Haven't You Heard??

(by Tiff)
WE'RE EXPECTING!  I know...isn't it crazy!  (If you are one of the few people who we have not yet gotten to tell, we apologize...blame it on my pregnancy brain)

Here's some of the stats:
Baby's due date: Nov 1st
Number of pregancy tests taken to confirm: 3
Tiff's food aversions: chicken
Tiff's food cravings: beans, beef, ice cream (not all together...that's just gross people!)
Number of pounds Tiff has gained this week: 3 (oops…)
Brock's cravings: for Tiff to stop being so hormonal and "tired"
First sonogram: 8 weeks
Second sonogram: 12 weeks
Baby’s heart rate: 164 bpm
Percent sure the doctor says we're having a GIRL: 95%
Times Tiff's mom has cried because she's so excited: not sure, we lost count around 47
Number of beach pictures you'll see on this blog in the next year: only the ones from Mike & Sara's wedding next weekend...and after that, none...
Number of baby pictures you'll see on here in the next year: a bazillion


That's right...our blog will morph...from postcard scenic beachscapes with rum drinks...to all forms of baby pictures.  In fact, here's baby girl Harlow's first baby picture:

Follow us over the next few months for riveting posts on my growing baby bump, decorating the nursery, Brock’s freaking out about money (uh, just kidding…do you know my husband??), and maybe if you’re lucky, we’ll share the name we’re thinking about… Until then, I gotta go eat again!

It's all for Spandex

(By Brock) Recently, several of us from Tiff's side of the family competed in our own Kujawski Famly Weight Loss Challenge.  Tiff, Me, her mom, both brothers, and her sis-in-law participated.  We lost a combined 100+ lbs. over 3 months.  It was alot like the Biggest Loser, where we had weekly weigh-ins and were required to keep a food journal.  Throughout all this, exercise and eating right has become more habit than torture. It has truly changed how we live. I'm proud to say I lost 22 lbs and in doing so have found yet another expensive hobby ...

CYCLING

You should know that my other hobbies are soccer, golf, scuba diving and photography (on land and underwater) ... So picking up another one was not really in the budget ... that's what Amex is for.

I like cycling because I can hang out w/ my friends and burn calories at the same time.  Entering in events keeps me focused on fitness and gives me an avenue to fight the good fight against fatness. Also, most events are for a good cause ... but why are new hobbies so darn expensive?!?!

I'll tell you why ... (A) I like to spend money (B) Look at all the crap I've bought to get started ...

I'm now the proud owner of:

• a new bike
• 2 pairs of spandex shorts
• sleeveless jersey that is lime green
• weird colorful ankle socks that should not be seen on anyone in public
• big bike pump
• portable bike pump
• new velcro cycling shoes
• camelbak
• insulated water bottle
• tools, tubes and other accessories
• bike computer
• helmet
• sweat and wrist bands
• various powders, goos, bars, chews, chomps and rubs
• a ridiculous biking jersey that says "Johnson" on it and looks like a bowling shirt

How much do I love it? Well, in 6 weeks time, I will have put about 350 miles on my new bike!  Last weekend I rode in my first event, the Lancaster Country Ride where I did 63 miles in 4 hrs. It was a beautiful ride in the bluebonnet covered North Texas Hills.  You know, where moms take their husbands and babies for torturous afternoons of wallowing in the weeds for pictures to put on facebook.   I made it, but i had a bad case of the "bambi legs" when I finished.  Sadly enough, it was my most noteable athletic accomplishment to date ...

I'm a bit scared, because I have the MS150 coming up soon - 164 miles from Frisco up to Denton down to Texas Motor Speedway and ending up in downtown Fort Worth over 2 days.  This is almost tripling my last event!!!  I have a little voice in my head - "slow and steady", "drink lots of water" ...

Oh, another reason I like cycling is because it forces me to finish.  In so many other areas of my life, I start things and don't see them through.  Biking forces me to keep pushing across the finish line.  If you don't, your fat butt will be stuck along side some country road! ... unless of course, you call your mom or wife to come bail you out.

So what's the point? .. I was fat and with too many hobbies and not enought money ... now I'm less fat with yet another hobby and even less money ... but happier than ever ... AAAAND i get to wear spandex and a "Johnson" jersey and feel good about it!

Virgin Gorda Pics

Here's mores pics from our trip to the BVI. What a great trip and we can't wait to go on our next adventure!

http://picasaweb.google.com/btharlow/VirginGordaMar2010?feat=directlink

" No man needs a vacation so much as the person who has just had one." ~Elbert Hubbard

Day 7, 8 & 9 – Seahorse, St. John & See you soon!

