We have scheduled a Saturday for each of our kids to research and plan an outing for our family. Our first Saturday outing is brought to you by Janae. It included lunch at the Borough market followed by a ride in the London Eye. It was great to see the city from a different angle! I think it was enjoyed by all, but probably will not make my short list of must dos while visiting London. I sort of enjoy actually seeing the Eye, not just being in it!
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I lay there on the cold black mat with my arms out stretched while I gasp for air. I can see steam coming off my body as it rises up toward the foggy fluorescent light directly above me, and in that very moment, I think to myself, THIS IS WHY I DO CROSSFIT! In my youth, I would have described myself as an athlete. I played volleyball, I was pretty good! I could pick up other sports, I could throw a ball (not like a girly throw), I just loved to play sports! And throughout my adult life, I have enjoyed many years of playing volleyball. I took up some tennis for a while, and even could be found riding a longboard around the neighborhood with a kid on my hip (I know, not so safe)! But exercise? COUNT ME OUT!!!! Just so boring, just not for me. If there's not a ref and a whistle involved, you've lost my attention! I've tried, really I have. So everyone's running these days, doesn't it seem like it? My husband's a marathon runner, he just ran 17 miles this morning. It's amazing!!!! He's amazing. But I've tried. I ran a little 10K one summer with the extended family (I even trained for it: all 6 miles!) but that was no fun. I joined in and ran a Ragnar, check out the link if you're unfamiliar, but it's significant running! It's fun to be with great people and all, but the running? Couldn't we have just gone to a beach together? I just don't get that sense of satisfaction from running. So quarterly, or so, I find myself out for a run, just to see if maybe I've grown out of my disdain. So, I just don't run. Can we still be friends? I like runners! So what are my options? If I could, I would do these things every day I enjoy them so much! But it's not so easy to find a volleyball team to join here in London, and tennis? Have you heard about the weather here? It rains...A LOT!!!! Then what do I do???? CROSSFITI do Crossfit because it's interesting. It's challenging. It teaches me. It's competitive. It's individual....yet it's totally a team/group effort. I show up, and I'm greeted by a coach and one or two people that say, "Hi-ya Julie!" I look on the board and try to decipher the encrypted message on the board to know what it is we'll be doing that day. Sometimes it sounds doable, but lots of times it scares me a bit. I can feel the butterflies in my stomach just before the timer goes off to start our WOD. I love that I can work out alongside elite athletes! Let's make it perfectly clear, those elite crossfitters are lifting some crazy weights and doing their pull ups unassisted, unlike myself. I'm just the stay-at-home-mom that isn't overly committed. But, the guy to my right is intense, and the girl across from me is beyond determined, and the older guy behind me surprises me at what he can do. I'm not much of an athlete these days, I'm just trying to become more fit. And I think it's awesome that we can all participate in the same WOD (albeit accommodated most times for me) and each of us will go home feeling equally knackered! I've been doing Crossfit for nearly a year now. And I'm excited to report, I have found "exercise" that I enjoy doing! And maybe it's because it's not anything like running or going to "the gym!" And it's a little bit like a sport, and I have always loved playing sports. I feel stronger physically and more determined mentally. Thanks to Wayne, my lead coach at Cross Fit Devil's Path, and the always smiling and supportive Michelle for being a great workout buddy! I'll see y'all Monday morning.
This is our first time visiting the iconic Windsor Castle. It now makes our "must see list" for our friends and family who come to visit. It is a proper castle! It's large, warm, and beautiful! Although it was a pretty cold day and we had limited time to visit, we thoroughly enjoyed the sites and look forward to going back soon! Grandma's flight home to Texas was the next day, so this was our last outing and a great send off.
We have so enjoyed having her visit, and have missed her since she's left. What a great experience it was for all of us to have her stay and be a real part of our family for a while. We'll never forget. My mom and I tried to take in a Westminster Abbey tour when she first arrived in September, i think. But we happened to show up while they were having the Procession of the Judges. We realized our time was running out before she would have to leave, so we hurried ourselves out the door to face the holiday tourist crowd! It was interesting. Jason loved the tour of the abbey when he went with his sisters last spring. I think I'm less interested in burial sites of famous people. However, the history is fascinating, and to think Kings and Queens have been crowned there since William the Conquerer in 1066, yeah, that's pretty impressive. What I really found interesting though, was a conversation my mom and I had with a worker there. He told us all about the Order of the Bath which is virtually the creation of the knights of bath. The knights each had their own flag, chair, and plaque. There was even a plaque of Henry VIII on a chair from when he was young. Maybe it just goes to show that my learning style is not auditory, ti took interacting with someone for me to appreciate the things I was seeing. Who knows, but it was interesting for sure. Sorry, no pictures allowed inside, so this is all you get... We also checked out the British Museum and wandered around London a bit! A Full Day |
Julie Tucker
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