We had a good amount of unexpected snow last week which meant more time than usual on the mountain and less time for the computer.

There is nothing quite like riding in powder. It feels like like floating.

Exhilarating. Freeing. Soul soaring.

We are powder seekers.

And we fit together “like legos”.

We finally made it out to A-Basin one morning last week….

…where we found some more fresh powder.

We went with my new Australian friend, Helen. I met her in my snowboard class the week before. After A-Basin in the morning, we went to Keystone to ride for the afternoon.

Later in the week, we went riding with some of our fellow gypsy friends. We called this shot “Pieter and the Shredders”.

There was falling and laughing.

And jumping.

And cheering for those of us (ahem) who were more timid on the double black diamonds.

This is me riding down Whale’s Tail, one of the easier double blacks, for the first time. (As you can tell) I’m not an awesome snowboarder but I have a TON of fun! I think this was my favorite run of the season so far!

Just hanging out with the two coolest little boys I know.

We are leaving the mountains in three weeks from today. It’s going to be bittersweet but I’ll tell you this: I’m looking forward to flip flops.

So yeah I got a lot of riding in last week. I also got in my regular strength training workouts.

Monday – Strength Training and Snowboarding
Tuesday – Snowboarding
Wednesday – Strength Training
Thursday – Snowboarding
Friday – Strength Training and Snowboarding
Saturday – Snowboarding
Sunday – Rest (I needed it!)

I’m also still on track with my step goal for the year. Last week my daily average step count was 10,589.

While it looks like a really happy week, I was actually struggling with some minor depression. I managed to push through but it wasn’t easy. Five years ago it would have knocked me out and I would have been in bed all week. Nowadays, I know that getting outside and working out help me more than any sort of medicine.

Finally on Friday after a week of off and on sadness, I went to the gym and just for fun tested my pull up. Much to my surprise I did one. Then I did two more! I had lost my pull up a few months after we moved into the RV. Over the summer I got a portable pull up bar and set a goal to get my pull up back. It feels so good. Nothing makes me feel as strong as being able to do pull ups.

Lastly, I wanted to share a great experience I had with a company, Ladies Only Sportswear. I finally decided to purchase a couple of Handful bras and when I received them two days later (crazy fast shipping) one of them was cut strange. I contacted customer service at Ladies Only and they sent me another bra right away no questions asked and covered the return shipping for the defective bra. I’m loving my new Handful bra and right now Ladies Only has them for 20% off and free shipping.  (I’m not an affiliate or anything. I was just super happy with their customer service that I wanted to share!)

Well that’s it! I hope you had a great week!

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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Today when we told the boys we would be leaving the mountain in 6 weeks they sighed in disappointment.

I’m surprised after last week’s exhausting “6 day snowboard challenge”.

The boys and I decided to snowboard for 6 days in a row. Some of the days were only a few hours long but we managed to get all our gear on (no small feat) and head to the mountain Monday through Saturday. In our homeschool, we used it as a lesson in “short term goal setting”.

This is why I strength train so I can hold two boys on my snowboard.

Their  commitment paid off and I can no longer keep up with them. A few weeks ago I was riding slowly behing them offering words of encouragement and now I’m speeding along trying to keep them in sight.

This even happened.

I tried to jump too but didn’t land it.  Now I’m determined to land a jump by the end of the season.

However, sometimes my determination doesn’t work out as planned.

There was powder yesterday. I call powder “enchanted fairy dust” because it makes me feel like I can “fly”.

Powder is soft, unfortunately, trees are not.

Yep, I hit a tree.

The scary part is that bump and scraped skin happened even while wearing my helmet and balaclava (a sock-like cap).

It was totally my fault. I’ll own it. I was going too fast through the trees and had about 8 feet to go before I was in the clear when “SMACK”.  I was on the ground. Other than a tender bump I felt fine but it’s a reminder to always wear a helmet.

Workouts went pretty much as planned but because of our little challenge I hit the mountain more than usual.

Monday – Strength Training (Upper) & Snowboard
Tuesday – Snowboard
Wednesday – Strength Training (Lower) & Snowboard
Thursday – Snowboard
Friday – Snowboard
Saturday – Strength Training (Upper) & Snowboard
Sunday – REST!!!!!!

