They Don’t Stop Moving

We’ve been on vacation with the children this week at the beach.   We’ve done things like going to the park, visiting the beach, going out on the boat, taking a trip to the zoo, walking to ice cream, walking to Polish Water Ice and walking to the other ice cream shop.  (We like ice cream.)

Because I’ve been doing things like eating donuts, cinnamon buns, snacks, ice cream and more ice cream, I’ve been trying to counteract my calorie intake with calorie burn.   One of the ways I’ve been doing this is by working in walking distance while the kids are, for instance, playing on the playground.   I’ve been able to walk distances upwards of two miles, simply from walking around and around (and around) the playground yard while they play.

I was on the beach with the children and my husband yesterday watching the children climb up and down on a sand dune.   I told my husband we cold walk back and forth a while since the children were occupied.   He said, “are you still trying to get exercise in today?”   (I had spent some time on the elliptical already.)  I told my husband I had been thinking about kids and how they can eat anything.

I told him, “have you every noticed how children don’t stop moving?”  We talked about the adults at the beach, many of whom were sitting on chairs or blankets.   The children were all either in the water, running in the surf, digging sand castles or picking up sea shells.    I told my husband I had been trying to just keep moving in situations when it was easier to stay seated as an adult.

Who sits on the benches at the playground?  The adults do.  Who relaxes on blankets at the park?  The adults do.   In fact, the only time I see the children sitting is when they’re eating or have gotten so tired they’re falling asleep.

The Big Boy Update: My children were sharing a two-person wagon ride with their new friend, Charlie Ann, on the way to dinner.   My son got out to let Charlie Ann get in with his sister.   As he walked away he said to the two girls, “okay, now you guys can talk about princess stuff.”

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  We had an overage of crab meat this week and have been discussing for a several days what to make with it.   We decided on crab cakes and were planning on making them for dinner last night.    After a lot of discussion my daughter started chiming in, explaining how we could put “a little icing on them but not too much icing because then it wouldn’t be so good for you.”  It was only at that point that I realized she thought we’d been talking about dessert all this time.   I had to break the news to here there would be no cake after dinner.    We made it up to her with some ice cream.

Fitness Update:  I did an hour on the elliptical machine today, which felt like fifteen minutes with the television on.