Another fun festival and 5K has come and gone for the kids' school! Saturday was the big day, and in a change of course {
literally -- it was held at a different park and a weekend earlier than usual}, the afternoon of the race beamed sunny and bright. The past two years that we've gone, the weather was cold and miserable, so this was a nice change of pace. Sort of. Hahaha. In actuality, it was blazing hot and the humidity was nothing to sneeze at, so running 3.1 miles at 4 PM was not for the faint of heart.
S-T-R-E-T-C-H!
I volunteered my services as "photographer" from 3-5, so we were there on the scene MUCH earlier this year than last -- much to the relief of certain children. Hahaha. Last year we arrived a couple minutes into the race, and the older three had to scramble to make up time and join the frey. This year, they were lined up at the front of the pack, ready to run as soon as the starting gun went off. Scott ran with Jane, and while I scrambled to and fro trying to get pictures taken for the school, a friend from our neighborhood and ward kept an eye on Alex and Isaac for me.
Sophie with some of her friends.
Grace with a few of hers.
The 6th Graders (plus a few other sneak-ins -- like Sophie. Hahaha.)
And they're off!
Even if I hadn't already run 9 miles earlier that morning, I
still wouldn't have wanted to run a 5K in that heat! Walking around in the blazing sun, lugging the camera around, was challenging enough. Hahaha. It was kind of fun, though, snapping pictures of the festivities and seeing each of my own kids (and Scott) in action on the race course. The results of the race were almost identical to years past, with Ethan and Sophie winning for their age groups, Grace losing steam and motivation when she realized she didn't have a big group of friends running with her, and Jane dropping out midway through the race because she was too hot and tired. :)
Once the running was over, the kids were excited to join in the festival fun, where the cake walk and bouncy houses were the biggest hits. After FINALLY winning at the cake walk {
I think he said it took 20 minutes of playing before his number was called}, Ethan took over the last shift at the inflatable slide where he finished off a full and busy day of service hours for National Junior Honor Society. {
He also participated in a food drive pick-up in the morning as well as helped for a couple of hours with setting up tables and tents for the festival before it started. I think he's pretty close to having all his service hours done at this point.}
Meanwhile, after 3 hours of walking around in the heat, I was ready to go! After convincing the kids that we needed to get a move on, we made it back home just in time for me and the older girls to get changed and ready to go to the church for dinner and dessert before the Women's Session of Conference was broadcast later that evening. Needless to say, it was a packed and busy Saturday!
Winning!
{Duh.}
Fastest girl in the 4th grade! :)
