so we had turn around and grab that for sure! I got to the race, which started right in front o f the pier, with just enough time to get my headphones on and line up near the 2:30 pacer before we took off. Everything seemed organized and relaxed.

I went into this race with zero expectations and just happy there were no hills and it was a flat course. My training had not been as regular as it should have been. I did get my long runs in each week, but only running 2-4 miles once or twice during the week. So you can imagine my surprise when I ended up passing the 2:30 pacer and felt great around mile 5. I was so sad when around mile 6 I had to stop and pee in the port a potty. I considered not stopping, but of course, that just made me have to go more! LOL I sped up a little bit to try to catch up to the pacer again but I reached the turn around point (it was an out and back race) and still didn’t see them. I slowed down a bit and maintained a steady pace until about mile 10. At this point in a half marathon I always feel anxious and ready for it to be over. I found a really nice groove and kicked it up a notch. Once I spotted the 2:30 pacers I took off. I was a woman on on a mission! I came up to them and they told me I was doing a good job. I replied back with a thanks and told them I had been trying to catch up with them the whole race! It was great to hear them cheer me on as I kept going and passed them. I knew I was going faster than usual, but I was still feeling great. I didn’t want to look down at my garmin and see my pace out of fear of slowing down once I saw it! Crazy, I know. I just ran for myself and only when I crossed the finish line and stopped my watch did I see I had a new record! I finished in 2:24:26 beating my previous record of 2:25:27. I don’t know how it happened, but I’m so happy it did! Maybe I can finish my next half in 2:20 😉

Thanks agin to Raceplace for the race entry and to the race directors and volunteers who made this my best half marathon to date! And of course, thanks to my ever supportive family for coming along and cheering me on! They’re the best! XO

Summer Bucket List 2016: Update

I cannot believe summer is almost over. I’m not gonna lie, I am looking forward to cooler temps and getting back to my routine. This summer has got to be one of the craziest times for us! I’ve been pretty much MIA from blogging most of the summer. Not cool, I know. I miss it and have so much I want to share! Kids in year round school makes it tough to plan a whole lot, plus add to that packing up for our move in the middle of it, and well, it was not the most adventurous summer we’ve had. Did I mention it felt like the hottest summer in Vegas too? With temps in the 100+ most days we did not want to be outside. Ugh…Hello Fall!

Of course, we knew this summer was going to be busy with not-so-fun adulting stuff like buying a house (more on that later), shopping for appliances, painting, packing and unpacking, etc. so we didn’t make our bucket list too long or too ambitious. Yet, even though we kept it simple this year, it helped us to slow down and take some much needed breaks because the boxes to unpack will still be there when we get back, right?

Here’s a recap of what our summer bucket list looked like for this year:

From this list we have done:

Camping at Navajo Lake, UT

Wet N Wild Water Park

Ice Cream Treat at DQ

Mystery Adventure

Movie Night

Still to do are:

Xtreme Flip Out | Beach Trip | Picnic at the Park | BBQ with Friends

The only thing we have scheduled is our annual trip to the beach at the end of summer. We normally go the 3rd or 4th weekend of August, but this year that was not possible for a few reasons. So, we’re turning my Ventura Half Marathon into a little racecation and spending some much needed family time away for 3 days! The other 3 things may or may not happen before Labor Day but that’s ok. We’ve have a great summer and I will be posting individual posts about our camping trip, Wet N Wild, and Cowabunga Bay in the next few weeks. I also want to share more about our house buying experience soon too!

So, how have you been spending your summer? Any fun adventures? I’d love to hear about your summer bucket list too!

Tips for Creating a Fun Family Summer Bucket List

On Monday, I shared our family’s 6th annual summer bucket list! We’ve made so many fun memories and traditions since we started participating in the summer bucket list challenges put on by The Happy Family Movement. They’ve discontinued the yearly challenges about 2 years ago, but the site is still up and you can go there get more info and ideas for creating a summer bucket list.

