Half Moon Bay, California November 2012

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Our first family 5K Fun "Run"

About a month ago I received a newsletter from the Guadalupe River Parks saying they were going to have their first annual Fun Run.  Knowing that it was something I wanted the children to try, I registered the children and myself up for it.  I wasn't sure where Vince would be on this day, so I did not sign him up.  But when the day rolled around, Vince did not have to work! (well, he eventually did and left us shortly after the event)  It was an early event... we had to be there at the check in booth by 8am "ish."  We arrived a bit later but with enough time to get checked in, grab a banana, a goodie bag, and put our numbers/bibs on.  Vince took Ethan's place since he technically did not need to pay.
Here we are before the race:

 We started out with everyone walking, except for E.  5 minutes later... they looked like this!  Oh well, it was worth a try!
 Towards the middle of the run, MG and I walked quite a bit together while Vince pushed the boys.  When MG was tired, she and MD traded places and he and I walked together while Vince pushed E and MG.  I took over at the end of the event... and pushed us all to the finish line!
 I am so proud of everyone!!!!  We started around 9 AM ish and finished by 10 AM ish!  Now that I know they can do it...I mean, we can do it... we will be doing more!
 After the event we attend this event where the vendors involved promoted healthy living, being green, and a more organic way of life. We barely walked through a few booths when Vince was called into work.  So he rushed home.. and left us at the Spring Garden Festival.  So we kept busy!
They played some games:
 Created some art work:
 He's stamping a note card for me here:
 Planted sunflower seeds:

 Made a silk handkerchief tie dye by wrapping marbles...


 and putting it into this big pot of water full of...
 the extract of walnut leaves!  (I never knew!)
 By the end of the day... they had one more actvity left.. the Easter Egg hunt.  They were so excited!  And we had it all planned out...  MG and MD decided they would work together...
 But E was on his own because of his age (so I stayed with him).  He was very quick, but also a  bit intimidated by the crowd.  At one point, he saw and egg and started running for it.  At the same time, an older boy (don't know why he was in this area!) ran for the same egg... so guess what E did?!  He yelled, "Hey, that's my egg!"  And you know what?  The boy (who was probably 5 or 6, stopped looked at E, and stepped away from the egg!  What a nice boy and good for E for speaking up!  I did not have to help him at all solve this problem!
 When E found his 5 eggs (because that was what everyone was told to do... find 5 eggs and return to the table to turn them in), we headed back to look for MG and MD.  And these 2 poor children... only found 1 egg!  But they stuck together... and told me they saw children collect more than 5.  I was so annoyed by that! Why didn't these children's parents help their children follow the rules?!  So they sadly returned to the table and told the people in charge that they could not find any eggs... and that other children took more than they were supposed to.  However sad their story, you will be happy to know that the number of eggs collected had nothing to do with a prize at the end.  ALL children were given a goodie bag with trail mix and 2 chocolate kisses.  It was a fair game, even though some children did not follow the rules!
 My very disappointed children walked slowly away with sad faces... but they felt much better when they came towards this lush green hill... where they decided a roll down the hill would make them feel better...
 So they went over, and over
and over again!
This is where Vince met us after we had played from 10:30 until 2:30pm!
What a great day they had...
I expect the Easter bunny will be generous with his gifts and hidden eggs in the morning since they were so disappointed by the outcome of the egg hunt today.  We shall see!

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