First of all, I truly can't believe that the last time I blogged about anything was OCTOBER! What a slacker I am! I bet you really want to see some updated pictures of my kids and stuff. Well, too bad. I'll do that in another six months. Today is all about me, me, ME!
I've had my braces for almost exactly one year. (I got them on St. Patrick's day.) My goal when I got the braces on was to weigh 140 pounds by the time they came off. I weighed about 165 at the start, and as of this week I have hit the 140 mark. Yay, me! So I thought I'd celebrate by sharing how braces take the pounds off.
At the beginning, I couldn't chew anything. This was partly because the braces hurt, and partly because my bottom teeth were so crooked that when I tried to bite down, my top teeth hit the braces brackets instead of my bottom teeth. For about 2 months, I literally couldn't get my teeth to touch each other. I learned that chewing is optional. If you eat lots of yogurt and applesauce, you can get by just fine without the use of teeth. But more importantly, I learned not to be so afraid of hunger. Maybe afraid isn't the right word. I've just learned to function without a full tummy all the time. Fasting is getting easier for me because I've learned to make food decisions based on something other than a rumbling tummy. In this case, I had to weigh how much my hunger bothered me vs. how much it would hurt to eat. But the general principle stayed with me, even after I could chew again.
More recently, I've had rubber bands I have to wear all the time unless I'm eating. This means that before I eat I have to take out the bands and throw them away. When I'm done eating I brush my teeth and put the bands back in. This has basically cured me of mindless eating. Sometimes when I go shopping I grab a box of crackers or something and let Blake munch while I shop. In the past, I would sort of munch along with him. Not anymore. I guess I could take out the bands in the middle of Wal-Mart, but is it really worth it for a few little goldfish crackers? I basically always decide not. I've learned to eat only what I've planned to eat, when I've planned to eat it.
Let me also just say that I exercise for between 60 and 90 minutes every day, which also helps with the weight loss.
I think I might write a book about the braces diet. It would probably be a big hit. And then my orthodontist would sue me for the rights and I'd drive my family into bankruptcy trying to pay the lawyers. So never mind. I'm just glad it's working for me!
I'm putting this picture first because it is the quintissential picture of our trip. This picture was taken on California Screamin', the biggest and coolest roller coaster in either of the California parks. J loved it - he's pretending to be bored to be funny for the picture. E got this hat as his main souvenir. He had to hold it between his knees for most of the roller coaster, then quickly put it on his head in time for the picture. Funny boys! I did take a lot of pictures, and the boys took even more, but I'll just include a few of the most interesting ones.
Our trip sort of began on Sunday night. J spent the night so that we could get an early start on Monday morning. We had to leave the house at about 6 am to make our 8:30 flight. The boys played a lot of phase 10 on the plane, and they really enjoyed the beverage service. We landed at John Wayne airport at about noon, caught a cab to our hotel, and were in the California Adventure park by about 1:00.
This is at the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, which a lot of people skip because it isn't a ride, but it is very cool. We were able to ride everything we wanted to in California Adventure.
This is a picture of World of Color, the big show at California Adventure. It was very very cool.
Tuesday morning we got up early and went to Disneyland Park. This picture was taken standing in line for Space Mountain. An interesting thing happened during the ride. Space Mountain is in the dark, but the lights came on and then a few seconds later the ride stopped. We were stuck for a few minutes, then they evacuated us. We took some pictures while we were in there.
The pictures didn't turn out fantastic, but it was still kind of cool. Somebody needs to dust in there. They gave us a fastpass good for any ride at either park. We used it to ride Indiana Jones.
This picture was taken at Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island. I wish we'd been able to spend more time exploring, but the island was closing early.
Before it got too dark, I made the boys take the obligatory picture with Walt, Mickey, and the Castle. By the end of day 2, we had basically seen everything we wanted to see in both parks. I even made the boys ride It's a Small World. They had no interest in most of Fantasyland, though we did ride a few of those kiddie rides, and they flat-out refused to ride Winnie the Pooh.
We spend Wednesday re-riding our favorite rides in both parks. Plus, we got to meet Mater and Lightning McQueen at the location of the future Cars Land in California Adventure. We shopped for souvenirs and even watched the cartoons in the Main Street Theater. At 4:30 we took another taxi to the airport for our flight home. We landed at about 11:00. Both boys fell asleep in the car on the way home. It was truly the funnest vacation ever! I think E had a total blast. Someday when people ask him if he had good parents he'll say "No - they were terrible! But at least I got my own trip to Disneyland".
