Rained Out

Yesterday I raced home from work for our scheduled tennis session. There was some rain on the way home. Momoko advised us to stay at home and exercise with the Wii. I said we should be hard core and go for the tennis. We drove to the tennis court, and it looked a bit dark.

We got the rackets and tennis balls out. There were some rain drops coming down. Kit Kat was chirping about the rain. Momoko complained that she was going to get wet. Duh. By the time we finished out first set of tennis, the rain was coming down. Momoko was complaining before the rain came down. So I did not object to us going home right then and there.

Little Kat was surpising in that he did not complain about the weather. He said he liked rain. He also had a ball cap that protected him from getting water in his face. Today we also had tennis scheduled in the afternooon. However Momokok and Little Kat did not come home on time. I wonder if this had anything to do with the weatherman calling for rain again today.

Season Opener

Today we started our outdoor exercise. It was the first time since before last winter. We hit the tennis courts. Little Kat was hoping for rain.

Now I know why. Little Kat was slacking big time. He had a tough time keeping an eye on the ball. He did not move his legs to get to where the ball was. Terrible.

Little Kat said it was because he played a lot at school and was tired. Plus he said it was Monday. He begged us to end the session early. Momoko granted his wish and we hit the road before we were out there 45 minutes. Normally we try to play at least an hour of tennis.

Oh well. We will have to work our way up to the regular exercise regiment.

Bulky Trash

Today Momoko got word that the bulky trash men are coming tomorrow to take out couch. So the family had to move our heavy couch out to the curb.

I wish I knew we needed to do this earlier. We did our exercise today. That meant we danced to an exhausting Zumba game on the Wii. Since I was crazy, I followed that up with 30 minutes on the stationary bike.

Both Kit Kat and I rearranged the vehicle so they were all parked in the driveway. Then we turned our old couch upside down. Then we dragged the thing out the front door, over the grass, over to the curb. We usually store up big trash for times when the special trash guys come out. So we all hauled the other heavy trash and piled it up on the curb.

Daylight Savings

Today I rushed home from work and found that everybody was already home. Great. We can go to tennis early right? No luck. People needed to eat a snack first. I still wanted to get out there early because of Daylight Savings Time. We run out of sunlight much earlier now.

Well we did get to tennis a bit early. There was nobody else there at the tennis court. We all did a lot of running to catch the balls. This tired everybody out fast. Momoko took a break, returned, and voted for us to go home. What? We were supposed to be there for exercise.

I talked everyone into playing one last set of tennis. However that did not last long. At least we get home early for dinner. Kit Kat is cooking brats. Good stuff.

Slacker School

The rain cleared up today. So the family had plans to play tennis for exercise this afternoon. Kit Kat, Little Kat, and Momoko were off from school. However Momoko needed to unpack a lot of boxes at school. So she brought the kids to her school to help her out.

I got off from work on time to make sure I could make it to tennis. When I got home, nobody else was here. That was strange. Momoko said she only had a half day worth of work to do at school. So I read the paper and browsed the web.

Later the rest of the family came home. There was a lot of moaning. The unpacking of boxes turned out to be a big job. Now everyone was too tired to exercise on the tennis court. There was some crazy talk about playing Wii tennis instead of the real tennis court. But even that seems like it may be in jeopardy.

So much for the playground exercise idea.

Delayed Work Out

I had to work late today. So after dinner I decided to take a little nap. Momoko said the family would exercise in about an hour. The bedroom was freezing. Normally I only have a sheet over me. The sheet was not providing any warmth.

I tried to suck it up and go to sleep. No use. After about a half hour, I went out into the cold and turned off the air conditioning. Then I went to another room upstairs and turned off that window unit as well. I grabbed a nice blanket from the closet and got warm. Sleep came easily.

The next thing I know, it is an hour and a half later. I got dressed for exercise and came down. Momoko said the kids started without me. However she was still chatting online. We went downstairs. The kids both said they had an "easy workout" today. I tell ya. I sleep for an extra hour and the slackers come out. We spent another half hour exercising. What are we going to do when I need to be out of the house for the rest of the evenings this week. I guess exercise will be put on hold.

Foiled by Utaware

Kit Kat came downstairs for a drink of water. Then she said good night. After she went upstairs, I realized that our family did not exercise tonight. I try to ensure we exercise each and every night. Now I might be a bit off because I stayed up too late yesterday. But I think the real problem is "Utawarerumono".

Let me explain. Momoko noticed that Little Kat seemed a bit down today. So she instructed him to go through our anime DVD library. He wanted to watch one series that Kit Kat owns. However she was a bit reluctant to let Little Kat have her DVDs. Instead Momoko hooked Little Kat up with the anime Utawarerumono. I have seen that one twice before. Now Little Kat and I have started watching it.

