Playground at 12:26 PM

The kids are loving the playground. We will be in NJ in about 3 and a half hours.

Lunch at 11:54 AM

Stopped for lunch. We are playing with the ducks in Carlisle PA.

Morning Workout at 8:28 AM

I tried the life fitness stepper. It was horrible so I switched to the True Recumbent bike. It was a great workout. I burned 620 calories.

Day Two, DS Stress at 4:01 PM

So we arrived to the hotel in Pennsylvania. Not sure exactly were. The hotel is nice. I’ll be jumping into the pool in a little while. I checked out the Fitness room and I’m looking forward to trying the lifestyle stepper.

So back to this morning. We packed up and loaded the van for the second leg of our travel to NJ. Kirsten began to flip out because the kids misplaced the DS bag (2 units and 12 games). She went through everything in the van and the hotel room. It was no where to be found. I decided to go look through the room myself. It was under one of the blankets on the bed. No big deal. We haven’t experienced much stress today. We are getting ready for the pool. Hopefully its not as cold as the last pool.

My Weight loss So Far at 9:34 AM

Here is my starting pic and one from November. The next one is from today, April 29th, 2009. I weighted in at 354 lbs. I can’t believe how far I have come in one year.

First Day of Vacation at 9:39 PM

Well, We are having a good time. It was a stressful morning though. We went to pick up an I-Pass device and we found out that our rental van had toll Violations on it to the tune of $87. The toll way customer service center at the Belvidere Oasis decided that because  we were driving a rental and didn’t have our personal car with us that he couldn’t sell us an I-Pass device. I got a little miffed at Enterprise and decided to see if I could get them to straighten the situation out. After three calls I headed back in to just pay the fines on the rental and get my I-Pass device.

I figured I could get Enterprise to credit me for the trouble at the end of my trip. I went back to the toll way Service counter and the gentlemen at the counter refused to let me pay someone else's toll violations, out of principal I suspect. He was astonished that I was even considering it. He then said get me your personal license plate number and I'll set it up on your car. I had a neighbor get my license plate # (i had no idea what it was). I set it up and was on my way. One note to mention in my conversations with Enterprise, they instructed me to blow the tolls. I told this to the toll way personnel and they were appalled. so was I. Kirsten did manage to get a hold of someone who gave a rip and they agreed that we would settle the issue when we returned to Freeport. Luckily I didn’t have to pay the toll violations. Crazy!! Well, we managed to make it into the pool here in Maumee, OH. We had fun and I had a workout. I’ll be working out on the Elliptical in the morning.

I’ve Reached 100 at 8:40 AM

I’ve made it so far this year. Hard work pays off. I’m really happy I’ve reached this point before my vacation. I was so close at the beginning of the week and now I can say I did it. I lost 100lbs in the last 12 months. It feels great. It will be even better next year. My Goal is to drop another 100lbs.

St. John’s Work Camp at 3:19 PM

Mark your calendars we will be holding the first St. John UCC Helix Work Camp. We will be taking requests for work for the next two months. Please drop me an E-mail and we will get you on our work schedule for the week. We home to assist as many people as we can. Do you have a job that needs to get done but need extra hands. We can help. kevinstjohn@aeroinc.net Let Helix be your A Team.

Larger than Life “Overnighter” at 10:17 AM

So I proposed an idea for our next lock-in and many of the youth were very interested. I’m in the process of up scaling several board games. One of the games is called Rumis.

Above are pictures of the original game. Each block is quite small so I have created pieces that are LARGER THAN LIFE!

This game at its tallest reached about 4 inches now it will be 5 feet. I have boxes that are the size of Jenga pieces as well. These boxes upscale Jenga from a game tower of about a foot high to a game towering seven feet. I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures the night we have the lock-in. I’m hoping for a June-July lock-in. If you have any other game ideas that I could upscale please let me know.

First Mobile Blog Post !!!!!!! at 2:57 PM

I love the new FiberPlus bars.

Been too Busy. at 9:00 AM

I've been off the blogging grid for a few weeks. I've been using all my "free" time to work on a big photo/video project. It will be released here the first week in May. Check back for more details.

Home Stretch at 6:03 PM

So the FHN fit challenge ends in a few weeks and I want to meet my weight loss goal by then. I need to up my burned calories from exercise from 450cal a day to 1500cal. I managed to burn 10,000 calories from exercise this week. I will keep this pace up for the next few weeks until the end of the fit challenge and the beginning of my vacation. I'll be working out on my vacation but not to this extent.
I also joined a contest through NutriMirror.com that runs until april 27th. They are giving away this really awesome portable resistance band home Gym. Check it out.

I've been using my resistance band for a couple of months now and I love it. I could use this setup so I'm really working hard to shed the pound. If your looking for a weight loss program that works please check out First Place 4 Health and NutriMirror.com. It's working awesome for me. It wont be long before I hit a big milestone in my weight loss. I'll keep you posted.

Homemade Almond Butter at 7:34 PM

So I've been on this crazy health kick and I heard that peanut butter has some toxicity. If your interested in doing the research just Google it. If not enjoy that PBJ, you only live once. I heard this and thought, are there other options. Is there a better choice I could make? I heard on Digg Nation that Almond Butter was delicious and full of antioxidants. So I thought I should try it. After looking at Walmart, Sullivans and Cubs we managed to find a 12oz jar for $8. I enjoyed it but I eat it every day. So I tried to make my own about a month ago but it just wasn't creamy enough. I did some more research and managed to make Almond butter with no added ingredients. That's right folks, Sodium free. Take a look at your peanut butter jar and tell me how much sodium you find per serving. If you decided to chart your sodium intake I bet you would be surprised. I know I was. It took alot of sacrifice to get my sodium under control. My homemade Almond butter is helping me enjoy the new choices I have made.