Happy Thanksgiving!

I had one heck of a week, followed by a fabulous weekend.

 

Things were exceptionally busy at both work and at home during the week, and I'm not proud to say that with the stress of it all I did a fair bit of yelling at home.

 

The one thing that kept me from going completely over the edge was exercise.  I'd have a nutso day at work, go home to a different kind of nutso, yell, then head out the door to either run with the dog or hit the gym.

 

Endorphins are wonderful things, aren't they? I'd come home feeling refreshed and happy, start off the next day calm, but then find myself getting increasingly tense as the day went on. Repeat.

 

So - I got in a couple of short runs, a couple of circuits, an abs workout, a body sculpting class and eventually the week was over.

 

And we had a 3-day weekend for Thanksgiving. Blissful.

 

We kicked things off with treetop trekking & ziplining! My son and I went with my brother-in-law and nephew, with my SIL on hand to take pictures. We gave this adventure to my nephew for his birthday, and had a fantastic afternoon out in the forest with the trees in full colour.

 

But here's the thing - I've done this before, but I really am afraid of heights. Ziplining is great fun, but walking on wobbly tightropes high up off the ground is really not my thing. But sometimes you have to push the envelope, y'know?

 

Me in red - catching my breath with my son. My nephew behind us in blue, with his dad on the platform to the right.

Heading out on the next obstacle. Reminding myself: "I am a Spartan...I am a Warrior..."

Edging along

 

I loved this one!

After the first obstacle course, I'd had enough. Meanwhile, both kids turned out to be absolute adrenaline junkies. They hit the intermediate course, then my son and BIL went for advanced one before all three of them went for the Big Zip at the end.

 

Double-decker cousins

My son ran through this one. Nephew was just as fearless.

The last zip: My son on the highest platform, nephew partway up the rope ladder, BIL on the platform below
I badly wanted to do this zip but couldn't face that rope ladder.





My son zipping in to the finish

 

The verdict? There's a really strong chance that I won't be going treetop trekking again, although I'd love to go ziplining again. The kids, though -

 

"We're coming back again, right?"

"Best birthday present ever, Auntie Jen!"

"We HAVE to bring [our younger siblings] next time - they should totally do the kids course!"

 

...and with that, we grabbed hot chocolates and met the rest of the family at Grandma's for Thanksgiving dinner.

 

The rest of the weekend has been a nice mix of chores, relaxing and our own Thanksgiving dinner. Followed by a trip to the park down the street to run the dog, soak up some sun...



 

 ...and shoot some hoops.

She sank this one.

The stress from last week seems like a distant memory now. A lot of it is temporary, both at work and at home. It may be a few more days until things calm down, but here's hoping that this week is more manageable.