Do we ever love home as much as when we have just returned to it? My family just returned from a one week road trip to Colonial Williamsburg and we are revelling in sleeping in our own beds and getting back into our routine. I was even looking forward to resuming my training for Couch 2 5K yesterday!
This blog entry is mostly about the challenges and outcomes of my first trip after weight loss surgery, not about family vacation fun - although I'll mention so of that too. :)
I had a lot of anxiety planning for this trip - eating in front of others, what would I eat, having clothes that fit... things that I have never thought about on a family vacation before. Add in the normal planning for traveling with kids and I was pretty busy. I packed enough Quest protein bars that I could eat 2 a day if I needed to. I also pre-made and froze cooked lentils with sauteed onions (4), and packed lots of crystal light (and the 4 water bottles I use every day), in addition to foods for the rest of my vegetarian family. We were staying at a Comfort Inn and Suites halfway there, then at the Historic Powhatan Resort (condos with full kitchens) for 4 nights there, and then a Fairfield Inn and Suites on the way back. My parents generously offered to take all of us (including my brother and nephew) on this trip, or we could never have swung such luxury!
Prior to leaving we found the Summit Diner in Brentwood, PA for our first meal on the road and I was able to eat more-fried egg & cheese-than-omlette without incident. In a restaurant - with strangers around! First fear conquered! Yes, I have eaten out a few times since surgery, but it makes me nervous (what if something gets stuck in the pouch and I get sick?) and most times I have actually packed something from home to eat. The rest of the family was thrilled with the veggie burgers, mac and cheese, and fried green beans. I used to LOVE fried green beans - and tried one small bite. Not even remotely tasty, mostly it just tasted oily. That must be a change in my taste buds, because my picky son was wolfing them down like they were ambrosia from the gods.
One good thing about driving 5-6 hours in a day: you have no problem getting your fluids in! Having my 24 ounce water bottles with diluted crystal light in the cup holders meant that I had already drunk 72 ounces before dinner. That night in Hagarstown we went out to Ruby Tuesday, where I identified myself as a bariatric surgery patient and was allowed to order off the kiddie menu and got the salad bar. One plate of shredded cheese, shredded hard boild egg, and a little diced apples with yogurt sauce and I was good. I tried a bite of a mini zucchini patty, but without the condiments, pickles, tomatos, lettuce and bun it just didn't do anything for me. Which is fine - because I don't want to eat for experience any more, I want to eat to LIVE.
OK - I promise you won't have to listen to a description of EVERY meal on my trip. Just sayin'.
One downside of driving all day is that there was little opportunity for exercise. So while the kids whooped it up in the tiny hotel pool, I hopped on the elliptical and got in twenty minutes. I hoped that walking around Williamsburg/ Jamestown/ Yorktown would help that not be the situation for the rest of the week. My Fitbit was disappointed in me this last week, but I wasn't - I did the best I could.
A big shout-out to the folks at the Historic Powhatan Resort - the booking company my parents used MESSED UP our reservations and only 1 of the two condos ended up getting reserved. They did have other units, but couldn't offer the deal that my parents had been given on the third party site. While my parents were trying to sort it out with the booking company, the manager decided to override their own prices and give us the second unit for the deal price after all. We weren't able to be next to each other as planned, but were close. They could have easily stuck us with double the price and then let us duke it out with the booking company for reimbursement. The condos were great - spacious and well air-conditioned (this turned out to be critical), two bathrooms in each (wow!), and of course my kid's favorite part - a large flat screen HDTV. The pools were fantastic! They had a "eighteen and up" pool (renamed "the serenity pool" by my kids), a "5 and up" pool - rowdy, and an "all ages" pool in addition to a kiddie pool and jacuzzi. Whew! That's a lot of poolage - and was honestly where we had most of the fun of our trip. Here's a picture of my parents and I enjoying a moment while we were watching the kids in the pool.
Yes, I voluntarily had my picture taken while wearing a swimsuit. Weird. Even when morbidly obese I went swimming with my kids, so wearing a swimsuit is nothing new. The new part is wanting to share a picture that includes me wearing a swimsuit!
Since we were able to cook breakfast and dinner in our condos every night, food/ pouch worries were gone for those times - Yay!
Our first day into Williamsburg and it was HOT. 90 degrees and humid at 9am . And that was the coolest weather we experienced for the rest of the week. This is a picture my father took of all of us in front of the Govenor's Palace right after we got there. As the day got hotter everyone became less willing to pose for pictures, so there won't be many group shots in my scrapbook ;)
In my next blog entry - more pics, a pouch meltdown, and happy memories...