In the series, we met a dude recovering from a serious injury. He can't remember his past or his name. He is being nursed by a family of animal-like people with furry long ears and tails. There is a goddess-tiger out in the wild eating the villagers. The main character faces the beast and almost dies again. However he identifies that the beast's armor like fur gets weak when exposed to water. He rallies the villagers to trap the beast, get it all wet, and run it through. I am excited about starting this series over again. Little Kat and I are in for a big treat.

Get Physical

Today we had a family games night. The kids picked out Apples to Apples for us to play. Normally we play the junior version because the words are easier. This time we used the big cat version. Kit Kat won after 30 minutes of play.

Momoko had set aside 1 hour for us to do games. What were we going to do with the extra time? Kit Kat wanted to play on the Wii. I suggested we spend a little while exercising.

At the beginning of this year, we exercised regularly as a family. We got it up to 30 minutes of exercise a day. This was mostly Momoko, Kit Kat, and myself. Somehow we got off track around March. Momoko and Kit Kat said I was the reason we stopped. I cannot recall the details. However if I was the reason for the stop, I will make it my business to start it back up again.

Nobody likes to exercise. It is no fun. It hurts. But you know what they say? No pain no gain. I told the family we could start small and exercise for 5 minutes. How could they say no to that? They tried. But I insisted. We ended up exercising for 7 minutes. Tomorrow I plan to make the family exercise for 6 minutes. Who knows? We might even go longer. The only trouble is that we have 3 exercise machines. I think we can find a way to get a 4th machine. It is a little tight on space in the basement. But for a healthy family, I think we can find a way.

Just Dancing

Somehow the family got off track on our New Year's exercise program. We were supposed to work out 30 minutes each day on our exercise equipment. First Momoko hurt her leg. Then Kit Kat got sick. The result is that we are no longer exercising.

Just yesterday we got back into working out on the exercise equipment. So today I asked Kit Kat if we were going to continue for the second day in a row. She wanted to play the new Just Dance Wii game we got. To her that is exercise. The benefit is that Momoko can dance with us, but do it from a sitting position to protect her injured leg.

This crazy dance game is hard to keep up with. Kit Kat seems to get the high score a lot. At least they got some good songs in the game. In other news, I pushed Kit Kat to take the longest practice drive ever today. Things were going fine until the final drive home. Kit Kat stopped at the stop sign, but did not see the big truck coming with the right of way. Kit Kat pulled out. We got lucky that the truck slowed down and did not ram us.

I am still lobbying for Kit Kat to go out into traffic. She still just wants to travel the back roads and secondary streets. That is fine ... for now.

Getting Out Early

We used to exercise every night as a family. I would walk the treadmill. Momoko did the elliptical. And Kit Kat rode the stationary bike. Somehow we got off track. Recently Kit Kat has been skipping exercise because she is riding her bike after school.

Friday afternoon I made sure I got off work early. I waited for Kit Kat to come home so we could ride our bikes together. Momoko had a lot of chores for Kit Kat to do. By the time she was done, she was too tired to ride bikes.

Little Kat said he wanted to ride. However he was sick this past week. I wondered whether it was a good idea. He convinced us that he was all well. We ran around out street a couple times. Then we headed down the neighborhood. We decided against going uphill much. Little Kat took me to a cul de sac curve that he called the jellybean. Unfortunately Little Kat got sick later that night. no more biking for him, at least until he is truly better.

Autobiography of a Little Kat

I stayed up late last night. Too much exercise meant I could not go to sleep. Then I worked late today. When I got home, I passed out in the bed.

Little Kat woke me up for some chicken strips dinner made by Kit Kat. It tasted good. After dinner Momoko quizzed Little Kat about a big assignment that was due.

Since Little Kat did not know the details, he had to use a lifeline and call a friend. It turns out he had a five paragraph autobiography due tomorrow. Doh. Little Kat was scheduled to go to sleep in an hour.

Kit Kat had to study for tests. Momoko had to write a paper for her college class. That meant Black Kat needed to assist Little Kat. He chose to write about our winter break.

Little Kat listed 8 things we did during winter break on a piece of paper. I kept asking him who/what/when/why/where. In 30 minutes, he had a massive 8 paragraphs. And that did not include the introduction he had to write. Come on Little Kat. Publish your work up in here.

Attack of the Shower Door

The other day I banged my leg on the inside door of the shower. It did not hurt too much. However the darn shower door got off its track. I tried to ignore it. But with a nightly exercise routine, I am taking 2 showers a day.