Day 7
Ah heaven…it’s wonderful to wake up in paradise and the only thing you have to do all day is get a massage. (Sorry if you hate me right now…I’ve had a very stressful week :)) Emiline, my massage therapist was incredible and she even made my shoulder knots disappear…miracle worker! After the massage I had a little time before meeting up with Brock again, so I took my book and a towel to Spring Bay, found the secret path to Trunk Bay, and read my book as the waves crashed up on the rocks. It was kind of cloudy and the skies were dark, so the normally calm water was a little scarier and rougher than usual…since I was by myself, I didn’t get in above my ankles so I wouldn’t get swept away!

Met up with Brock at noon, who told me all about his awesome morning. He had seen a seahorse, which is very rare in the Virgin Islands. Now I’m jealous, what a lucky thing to get to see!! I console myself by touching my tense-free shoulders again…ahhh…

We decided we would head over to Little Dix Bay for the afternoon to catch a little sun on our last day in VG and maybe get to swim with the turtles again. Since we had already turned in our rental car, we hopped a ride with the Sea Monkey, had a quick lunch at the beach bar and proceed to soak up as much sun as humanly possible. Brock got his dive master credits signed off on, and received all good marks from Jude. Later that afternoon, the Sea Monkey took us back to the harbor where we took a cab back to our house. We did a little pre-packing in the condo then decided we needed a break so we took our drinks down to the pool. There we ran into Casey and Jeff and ended up getting to talk to them a while…it was nice to hear their story, asking them about getting into the dive business and such…I know this was a really busy week for them, so it was good to get to hang out for a little outside the shop.

When the bugs came out, we headed up to our condo, cooked up a gourmet dinner of Digiorno’s and Klondike bars, and packed up for our early ferry to St. Thomas the next day.

Day 8
Casey & Jeff took us to the ferry early this morning. We thanked them again for the great experience and got ready for the 2 hrs it would take to get to St. Thomas. Just to explain our travel logic, we had an early morning flight out on Sunday from St. Thomas to home, so we planned to have one last day of sightseeing and hanging out closer to the airport. But when we got to St. Thomas, it was crazy packed and loud and touristy (totally not our scene) so we made a last minute decision to head over to St. John for the day…and what a GREAT idea that turned out to be! For those who don’t know, Brock and I spent a week in St. John 5 glorious years ago for our honeymoon…it was the perfect honeymoon for us, and since then, St. John has always stuck out in our minds as a favorite spot of ours. So even though we just had a few hours, we couldn’t wait to spend it on “our island”…we stepped off the ferry and immediately felt better. We walked around town a little trying to see what had changed – they had closed down a few of the local shops for this rinky-dink casino in the middle of town – but other than that, most everything seemed to be just the way we remembered it (or I remembered it with Brock not really knowing b/c he has such a fabulous memory). After a drink at a beach side bar, some walking on the beach, and seeing more of the town area, we decided we had to visit the place we had the fondest memories on the island – Skinny Legs. Skinny Legs is a little beach side bar in Coral Bay where we spent several well-remembered evenings on our honeymoon. So we hopped a cab over there to reclaim our youth.

On the way over, we met a character…usually when we describe one of our character meetings on vacation, they’re usually a pretty happy person, sometimes a drunk, usually a sailor (another word for “liar”) but nonetheless a fun person to be around. Well, this guy had 2 out of 3 of these characteristics, but was a real A-hole. He kept telling us fish stories – literally and figuratively, as he was a fisherman – and they kept getting more and more inappropriate until I felt like I needed earmuffs! Really, I do NOT need to hear all the details of you and a 23-yr old Brazilian leg model (yeah right buddy!) and your “adventures” with her…yuck.

But we finally dropped him off, and after some real sailor words b/c he felt the taxi driver over charged him, we were finally on our way to our piece of paradise. When we drove up, Skinny Legs looked just the same. Brock even found a cap similar to the one bought years ago that he loves so much he’s worn ragged. So we pulled up a couple of spots at the bar – the only place to hang out if you want to get the scoop at Skinny Legs – and our afternoon was well on its way to being perfect. We met a nice couple from Indiana who were on StJ for the first time…we heard the story of Glen Marshall, a local woman who has a special sign posted up behind the bar saying “Do NOT serve Glen Marshall if she comes in here. Please ask her to leave nicely”…we talked to a woman who had been in StJ 10 years and got the dirt from her and her husband on what’s changed since they started coming. And our wonderful taxi driver stayed there and waited for us…after 4 drinks (by him!!) we climbed back in his taxi and headed back to the ferry area.

