Business Trip Crashers

Top 10 highlights of crashing Taber's business trip:

1) We got to stay at a fancy schmancy resort where everyone treated Teya and Brinley like celebrities since this wasn't exactly a place you'd expect to see kids.

2) Room service! I don't know why I love it so much but I do.

3) Staying up late and watching movies in bed with my girlies.

4) Swimming in the deliciously warm heated pool

5) Having the pool all to ourselves while we were there!

6) exploring the beautiful grounds in beautiful weather

7) Having time to stop and smell the flowers.

8) Meeting up with Taber during his breaks and just being able to see him so much while we were there.

9) Stopping at the Ice House for some Giant ice cream cones that were soo good!

10) Spending uninterrupted time with my kids without any distractions or obligations.

When Taber found out he would be staying at a beautiful resort in the nearby coastal town of Portsmouth he invited us to come along. We were happy to come and escape the heat in our non air-conditioned house! It turned out to be tons of fun and super relaxing. Something so nice about not having to worry about chores, house cleaning, or other obligations. We got home today and thankfully the temperatures have cooled down! We're heading to Maine for Memorial Day weekend but when we get back we're installing some window A/C units!

Spontaneous Beach Day

On Tuesday the forecast was calling for temperatures in the 90's. Normally that would be fine except for one major problem. Our house doesn't have air conditioning. Apparently that's not totally unusual out here in New Hampshire since supposedly it doesn't get very hot. Well I wasn't about to turn into a baked potato in my house so when my friend Becca, who also doesn't have AC, called and invited me on a last minute beach trip I said, "Heck Yeah!"

We drove out to Hampton, about an hour or so from where we live. It took us awhile because everyone in the state of New Hampshire seemed to have the same great idea ; ) Once we got there though it was so worth it!

This was Teya and Brinley's first real beach experience and holy cow did they LOVE it! The tide was out so there were lots of little shallow puddles to play in. Teya ran and ran up and down the water front. Brinley tried to keep up but ended up settling for puddle splashing closer to me.

I took a million pictures because 1) I have a habit of doing that anyway and 2) Seeing my kids at the beach for the first time was just sooo stinking cute!

After about 20 minutes of running like a crazy person up and down the coast, Teya settled down with her buddy Isaac to work on sandcastles.

A lot of digging and splashing was in involved.

Then Teya discovered a giant puddle/pond where she could really swim around.

It was nice because the puddles were a lot warmer than the ocean so the kids loved them.

Puddle Bellies

Even though we didn't plan for it, I can't think of a better way we could've spent the day. Thanks Becca for inviting us and helping us escape the heat : )

Brainy Baby

Brinley has been singing her ABC's for awhile now but this is the first time I've heard her pretty much nail the whole song. She even sings the, "Now I know my ABC's, next time won't you sing with me " part at the end. Keep in mind she still speaks "Toddlerease", so the sounds get jumbled a bit, but not bad for 22 months.

p.s. please ignore her hair. I promise I do it sometimes. maybe....

Brinley's ABCs from Rigg Family on Vimeo.

Banana Crumble Muffin Recipe

Here it is for those who asked! Click here: Awesome banana muffins

I added a 1/2 tsp vanilla and substituted 1/3 cup of olive oil for the butter to lose the trans fats : )

Go Bananas!

Remember these? There were over 150 bananas in that lovely loot. A few more than our normal 24 per week quota. : )

And since bananas go bad pretty quickly, we had to get busy. We chopped up half of them and frooze them for smoothies later on. And then I started baking. The Banana crumble muffins I made were just heavenly. Ended up making them twice last week.

Then we discovered an easy and A-M-A-Z-I-N-G recipe for bananas foster. HOLY BANANA-RONI! Had to make that twice too.

After the bananas foster I thought maybe I should try something a little healthier. I found a weightwatchers recipe for Banana Oat bread. Very hearty and quite filling.

On Sunday morning the girls helped me make banana pancakes. We topped them with the most divine homemade banana syrup. Taste bud nirvana.

Strawberry/banana and chocolate/banana smoothies were also a big hit for breakfast during our banana week.

