Peachtree Road Race

The Peachtree Road Race is a 4th of July tradition in Atlanta. It is the largest 10K in the world (over 55,000 this year), and it is officially the most outstanding racing experience that I've had in my 3.5 years of racing. I ran the Peachtree for the first time this year, but it will definitely not be the last. The way that the race is organized is that each runner must submit a time when they register. The runners are then placed in start waves A-Y based on their qualifying time. I was excited to be in wave E this year. I had stayed at my sister Cassie's apartment the night before because she lives less than a mile from the starting line. As I was approaching the corral for my wave, I could feel that this race was going to different and exciting. To begin with, there were photographers all over the streets taking our pictures (for later purchase). It reminded me of the photopass people at Disney World because they were in uniform with cameras in the middle of the streets. There were also about four helicopters that were flying over the start line filming the crowds for the various news channels. I found my corral and waited for the race to begin. I could see the start line from my position, and there were speakers everywhere so I could hear everything that was going on. At about 7:25 someone sang the national anthem and then there was an awesome fly-over. Wave A (otherwise known as the fast runners) began promptly at 7:30, followed by wave B at 7:35, wave C at 7:40 and so on. As each wave began, the remaining waves moved up closer to the starting line. I really liked how this was done. There was a DJ at the starting line and he made a really big deal about the start for each wave. When our wave began, he played the "Party Rock Anthem" and we were off. There were tons of spectators that were lining the street for the entire 6 miles. Businesses along Peachtree were handing out all sorts of goodies to the runners- water, t-shirts, pastries, beer, etc... There were also DJs and bands all along the course, so I was well entertained during the entire run. The only downside to the race was that it was h-o-t. They said that this was the hottest start since 1997. I ended up with a time of 59:15- which is the worst I've ever run in a 10K. I'm not upset with this time. I'm just glad that I made it in under an hour. Even with this time, I finished 504 of 3510 in my age division. That's really quite good. Below is an ariel shot of the runners taken by a news crew as well as a view of the finish area taken by me. This race was the BEST, and it is my new favorite.

Owen's First (Full) Movie

Owen is almost 3.5 years old, and has just seen his first full movie in the theater. I really did try to take him to see a movie before now. As a matter of fact I bought tickets for Toy Story 3 last summer, but he acted up so badly that we had to leave halfway through the film. After that fiasco, I swore that I would wait a full calendar year before I even attempted to take him to the movies again. His year was up last week, and so we gave it another go. We saw Winnie the Pooh, and I'm happy to report that we made it through the whole movie without incident. The kids love the Pooh characters, and they loved the movie. I confess that I really liked it, too.

The Jungle Book on Stage

Last year Granny Mel introduced Olivia and I to a wonderful production series called the Peach State Summer Theater Series. The PSST group consists of theater and fine arts students and professional actors that come together at Valdosta State University during the summer months to perform various plays. There is usually one children's play. This year the children's play was The Jungle Book. We had had such a great time last year, that we couldn't wait to go back again. Owen was old enough to go this year and the Murrays also joined us. Granny Mel was so kind to get tickets for all of us, and we had such a wonderful time. Before the play, we did a bit of shopping in Valdosta and had lunch at Cheddars which is- according to Granny Mel- the hot new restaurant in town. Melanie had gotten tickets really early and I think we had the best seats in the house. The kids loved the play, and it was just perfect for them. There was lots of action, and it didn't drag on. After the curtain call, the actors came back out and led the whole audience in singing "I wanna be like you". The kids already knew the lyrics from having watched the movie a million times, so they had no trouble singing along and doing the motions. When we exited the theater, the actors were outside to take pictures and sign autographs. My kids had their pictures taken with Bagheera, Baloo, and Shere Khan. I don't know what they're planning to perform next year, but it's going to be hard to top The Jungle Book.

Spirit of Liberty 5K and Fun Run

This was our first year running in the Spirit of Liberty 5K and 1 mile fun run. This is a race that usually has high participation from the local runners, however, it was really slack this year due to the way that the dates fell. Many of the "usual" runners were out of town for the long holiday weekend. Nevertheless, we showed up and had a great time. The 5K and one mile were run at the same time, so Brian was left with the task of keeping up with both kids during their run. He said that Owen was a little whiny, but sucked it up and made it. Olivia did really well but couldn't go as fast as possible because she had to hang back and wait on Owen. In the end, it didn't matter because she was the only girl entered in the fun run. This means that she WON the trophy for OVERALL FEMALE. Now you and I know that she probably would not have won had anyone else entered, but she doesn't understand that. She is soooooo proud of her trophy. It is pretty big- bigger than any of mine. I think that this is one of the best things that could have happened. Her love for running has now reached a new level because she has won a major award. Olivia wasn't the only decorated runner. Owen received a medal for participating, and I won 1st place in my age division with a time of 27.45. And yes, I was the only one in my age group- so I won by default. I also got a trophy, but mine was smaller than Olivia's. She didn't hestitate to point this out to me over and over again. Before heading home, Olivia insisted that we stop by the post office and show her trophy to Gigi. She also wanted me to bring my trophy into the post office so that she could show Gigi how much bigger hers was than mine. Ahhh... I think we've created a monster.

