Road Trippin'...Weekly Weight Update
Tales from the week – Road Trippin’
Each year our little family flip flops the holidays between our respective family. This year our assigned location was with Rizzo’s family just outside of Charlotte, NC. The trip requires a nice 400-mile drive which, according to Google Maps, should take us about 5 hours and 53 minutes to complete. Completing that drive with a toddler definitely makes it a much longer trip.
For this year’s excursion, we tried adding to new time saving measures to our jaunt. First, we did some food planning. This turned out to be an outstanding idea for multiple reasons. We were doing our actual driving on Thanksgiving Day and there isn’t much in the way of food available that is open on Thanksgiving unless you want to eat fast food or at the Waffle House. The result was that we were eating healthier. We also were able to eat while continuing to drive which saved us much needed time for our drive.
On the menu in Che’ Clark’s travelling diner was (1) Turkey sandwiches because, you know, Thanksgiving; (2) grapes; (3) trail mix; (4) sliced cheese; (5) crackers; and (6) bananas. Sounds pretty healthy and most certainly gourmet compared to the Spicy Chicken Sandwich, large fries, and large soda I most certainly would have consumed at Wendy’s. Of course, we shared a Peanut Butter Twix that we bought at a gas station while filling up the van but it was a mini-vacation and we always have a Peanut Butter Twix on the road. Sometimes you have to splurge.
The second new concept added during this road trip was allowing Cece to watch videos in the van. When Cece was first born, Rizzo and I decided to purchase a minivan. We weren’t necessarily looking for one with a DVD player included but it didn’t add anything to the price at the dealership so we got it anyway. I was excited because I hoped to be sitting in the back watching the HBO miniseries John Adams on repeat while Rizzo would drive and Cece would sleep. Of course, Cece would never sleep and I would always drive (my choice) so that never happened.
We don’t watch a lot of TV with Cece in the house. She is allowed to watch no more than one show a day during the week (about 20 minutes) and two shows a day during the weekend (one in the morning and one in the evening). We make exceptions to the rule for sporting events (especially her favorite sport, baseball) but most of the time we are listening to records. It has worked out great but we also figured that the distraction of watching a video in the car would be a great way to pass the time and keep Cece comfortable during the long trip.
When the trip started Cece was loving it. She is a huge fan of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Daniel Tiger. Cece would look longingly at the screen as Mickey and the gang searched for the giant tomato, or made soup to take to a sick Goofy, or any number of other crazy adventures. She even watched one episode three times in a row because she loved it so much. It was working out wonderfully. At least for a little while.
You see, Cece is still a tiny little kid and so in order to see the screen she has to look up and to the left. This isn’t a big deal for an episode or two but when you start holding your head in an awkward position your neck starts to hurt. And when you watch too much TV, mesmerized by the flashing lights and pretty colors, your brain starts to hurt. This was about the time that Cece started to cry and complain about her head hurting.
All she needed to do was to stretch her neck but, just like you and I when we sleep wrong, it hurts to move your neck so she just sat in the same position. We turned off the video but she didn’t like that either because she just wanted to keep consuming the marketing machine that is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. “DOOOOOPPPPYYYYY” she would cry. “More Minnie Mousche Clubhousche” she would cry. “Head Hurt,” she would cry. We just had to power through the last hour or so to get to the house. What started off as a glorious distraction turned into a painful ending to the trip.
Even though it ended rough with the videos we still resulted in a much more efficient road trip. We were able to get to our location in about six and a half hours. This was amazing considering it has taken eight or more hours on multiple occasions. What were the lessons learned? First, packing snacks and lunch to eat in the car will always result in healthier dining and time savings. Second, taking a break from watching videos is a plus. On the way back home we certainly are going to cut back on the videos to maybe one an hour but we are going to keep that in the mix because she certainly loved the distraction.
Live and learn.
Weekly Weight Update
There is no more gluttonous holiday than Thanksgiving. We, as Americans, battle with each other to see who can consume the most complex carbohydrates over the course of 8 to 10 hours. I tried my best to keep myself calm and on point. I ate more than I should but I also kept myself in check with more turkey and less mashed potatoes. I had one piece of pie instead of three. I ate like a reasonable person.
Empty streets for a day-after Thanksgiving run
Luckily, there wasn’t a scale available on Sunday to measure the massive amount of weight I surely pack on around my gullet (don’t call me Shirley). That’s okay because even though I inevitably gained way too many pounds I also made sure to get in a workout on both non-travel days we were on our mini-vacation. On the Friday after Thanksgiving I went out for a 3.25 mile run and I made sure to duplicate that run on Saturday morning. Sunday holds another day of driving but that doesn’t bother me because I stayed on the workout routine and as long as I can do that I can drop the weight that the holidays bring.
Traveling over the holidays, especially if that traveling is car based and you spend at least 6 ½ hours in a car in one day, can cause the miles to drop significantly. This week was a pathetic display between Rizzo and me. We did our best to see who could accumulate the least number of miles. It was a close contest. It was really neck and neck down to the end of the week but Rizzo was able to come out victorious by accumulating only 33.6 miles compared to my nearly equally sad 34.2 miles. That gives me a 2.1-mile edge with 151.0 miles compared to Rizzo’s 148.9 miles. With only four days left in the month (one of which was today which consisted of another 9 hours in a car so that will be sad) it is still up in the air who will emerge victorious but I’m sure hoping to get that massage come December.
P.S. Here are some other pictures from the week