I continued with my walking as well. Last week my highest step day was on Saturday with 18, 763 steps. Going dancing may be the most fun way to get steps. Not surprisingly the following day I walked a grand total of 701 steps.

My daily average for the month of February was 10,444. I’m still loving my Fitbit Zip for counting steps. I finally did have to replace the battery. It lasted about 3.5 months. A little shorter than expected so I’m interested to see how long the new battery will last.

Well that’s it for my week. How was yours? Have you ever fallen and been thankful you were wearing a helmet?

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

Keep up with my kettlebell workouts, real food recipes, and more in one of three ways! 1. Sign up to have posts emailed to your inbox. 2. Subscribe to the RSS Feed or 3. “like” Girl Heroes on Facebook. Simple dimple!

Journey with our family on the road at Newschool Nomads as we travel fulltime in RV through the United States!

The post Helmets Rock: My Head as an Example appeared first on Girl Heroes.

I’m afraid I’m going to have to bore you for a few more weeks with more snow pictures as we have decided to stay in Colorado until mid April. The original was plan to leave March 1 but Colorado is much too beautiful and snowboarding is much too fun to leave quite yet.

Here are some highlights of last week.

Getting some vitamin D.

It was warmer than it looks.

My skin has been covered for months and it felt so good to get some sun exposure and “breathe” on our hike. I almost blend in with the snow. I’ll be this white come July too.

Nico loves to hike as well and holds her own. Nigel, our other pug, is getting too old to walk for much more than 20 minutes so he usually stays home unless we are just going around the block.

I surprised Brent with Nico as a Valentine’s Day gift 9 years ago. They had a rough start, i.e. she chewed up the sprinkler system he installed, but they’ve become buddies over the years.

Speaking of Valentine’s Day we don’t really celebrate it. Never have. I don’t have negative feelings towards it but I don’t care about it either. This year we went to bed early and watched Amelia.

Today, however, is a very special day because it was 14 years ago today our crazy love story began.

The snow got pretty deep in some places.

Other highlights were hitting the slopes with these guys for “P.E.”. (I can’t believe how tall Thing One is getting. It’s sort of freaking me out.)

We had a powder day last Friday. It was cold but sooooo worth it. A real magic carpet ride.

I also had my first scary fall the other day. It was snowing so hard that I couldn’t see very well. I was going faster than I should have been going and didn’t see I was approaching a hill on the rolling terrain. By the time I realized I was going up the hill it launched me in the air and I landed where my neck meets my shoulders. The fall scared me more than it hurt. I may or may not have started sobbing.

My workouts went pretty much as planned for the second week in a row.

Monday – Strength Training
Tuesday – Snowboarding
Wednesday -Strength Training
Thursday – Snowboarding
Friday – Snowboarding
Saturday – Strength Training
Sunday – Chill

I also walked every day as well. My step count ranged from 6,975 to 15,518 per day.

On days we go to the mountain I don’t typically snowboard all day. The nice thing about living a few minutes away from the lifts with a season pass is that I can head over for an hour or two and not feel bad about not using my pass.

I haven’t made it back to yoga. I would love to but to be honest I don’t like “stuffing” my days with activity. I get overwhelmed too easily. I do hope to make it back to a few classes but as of now I haven’t.

How were your workouts this week? How do you get Vitamin D in the winter?

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

Keep up with my kettlebell workouts, real food recipes, and more in one of three ways! 1. Sign up to have posts emailed to your inbox. 2. Subscribe to the RSS Feed or 3. “like” Girl Heroes on Facebook. Simple dimple!

Journey with our family on the road at Newschool Nomads as we travel fulltime in RV through the United States!

The post Valentine’s Day and Vitamin D appeared first on Girl Heroes.

Since we have stopped moving, i.e., decided to spend the winter in Colorado, my weeks have become a little routine.

Last week there were a few twists to keep things interesting.

One

I tried my first black run on a snowboard. Despite my I-conquered-this-beast posture in the above picture, the run didn’t go so well. It was an ungroomed run through the trees. Have you ever seen a walrus in a zoo or aquarium? Well you know how they move on land? That’s how I look when I fall in powder on my snowboard. 

I should have learned my lesson. The week before I tried an ungroomed run under the lift and got stuck in a few feet of powder. I ended up wallowing around like a walrus in the snow shouting, “I. AM. NOT. HAPPY.” to Brent who was further down the hill. I’m certain the people on the lift appreciated the entertainment.  

