The Saturday 7

1. I hinted at this in my last post, but it's finally official: Justin and I are going to an all-inclusive resort for 6 days to celebrate our 20th anniversary! I feel weird about sharing exactly where and when, but suffice it to say that it is out of the country, and somewhere warm and tropical. 🌴🌞 I am equal parts excited and nervous. I've never been out of the U.S. - not even to Canada. We turned in our passport applications today, so hopefully they'll get here in time! 😬 Mostly I'm nervous about the unknowns - flying internationally, navigating customs, getting from the airport to the resort (although I specifically chose a resort that offers shuttle service, so hopefully that won't be a big deal), and even silly little things like - am I supposed to tip at the resort? Will they take American money? Of course I'm also nervous about flying, getting kidnapped in a foreign country, and leaving my kids orphans, but hopefully Xanax will help with that. I'm excited to finally experience an all-inclusive resort. I see people go to them all the time - heck, half my kids' friends have been to them - but it has always been a pipe dream for me. I can't wait for all the buffets and pools and beaches. I might even try a few different alcoholic drinks if they're free! Honestly, everything sounds good right now because . . .

2. I'm back on Keto. 😭 Now that it's official, I have a real incentive to lose some serious weight. I did Keto 4 years ago for just 4 weeks, and lost like 8 pounds. This time, I have a lot longer time frame, so I'm hoping to lose a lot more weight. I figure, it's also a good conclusion to my "Summer of Self-Control." Because that's what dieting really is - telling myself "no" over and over and over again. Why Keto? My parents and sister are currently doing either Keto or something similar, so there's some solidarity there. And it's something I've already researched and had results from. It doesn't hurt that it's also a diet that people tend to lose a lot of weight quickly on. Because let's be real. This is not a permanent "lifestyle change." I want to get hot for my husband one last time before we croak. This is a last ditch effort.

3. I started Keto on Monday, so I'm six days in and have lost 3 pounds. Of course, most of that was the result of a very unfortunate reaction to sugar alcohols. I don't know if I didn't have as many sugar alcohols last time I did Keto, or if I'm just old and already have stomach issues this time around, but it was not a pleasant experience. Fortunately, my sister the dietician recognized what was causing my issues right away and told me to avoid any sweetener ending with "ol," sticking instead to stevia, sucralose, aspartame, etc. I'm sad that the delicious granola bars from Aldi were probably my main problem. That's the hardest part - giving up sweets. It gets better with practice, right? Right?? For now, I'm just eating a lot of cheese, meat, almonds, and this amazing 0 Net Carb bread from Aldi slathered in butter and/or Choc Zero strawberry jam. Maybe if it ever cools down, I can try out some of the Keto brownie and cookie recipes I've found, but I can't use my oven in this heat.

4. Last Sunday, in anticipation of Keto taking over my life, we made one last trip to the Pump House for the summer, and walked around Rockford a little bit. (Lucy was there too, she's just not as eager to be in pictures.)

Levi desperately needs a haircut before school pictures on Thursday. When am I ever going to have time for that??

5. On Wednesday, we did something Levi's been begging to do for years: a water balloon fight. I've been collecting those "bunch-o-balloon" water balloons whenever I find them on super clearance, but I never want to let Levi throw them all over the yard, leaving all those little pieces behind. I finally gave in to the begging, though. Nova was already here, NGK came over, and we invited Nash to join the fun. I filled 200 balloons . . . which lasted them about 4 minutes. Lol. And I made them pick up all the little pieces, so everyone was happy.

6. Thursday was our last cousin fun day of the summer. 😭 A few weeks ago we gave the kids a choice between Boulder Ridge or the Children's Museum, and were all shocked when they almost unanimously chose the children's museum! Then Esther, Rieley, Brandy, and Madi couldn't come, so we asked the kids if they'd rather just have another pool day at Aunt Karen's, but they insisted they wanted to go to the children's museum! So off we went. I drove downtown, used the parking app to park on the street, and didn't hit any pedestrians, so it was a success. The kids enjoyed the museum, and lunch at Culver's afterward. (I ate a sad salad and didn't steal a single fry or lick of ice cream from my kids. #selfcontrol)