Thursday, November 24, 2011

Our Thanksgiving

Our day started out The morning started cold (37 degrees) and early (for a holiday). We headed out to Waveny to do a Fun Run. They had a kids 1 mile and an adult 3.5 miles (done by doing 1.75 miles twice). For most of us it was a little more "run" than "fun". Owen was cold. Trent pushed Owen in the stroller and followed Madelyn and Adam on their one mile. Based on their statments to me I think the one mile was a success.

Julianne and Catherine (each persuaded by a different friend) decided to run the 1.75 miles. They started out fast (like kids are want to do) and quickly burned out (at about the 1 mile mark).

I caught up to the girls. Catherine was managing just fine. She was content to walk and finish.

Julianne??? not so much. She was crying. Her stomach hurt. She wanted to throw up. "Could I carry her??" she asked. And if I ever needed motivation to run -- that was it. I had to run away from the whining.

In fact as I finished the first lap, I really wanted to stop, but just thinking about Julianne's whining was enough to get me started on the second.

And that is where Trent carried the day. While I ran the second lap, Trent rustled 5 children-- one cold baby, 2 tired little kids (adam and madelyn), 1 tired big kid (catherine), and 1 complete basket case. After passing Julianne, she slipped in the mud. She skinned her knee and as she tried to stand up her shoe got stuck in the mud and to keep from falling she set her sock clad foot down in the mud. She walked the last 1/4 mile with one shoe on and one shoe off. She felt abandoned and mad.

Trent decided I could fend for myself and get a ride home so he took all the kids home.

Here are all the kids waiting for the run to start.



And here is Madelyn "all cute" for the race!
Isn't Owen cute??? Even in a heavy winter coat!
After the race we headed at 2:00 to a friends house for dinner. We had such an enjoyable time. One thing that made it nice was that each one of our kids had a comparably aged friend there. Here are the older girls by the appetizer table.
The food was wonderful, the company superb, and the kids were well behaved.  That right there is what I am most grateful for -- that the kids were happy, having fun, and also allowing us to do that!

I have so much to be grateful for. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

1 comment:

Marci said...

Your description of the "fun" run had me laughing! I'm glad everyone survived :-).