Two

I tried hot yoga for the first time. It was a hot vinyasa class that was…well…really hot. I surprisingly enjoyed it as long as I wasn’t thinking about other people’s body moisture filling the air at an alarming rate. It also confirmed some imbalances and tightness I knew I have going on with my body. I’m considering taking more classes either at the hot yoga studio or at the recreation center. I’m torn because it seems the quality of the teachers would be better at the studio but the recreation center is more affordable. Hmmm….

I also have a whole new perspective on yogis. I always thought it was a bunch of “woo woo” people sitting around sniffing sandalwood seeing who could zone out the most or twist themselves into the smallest pretzel.

I was wrong.

There were some seriously strong girls in there. It was impressive, beautiful, and peaceful so I apologize to my yogi friends for my misconceptions. I definitely see more yoga in my future.

Three

For the first time in a long time, I stuck to my workout schedule. You know your life is exciting when you consider sticking with a workout schedule “a twist”.

Monday  – Strength Training and Walking
Tuesday – Snowboarding and Walking
Wednesday – Strength Training and Walking
Thursday – Snowboarding and Walking
Friday – Strength Training and Walking
Saturday – Walking (This was the day I also tried hot yoga)
Sunday – Walking

I’ve also decided to do at least part of my 10,000 steps a day with my boys. I had been doing a large part of them on the treadmill but then it hit me: why not spend time with them and help them to keep active rather than spend an hour and twenty minutes on the treadmill. Duh.

Anyway this was my week in a nutshell. I fully intended to edit another workout video but it got lost among homeschooling (It’s like a job but without pay…not complaining…I feel very fortunate to be able to guide my boys education.), snowboarding, errands, cooking, laundry, cleaning the rv toilet, and all the other stuff that makes life glamourous. I am hoping to get to it this week and I also have another Girl Hero to share so until then….

How was your week? What sort of workouts did you do? Have you ever tried yoga? Hot yoga? Any advice on deciding between the yoga studio and the town rec center for classes?

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

Keep up with my kettlebell workouts, real food recipes, and more in one of three ways! 1. Sign up to have posts emailed to your inbox. 2. Subscribe to the RSS Feed or 3. “like” Girl Heroes on Facebook. Simple dimple!

Journey with our family on the road at Newschool Nomads as we travel fulltime in RV through the United States!

The post My Week and the Wallowing Walrus appeared first on Girl Heroes.

I’ve never owned a hydration pack but after a few days on the slopes, I knew there had to be a better way to stay hydrated than continual trips into the lodge for a few sips of water. So I was thrilled to be able to try and now share a CamelBak Review.

CamelBak Review

The Ice Queen CamelBak was designed for winter weather. It’s a ski/snowboard hydration pack designed to keep you hydrated during cold temperatures.

It’s also been perfect for winter hiking.

If I get lost I may become lunch for a mountain lion but at least I won’t have to worry about dehydration.

Unless you count the garden hose (or a straw), I had never drank out of a tube so I was unsure how I would feel about drinking out of Camelbak’s patented Big Bite™ valve. Would it feel weird? Would would I have to suck so hard to get water that I’d pass out? Nope. You just gently bite the tube and sip like a straw. It couldn’t be easier.

To insure all day hydration, the tube from the reservoir to the Big Bite™ valve is insulated  to prevent freezing and (it’s a little hard to see in the picture) if you are going out on a really cold day the tube and valve can be zipped into the  shoulder strap to further prevent freezing.  So unless you are hiking in Antartica you shouldn’t have any freeze ups.

(While I’ haven’t tried it I’m guessing the insulation may help keep water cool in the summer.)

The Ice Queen CamelBak (and the men’s version Snoblast) is designed to carry helmet, goggles, extra layers, lunch, phone, wallet, and keys. When I first pulled it out of the box I was a little skeptical that it could carry all that but I was wrong. As you see in the picture above my helmet fits just fine and there is plenty of room in the bottom of the pack for my other essentials: lunch, wrist guards, gloves, glove liners, hat, and keys.

Although there is room for my helmet, I prefer to clip it to one of the lash points for convenience.

(If there is one downside to this pack it’s the color. The white looks really pretty and feminine especially with the deep purple embroidery against my jacket but it’s a little hard to keep clean. I recommend going with a darker color unless you just love the white.)

