Man oh man those TRX straps own me! They’re seriously legit and get my arms shaking as I try to stabilize myself. I have a feeling sore triceps are in my future after today’s upper body workout.
I began my time at the gym with a two-mile run before completing the following exercises:
And just like that, it was time for breakfast!
Breakfast
On the menu for today was strawberry banana overnight oats that I made by combining the following in a Tupperware container last night:
- 3/4 cup old fashioned oats
- 6 ounces strawberry banana Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 banana, sliced
This morning, I added a few fresh banana slices on top before digging in.
Nice and thick!
Camping: Love It or Loathe It?
This weekend as my family and I sat around the campfire making s’mores on Saturday night, we started talking about our old camping adventures. (Shout out to those of you who noticed Ryan drunkenly paying homage to the song “I Wear My Sunglasses at Night” around the fire.)
Ryan joked with my parents saying that I describe my family’s camping adventures as the holy grail of camping. Seriously though, my family and I had a blast camping when I was growing up and I have wonderful memories associated with our camping trips.
I told Ryan that we were “gourmet” campers. We slept in tents and everything, but when it came to food, we made seriously delicious meals over the campfire, like beef stew or trout caught fresh from a nearby stream.
Just check out the tent my parents set up:
Totally kidding. 
Our tent looked more like this:
Only minus the bear.
Since I wasn’t an early riser until after college, as a child my sister and I would sleep in on camping trips and wake up to the smell of bacon and eggs cooking on the campfire. It was fantastic!
I haven’t gone camping with my family in years, though I have pitched a tent with friends. (<—I really need to bust out my awesome hat from those pictures again!)
Camping adventures with friends include lots of beer (Natty Light, baby), granola bars for breakfast and hot dogs on a stick for dinner. Not quite the same thing as family camping, but fun in a different way!
My family and I are hoping to plan a fun camping trip next month if the timing works out with everyone’s schedule. I’m already excited about it!
Question of the Morning
- Camping: Love it or loathe it?
- What is your favorite thing to do on a camping trip?
My answers:
Love it (obviously) and my favorite thing to do while camping is hike, make s’mores and play random games around the campfire like Would You Rather? and Catch Phrase.
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I used to love camping with my family every summer as a kid. We used to go a couple times each summer, but we used a pop-up camper and not a tent because my mom is a wimp 🙂
It was still a blast tho! and I still remember the smell of waking up to eggs and bacon on the grill!
I have so many great camping stories and memories from growing up. One of the best desserts we ever made was cake mix put in hollow out orange peals. Wrapped in foil and cooked in the fire. And s’mores with peanut butter!
I love camping! My favorite part is sitting around the fire, drinking hot toddies, and visiting with friends.
If I can be one of those gourmet campers, I’m in! Otherwise, I prefer the Hilton. But I do know how to have fun regardless, so I guess that’s the most important thing…
Love it!! We need to plan a trip! My mom would only pick out camping sites that had showers and electricity…so we could watch TV at night…what else are you supposed to do??! 😉
Hi Julie! When you do your strength training, are the weight amounts listed per arm? Like with the bicep curls, are they free weights with 15 lbs per arm…or are they with a bar with 15lbs total? You might inspire me to increase my weight…at least for the first set… 🙂
yes! per arm! i used two 15 lb. dumbbells for biceps. 🙂
I absolutely LOVE to camp! I was raised in a small town in Northern Canada and nothing is better than looking up at a night sky full of stars next to a fire. Heaven.
I’m sorry, I had something to say until you said “natty light” and now drinking memories are forcing me to go puke. Later gator.
I love camping!! But I need to be in a tent. I don’t live at home anymore, but once in awhile my entire family takes the trailer out camping…and I bring my own tent 🙂
Just got back from a fabulous weekend of camping at Palo Duro Canyon in Canyon, TX! Who would have thought that something so beautiful would be that close to Amarillo, TX?!
My family is definitely not campers and the only other camping trip I’ve been on was a week-long trip hiking in Colorado at Wilderness with my high school Young Life group. It was one of the most amazing trips I’ve ever been on! This past weekend was also pretty awesome! Anytime I get to hike, I am a happy girl! That would definitely be my favorite part about the great outdoors!
Love it your not too far from Salt Springs
I think camping is fun i you have the right company! I went on a camping trip with my boyfriend and some of our college friends and we had a blast!
