4th of July Fun

Our holiday began on Saturday.  After a morning of breakfast by Vinny, running errands and packing, we were ready to head to Atlanta.  On the way down, we stopped in South Carolina for fireworks, and yes I made Vince call his sister to make sure it was ok before we bought them.  Her response, "We kind of expected you to and YES."  We made it to Katie's house at 6:15, had a delicious dinner of ribs, coleslaw and baked beans, and then Bella put on her 4th of July fairy costume to head to Atlanta Lily's party.  Bill, Katie and I took Bella and Trip while the Grandparents and Vince stayed home.  They had a huge inflatable bouncy water slide that convinced Bella to change into her swimsuit immediately.  She wore her fairy costume all of 5 minutes, but it got noticed in that quick 5 minutes because I received several comments about it :)  (I will post pictures of it later this afternoon)  Bella spent the next hour going down the slide with her new friends, Kelly and Margo.  I don't think they let go of each others hands once <3  We stayed for a few fireworks and then called it a night.  When we got home, the kiddos took a bath in Katie's super cool tub, and watched a little Animal Planet while they cleaned up.  adorbs.  Ben and Nathan, my older nephews, were both away at camp, and Bella and Trip were digging being the only kids in the house.

Sunday.  After a yummy breakfast of homemade blueberry pancakes, Frank and Bill left to go play golf, Vince, Katie and I took the kiddos to the pool, and Jamma stayed home.  Bella completed a major accomplishment at the pool... She went off the diving board for the very first time, and with a little push from Vince swam to the side like a big girl.  I could almost smell the pride oozing from her pores :)  She jumped off it another 15 times or so, and loved every minute of it!  We headed back home around 2 to have a late lunch, and then Katie and I went to the Expo to get our race numbers and to do a little shopping.  After picking up our numbers, we found some running skirts, an LED ring, and a headband to complete our patriotic outfits for the race the next day.  When we got back, Jamma was helping Trip and Bella make homemade banana pudding, and it was really sweet how well they were working together.  I was also impressed with how quickly Trip licked his spatula when they were done.  We had another yummy dinner that night, followed by Uncle Vince's spectacular fireworks show!  It.was.awesome.  Some people walking to the country club show saw ours on the way and thought the show had already started.  It was so good, that Katie made it an official part of 4th of July from now on.  Unless there is a drought of course.  Sounds good to me :)  I went to bed kind of early since I had to run a 10k the next day...


Monday, July 4th, 2011.  Peachtree Road Race Day.  42nd Annual.  60,000 runners.  My first time...

I loved it!  I didn't run the whole thing, but I ran about half of it, and I completed it in 1 hour 25 minutes. Not bad for my first time and no training.  The raceway was lined with lots of spectators cheering us on, and bands playing music.  I really had a lot of fun.  One little sad note though, I ran past Huey's, the place where Vince and I had beignets and coffee on our first date, and it's closed now :(   Anyway, after crossing the finish line, collecting my t-shirt and grabbing some water, I began my trek to the H balloon to find Katie after the race... She was in corral C to start and I was in R.  In other words, her start time was about an hour ahead of mine and she finished about an hour and a half before I did.  By the time I finished though, I had caught up with folks from corral J so I was feeling pretty good about myself.  We made our way slowly to the MARTA station in order to make our way home.  We walked another good 3 miles in our trek home, and when we finally did make it, my shower was amazing.  Vince helped me pack up, and he loaded the car.  Oh yeah, when Vince walked me to my starting point for the race, I noticed his car door was open and his hood was popped.  Long story short, his car got broken into.  Thankfully there was nothing of value in it, so the thieves got nothing, and left before destroying or messing anything up.  Whew!  For once we caught a break, but it still felt kind of gross knowing somebody went through our stuff... We made it home around 5, and I was pretty useless the rest of the evening.

It was a really great 4th!  I had a lot of fun, we made some great memories and started some new traditions.  Speaking of tradition, I will be attempting my first half marathon with Katie this Thanksgiving in Atlanta.  This I will train for though ;)  Yep, I liked the Peachtree Road Race that much.

Looking forward to next year already!