I have a teeny little feeling in the pit of my stomach tonight. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt anything quite like it so it’s very difficult to describe but I am 100% positive that it is related to the fact that I dropped my boys off at summer camp today. I’m so excited for them and, despite feeling as if I might vomit at any moment, I know that they are in for a life-changing two weeks at Sanborn Western Camps. From the moment we arrived at their cabins both boys were swarmed by fellow cabin-mates curious to know their names and where they were from. The counselors introduced themselves with a handshake and helped them in with their gear. It’s all a bit of a blur. Well, except for the part where the kid and parent are supposed to embrace in the most desperate of hugs and promise to miss each other and write every day. Or maybe it was just a nice long hug and wave as they watched me drive away.

That part?

Pretty sure it never happened. In fact, it did not happen. Neither version happened.

I knew both boys would be fine, that there would be no tears. I’m a huge advocate of summer camp, a good portion of my work is now centered around summer camps and both boys have been quite excited about being able to head off on their own for the first time. My eldest is a bit miffed that he’ll be gone over his birthday but you’d never know he’d even given it a though by the way he brushed me off as I tried to hug him goodbye. I wasn’t prepared for him to not want to hug me goodbye!

I even said to him, “Let me hug you in here so I don’t have to embarrass you outside with my mama love.”

“Mooooom,” he said as he turned away from me and headed out the door to hang with his new crew.

OUCH.

Too cool for even a secret farewell on his very first time at sleep-away camp? I’m swelling with pride and swallowing tears at the same time. How on earth did my sensitive, feeling, lovey guy suddenly become so grown up??

Henry’s cabin had been our first stop and he had been so darn “Happy Henry” that he literally plopped his things down, claimed a bed (not a shock that it happened to be in the center of the room), hopped up on it and lay back all settled as if he’d been there a million times before. This is my happy guy and exactly how I expected it. I even got a quick distracted hug as he ran off to be with his new friends.

My boys are in a spectacular setting at one of the best camps in the country with camp professionals that I’ve had the great pleasure of getting to know very well since their involvement with a program MomActive streamed live on MomTV last spring. I joke with Ariella that fate brought us together but this is no joke, friends! I know this, not just because Ariella has directly impacted my personal and professional world in more ways than could ever be expressed in one post, but because she was there today and she hugged me. She hugged me hello and she hugged me goodbye. We ate lunch, fed horses, and chatted up the goats, and she hugged me goodbye. In fact, she may have hugged me goodbye twice. She was my surrogate hugger. Tell me that’s not fate.

The reality is, I know that my boys are safe. I know they are well. I also know that I miss them more than they miss me right now! I sure am glad that Baby Bear didn’t get invited to summer camp. I wonder if Henry knows that I’m taking very good care of Baby Bear and making sure he doesn’t get lonely? *sniff*

I have a teeny little feeling in the pit of my stomach tonight. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt anything quite like it so it’s very difficult to describe but I am 100% positive that it is related to the fact that I dropped my boys off at summer camp today. I’m so excited for them and, despite feeling as if I might vomit at any moment, I know that they are in for a life-changing two weeks at Sanborn Western Camps. From the moment we arrived at their cabins both boys were swarmed by fellow cabin-mates curious to know their names and where they were from. The counselors introduced themselves with a handshake and helped them in with their gear. It’s all a bit of a blur. Well, except for the part where the kid and parent are supposed to embrace in the most desperate of hugs and promise to miss each other and write every day. Or maybe it was just a nice long hug and wave as they watched me drive away.

That part?

Pretty sure it never happened. In fact, it did not happen. Neither version happened.

I knew both boys would be fine, that there would be no tears. I’m a huge advocate of summer camp, a good portion of my work is now centered around summer camps and both boys have been quite excited about being able to head off on their own for the first time. My eldest is a bit miffed that he’ll be gone over his birthday but you’d never know he’d even given it a though by the way he brushed me off as I tried to hug him goodbye. I wasn’t prepared for him to not want to hug me goodbye!

I even said to him, “Let me hug you in here so I don’t have to embarrass you outside with my mama love.”

“Mooooom,” he said as he turned away from me and headed out the door to hang with his new crew.

OUCH.

Too cool for even a secret farewell on his very first time at sleep-away camp? I’m swelling with pride and swallowing tears at the same time. How on earth did my sensitive, feeling, lovey guy suddenly become so grown up??

Henry’s cabin had been our first stop and he had been so darn “Happy Henry” that he literally plopped his things down, claimed a bed (not a shock that it happened to be in the center of the room), hopped up on it and lay back all settled as if he’d been there a million times before. This is my happy guy and exactly how I expected it. I even got a quick distracted hug as he ran off to be with his new friends.

My boys are in a spectacular setting at one of the best camps in the country with camp professionals that I’ve had the great pleasure of getting to know very well since their involvement with a program MomActive streamed live on MomTV last spring. I joke with Ariella that fate brought us together but this is no joke, friends! I know this, not just because Ariella has directly impacted my personal and professional world in more ways than could ever be expressed in one post, but because she was there today and she hugged me. She hugged me hello and she hugged me goodbye. We ate lunch, fed horses, and chatted up the goats, and she hugged me goodbye. In fact, she may have hugged me goodbye twice. She was my surrogate hugger. Tell me that’s not fate.

