Family Camping, The Paleo Plunge, and Shop Talk

Wow, it's been one of those months where I look back and wonder where the time has gone.

How quickly it goes by when we are busy having fun!

We just returned home from a week long family camping trip to the Mt. Hood National Forest.

After nearing being eaten alive by mosquitoes at Olallie Lake, we hopped back in the truck and changed plans. We needed a new place to camp, and preferable one with less blood sucking insects.

On map duty, I spotted a place that sounded interesting: Bear Skull Springs

Only as we entered that area, we ran into a mama bear and her cub (almost literally), so we decided we would press on...to any place that didn't include bear, or cougar in the name.

We soon found Summit Lake, and decided to call it home for the week.

For our little campers, we took lots of fun stuff for activities, arts and crafts. A big hit this year was rock painting. Our youngest turned two when we were there so we also had a birthday party. It was soooo hard for me not to decorate and make a big deal about it. At the last minute I contemplated painting a banner with the paints the girls were using for their rock masterpieces, but knew that my husband would give me a bad time, so I resisted.

We did have cupcakes, a candle, song and gifts.....oh and music, because our 5 year old insisted it's not a party without music!

Luckily, we had very few neighbors (I'm talking maybe one other person every night). It was quiet...well, except for our own noise, which I am used to. We hiked, laughed, played, and napped. It was a rejuvenating trip, that I needed dearly.

The girls were in heaven, picking wildflowers, hiking, and getting filthy.

Our oldest even did a little photography (she took the one above)

We ventured out to nearby lakes...this one, Little Crater Lake, was indigo blue, 45' deep, and you could see all of the way to the bottom.

While away, the fresh air got to my head, errr, should I said cleared my head.

I decided it was time to make some much needed changes.

For some time now, I have been feeling tired, low on energy, and just not very good. Having a family history of diabetes, I started talking with my hubby about his new food lifestyle...

The Caveman Diet

aka Paleo, Primal Blueprint, whatever you want to call it-it's the idea that our bodies were not designed to process grains and that it is best to eliminate them from the diet. This sounded absolutely absurd to me when my husband first started looking into it. In fact, I will admit to making fun of him for it on more than one occasion.

I will also admit that I am a carb-y.

I love my carbs.

But, after doing some internet research (or rather after picking my husband's brain about his internet research), I decided it was time for a change, and this could be a good one for me. I am not, and will never be a dieter. I am just going to take this one day at a time and see if it works for me. So far, I have not had grains since yesterday morning, and it is HARD. However, I am assured that once over the hump, it gets easier. I also started looking into ways to satisfy my hunger, and carb urges. I picked up some Almond Meal today and am going to attempt substituting for flour/breadcrumbs.

On tonight's menu, bread less meatloaf...I will let you know how it turns out.

On to Shop Talk

There are new women's flasks, aka Cowgirl Canteens™ listed in the shop. Blogger isn't cooperating with my on the hyperlink, but if you click on the big pink cash register in the right sidebar, you'll find them!