This blog entry is mostly about the challenges and outcomes of my first trip after weight loss surgery, not about family vacation fun - although I'll mention so of that too. :)
I had a lot of anxiety planning for this trip - eating in front of others, what would I eat, having clothes that fit... things that I have never thought about on a family vacation before. Add in the normal planning for traveling with kids and I was pretty busy. I packed enough Quest protein bars that I could eat 2 a day if I needed to. I also pre-made and froze cooked lentils with sauteed onions (4), and packed lots of crystal light (and the 4 water bottles I use every day), in addition to foods for the rest of my vegetarian family. We were staying at a Comfort Inn and Suites halfway there, then at the Historic Powhatan Resort (condos with full kitchens) for 4 nights there, and then a Fairfield Inn and Suites on the way back. My parents generously offered to take all of us (including my brother and nephew) on this trip, or we could never have swung such luxury!
Prior to leaving we found the Summit Diner in Brentwood, PA for our first meal on the road and I was able to eat more-fried egg & cheese-than-omlette without incident. In a restaurant - with strangers around! First fear conquered! Yes, I have eaten out a few times since surgery, but it makes me nervous (what if something gets stuck in the pouch and I get sick?) and most times I have actually packed something from home to eat. The rest of the family was thrilled with the veggie burgers, mac and cheese, and fried green beans. I used to LOVE fried green beans - and tried one small bite. Not even remotely tasty, mostly it just tasted oily. That must be a change in my taste buds, because my picky son was wolfing them down like they were ambrosia from the gods.
One good thing about driving 5-6 hours in a day: you have no problem getting your fluids in! Having my 24 ounce water bottles with diluted crystal light in the cup holders meant that I had already drunk 72 ounces before dinner. That night in Hagarstown we went out to Ruby Tuesday, where I identified myself as a bariatric surgery patient and was allowed to order off the kiddie menu and got the salad bar. One plate of shredded cheese, shredded hard boild egg, and a little diced apples with yogurt sauce and I was good. I tried a bite of a mini zucchini patty, but without the condiments, pickles, tomatos, lettuce and bun it just didn't do anything for me. Which is fine - because I don't want to eat for experience any more, I want to eat to LIVE.
OK - I promise you won't have to listen to a description of EVERY meal on my trip. Just sayin'.
One downside of driving all day is that there was little opportunity for exercise. So while the kids whooped it up in the tiny hotel pool, I hopped on the elliptical and got in twenty minutes. I hoped that walking around Williamsburg/ Jamestown/ Yorktown would help that not be the situation for the rest of the week. My Fitbit was disappointed in me this last week, but I wasn't - I did the best I could.
A big shout-out to the folks at the Historic Powhatan Resort - the booking company my parents used MESSED UP our reservations and only 1 of the two condos ended up getting reserved. They did have other units, but couldn't offer the deal that my parents had been given on the third party site. While my parents were trying to sort it out with the booking company, the manager decided to override their own prices and give us the second unit for the deal price after all. We weren't able to be next to each other as planned, but were close. They could have easily stuck us with double the price and then let us duke it out with the booking company for reimbursement. The condos were great - spacious and well air-conditioned (this turned out to be critical), two bathrooms in each (wow!), and of course my kid's favorite part - a large flat screen HDTV. The pools were fantastic! They had a "eighteen and up" pool (renamed "the serenity pool" by my kids), a "5 and up" pool - rowdy, and an "all ages" pool in addition to a kiddie pool and jacuzzi. Whew! That's a lot of poolage - and was honestly where we had most of the fun of our trip. Here's a picture of my parents and I enjoying a moment while we were watching the kids in the pool.
Yes, I voluntarily had my picture taken while wearing a swimsuit. Weird. Even when morbidly obese I went swimming with my kids, so wearing a swimsuit is nothing new. The new part is wanting to share a picture that includes me wearing a swimsuit!
Since we were able to cook breakfast and dinner in our condos every night, food/ pouch worries were gone for those times - Yay!
Our first day into Williamsburg and it was HOT. 90 degrees and humid at 9am . And that was the coolest weather we experienced for the rest of the week. This is a picture my father took of all of us in front of the Govenor's Palace right after we got there. As the day got hotter everyone became less willing to pose for pictures, so there won't be many group shots in my scrapbook ;)
In my next blog entry - more pics, a pouch meltdown, and happy memories...
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