Spirit of Liberty Festival

Each year the town of Patterson holds a Spirit of Liberty Festival on the weekend before the Fourth of July. The kids and I went last year to see the Swinging Medallions, and we had a great time. So, we went back again this year and we participated in more of the activities offered at the festival. On Friday night, the Swinging Medallions played. The kids liked listening to the beach music as much this year as they did last year. Olivia got out in the street and danced. That was entertaining. We sat next to Mr. and Mrs. Murray, and they offered the kids some boiled peanuts. Owen and Olivia love boiled peanuts and they devoured a ton of them. I actually felt bad- like my kids were eating too many. But, Mrs. Shirley said that they were fine, so they kept on eating.

When the band took a break, we walked over to the vendor area. There were people selling all types of "festival" stuff. There were also several things (like bouncy houses, petting zoo, etc) set up for the kids to do- for a fee, of course. I told the kids that they could do one of the activities. They chose to do the bungee trampoline. They really liked this because they were able to bounce really high. They also got to pick one souvenir each. They both chose a balloon creature (one of which was punctured before we even left the festival- resulting in a crying kid on the way home).

We returned to the festival on Saturday morning to participate in the Spirit of Liberty 5K (details to come later), and then we went back again on Saturday night to watch the fireworks. In the past we have gone to Waycross to see the fireworks, but I really prefer the way things were done in Patterson. In Patterson, they had another band playing on Saturday night. We took our lawn chairs out into the middle of a large grassy area and staked out a spot where we could see the band well. I brought a cooler with some Capri Suns and a tub of popcorn in it. We sat around eating and listening to the band for a little while. My dad was there (surprise) and he came over and sat with us. At 9:30, the lights were turned off and the fireworks began. It was a pretty good show, and we were right there in the middle of the action. It was so nice and laid back.

Shaking It Up at VBS

The week of Vacation Bible School is always a busy one- but it's a lot of fun. Like last year, I taught the 3 and 4 year old age groups. I had eleven sweet kids in my room all week long- including Owen, Olivia, Ava, Claire, and Natalie. Technically, Ava was suppose to be in the older group, but when she realized that her sister and cousins were all in the Pre-K class- she wanted to stay with them. The theme for VBS was "Shake It Up Cafe: Where Kids Carry Out God's Recipe". In sticking with this theme, we did a lot of cooking (and eating) during the week. The kids also made cute kitchen-themed crafts such as aprons, coasters, and cupcake-shaped piggy banks. As a service project, everyone brought non-perishable food items to donate to a local food bank. VBS opened and closed with an assembly each day. During the assemblies, the kids sang and danced. Below are some pictures taken during assembly time throughout the week. It was such a great week of learning about and celebrating God's love.

Dutch Wonderland

After a morning spent exploring the Amish way of life, we decided to spend the remainder of our day at Dutch Wonderland. Dutch Wonderland is an amusement park for kids that is located in Lancaster. This park is by no means on the same scale as Disney. However, it is ranked the #4 park for children by Amusement Today Magazine (This magazine does the Golden Ticket Awards, which are like the "Oscars" of the Amusement Park world). Dutch Wonderland was just delightful, and was a great place to spend the afternoon. You enter the park through a castle- complete with a moat. Inside the park you will find a few shows, a decent-sized waterplay area, and many rides that are geared for smaller children. There were only one or two rides in the whole park that Olivia and Owen couldn't ride. We spent most of our time riding all of these rides. The park wasn't crowded, so the kids were able to go on the rides multiple times in a row (sometimes they didn't even have to get off the ride- they just went again).

There are three "mascots" for Dutch Wonderland- a princess, a prince, and a dragon named Duke. We came upon a "Storytime with Princess Brooke" show and stopped to listen. It was pretty cute. Princess Brooke and Prince Patrick led the kids in a little dance. Then, the princess read a short story to the kids. After that, each kid was called up one at a time, asked their name, and was made a "knight" or a "lady". Here's "Lady Olivia" receiving her title (unfortunately Sir Owen didn't cooperate for a picture)

It got pretty hot while we were at the park, so Barb and I took the kids to the waterplay area to cool off. It was a pretty nice area with lots of different slides and buckets. The kids had a great time running around in it. To be honest, I had a hard time keeping up with them here. After playing for about 30-45 minutes, we returned to the park to ride some more rides. We ended up staying at the park until it closed, and then we began the drive back to Dover. The whole day was great, and we enjoyed it tremendously.