On the taxi ride back, we met a nice family from Oregon/Wisconsin with 2 girls who were so excited about their horseback riding adventure of the day. We were having a great conversation with them, when what do you know, Mr. A-hole Fisherman got back on our taxi!! After exposing his true colors to the family by trying to convince the dad to make an inappropriate groping gesture to his wife in front of the kids, we finally made it back to town…just in time to get a beer to go, buy a few bottles of rum (one that the drunk salesman said would “change our whole relationship”…this stuff better be good!), and hop back on the ferry to St. Thomas. Sooo glad we made it back to paradise, if only for the afternoon!


Caught a cab to our uber-classy airport hotel, and passed out from the perfect day.

Day 9
We were walking distance from the hotel to the airport, but I screwed up somehow and got us there with only an hour to spare. The counter lady said we weren’t going to be able to check our bags because we missed the cutoff time. After almost breaking down in tears, she got our bags on, but it didn’t leave us much time to go through bag check, security, and customs (why on earth we had to do that since we were in the US going to the US, I’ll never know)…so we made the plane with no time to spare, no water, and very little patience. Oh well…guess everyday can’t be paradise! VG, St. John…we’ll miss you…and hope to see you soon!

Day 6 - What's a "Sherpa"?

(By Tiff) Brock left early again to help out on the Sea Monkey…this morning, Jude (Scottish Dive Instructor) was on a different boat, but another Instructor, Kyle, was on board with Brock & Chris. Kyle is from Palestine, TX … so Brock had an East Texas connection with him. They went to a site called the Ledges that had big southern sting rays at least 5 feet across. Stingrays are so graceful… imagine huge pancakes with tails and little eye balls on top. Today a customer on the boat asked Brock what another word for “Divemaster” is? … the customer answered “Sherpa” … Brock proceeded to ask the Brit (Chris) what Sherpa means … apparently Sherpa is a Tibetan dude who carries all your crap to the top of the mountain … thanks for the compliment mr. customer … oh well … after this week Brock now truly appreciates the people that take us diving on vacations … empty tanks get heavier and heavier at the end of every day … but somehow empty Caribes are not such a struggle … Another lesson for the day is that all 10-13 year old kids are little smart-arses … they don’t teach you that in DM class.

This morning was another late one for me…lots of sleeping in this trip…it’s nice! I had to turn in our little Suzie-Q (the Suzuki we rented because they needed it back), but was able to go through another rental company, L&S, to get an Ignis…”a what?”, you ask…I have no idea, but it’s like the toy version of the Suzuki and it’s called an Ignis. I started calling it Ignacio because I thought it sounded sexier…the poor thing is still a POS (Piece of Shizzle), sexy or not. So I picked Brock up around 1 in the new digs and we headed to Leverick Bay for lunch. This was the only part of the island we hadn’t been on…it’s on the north side, closer to where the sailboats & yachts hang out…but not really any pretty beaches, just a waterfront bar called Jumbie’s where we got some excellent lobster quesadillas.

After we walked around Leverick Bay (there is a whole complex of vacation rentals and shops for people who stay there) we headed back to the south side of the island. Came back to the condo for a quick change and then it was off to the Baths. We went through the caves and out the other side to Devil’s Bay beach where we got in and swam a little. Then on the way back, because it was pretty late, we basically had the caves to ourselves…so we got to take some time going through the cool boulder formations and wading in some of the pools that form there. It is still one of the most beautiful places ever!

We thought we were going to eat at The Top of the Baths, a kind of touristy restaurant ,but we weren’t feeling it, so instead we stopped at Mad Dog right down the road for some drinks. It was like we were in someone’s house…everyone there knew each other and they had a big wraparound porch…so we just sat on the porch and listened to everyone’s stories. We made friends with a local who had the cutest kid named Remy who was all over the place…he was hilarious to watch. After a couple of drinks, we made our way down the road a little more…to a place that didn’t look like it would necessarily be a good dinner place. But it looked local, and we were in the mood to be spontaneous, so we stopped at LSL Bakery & Restaurant (Sign said “We Specialize in Local Food”). You walk in and it’s like a bakery with fresh baked goods in the glass case, but they also have a full dinner menu, that was quite good I might add. We ordered shrimp banana curry, black bean soup, and conch fritters as well as a generous portion of bread pudding to go…all in all, great choice, and we got to enjoy it all on our candlelit back porch! Looking forward to tomorrow…I have a massage scheduled…yippee!!