Tag Archives: exercise

Friends and Strangers at the Bounce House

Have you ever been to a bounce house? Think of those giant inflatables that fill the backyards of homes for a kids’ birthday party, only it’s all indoors and filled with 10+ giant inflatables! In other words, a kids’ (and most adults’) wonderland!

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As part of our Dallas Dads Group, I scheduled a Meetup at a local bounce house called Jump For Fun (fitting name I’d say) for us dads to gather and have fun with our kids. We had 4 dads attend, including me, and we each had one kid. It was hard to sit and talk with the other guys since I had to keep my eyes on Avery. She was all over the place!

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Okay, so not first, but she started moving after warming up to her surroundings.

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Until I put her inside one of the inflatables……

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Yeah, that was her first and last time in that one. Not sure what made her so upset, but I blame her current teething issue as the main culprit. Once back out on the floor though, her mood changed back to happy status.

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But we obviously didn’t go to a bounce house to run around the floor, so grabbed Avery and we went through several of the fun-filled obstacles together. She was confused at times, but I could tell she enjoyed it overall. But man, it was difficult trying to traverse some of the slippery inflatable steps with Avery in one arm! Regardless, we did it plenty of times, and even took on Batman!

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He was all talk. One of our neighborhood dads and friends, Jason, was there with his daughter, Zoey, and we took turns taking our girls down a giant slide.

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Avery, with her cutting teeth, had her hand in her mouth most of the time we were there. Nothing a little tickling can’t do to fix the hand-in-mouth issue.

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Jason and Zoey were able to go up and down several times in the time it took us to go once.

 

 

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Zoey is older and she was having a blast running all over the place. Notice, no hands in mouth for her since she has all her teeth!

While wondering around, Avery made a new, older, friend who seemed to like picking her up.

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Seemed sweet and innocent enough, until she dropped her like a hot potato!

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I guess they made up though, and the girl was more careful afterward.

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I don’t know if it was the trauma of being dropped, her cutting teeth, or just because she’s a sweetheart, but Avery went up to a lady sitting on a bench, took the magazine sitting next to her, and held it up as if asking her to read it. The kind mom of two boys, Katie, kindly held Avery in her lap and read a little. Avery seemed to enjoy.

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Everyone had a great time and we’re hoping to make the place a regular meetup for our Dallas Dads Group soon. Maybe next time Avery won’t be in the middle of teething and actually smile for a picture.

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Eh, it wasn’t crying, so I’ll consider it a win in my book. Whatever book that is, I don’t know. I’m happy with the group of dads that met up and hope to be able to talk with them more next time. Which, thanks to our awesome group, we’ll have the chance plenty of times in the near and distant future!

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Avery had a very nice nap after we made it home. Think we need to do this a lot more!

If you have been to a bounce house or one of the backyard parties with an inflatable, how do you like them?

Do you join in on the jumping or just watch?

 

Indoor Rowing With a Toddler & Cold Brew Coffee

Is there something you’ve wanted for years but haven’t been able to get it for some reason? Okay, fine, there’s probably more than just something and more like a lot of things. But for me, one of them was an ergometer so I could enjoy indoor rowing at home.

After many many years of blah-blahing to Going Mom about how I want one, I finally earned enough points on my Amazon card to pull the trigger; or should it be rigger? 🙂 Just a little rowing joke for you, you’re welcome. And of course I had to share my purchase on Facebook, but only because Amazon asked me to after I hit “submit payment”.

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It finally came this past Tuesday and I quickly worked on putting it together. With my favorite little helper, of course.

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Think something’s too easy for you? Throw in a toddler or two and that should solve your issue; instant increase in difficulty! But we love them! Avery was super interested in everything I had out and thought everything was up for grabs.

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What if I push this button?

 

Thankfully Kelley was able to keep Avery at bay long enough for me to have it assembled and ready to test before it was too late. I skipped the usual walk (it was freakin’ cold outside anyway), and opted to do a 5k row which took just under 20 minutes. Ahhh, I love it!

But there is one thing that’s an issue…..Avery. She’ll walk right into my arms as they’re pulling back which results in me knocking her over. Poor girl, she just laughs and thinks I’m playing with her. It’s sad, really.

Again, thanks to my wife holding Avery back as best as she could, the first row went mostly okay. But the next day, when Kelley was at work, I wanted to try for another 5k. After Avery finished….umm, whatever she was doing with it…..

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I’m gonna have to work with her on how to properly use equipment.

Anyway, I finally got to it with Avery circling me like a shark and I was a surfer with an open wound. Then she went in for the kill and put her hand on the railing as I was pushing back, and oops! Avery’s shark fin hand got hit by the rolling seat.

The good thing is that I slowed down just before since she moved behind me, but the bad this is that I hurt her precious little hand and she was screaming to let me know. I held her, for a while, but the screaming ensued. I was finally able to set her down and finish my workout (the hand incident happened only 2 minutes into it) and she kept her distance the remainder of the time.

I’d like to think she now knows better, but something tells me she’s still too intrigued by the machine to keep away. You could call it a hunch, but she makes it apparent as well. Especially when I said “raise your hand if you still want to get close to the rower” and she responded with….

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Yeah, so there’s that.

My foot is still not healed from when I fractured it this summer since I started running on it before it was fully recovered. Call me stubborn, call me dumb, call me whatever, but I’m hoping this rower will keep me from running while still giving me that tired, sweaty workout I seem to crave. Time will tell, and then I’ll tell you here.

In the meantime, I have this beautiful French Press full of black gold (not oil, coffee!!!) in our fridge right now in an attempt at my first homemade cold brew coffee.

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I’m letting it steep for 24 hours and then I’ll press and strain the highly concentrated coffee into another glass. I’m sure I’ll try some before diluting. You know, just to “test” it at full strength. Then I’ll dilute in a 2:1 coffee to water ratio.

Maybe some Pyure Sweet Stevia or SweetLeaf English Toffee Liquid Stevia for something extra fancy and tasty, but otherwise, I’ll enjoy it cold and black. I’ll let you know how it goes soon. Maybe it’ll fuel another 5k row, or even 10k if Avery keeps her little hands off the rail!

Have you ever used an indoor rower (i.e. ergometer)?

Ever make your own cold brew or try some already made before?

My Top Picks for a Healthy Lifestyle

Hi there! This will be quick. Just wanted to let you know I have a new page (see above) called My Healthy Food, Cooking, and Fitness Store where I listed my favorite foods, kitchen gadgets, and fitness equipment. If you want to start or maintain a healthy lifestyle, check it out, I’ll be adding more soon.

It’s all through Amazon where you can buy my favorites for your home and start enjoying healthy, delicious food that you can easily cook. Add in fitness equipment and you’re off to a new, healthier and happier you!

If you’re not sure what to do with some of the food, check out my other new page with Healthy Recipes your whole family will enjoy. Yes, even those picky toddlers…..

One for me, none for you, dad.
One for me, none for you, dad.

See? You’ll have them taking healthy food you cooked right out of your hands!

Soon, I’ll create a post where I share actual products I use the most along with ideas on how to get started with them. For now, please check out my list of favorites for a healthy lifestyle and let me know what you think.

What is the biggest thing you want to change most? Being more active, better nutrition, both, or something else?