And of course, whenever the girls wanted a snack, they still asked for plain old bananas. : )

People thought we were crazy taking home all those bananas but my Dad always taught me, "Waste not, want not. " Dad, I hope this makes you proud : )

"Collapse Complete"

That was the headline of the Sports Section Saturday morning after the Boston Bruins sealed their place in the hall of shame as only one in 3 teams EVER to lose a series after being up 3-0 after game 3. I don't know how they choked so bad but we were there to witness the final meltdown in game 7.

The house was packed, the fans were on fire. I have never been in a more fiesty and pumped up crowd. They wanted to send the Flyers packing and they were thirsty for blood!

At the end of period 1 the Bruins were up 3-0! The excitement in the arena was electric.

We were dutifully playing our part as fan wanna-bes, sporting Bruins t-shirts and waving our rally towels with hardcore devotion.

But things went sour very quickly. Philly scored twice and the Bruins fans started getting antsy. When a third goal was scored tying the game, a fight broke out in the stands next to us with a Boston and a Philly Fan slugging it out. The whole arena turned to watch the fight and then began chanting "LET HIM STAY! LET HIM STAY!" when the security guys were escorting the Boston fan out.

The fans rallied around their team for one last push. People were up on their feet, screaming, stomping, cheering those Bruins on to end. But Philly scored again and somehow the Bruins went from this score:

to the most pathetic and dismal loss I've ever witnessed. When the final buzzer went off everyone started booing and throwing their towels on the ice. People were throwing their beer too which wasn't cool when it started raining down on us. As we were leaving I heard more potty language than I have in my entire life. On the way out we saw grown men close to tears yelling things like,

"41 games of my *bleeping* time and *bleepity bleep* money! What a waste!"

"I'm Humiliated! *bleeping* HUMILIATED!"

It was sad.

Guess that's the benefit of just being a wanna-be fan. : ) Despite the doom and gloom around us were still in high spirits. We had a babysitter and we were in Boston on a Friday night! Heck yeah!

We hailed a pedicab (I've always wanted to ride one!) and weaved through the game traffic to the Omni Parker House hotel, birthplace of the very first Boston Cream Pie.

While thousands of dejected Bruins fans were drowning their sorrows in beer, we were happily enjoying this marvelous creation.

When all was said and done I learned a few important things from our evening in Beantown.

1) Boston fans are passionate and they mean business. Don't mess with them or their teams or you might get punched in the face.

2) Pedicabs are awesome, and pedicab drivers deserve every penny you pay them because they work HARD!

3) If coming out here to visit us isn't enough incentive for you, at least come for the Boston cream pie. Amazing : )

Grillin' like a Villian

Grilling weather is here and Taber is loving it.

I am too of course, less cooking for me!!

The other day he brought home some trout that a guy from work gave him.

How can an Alaska boy say no to fresh fish?

He grilled it up and the biggest surprise of the night- Teya (her royal pickiness) LOVED it!

She ate an entire fish and asked for more.

She wasn't even grossed out by the head and dead fishy eyeballs

(can't say the same for myself)

Like Father like Daughter I guess!

Run My Guts Out!

On Saturday I went into my 5K race with one goal: Run my guts out! I've put in many miles in my short running career but I've never run a race where I put the "pedal to the metal" the whole way and left everything out there on the course. On Saturday I had no intention of holding anything back. I wanted to see how fast these little legs could carry me.

Leading up to the race I did a lot of speed training and I knew I could hold an 8:00 minute pace for 3.1 miles. It was torturous and not fun, but I did it once in training and was confident I could do it in my race. That would put me in around 25 minutes, beating my old record. That was my original plan. But then a bunch of my friends ran a 5K last week and they KILLED it! All coming in under 24 minutes. These are the girls I ran the Ragnar with last year and their hardcore finish times inspired me to push myself more. I decided to shoot for under 24 minutes too. To do this I would have to average around a 7:45 min pace. I've never done that for more than 1 mile so I was nervous and definitely had some serious doubts. Still, I once heard it's better to aim high and miss then to aim low and reach your target.

At 7:30 am our babysitter showed up and Taber and I took off for Boston. We were kind of giddy in the car. It was crazy to be out early on a Saturday morning with no kids. I felt like we were in college on a date or something. Wouldn't that be a cute date? Run a 5K together? : ) Anyway, we were excited and we were strategizing about the best way for me to reach my goal. While we were talking he said something that really stuck with me and ended up helping me in the race. "When your lungs start to burn and your legs are throbbing just remember, it's only 24 minutes, and then it's OVER! You can hold on for 24 minutes, just push through the pain."

