Hello!
I'm just back from my camping trip with DS6 followed by my Mother/Daughter Iron Girl 5K with DD16.
DS and I had a great time camping, despite the sciatica/back pain. The back pain is new, it used to be just sciatica. But I'll save those details for another post. I'm doing Core now and packed all the core food I could possibly need for the trip... but it turned out my 17 yo Coleman stove had a leak and I couldn't use it to cook. So I used that as an excuse to go a bit crazy. We ate dinner out two nights followed by ice cream... Then I joined DS in s'mores since I was already "off".
But I didn't gain, TG.
As for our trip:
We climbed a river bed over half a mile. I was careful to teach DS that white water is dangerous but forgot to tell him about moss on the rocks... He slipped and fell (sliding down rocks) about 10 feet, but fortunately only got minor scrapes. We also did a "big" hike. 3.2 mile rount-trip, 900 feet climb. He thought he was going to die on the way up. I used a lot of Billy Blanks quotes to coax him up the mountain. There was a lake at teh top and he tried to swim in it but it was freezing.
We took the inflatable kyack out (on another lake), but it's so light that I had a hard time manuevering it. The wind took it every which way. Next year maybe we'll rent a two man kyack. They have a great bike/kyack rental where you start at the bike shop, drop off the bike, get in the kyack and then they drive you back to your car at the end... Many possibilities!
We also did some commercial stuff-- a water park and a small amusement part witih trained bears. Next year we're taking bikes! There are great paved paths and easy dirt paths and very technical paths for crazies like MelR!
I have to admit, I wish I could go up there with some athletes and really take advantage of the hiking/biking. But DS is coming along nicely!
Getting ready to enter the river bed:
Heading upto Lonesome Lake:
At the top:
DS tried to swim... very cold!
The best part of camping.... No fashion police 
And my favorite picture:
We got home 7PM Saturday and I was up 5AM Sunday to head out to our 5K. DD did great. She thought she'd be walking most of the race, but instead she walked three times. I only let her walk for 30 seconds at a time, being the nurturing mother than I am
We finished 15/48 for the mother/daughter teams with a chip time of 33:17. Not bad considering I haven't been running for a long time.
The neurosurgeon said I could run and do whatever, just stay away from heavy weights for now. So I am being active again.
I find when I stay on Core I can really get by with less food and feel full. I know its the right plan for me. The hard part is staying prepared with the right foods in the house and cooked in advance, etc. I'm going to try to steer DS towards core foods, too. He definitely has my sugar gene!
Sunny
I'm glad to hear that you have been able to get some mild workouts in... Please be careful and listen to your body. 
Sunny-wanted to let you know that I am thinking about you and hope everything is going okay!
Please post when you can.
and back to this 