Today I came home early because I needed to pick Little Kat up from school. I was surprised because Kit Kat beat us home. As soon as I got in, I headed up to do battle with the shower doors.

It was easy to take the door off the track. Then I lifted the guide rail and tightened the screw. It was a chore to put the door back in the guide. When I tested it, I found it still did not close correctly. I had to pull it off the track, adjust the screws and guide, then struggle to put it back on.

I am victorious. The doors slide correctly now. The long term fix is to ditch the doors and get a shower curtain rod.

Easter Egg Hunt

Today the family went over my parents' house for Easter. Kit Kat cooked us up some of her famous devilled eggs. We brought some plastic eggs to have an Easter Egg hunt there as well.

My brother and I hid the plastic eggs in my parents' back yard. This year we decided on a short egg hunt. So we placed 20 eggs in some tricky spots.

In previous years we gave Little Kat a head start so Kit Kat would not find all the eggs. This troubled Kit Kat before. Since Little Kat is growing up, there was no handicap. They both went out full force to find the eggs.

After a mid-day Easter dinner, the family sat down to rest. Little Kat seemed to still be overflowing with energy. So he went to my parents' basement and worked out on the stationary bike and treadmill. We got a bonus in that my dad loaned us some wood glue to help repair Little Kat's musket that is broken.

Hurry up and Wait

Normally I sleep in on the weekends. This weekend was different. The store was scheduled to deliver and assemble our NordicTrack elliptical exercise machine. They were supposed to come in the morning. So I got up early.

It was afternoon before the delivery cats called. They asked if we could reschedule the delivery. I told them that was just not possible. They arrived later that afternoon. It was some heavy equipment. I knew I made the right choice having the store deliver it.

Mamma Kat talked me into trying the machine. After 5 or 10 minutes, I felt like my legs were gonna fall off. This was on the easiest setting. Now I am still sore. Little Kat seems to have no problem using the machine for long periods at a time.

Happy Sales Guy

Today my lunch buddy at work decided to skip going out. So I had to eat lunch by myself. This was not a bad thing. As you may recall, the family went to the mall this weekend. We looked at exercise equipment. Mamma Kat decided on the model of NordicTrack she wanted. I decided to sleep on it before buying.

And was I glad I did pause a bit. The next day, the store had the one Mamma wanted at another $100 off the price. So for lunch I went back to the mall. The food court in the mall was very crowded. Therefore I went straight to the store and skipped lunch.

I asked a couple salespeople if they could help me with a NordicTrack. They both pointed to the guy we talked to this weekend. He was busy with other customers. But my presence made him end his sales talk quickly. I asked him when could I get this NordicTrack delivered and installed. He said this Saturday. And with that I bought the thing.

The sales cat was very happy. He said this was the first time he sold any of this model. I bet that is because it is the most expensive one in the lineup. The extra sale helped make it more affordable. I think the sales cat gets a good commission for selling the top model. He told me sales are slow due to the bad economy. That's why they can deliver it so quickly. As long as the delivery goes well, I think this will be a purchase that is good for all us cats. We will keep you posted.

NordicTrack

Mamma Kat has been wanting me to get a NordicTrack exercise machine for the family. Now I don't know about you. But I am not sure how a cat is supposed to use such a large contraption. Nevertheless, I brought the family to Sears Roebuck Saturday morning.

Little Kat and Mamma Kat showed me the model they spied before. I had Little Kat show me how it worked. The sales guy screamed from afar that kids we not allowed on the exercise machines. I asked the guy to come over, and explained that I needed the whole family to test out the machine so I can tell whether we will buy it. The guy said as long as I did not hold the store responsible for anybody getting hurt, the kids could try it under adult supervision.

And with that Little Kat and Kit Kat tried out the machine. It apparently has a bunch of video games built in to entertain you while you exercise. It took a little coaxing to get Mamma Kat up on the machine. But it was good. She found out she liked another machine better. Too bad the other one cost a lot more money. I told the sales guy I had to sleep on such a big decision. And with that we drove to Fuddrucker's for burgers. But that is a story for another post.

Getting Fit

The pediatrician recommended that the kittens get more exercise. We signed up for Tae Kwon Do two years ago. I am a little worried about taking them out of Tae Kwon Do class this year but I really have no choice. I am working on my Master's Program and I have class during their lesson time. That means we have to figure out how we are going to make up that missing exercise time. Little wants to go swimming but I do not know if I can get us to the pool enough to make the money I spend on membership make sense. I have started the kittens working in the yard for 30 minutes a day but that has not worked out too well yet. We seem to be cancelling the time for unexpected events like rain storms. I am still woring this problem out and I will keep you updated when I find an activity that works with our schedule.