So often when I run I shy away from pushing myself beyond what's comfortable. Truth is though, sometimes there is a good pain. The kind that will be temporary but will bring you to the next level. I wanted to get to the next level, so I was determined to push through the pain.

Me and Taber in our warm up gear before the race

When we got there it was raining, but the show must go on. We picked up our numbers, warmed up, stretched out and lined up at the starting line. There were over 1000 runners and I wasn't about to weave around anyone so I lined up at the front with all the fast people. Hey, if I was gonna be fast I had to act the part right?

Standing in the rain before lining up at the start. This is the last pic we took because I didn't want the camera to get soaked, which it definitely would have.

The horn went off and my mind switched over into "get it done" mode. I zoned out everyone around me and just ran. I didn't look at my watch to check my pace, I just made my legs move as fast as they could without sprinting. I don't even think the second song on my iPod finished playing when I got to the first mile marker. There was a guy there calling out our split times. I ran by as he yelled 6:45. Holy smokes! I just finished my first mile in 6 minutes 45 seconds!!?? That made me feel partly elated at having run my fastest mile ever, and party horrified that I had gone out so fast and could very likely run out of gas before the end. At the halfway point I started getting a little light headed and as these things usually go, the farther I ran, the harder it got. By mile 2 I was fading, luckily one of my "power" songs came on and helped me pick up the pace again. Thank goodness for iPods and Justin Bieber!

The last mile is always the longest. I hate it when I see the finish line and it still looks so far away. My lungs were burning and everything hurt. Pushing through the pain sounds a lot easier when you're not actually trying to do it! Still, I held on to Taber's advice and made myself keep pushing. I reached the 3 mile mark, the rain was pouring down in torrents at this point and I could barely see, but I sprinted in that last 10th of a mile and crossed the finish line in 23:28. Average pace: 7:33 per mile. I did it. I ran my guts out!

I felt the weirdest combo of emotions crossing the finish line. I was gasping for air, my legs were shaking and my head was throbbing, but It didn't seem to matter because I was wrapped in the delicious satisfaction of reaching my goal. I tried to catch my breath for a second and then turned around just in time to see Taber cross the line less than 20 seconds after I did. Not bad for a guy who just started training! We hugged and high fived and shared a big wet kiss (Hey, it was pouring rain and we were sweaty, wet is the only kind of kiss we could give!)

The rain was coming down so hard we literally looked like we had just jumped in the ocean. We were drenched to the bone so we went back to the car, changed into dry clothes and then went to check out some of the demonstrations. The race was called the Boston Marine Corps Honor Run and it was pretty impressive to see the marines there in uniform with their weapons and machinery. Definitely gives you a sense of respect for the men and women who defend our country.

Standing with one of the few, the proud : )

They had a bunch of tanks lined up on the beach for a demonstration later that afternoon. I'm so bummed we missed it!

One last pic by these amphibious tanks. I like this one because the flash caught some of the raindrops and you can actually see them coming down.

On our way out we noticed that there were tons of bananas left over and they were just going to throw them away! Our family literally goes through about 24 bananas a week so when the lady said, "Take them" We gladly obliged! In the end it was the perfect morning. A fun date with my hubby, a new PR, and the mother load of bananas to bring home as victory loot!

Happy Mother's Day

Today I'm grateful to be a mother

And grateful for the two amazing moms in my life.

Happy Mother's Day

Friday Foto: Thinking of Nashville

This pic was taken about 3 years ago when my parents and sisters came to visit us in Tennessee. We took them to the Opry Mills Mall and Hotel as well as a quick stop at the Grand Ole Opry House. Those were always some of my favorite places to visit when we lived there.

This last week I've been overwhelmed and saddened by the pictures coming out of Nashville. It especially broke my heart to see the Opry Mills Mall, Hotel, and Grand Ole Opry house under 10 feet of water.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the people in Nashville and everyone who's been affected by this natural disaster. If you want to donate or volunteer for help you can visit the Hands On Nashville website Here.