Our First Family 5K

We had two goals- cross the finish line together and don't lose anyone.

And we succeeded!

We spent about a month preparing for the race- some of us by running and some of us by sitting. 

There wasn't really any way to prepare the kids for the massive walls of bubbles we were going to tear through.  

 But they were ready for it!

Well, some of them.  Oh goodness, we also had a parent fail big time.  The stroller acted like a giant snow shovel, scooping up all of the bubbles and basically eating Noah and Emma alive.  Poor Noah was quite traumatized by it.  

We had to pull over for a solid five minutes to wipe him off and calm him down and coax him back into the stroller so we could actually get going on the race.

The big kids didn't mind one bit, but the competitive part of my brain (which is really, really small) was a bit frantic about getting a move on!

 We were right near the end of the pack, but that ended up being a blessing because we weren't constantly getting in the way of more serious runners (those that were actually running through the bubbles, rather than playing in them, that is).  

We got smart and took our time prepping for each chute- 

 stopping to take skyline pictures- 

and plenty of other pictures along the way- 

swimming around in bubble piles- 

dancing in bubble streets-

and giggling about bubble pants.  

We figured out how to get the stroller through the bubbles- 

and Emma and Noah were much happier in the color bubble shoots. 

 Even now, more than a month later, Noah tells everyone that he liked the color bubbles but he did not like the white ones.

Poor Noah.  He gets lumped into "the kids" category a lot, and we sometimes forget that he's still quite a little guy.  This race was not his cup of tea- didn't like the bubbles, didn't like the music, didn't like the crowds or the noise at all.  Typical Noah.  

He may be the youngest, but he's not about to be forgotten.

 Eventually we made it to the finish line!  

Again, notice Noah with his complete disdain for the whole thing.

Leah tricked us all by sprinting to the finish line- and she is fast!- and it was uphill!  

But we had to check out the foam cannons- the party after the race! 

It was like a human car wash, and it was a whole lot of fun too 

(for most of us- Noah and I kind of stood off to the side).  

And now we can say that we've completed our first- and definitely not our last- family 5k!