Not a camping fan…it may have something to do with the fact that my dad is the epitome of mountain/wilderness man (think conan the barbarian) so our trips were more like survival trips. I love my sweet Daddy but he never understood why I didn’t want to “build character” that way. 😉
I went camping last weekend for the very first time, and I thought that I’d hate it. I am not exactly an outdoorsy girl. I loved it though and cannot wait to go again!
Ahh I can so relate to this post! I just went camping with my parents this past weekend and they packed good beer, hamburgers (not even the pre made frozen kind), eggs, bacon, and pancakes! It was totally gourmet compared to the trip I did with friends which was full of half cooked oatmeal and PB+Js for every meal, haha. I also totally waited until my Dad had the coffee made and the fire warm before crawling out of the tent. LOVE camping!
I absolutely love it! I usually go at least a dozen times every year, and backpacking is one of my absolute favorite things 🙂 We like to combine some mountain climbing trips (14ers!) with camping so we’ll go bag a peak and then come down and sleep under the stars. Perfect!
I’ve never been camping and it’s something i’ve always wanted to do! I live in Illinois, where did your family go camping out here?
I love reading about people who love camping, because to me it’s my nightmare! It does open up my eyes a bit to read the joys, and I do understand:
I love being outside, doing outdoorsy things, and campfires. My family owns a piece of land with a cabin, and we’ll go up for the day and shoot skeet, play horseshoes, fish in the pond, hike and grill…but when it’s time to A) Sleep B) Get clean or C) Use the rinky dink outhouse….I PEACE out! 🙂 I’m too afraid of the dark and animals, don’t like to feel dirty, and have too many tummy issues to rely on the great outdoors! lol
Camping is one of my favourite things to do, and we are so spoiled living in the mountains. Where else do you go to just talk?? I even went when I was 36 weeks pregnant last year!
We are total camping gourmets too, and purists in the sense that everything needs to be made over the fire. We pop popcorn in a big pot, make pumpkin spice pancakes, pasta, nachos, everything on the fire!
I love camping! There’s something about sitting around a campfire that’s just very relaxing! 🙂
Camping rocks!! I love tent camping – gives you a reason to not shower, love waking up early to the sun shining through the tent and the birds signing, spending all day out in the woods hiking, and sitting around the fire at night. I also like the more ritzy style of camping with the camper and setting up shop in a campground (or fairgrounds) with a bunch of your friends and having potluck dinners, playing cards around the table in the evening. Great times!
Loathe it! One of my first memories is camping in Yosemite with my family when I was little. A giant bear came onto our campground, roared at us, stole a bag of marshmallows and ran away. It was traumatizing to say the least!
OH MY GOSH!
Love to camp! When I was younger, I would go on camping trips with girl scouts. And then when I met my husband, I did more of the hiking/camping/mountain man kind of thing. I love just being around nature and cooking on the fire. So romantic. 😛
My boyfriend has been camping with his family may times and wanted me to try it out this summer. I was so opposed to it and planed to only stay one night but I ended up enjoying it so much that we stayed a second night!
LOVE it!!! I only started camping several years ago, but wow was I a quick addict! We’re going on a two-day camping and canoeing trip this weekend in fact! We’ll be canoeing the St. Mary’s River that forms the Florida-Georgia border, and depending upon the winds, we’ll end up camping in Georgia on one bank or Florida on the other! I love to just watch nature on camping trips, as well as canoe, devour ‘smores, tend to the campfire, and play Catch Phrase as well!
loathe it! I’m way to much of a diva for camping. I like campfires, but only the backyard kind. I don’t like sleeping on air mattresses or worse, the ground! I’ve tried to love it so many times but it just never works out for me. So many of my friends love camping and I wish I could too.
I love camping. I did it for the first time this year and I really enjoyed how laid back and fun it was. It really forced me to just relax and enjoy my family rather than run around and try to get everything done on my to do list. I can’t wait to do it again.
I have to go with loathing camping. Just wasn’t something we did growing up.
But I am all about the trail mix!
The Kidless Kronicles
I have only gone camping, officially, one time in my life. My husband and I are not opposed to camping, but we never grew up doing it and prefer nice hotels. 🙂 That said, we were so proud of ourselves for being “rugged” and going camping with our church group a couple of years ago. Had a blast on the trip, but 10 days later, a firey poison oak showed up like you wouldn’t believe… around my lady parts!!!! Don’t think I will be going camping again anytime soon… unless it’s in a souped-up camper! 🙂
I have never been camping! :/
I love camping! I grew up in a mountain town so how could I not love it. My favorite thing is making interesting meals but they seem to always taste amazing.
I haven’t gone camping in forever! I guess it depends where and how the weather is before I decide if I love it or thoathe it.