The reality is, I know that my boys are safe. I know they are well. I also know that I miss them more than they miss me right now! I sure am glad that Baby Bear didn’t get invited to summer camp. I wonder if Henry knows that I’m taking very good care of Baby Bear and making sure he doesn’t get lonely? *sniff*

Over the past year or so I’ve been creating a “40 Before 40″ list-a bucket list of things I’d like to accomplish before I turn 40. There are several things on that list that I’ve been able to check off, others that may or may not happen, and several that I am determined to make happen because they are important to me. I haven’t published the list, I’ve mentioned it but haven’t been able to bring myself to put it out there. If you are wondering why, you can read about that in a post from early this year, here.

This August I will turn 39 and one of the items on my bucket list is “Train for and complete a full marathon”. Since training for a marathon is a fairly time consuming process I have just over a year to get this sucker done. This spring I started to take my race training more seriously and even joined a group training for the Denver Rock n’ Roll Marathon in October.  When I finished my very first half-marathon about 7 years ago I felt fantastic and in my mind didn’t think I’d ever have the desire to train for a full marathon. I also wasn’t sure my body would ever stand up to the distances required during training, never mind running fast enough to finish within the course time limits of most marathons. In those 7 years I’ve gotten stronger, started practicing yoga regularly and then last summer while I was running up the ski mountain at Beaver Creek (for fun), I realized that my body can do amazing things and if I really wanted to I absolutely could finish a marathon. So, friends…. I did it, I am officially registered for the Denver Rock n’ Roll Marathon on October 9, 2011!!!!

There’s no backing out now-it’s on the blog, it’s a done deal….

What is on your bucket list? What are you doing to reach your goals?

I love winter. I love snow. Three years ago I took a snowboard lesson and my life changed forever. The learning curve with snowboarding is pretty significant. No matter who you are or how fit you may be, snowboarding is not for wimps. My first two days on a board (even with a private instructor) were brutal. I was bruised from head to toe and my calves  were so sore I could barely move my ankles but I was sold!

Our whole family skis/boards most weekends during the winter. Even Kat who is 5 hits the slopes and follows her brothers through the trees and terrain parks. I love fresh powder days on the mountain by myself but I have to admit that on the days my kids drag me through the ringer I feel giddy like a kid. Well, until later that night or next morning, that is. Those little boogers go hard all day long!

Recently, I fell funny-funny ouch, not funny haha-on my shoulder and have had to spend time with the heating pad, the ice, ibuprofen, foam roller and the loveliest glass of wine, or two. I’m not a big fan of the smelly menthol/camphor creams, mostly because they wear off so fast. I’ve been reading about SALONPAS® patches and am really looking forward to trying them out. SALONPAS® Pain Relief and SALONPAS® Arthritis Pain are the first and only over-the-counter pain-relieving patches approved by the FDA.  They contain an anti-inflammatory drug, which is time-released and lasts up to 12 hours – much longer than my ibuprofen and ice/heat pad routine this weekend. I’ll let you know how it goes.

WINNER CHOSEN – COMMENT #141 Congratulations to Julieh

Let’s Talk Winter Activity ~ $200 AmEx Giftcard Giveaway!

REQUIRED FOR ENTRY: tweet the following, leaving a link to the original tweet in a comment on this post:

1. Send out a tweet, answering the question: “What is your favorite winter activity and why?“  include the #Salonpas hashtag.
2. Tweet: Winter activities giving you muscle pain? Check out #Salonpas on Facebook for solutions: http://facebook.com/salonpas.

EXTRA/OPTIONAL ENTRIES:

• “Like” SALONPAS on Facebook at http://facebook.com/salonpas
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Contest ends 12am Midnight (MT) Monday, February 28, 2011. Winner will be chosen by random.org and announced on this post. Winner will be contacted by email and must respond no later than 8am (MT) March 2, 2011 at which time another winner will be chosen.

*Disclosure: Will work for pain relief. I was financially compensated for this post. I have no personal experience with Salonpas to date, but I’m expecting a free delivery any day now and if it works I might just kiss the PR rep and send a box of chocolates. With flowers. Chocolate flowers.

I snapped this shot of Kat trying to catch snowflakes with her tongue on Saturday night in Steamboat Springs, CO. We had just come down the Gondola from a fun Western BBQ at the top of the mountain. We had eaten ourselves full and danced ourselves silly but Kat still had enough energy to twirl about in absolute bliss while we waited for the shuttle. I was so enamored by her joy that I actually turned my head to the sky and stuck my tongue out just to get a taste of what it was like to be 5 again.

Definitely a perfect moment. What Perfect Moment have you recently been aware of? Visit these moments of others and share your comment love.

I’m fairly certain that my mother has seen me at my worst-many times-but as an adult I definitely don’t want her to see me as a lazy unmotivated slob. My mom rocks, she’s totally laid back and that makes it even easier for me to go into vacation mode when she’s around. We always have big plans but somehow we sleep in and sloth around a bit and then the day is mostly over. I love these visits but I wonder if she loves them as much as I do?

I just spend the last four or five days cooking, eating, and napping. I’m done with the food part of that cycle. My body is rebelling and I honestly think I could fast for a week and not feel the least bit hungry. Why do we overeat on the holidays?

We had lots of sloth-ish family time while my 9 week old baby nephew was here and I think my sister-in-law enjoyed it just as much as I did. I’m a little bit of a freakishly excited new aunt but my nephew loves me mucho. I’m good with babies, really good. I think it might be partially due to the squishy comfort they find in my arms-let’s not mince words, my boobs make me a very comfortable place to hang out. Mostly, I think babies can smell love and I love this baby, he’s adorable and has such a great temperament. We’re going to be buds, of this I am sure!

What do you do when family is in town? Do you go into “tourist” mode and entertain or are you like me and just let your hair down?