The Ice Queen CamelBack harness is specifically designed to fit women. I’ve worn my CamelBack for up to 7 hours on the slopes without any discomfort.

The Antidote™ reservoir is easy to fill and features a 1/4 turn – easy open/close cap.  However, the most import thing to me was that it’s 100% BPA free. The second most important thing to me when looking for a winter hydration pack was finding one that didn’t leak and the CamelBak Ice Queen has lived up to my expectations.

It has also held up during two months of riding. I’ve fallen hard on my back more than I care to admit and the reservoir shows zero signs of wear or leakage. Not only has it been durable I forget it’s there while I’m on the snow. I can feel it on the lift but it’s not uncomfortable by any means. In fact, on the ride up is when I’m most thankful for my CamelBak because that is when I hydrate.

Or sometimes I just sit and take in the view while having a few sips of water.

Like I said, I never owned a hydration pack before and after using the Ice Queen CamelBack for two months, I can sum up my CamelBak review in one sentence.

I’m never going back to carrying water bottles for outdoor adventures.

Not only can water bottles be cumbersome to carry around, I find myself too lazy to pull it out of my backpack. With a CamelBak there is not excuse not to stay hydrated.

As if the convenience factor of being able to stay hydrated while you play isn’t enough, CamelBak also offers a lifetime “Got Your Bak™” guarantee for all reservoirs, backpacks, bottles and accessories. That is customer service I can “bak”.

Anyway…

Do you use a hydration pack? What’s your experience? Anything to add to my CamelBack review?

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

Keep up with my kettlebell workouts, real food recipes, and more in one of three ways! 1. Sign up to have posts emailed to your inbox. 2. Subscribe to the RSS Feed or 3. “like” Girl Heroes on Facebook. Simple dimple!

Journey with our family on the road at Newschool Nomads as we travel fulltime in RV through the United States!

Disclosure: I was provided a Ice Queen CamelBak  for the purpose of this review.  All opinions are my own.

The post Stay Hydrated Ice Queen: A Winter CamelBak Review appeared first on Girl Heroes.

We made the cover of a local paper!

I was a little nervous because the article could have taken a very different direction because sometimes people aren’t comfortable when others live unconventionally. As it turned out the article was better than we even imagined and really captures what it’s like to live full time in an RV with a family. You can read the article HERE.
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My workouts this week have consisted of snowboarding, walking, and two strength training workouts.  I meant to get in three strength workouts but it didn’t happen.

However amazing did happen.

Last night, we went snowboarding at sunset. I’ve been fortunate to experience a lot of incredible things in my life and riding down the Rockies at sunset is up there with hiking the Great Wall of China. Seriously. You can see the pictures on Newschool Nomads. (I didn’t want to cross post the photos since some of my friends and family read both blogs.) Talk about fitness at it’s finest!

I set a goal to walk 3,000,000 steps this year. To reach that goal I need to average 8,219 steps a day.

To keep myself accountable I’m going to share my monthly average.

In January, my daily average was 8,436.

It try to get as many steps as I can outside but much of the time it’s just too cold. It’s been weird having to walk on the treadmill after nearly three years of being “treadmill free”. Oddly, I don’t mind  it and some days I even enjoy it. I’ve been making up treadmill workouts to keep things interesting. I’ll try to post one later this week along with another kettlebell workout.

Hope you had a great weekend!

How are your New Year’s goals (if you set any) coming along? What amazing experiences have you had that you’ll remember forever?

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

Keep up with my kettlebell workouts, real food recipes, and more in one of three ways! 1. Sign up to have posts emailed to your inbox. 2. Subscribe to the RSS Feed or 3. “like” Girl Heroes on Facebook. Simple dimple!

Journey with our family on the road at Newschool Nomads as we travel fulltime in RV through the United States!

The post A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That appeared first on Girl Heroes.

It’s hard to believe we’ve been in Colorado for almost two months.

It’s been cold. It’s been challenging. It’s been fun at least when there aren’t icicles coming out of our faucet. True story.

Over the last few months, our heater broke twice (like I feared), our water has frozen multiple times, and I’m certain our RV has shrunk. Certain.

But we’ve also been hitting the slopes 3-5 times a week.  I love it and not because I’m a good snowboarder. I’m not.