I got interested in the summer bucket list challenge because we always had ideas of things we wanted to do over the summer, but lots of times we got so busy being busy that we forgot to have fun. Creating a summer bucket list has been a great way to ensure a fun summer. It becomes intentional and we’ve made it a point to enjoy our time together as a family. Since creating our summer bucket lists is such a huge part of our family life, our kids look forward to it every year.

Here are a few tips that have worked for us (through a bit of trial and error) on creating a fun and successful summer bucket list that everyone can enjoy.

Don’t be too ambitious. Every weekend doesn’t have to be spent at a theme park or away from home for it to be fun and memorable. Kids just want to spend time with you. They don’t need every activity or event to be super elaborate. This is especially true for younger kiddos. Some of our fun and simple activities have included: going out for frozen yogurt, backyard camping, geocaching, and watching the sunset.

Get the whole family involved. Everyone will be more excited if they have a say in the list, so we make sure to talk about it together. Dinnertime or driving in the car work great. Kids will come up with some pretty far fetched activities sometimes, so it’s good to give them boundaries and suggestions as to what kinds of activities you can/prefer to do, especially if this is your first time putting the list together.

Limit your list. We found that keeping the list to about 10-12 activities is much more realistic than trying to include 20+ things. Putting too much on your list can add stress about getting it all done and that’s the last thing you want. Your list should be about sharing a fun time together.

Display your list. Once you have our activities all picked out, make sure to display the list in a place where it can always be seen. The last thing you want to do is create all this excitement and then forget about it. You know the saying, “out of sight, out of mind”. Through the years we’ve put it at the bottom of the staircase, on the fridge, and on a banner across the kitchen window. Bonus points if you get the kiddos involved in creating a fun way to display your list 😉

Include traditions. Most of our traditions became traditions purely unintentionally, but now that we have them we are intentional about keeping them. We make sure to include them each year in our bucket list. I’m sure you probably have summer traditions yourself already and maybe you just didn’t realize it. Things like, BBQing with friends, watching fireworks, going to the beach, these may all be things you do each year that can easy be incorporate into your family’s summer bucket list.

Document. Now that you’ve put some effort into creating and displaying your list, you have to go out and do all those fun things! And, don’t forget to document along the way. Whether you use a professional camera, a point and shoot, or just your iPhone, it’s important to snap a few photos for prosperities sake. We tend to use all 3! Here are a few ideas on places to document your summer: personal blog, special hashtag on instagram (ours is #emericsummer2016), facebook album, scrapbook, chatbooks, or even a yearly calendar. There are lots of options! Whatever you choose, it’ll be great to look back at the end of the summer and relive all the cool things you did!

For some ideas on the kinds of activities we’ve included, take a look at our summer bucket lists throughout the years:

2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011

Activities change as kids get older, but I hope to continue our summer bucket list tradition until the kiddos are grown. Again, it’s a great way to be intentional about spending time together as a family, creating memories, and having fun!

Do you have a summer bucket list? What fun activities have you included? What fun adventures do you have planned for this summer?

Wanderlust…

Traveling is my absolute favorite thing to do and this year we have had to slow down on the travels and focus on another type of adventure, home buying. With summer in full swing and so many families and friends going on trips, I too am longing to get out and explore. I am an adventurer! I live for experiencing new things, going to places I’ve never been, and expanding my horizons. It’s in my blood. It’s who I am. It revitalizes me. It keeps me feeling alive and creative. I find inspiration when I travel. I feel at peace. No, I am not complaining because I cannot go on a summer vacation right now. I am not going to throw myself a pity party. What I will do is show gratitude and appreciate everything I’ve seen and all the places I have been. I do not take it for granted. Our life has been full of some pretty awesome adventures and travels and we don’t plan on stopping, just taking a break to focus on “adulting”.

We’ll be back traveling soon enough, but staying put is not easy for me. To pass the time, I should really start packing up our house, huh? I am so grateful for the opportunity to purchase a home, as stressful as it may be. We’ve worked hard, made sacrifices, and we’re excited to (hopefully) soon be in a home of our own. So, in the meantime as we deal with house hunting stresses and packing, I will live vicariously though everyone else’s epic travel adventures.

So tell me, where are you going this summer? I can’t wait to here about it!