Healthy Lifestyles and Labor Day Fun...

Well, tomorrow is September 8th, 2010... a day I have looked at on the calendar and dreaded for months. Know why? It's " Healthy Lifestyles" testing day. Joe's job does health insurance a little differently, and honestly, I think it's a great program. You take a health exam once a year, which determines how much you will pay for health insurance for the rest of the year, based on how healthy you are. You get an activity you have to complete (we watched movies on making healthy choices....ironically enough, i think that was the night we splurged on hot wings, coke and pizza..hmm). You also fill out a questionnaire- you get points deducted for things like smoking, drinking, driving without a seatbelt, and points added for things like working out, eating healthy, and leading an active lifestyle. They take measurements of things like your wrists, neck, hips, etc., take your weight, blood pressure, body mass index, measure body fat, and best of all, they take a blood sample. If you know me AT ALL you know how squeamish i get with blood- mention blood or needles in any conversation and i am liable to get very woozy very fast. I have a terrible track record of passing out when I get blood drawn. Everytime, they have to lay me down and it is so embarassing! I have very tiny vains and rarely do they find them on the first try... I can't think of the last time I didn't cry or pass out. Worse still, the tests tomorrow are at JOE'S WORK! As in, I have to drive twenty minutes and be around his coworkers I haven't met and they get to see/meet me at my teary- best! Fun, fun, fun! Maybe i will stop and get a halloween mask on my way so no one will recognize me!:)

Anyways, we had a great Labor Day weekend together. I had heard of a state park from friends not too terribly far from here called Cowan's Gap, so we decided to try it out. Much to our surprise, there was a manmade lake and beach with paddleboats you can rent, AMAZING views, great hiking trails, and most importantly, quite possibly the world's cleanest park bathrooms you have ever seen! (This is important to me... and I don't care if you think that's weird!!) Of course, as "Steins" we are by nature very competitive (I am told) . So, we have to take the trails marked MOST DIFFICULT. There was plenty of light left in the day, so we went for it! The trail map later told us that we had climbed 900 vertical feet, but once on the top of the mountain, the views were spectacular and well worth all of the falls and scrapes and hurting muscles. Joe kept saying how proud he was of me for making it to the top with him...I have a little competitiveness in me too!:) We never saw another person on the trail with us at the top for almost four hours, which made us feel like we had really done something no one else was brave enought to try. We have, however, decided that we NEED some hiking shoes--- tennis shoes are just not cutting it on climbs like that! Sorry, Dave Ramsey, this may be a "want" , but I could show you the blisters to prove that this is really a "need." ha!

Tex is happy to be in the car for a ride


Fall is coming! The leaves were starting to turn at the top of the mountain!





King of the mountain!








We will definitely be back again to see the leaves turn in the fall! So happy to find such a great place!

Tomorrow night, sweet Aunt J and Uncle D are in town on their great east coast road trip and we are meeting for dinner... very excited to see them! We are taking them to a nice restaurant in the area and then coming back to our house for dessert so they can see the house and meet the puppy. Looking forward to it!

Hope you had a great weekend too! Here's hoping for a smooth Healthy Lifestyle test and no losing consciousness in front of my hubby's co-workers! :)