Snowboarding makes me feel like Aladdin on a magic carpet, albeit, an off balance Aladdin but magical nonetheless. The only other sport I’ve tried and love as much as snowboarding is taekwondo. Now if we would just get some powder and fairy dust. Especially fairy dust so I don’t break anything next time I try the moguls.

This weekend had an unexpected treat. I met up with a group of women who I met on an online fitness forum almost 5 years ago. These women were some of the first people to inspire and encouragement on my own health journey back in the day when I did a figure competition. One of them, Tara, was even one of my first Girl Hero interviews. It was so much fun to finally meet them in person.

We went on a hike,

made a buff snowwoman,

and went to see the sculptures at the International Snow Sculpture Championships.

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

Keep up with my kettlebell workouts, real food recipes, and more in one of three ways! 1. Sign up to have posts emailed to your inbox. 2. Subscribe to the RSS Feed or 3. “like” Girl Heroes on Facebook. Simple dimple!

Journey with our family on the road at Newschool Nomads as we travel fulltime in RV through the United States!

The post What’s Up in Winter Wonderland. appeared first on Girl Heroes.

I thought I was fit and then I snowboarded.

I thought I was mentally stable and then I moved to the mountains in an RV for the winter.

We got up to the mountains last Wednesday evening.

Friday the boys and I went snowboarding. I only fell 10,000 times. The good news is I didn’t break anything.

My body felt like the egg that was in my pocket on my first day of snowboarding.

Saturday, I hurt. So. Bad. The only time I have been this sore was for my RKC certification.

Sunday, we woke up to frozen water pipes and ice on the inside of our windows and walls.

Ice on the INSIDE of our window.

You know how I talked about avoiding feeling overwhelmed. Well between being sore, single digit temperatures, having no water, and feeling trapped I had a meltdown. I’m starting to think I was idealizing spending the winter in the mountains in our RV and snowboarding. While Brent was outside in 3 degrees trying to thaw our fresh water tank I kept thinking, “We chose to do this?”

However, it isn’t just us who chose to do this. We are here with 3 other families we met on the road so at least we aren’t crazy alone. That is helping  so much.

Anyway, things have warmed up since the weekend (It’s in the 30s today!) and my spirits have started to lift little by little.

The campground even has a decent little fitness center. It’s been over a year since I’ve been in any sort of fitness facility.

I waited a few days to to adjust to the altitude but Monday I started working out and that has helped my mood tremendously.

I even wrote a flexible workout schedule.

Monday –  Full Body Kettlebell Workout and Walk (I’m still *trying* to get in my 10,ooo steps a day.
Tuesday – Snowboard
Wednesday – Full Body Kettlebell Workout and Walk
Thursday – Snowboard
Friday – Snowboard
Saturday – Full Body Kettlebell Workout and Walk
Sunday – Rest Day 

One of the things I was concerned about up here was getting good food.  As it turns out the other families we are with are into real food as well. My friend, Clementine found a grocery delivery service, Door to Door Organics, so our little group formed a co-op. It’s amazingly easy. Shopping online and having groceries delivered to our RV? Yes, please. It’s also surprisingly affordable. It’s easier not to make impulse purchases when you are watching your total.

All of this organic or local food, including a pound of cheese, organic (GMO free) tortillas, organic sour cream, and 4 dozen cage free eggs, was less than $90. I’m going to have to buy a few things from the regular store but it’s going to be easy to keep our grocery budget around $150 or less a week.

I don’t personally drink much milk unless it’s raw but I love that this milk is from a local source and comes in glass bottles.

I’ll finish off with a few pictures from the week.

Meow Cow wants to board too.

At least I didn’t fall off the lift until I had to get off.

Getting ready to hit the slopes. Brent waits to put his helmet on. I wear mine in the car because I’m that cool.

Thing One

Thing Two

So that’s it.

Any of you snowboard? Please tell me it’s get’s easier! I’m working on cutting down our grocery budget but I find it really hard to feed a family of four real food for less than $150 dollars a week. Any tips?

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

Keep up with my kettlebell workouts, real food recipes, and more in one of three ways! 1. Sign up to have posts emailed to your inbox. 2. Subscribe to the RSS Feed or 3. “like” Girl Heroes on Facebook. Simple dimple!

Journey with our family on the road at New School Nomads as we travel fulltime in RV through the United States!

The post I thought I was fit… appeared first on Girl Heroes.