4500 Klicks and $9000 in funds!

Our not-so-little fund, is up to $9000!! There have been generous donations from wonderful friends and family. Hard working efforts by Oma and Nonno including a recent garage sale at Wistow to bring in more funds...

This sidewalk is going in!

And we are up to 4500km. These last 500 Klicks have been amazing and fun. We earned these last 500km on our vacation to England. From London, ON to London, England. Walked the whole way! Ok, no, but we walked a lot around England.

This is the Big Bit after a 9 hour plane, 1 hour bus and 2 hour train ride:

And the Middle Bit as soon as she could sit down and hold the nephew-bit aka the Little Colonel.

I was able to go on a few runs while we visited my brother and his family. I can run so much farther and faster in England. Is it the cooler climate or the promise of scones and clotted cream at the end of the run??

Now THAT's the way to earn some Klicks! Middle-Bit is in the background tending to the Little Colonel.

The girls made some interesting phone calls on our ramblings about.

And the Big Bit learned a big bit about some big rocks.

The Little Bit acted every bit the royal.

While I snuggled The Little Colonel every chance I could!

The Big Bit made some friends with floating men.

And a two headed monster was spotted.

The Big Bit got in a bit o' trouble...

But found her way to the Eye in spite of the spear!

We straddled East and West in Greenwich...

And made it back to Home Sweet Home. 500km to go...

20 songs, 40 people, 1 bus and 4 stops

The air has been fantastic. We were "in the deep freeze" for a few days but are now having a warm up and the weather is perfect. We're earning lots of Klicks!

Last night, The Dad and I earned a Klick or two in an oh-so-fun pub crawl and caroling. I've never been on a pub crawl, no time like your late 30's to start, I suppose!

The rules were that you had to either dress as Santa or an angel; we chose Santa. 4 bars, a bus and 20 songs.

It was a bit interesting with a bus full of middle-age Santas who had all been up since 6am or so and all had to be up at 6am or so the next morning (well, at least those of us with little alarm clocks that buzz "Mommy!" at 6am). Everyone had a great time and about 1/2 the group was home by midnight. We made it home by 12:30-ish. Not too bad for a couple of parents!

A very amusing discovery... in the 3rd pub-stop we had mulled wine in a library/pub. Great idea, if you ask me! Looking at the books, we couldn't help but laugh. Check out the titles and sing (if you remember Sesame Street) "one of these things is not like the other, which one doesn't belong..."

Autumn Angst

High pollution + lots of rain = low klick achievement

I finally claimed my place in the gym on a treadmill to get some Klicks in. Monday-Wednesday gained 40.5 km.

The Beijing International Marathon is coming up but the spots are limited; I didn't make it onto the roster. One of my friends made it and is training but is injured. She may have to bow out. So I'm back in training! Basically, I'm the "understudy" for a 1/2 marathon runner.

10% Done!

I haven't posted because my computer has been on the fritz then crashed.  But I'm back AND.....

We hit the 500km mark!

In order to finish our 5000 klicks by May 31, we need to go 500km each month.  For August, we did it!

Truth be told, I am a little worried because this first 500 also included July. But it also included flights and the beginning of school. So hopefully we can keep up this pace...

Fantastic way to earn Klicks!

We visited Longqingxia or the Longqing Gorge today. It was beautiful. We walked, rode a dragon escalator, rode boats, climbed, walked more, toured a strange cave decorated to show the seasons and regions of China and rode a giant toboggan style slide with no safety measures. A true China Style day.

The majority of our walking was done going up stairs. Ok, maybe not the majority of our walking but a great bit of our time anyway! We were attempting to reach the Illusion Temple. We made it about half way and then little legs sat down refusing to go up another step. I can't really blame them, it was a long way up.

The scenery today was amazing the the girls were troopers. The Dad, aka Tool Man, aka Shutter Bug, took some beautiful pictures. These two best show where we were walking. It's so hard to capture just how deep this gorge is. Maybe the little Chinese heads in the first picture give some perspective?

We had to estimate the distance as I forgot to start my "Map My Run" ap. Sorry about that. We were with another couple, both Canadians, who estimated we walked about 8km. They are both experienced in land nav, so they may be right. But Brian and I didn't think we walked that much; so we are guessing 5km. Multiply that by 5... not a bad day for klick earning.

All tallied, 29.5km today, all walking!

Saturday update

More great AQI.

Dad's kilometers for the week: 9.5

Our family AQI for today: 16.5

The dog we are puppy sitting may be wearing out! This was all he had left at the end of the day today... poor pup!

Fantastic AQI!

What a fantastic day! It started out with a high AQI but dropped so I was able to get in lots of biking and walking today. The girls claimed it was "too hot" so they didn't add much. But hopefully the air will be nice again tomorrow and we'll all get in on the fun!

21 km today.

Catching Up, Posting Klicks

It has been a whirl-wind few weeks. This is my catch-up post.

We've walked, biked, run and swam some clicks in the last few weeks. One thing I am finding interesting is that our 5 doing 5000 goal is becoming part of our daily discussion. I am impressed with how attentive to this goal, this idea of doing something for Chrissy, the girls are.

So, to catch up:

Dad:
Walking to work every day for 3 weeks: 22.5
Running: 11
Biking to and from school: 10

Mom:
an Olympic distance triathlon (whoot!): 51.5KM
I finally was able to go run! Clear head and sweaty: 4.5km
To and from and to and from and to and from ... the bus stop: 4km

Girls:
Again with the to and from and from and to... : 12km

Add them together and...
115.5

Running those Klicks

I ran today with my brother-in-law. I went so much faster than I have been... and it felt great!

6km later, I still felt great!

Through the Dunes!

This week the girls and I visited Port Aransas, Texas. We stayed in a lovely little condo right behind the dunes. We walked every day to the beach and back to our condo.

.5 km to the beach
.5 km back to the condo

Tuesday:
All four of us made the trip once = 4km
Three of us made the trip a second time = 3km

Wednesday:
All four of us made the trip once = 4km

For a total of 11km

First Klicks

Our first Klicks are very special. B and I went for a kid-less Kayak trip down the Thames. No, not THAT Thames, the other Thames. Same name, different continent.

We Kayaked 13 Kilometers. 13 down, 4987 to go!