I used to hate camping! I would only camp out in my back yard as a kid and have sleep-overs in the tent. But 2 summers ago, a big gang of friends packed up some canoes with camping gear and headed out on the river and we set up our camping gear for the weekend, and I had soooo much fun! I haven’t gone since, but I’m open to the idea now. I love camp fires, we have camp fires at the beach almost every weekend, roasting hotdogs and marshmellows!
I love camping as long as there is a real bathroom 🙂 Beach camping is one of my favorites, but nothing beats the amount of stars you can see when camping in the mountains!
I LOVE camping — the more rustic the better. My favorite place is actually the Quetico in Canada — canoeing + camping + no people/electricity/shower for days = heaven. And the fishing is to die for. The only downside? Having to dig a hole to do your business.
Mike & I go camping all the time with our dogs and we all love it! The past two years we’ve gone camping at a campsite with a 10 minute walk to the beach – love it! (And that’s awesome for us since we live in Central PA). We always make sure we bring big bones for the dogs to munch on when we hang out around the fire – they love it!
I am NOT a camper – no siree!!
definitely NOT a camper. i have tried to think of ways to explain why without sounding like a total prima donna, but no such luck, so i’ll just leave it at that 🙂
Haha I laughed out loud at the bear picture.
I’ve never been camping, but I’ve wanted to try it out!
looooooooooooooooooooove it!
I’m not one with nature. I want a shower and a nice warm bed. However I would like to try camping on the beach….
LOVE camping. My favorite thing to do is hike and cook over the fire.
Also, a fun game you might like to play is called ‘Butt Writing.” Basically a person stands with their back to everyone else and has to spell their name (or any other word) in the air with their butt. Its SO funny!
Hate with a passion. Growing up camping trips were always remembered as “the one where….” and the thing was always something bad. Just to name a few there was:
“the one where…my brother got stung by a bee in his eye”
“the one where…my mom’s chair broke and she fell on a shovel needing to be rushed to the hospital”
and “the one where…I got stung by some random bug and my knee swelled up to about four times it’s normal size.” Yeah….camping is not for me!
oh wow! yeah, i’m pretty sure those experiences would ruin camping for me, too!
I’ve NEVER been camping!
colleen! blasphemy!
I know! So shameful! My mom always said that camping would be staying at a motel. I’ve never stayed at a motel and I’ve never slept in a tent. Thanks for NOTHIN’, Mom! 😉
I love camping but I did this summer in Yellowstone and was TERRIFIED of the bears. I bought bear spray and was crazy the entire time.
I love all of the aspects of camping (camp fires, cooking over the fire, toast marshmallows, etc.) until it comes time to go to bed — then I don’t want a sleeping bag or a tent. I want a real bed in a hotel room or home!
Oh, I love camping! <3 It's so much fun! I'd never done it before until I met my boyfriend, but now we've camped all over the England, Europe and New Zealand! 😛 We went camping in Aspen just a couple of weeks ago, and got snowed on and our tent was flooded…but it was still so cool! 😛
I love sitting around the campfire, making BBQ'd goodies, and snuggling up in layers and layers of sleeping bags watching a movie at night.
I also love hiking – cause when we camp, we usually hike – and waking up when the sun rises! <3 xyx
I’ve camped only once in my life and I must admit, I’m not a camp lover. I especially miss a real and cosy bathroom, but I like everything that’s around camping like living outside and the simplicity of it. It can be fun for a couple of days with friends!
Oh my. Camping was a rituual in my family. We went twice a month in the summer of Indiana. It was a huge ordeal and we had a camping crew that involved 4 other families. We would even get together at the beginning of the year, have a party, plan which weekends we would go, and then decide who would bring what. Then the week before each weekend we would go, we would get together to discuss the MENU! As you can tell our camping revolved around food. Our staples were pizza pockets! White bread topped with pizza sauce and your topping and cooked inside castiron pizza pocket makers like this one:
http://mustardseeds.typepad.com/.a/6a00e554ba60338834011570b3eea2970b-500wi
So many of my fondest memories were with my family and camping. Food, basketball, sneaking our parents liquor…. haha..
We too did the tent thing until my parents decided it was roughing it too much, so they got a camper but kept the tent and the kids then stayed in the tent behind the camper! Kinda like having our own room! Hope you get that camping episode booked asap!
I love camping! My dad and I still hunt for perfect marshmallow roasting sticks for s’mores! Have you ever heard of snipe hunting??? 🙂 Check it out on urbandictionary.com if you haven’t!