The Reservoir

The town reservoir is 1.1 miles from my house, I know it is 1.1 miles because my neighbor adds that distance to her total exercise count on the days that she runs to get there instead of driving. It is beautiful, a man-made lake, complete with ducks, geese, and to my surprise today, at least 1 large turtle. Many people from the area go there to walk their dogs, power walk, jog or flat out run. It is 1.6 miles around, with lots of benches, water stops every quarter-mile, gazebos and sunrise/sunset decks. Lately, the reservoir has been helping me lose the last of the 50+ extra pounds I had lurking around after my son was born. I had been going with a friend, but circumstances changed and now I mostly go either by myself (that usually only happens on weekends) or with my husband. During the week, I always have my younger two kids with me, which can be exercise in itself, but that is mostly exercise in patience, which doesn't burn as many calories! ;) I don't know what I am going to do when the weather gets too cold to go, I may just have to bundle the kids up like they are auditioning for a remake of Christmas Story and go anyway! I keep saying that I am going to bring my "real" camera with me one day, but for now, I take pictures with my phone, which have gotten significantly better since I upgraded to the iPhone 4s.

Lots of people bring their dogs... ours gets more attention than most.

Our first snow of the year came earlier than usual, and the reservoir was even more beautiful than usual.

Ice on the railing makes for a nice picture.

This is the "straightaway", the only part of the loop that is not curved for more than a few feet.

My husband tried to speed up our progress by strapping the toddler to his back, she liked it for a few minutes, but then was back down making it take way too long to get around.

The changing leaves make for some great scenery.

If it wasn't for this sign, I wouldn't know that there were catchable fish in the water!

I am not sure what kind of bird this guy is (you may have to look closely) but he was hanging out with the ducks and geese, showing off!

Here is another shot of him when I got closer, but he had put his wings down... what the heck is he?

Most of the benches have little dedication plaques on them, this is the only one I have seen that doesn't, it seems so lonely.

Our 2 year-old is very motivated by Skittles apparently, today, she jogged over a 1/2 mile just to get some. There are distance markers every 1/4 mile, and each time she passed one, she got another Skittle...

She was like the Energizer Bunny!

And making his first appearance today, the TURTLE! So, that is how I spend about an hour most mornings. I am back down to my pre-pre-pregnancy size (meaning the size I was 2 kids ago!) and feeling good. The kids love the fresh air, and I love being out in the sunshine.