Searching for summer
I am still alive, but I haven't had very many interesting photos lately, and we are in the same routine as last year--I spend a ton of time driving kids to school and various extracurriculars, and now that we've entered the cold season, I also spend a lot of time shivering. So it is not from lack of interest in posting--it's just that I don't want to sound redundant!
(When I say cold, I mean the -30 degree windchill of the other morning. Ow. Why do I live here again?)
One thing we have done lately is to get a gym membership. I am not a gym person, and neither is anyone in our family. But we have a kid who's been running cross country this year, like my husband did in high school, and they've been running together all summer. The season may have ended, but they want to keep running (the 14YO just does better at everything when he gets a little regular exercise). But--as you can see, extreme cold is a problem. So we broke down and got a membership for the winter. Our first visit went something like this:
Nice membership lady: I used to work in a bookstore, but it was so awful I quit. Then I got on here--and it's wonderful!
Me: (stares)
NML: And here are all the wonderful $7000 machines we have! Work those upper muscles! Come to the spin class and bike like a maniac! Only...you can only use these ones during class because they cost so much. But any of these machines out here on the floor, you can use. Just ask an employee to show you how to work it first. Because expensive.
Me: (backs away in case of touching something and destroying it)
NML: Look at this fabulous machine! You can watch programs on it, "ride" trails. And look, it comes in different languages!
Me and spouse: (These machines all look eerily like the Roma birthing wheel we saw on a tour of a German labor and delivery room once.We are scared. If we use this machine, do we get to listen to Mayan midwives crooning?)
NML: You can totally hook up your phone.
Me: (Which machines can you put a book on? Better yet, which machines have space to put a laptop on, so I can finish writing a book while I'm getting exercise?)
Both of us: Er...could we just walk around your indoor track once?
NML: (stares as if to say, did you not hear a word I just said???)
Other general observations: there is babysitting for toddlers and there are some limited activities for kids 8 and up, but 6YOs fall into a void. We came back with the family--because we got a family membership, see--and the 6YO was utterly frustrated because there was nothing for him to do. And anyway, a parent has to be right next to a kid while in there. Which means that if we all go, some of us get to exercise and some don't. Although given that those expensive machines scare me a little, I think I'm good with running on the track and swimming (the only two things he CAN do).
Also, Camazotz. I am so grateful there IS an indoor track, don't get me wrong! I like the views of the parking lot, the pool, the tennis courts, and the people doing weights. But all too quickly, you return to the site where people are using treadmills and...all those other machines whose names I don't know. They are all staring at the screen. They are all moving in identical rhythms. It's either a giant hamster wheel or Camazotz (and since we have a building near us that looks eerily like CENTRAL Central intelligence, well...)
Now, feel free to come back in three months and poke fun at me for my ignorance now. Because our insurance will give us money back if we go X times per month, which sort of means we HAVE to go to make it worth it. And given how sore my ankles are after a two-month hiatus from running and then running on a totally new surface, I'm going to HAVE to ask someone how to use one of those mysterious machines.
Who knows. I might even like it. *nods in perfect time and hops on the hamster wheel*
(When I say cold, I mean the -30 degree windchill of the other morning. Ow. Why do I live here again?)
One thing we have done lately is to get a gym membership. I am not a gym person, and neither is anyone in our family. But we have a kid who's been running cross country this year, like my husband did in high school, and they've been running together all summer. The season may have ended, but they want to keep running (the 14YO just does better at everything when he gets a little regular exercise). But--as you can see, extreme cold is a problem. So we broke down and got a membership for the winter. Our first visit went something like this:
Nice membership lady: I used to work in a bookstore, but it was so awful I quit. Then I got on here--and it's wonderful!
Me: (stares)
NML: And here are all the wonderful $7000 machines we have! Work those upper muscles! Come to the spin class and bike like a maniac! Only...you can only use these ones during class because they cost so much. But any of these machines out here on the floor, you can use. Just ask an employee to show you how to work it first. Because expensive.
Me: (backs away in case of touching something and destroying it)
NML: Look at this fabulous machine! You can watch programs on it, "ride" trails. And look, it comes in different languages!
Me and spouse: (These machines all look eerily like the Roma birthing wheel we saw on a tour of a German labor and delivery room once.We are scared. If we use this machine, do we get to listen to Mayan midwives crooning?)
NML: You can totally hook up your phone.
Me: (Which machines can you put a book on? Better yet, which machines have space to put a laptop on, so I can finish writing a book while I'm getting exercise?)
Both of us: Er...could we just walk around your indoor track once?
NML: (stares as if to say, did you not hear a word I just said???)
Other general observations: there is babysitting for toddlers and there are some limited activities for kids 8 and up, but 6YOs fall into a void. We came back with the family--because we got a family membership, see--and the 6YO was utterly frustrated because there was nothing for him to do. And anyway, a parent has to be right next to a kid while in there. Which means that if we all go, some of us get to exercise and some don't. Although given that those expensive machines scare me a little, I think I'm good with running on the track and swimming (the only two things he CAN do).
Also, Camazotz. I am so grateful there IS an indoor track, don't get me wrong! I like the views of the parking lot, the pool, the tennis courts, and the people doing weights. But all too quickly, you return to the site where people are using treadmills and...all those other machines whose names I don't know. They are all staring at the screen. They are all moving in identical rhythms. It's either a giant hamster wheel or Camazotz (and since we have a building near us that looks eerily like CENTRAL Central intelligence, well...)
Now, feel free to come back in three months and poke fun at me for my ignorance now. Because our insurance will give us money back if we go X times per month, which sort of means we HAVE to go to make it worth it. And given how sore my ankles are after a two-month hiatus from running and then running on a totally new surface, I'm going to HAVE to ask someone how to use one of those mysterious machines.
Who knows. I might even like it. *nods in perfect time and hops on the hamster wheel*