Zumba Waka Waka

Here's the link to our Shakira song, "Waka Waka". We're gonna do another taping next Wednesday because we need to work out a few kinks but it's pretty good so far. :)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IPEIZpKHeE

Looks fun, doesn't it?

Camping Adventures

Kyle and I are going camping tonight with his coworker, James and his wife, Liz and their baby, Lily. This should be a fun and interesting night. I'm frightened of the possibility of bears. I hope we don't get attacked for our delicious camp food. ;) Kyle wants to bring earplugs so he can sleep better and not hear noises. Well, I'm torn. I want to wear them too but what if a bear comes to our campsite and starts rummaging around and we can't hear it? I'm sure we'll be okay but it's still something to ponder. This will be Lily's first night away from her own bed for sleeping so James is curious to see if she will actually sleep. She's a pretty laid back baby so she'll probably do okay but this is a trial. :) We won't get to the site until well after 8pm probably and then we'll have to set up and get firewood for the campfire. We'll have a very late dinner. I better eat a late lunch. Tomorrow we'll try to do some stuff around the area: canoeing or walking or maybe fishing, who knows?

However, I MUST get back home for 7:30pm Zumba class because we're doing something really cool tomorrow night. See, it's World Cup Soccer time and the singer, Shakira, has posed a challenge to everyone in the world: make up a Zumba routine for her song, "Waka Waka" (you can look on www.youtube.com for this song and see the responses that people have posted) and post your group dancing to her song on the youtube site. So, my instructor, Marcela, is going to tape us tomorrow night and then post us on youtube. As soon as I see it posted, I'll link ya'll to it so you can see us in action. :) What's cool is there this central dance move that all of us have to include in the routine but the other choreography is up to our instructors. I can't wait! I don't want to miss this so I'll probably be watching my clock tomorrow so that we can get back in time for me to change for class.

Anyway, we will probably take pictures and videos of us camping and I'll try to post them here when we get back. Until then, I must go earn some activity points so that I can partake in some s'mores tonight. :)

2.48!!!

I finished my half marathon today at 2:48!! That's good because it's pretty close to my first half marathon time--and that first time was with a TON of training. This time, I didn't train much but that's okay. I had plenty of aerobic endurance due to many Zumba classes and other aerobic exercising. My hip started hurting around the 3rd mile and I thought, "Oh no, here we go.." Then my pinky toes began to hurt around the 9th mile and I just kept pushing through it all. I did do something different this time. I bought these things called "Gu Chomps". They're like fruit snack pieces that athletes use to get energy during strenuous exercise. I bought some of those and took them with me on this run in a little pouch. Everytime I started to feel weakened, I chewed on 4 of those and it helped me get through it. If anything, it gave me something to think about other than "Oh my god, I'm gonna die." I also had some really good, driving beat music that got me through more than half of the race. I had a really good time though. The route was beautiful! I'm totally convinced that my time for the last half marathon in Seattle (3:15) was because the route repeated itself a couple of times, meaning I had to retrace my steps twice during the race due to how they created the route.

Anyway, my knee joints are hating me right now and so are my leg muscles but I don't care. However, guess I better go soak for a little bit in an ice bath for about 10-15 minutes (that's what I read in a runner's magazine). Supposedly the cold constricts the blood vessels, thus reduces the recovery time. :) We'll see. I'll let you know if it works.

Back home again

We got back home Wednesday afternoon! It's good to be back in our own bed--so comfy! Especially since I did laundry and put the sheets in the wash, so now the sheets are so nice and soft and clean smelling! :) Always a plus!

Some exciting news: there were 2 more positions available that I qualify for. One is an ELL position and the other is a Title I teacher (normally I don't think I really qualify for this, but all the position asked for was an ELL or Bilingual Ed. endorsement--well, here I am)! Ya'll know what an ELL teacher does so I won't explain that but a Title I teacher is possibly the same kind of thing but they teach children of all backgrounds (i.e. ELL, children who need a little more help in grasping concepts and maybe even some special ed kids). Anyway, they do the pullout model, which is the teacher gets small groups of kids for anywhere between 30-60 minutes and gives a more intensive learning lesson based on the skill that is being taught in the classroom. I have little experience with this since I worked as a Title I tutor at an elementary school. It was fun most of the time and I got to know a lot of kids out of each grade. It's good to get to know a variety of kids sometimes so you're not stuck so much in one particular subject. Don't get me wrong-- I LOVE teaching ELL but sometimes it's nice to have some variety along with it. :) Anyway, I entered my applications and now we'll just have to sit back and see what happens.

Kyle is back to the grind of work. I think he likes getting back into the routine of work. Yesterday was hard for him though because he didn't get lunch until 5pm! His supervisor was out, a coworker had an appointment at 1pm and then the other coworker that was supposed to be there was out of the fab for about 5 or 6 hours! He was taking a class that was not relevant to their work right now and he was doing it during work hours...he really shouldn't do that. Anyway, that left Kyle to tend to many problems--too many for him to handle all at once by himself. He was frustrated but he'll move on, he says. :)

Well, gotta finish my lunch, mow the grass/edge and finish up some house cleaning today. Then, I'm fixin spaghetti for dinner probably because I got my half marathon tomorrow and want to have a lot of energy for it. The race starts at 8am (mountain time) and I should be done no later than 3 hours from that time. It'd be nice to finish before 3 hours though but with my latest record, don't know if that will happen. But I will stay optimistic!