Friends, it’s a decision YOU MAKE to change your life.
Start with CLEAN, HEALTHY FOOD.
CUT OUT SUGAR, DAIRY, & GRAINS
Take a walk daily.
Seek out the healthy, happy people and pick their brains on how and what they eat.

Comments, suggestions?! Let’s hear it.

Inforgraphic credit: FOODANDTECHCONNECT.COM

Lots of tree climbing…




And, Peacock sightings who have incredibly loud obnoxious voices, by the way.

Sparky, the Dragon Oven was there, too.



We also got to see one of my long time friends, Diana Markessinis, with her art displayed at the Los Angeles Arboretuem.

If you’re interested in local gardening and art, then, I highly recommend this as a LA destination. And, as for a location for kids & fitness, they will always find trees to climb, grass to do cartwheels and handstands on and ducks to chase.

You can learn more about & purchase your Sport Bag from Silver Edge Gear HERE.

This product was given to me for free for purposes of review and the above opinion is all my own.

However lovingly they like to play “lifting weights” in the garage with me, they are really not that interested in how I do, they are more interested in creating their own games, recovering from ridiculous incidents of allergy/infected feet, not getting shots, going on airplanes, and just generally being kids. There are days that include 6+ hours of work, a kick a** hard workout when I just don’t want to play with them…I’d rather curl up in my comfy chair and take a nap! But the days when they are this young are limited and pass quickly. I look back on super cute photos of them and I want those days back!
So, today, when you get cranky with your kids, just remember, they will only by this YOUNG once.

On another note:
Mother’s Day is coming up very soon….have any gift requests, I’m looking for ideas?!

My house has turned into an infirmary! Somehow, my weekend started out good, we took 50 kids to the beach for a PE field trip, to a weekend spent at Urgent Care. My children were carrying an old piece of wood around the house to ask me if they could cut it up to use to create something new, when, it dropped on my youngest child’s foot –which has lead to multiple splinters and two trips to Urgent Care…Don’t ask me why or how, I don’t know. I just know that whatever antibiotics’ they’ve given him hasn’t worked as of yet. And, being the mother of boys, I am sure you are aware that giving a shot to a six year old can be traumatizing, then, have to get another one the next day is EVEN WORSE. My son told the nurse, only put the tip of the needle in and put the bandaid on immediately and get me out of here…we’re his words of choice today over and over and over. It sucked. I’m truly thankful that so far nothing horrible has happened and this is just a bump in the road in raising kids, but, when you’re in the moment, there is nothing you want more than to keep your child from being hurt.

I’m sure that their are many of you moms out there who may feel “out of sorts” when faced with bizarre situations, right? I end up cleaning out linen closets, ditching old stuff, creating one clean space in my house and generally being Suzy Homemaker which has not always been my best gig, if you know what I mean. I’m good at cooking, but hate the dishes. I enjoy clean clothes, but, I let the laundry pile up each week until I am forced to fold. I let mail pile up for five days before I sort & file. I could improve on all of these things, but, when I work full time, it’s hard to keep up with the house stuff. Now, that I’m home for a few days, it becomes an obsession to have all the stuff done before bed, etc…I’m going to love my clean house for a few days, but, will let it all go when I return to work.

Anybody, else feel this way?

Hiking is a fantastic way to get outside, enjoy the kids and the dog while getting some exercise! Although, I love exercise, I don’t love running the trails (which the kids do), hahaha. Oh, well, we did compromise a little at the end.

What do you do with your kids to be active?

Top of a pullover in my Merrell shoes! Love those things.

Today’s Destination was Muscle Beach in Santa Monica California.  A beach I had never been to and NOW have plans to visit often.  Although it is 90 minutes from our home with no traffic, it was so much fun that my kids are going to be asking to go back all the time, and we didn’t even swim.

The best part about this beach is that it’s free (after parking) and we played for hours.  There were pull-up bars, rings, balance beams, parallel bars of all sizes and varieties, ropes to climb and bars I don’t know what to call! In the background you can see Santa Monica Pier which offers carasel rides, fishing, Bubba Gump’s Fish House and lots of musicians along with some tourists (us).

Above is the rings that you can cross on one arm at a time- super fun.



The cool part of this type of destination with kids is that it offers something for both the grown-ups and the kids. I could have/would have played on the rings and bars until my hands tore and my kids would have too! Of course, we had to finish our day with a 2 mile scooter ride and me walking (oh yeah). I did learn how to do a mommy + kid scooter ride but this is very hard on the gluteus maximus muscle doing the work!

Yesterday, I had the amazing pleasure of visiting Whole Foods.  We live 60 miles from a Whole Foods so this is a treat!  My goal when entering the store was to score snacks and lunch for the kids and I for our road trip to the Skirball Cultural Center.   However, my time limit in a store such as this is still under 15 minutes as any longer, and I’d be completely broke and my kids would have convinced me to buy them every kind of food that passed their eyes…from nuts, to yogurt drinks, to Whale Tale Chips, to Macaroni Salad, to mini-pizza’s!  Oh, yeah, I did go broke and it took only 15 minutes!

I, luckily, did manage to grab some of these Almond Butter packets (not in chocolate), some mixed nuts, cooked chicken and broccoli!  Whole Foods has an awesome variety of cooked healthy foods from a Sushi bar, to Olive Bar, to a Vegan Bar, to a Bakery, to …you name it, they have it.  I think there is a coffee bar, too?! In addition to having rows and rows of organic, grass fed beef, and lots of organic produce and supplies.   It’s a pretty cool store, if you have one nearby?!

Anyway, about the Justin Almond Butter…ever heard of it?  I’d never tried, but, was interested in having a healthy, delicious fat to carry around and eat all by itself.   Can I just say, DELICIOUS?!  You can buy them in boxes via Amazon for around .81 a packet which is a bit cheaper than Whole Foods.   Having them around here (for me) anyway would get expensive and addicting because truly when there is anything really yummy in the house whether it’s cashews, dark chocolate, medjul dates or macadamia nuts–they are not long in the cupboard!  Reminds me of when I was a kid and I knew there were Twinkies in the house!! We’d sneak, lie and do anything to get that last Twinkie.

You can purchase Justin Almond butter on Amazon (link).

Or check out Justin’s Nut Butter products here. 

As always, it takes me a few days to switch over from work out of home mom to work at home mom and how it feels to always have something to do, whether it’s laundry, dishes or entertaining my boys, all the time.   Although, they have been mildly under the weather the last few days, they have by NO MEANS slowed down.   Up at 6:30AM and to bed at 8:30PM with very few “slow down” times during the day makes for a VERY busy mommy.

We’ve already had a camp-out.   We’ve planted our spring vegetables and now are currently planning our FREE or almost FREE trips to family friendly LA destinations – such as Noah’s Ark and Muscle Beach!  Also free in our area are the local hiking trails that have little to no now on them such as Forest Falls, White Water Preserve and Oak Glenn.  I can’t wait to get busy and stay active with my boys this week.

How will you spend your spring break?