Our 4th of July

Well, I was really wanting to be in Blanding this year, but since I couldn't make it, I thought I would try to re-enact the whole day from last year the best I could.

We (Nana, William, Marissa, and I) started the day with our own "Fairbanks Family Fun Run!" I think it will totally catch on! So we all ran the mile run that was terrible on Saturday, but we ran it much earlier and it was a great success. I even got first place!!

After our nice run, we (William, Marissa, and I) went to the church for our ward breakfast. We got to sit with the Ludlows, who are loads of fun. We ate a nice breakfast and then had a flag raising. Last year, this would have been the parade part of the day. So, not the same, but as close as we could come to it in Rolla.

After the 'parade', it was time for swimming and lunch. We went over to the Picken's house for swimming and BBQ. We had an awesome time. William and Marissa discovered that they are very good at going off the diving board, so they did for about two and a half hours. During that time, I got very sunburned, just like last year! We also ate lunch.

Then we went home and had resting time since we were really all tired from all the swimming. We also watched some of "A More Perfect Union" since it is rather patriotic. After we were done resting, it was time for more swimming and dinner at the Ludlows'!

We had a great time over there as well. There was another almost three hours of swimming, more BBQ, and more friends. It was a little late for more sunburns though. After a great night, we headed home, where, instead of shooting off fireworks, I put my kids to bed because they have swam for almost six hours today. Just like last year, but for different reasons! And then I stay up too late despite my sunburn and watch fireworks laying down because of the pain.

Another successful 4th of July celebration! It wasn't what it was last year, as much as I tried. I realized towards the end of the day that I was missing the most important part and that part was irreplaceable- my totally awesome family. Really it wasn't the 5k, or the parade, the sunburn, the food, or the fireworks that made last 4th of July the best ever, it was being with my incredible family and enjoying all those things together. I hope that we will be able to have another day like that soon.

Marissa's funny things she says and what William reads

I have to write something else tonight because my other blog is a little sad. Have you seen the commercial for pajama jeans? Marissa watched the commercial today while I was watching the news. Afterwards, she asked me if I wanted to buy some pajama jeans because "they are so soft, you can even fall asleep in them!" It made me laugh to see her try to sell me pajama jeans using the commercial's own words.

Tonight was an open house for a friend of mine who was recently married. Marissa really very much likes fancy things; weddings, parties, dresses, whatever. So she was really excited about going tonight. Unfortunately, we had a very long day, hours in the sun, very early morning for her, and she just couldn't handle sitting still by 6:00 tonight. When it was time to get ready, she was all over the place, running, jumping, generally not holding still or listening. So I had to listen to her cry for a bit about it when I told her she wasn't going. Then she settled down a little and asked me in a sad little sobby voice to "call or email Allison and ask her if she can have another fancy party tomorrow night too?" It was just too cute. But after a nice bath and working on a puzzle, she forgot all about the fancy party she missed and went right to sleep.

William is much less dramatic than Marissa. This week William has been reading a third grade American History textbook. He has really enjoyed reading it, two or three times, and I love that he picked it out himself. He has been drilling me this week about the early presidents. We also just got the first level of Rosetta Stone for Spanish and several times this week I have been awakened to William on my computer speaking Spanish words into the headset (he is a very early riser). I am constantly amazed at the things he does!

Worst 'Fun' Run ever!

There was a 5k and a mile 'Fun Run' hosted by the city fitness center this morning. William has been looking forward to this morning's race for weeks now because he did so well at the 5k on Memorial Day. So last night, I put both my kids to bed early so they would be well rested for this morning. We also had to squeeze in one more morning of blueberry picking because it was the last day of the season for the blueberry picking farm near our house. We woke up bright and early at 6:30 and ate a quick breakfast and headed out to the blueberry farm. We didn't get to pick very long, but ended up with a bucket or so. These are such great blueberries, huge and juicy and sweet. It is a fun time if you haven't ever picked blueberries yourself.

About 8:15 we left so we could make it back for the 8:45 start time. We got there just after 8:30 and saw a lot of people finishing the 5k that had started at 8:00. I realized, though, that people I have run with before would not be finishing a 5k in 30+ minutes and that the 5k had started about 15 minutes later than 8:00. No big deal I thought. It wasn't until 8:45 had come and gone and it was getting to be after 9:00 that I suspected a problem. Then I heard rumors at the registration desk that the kid's race would start after all the adults were done with the 5k. So I waited, I walked, I took a child to the bathroom, I walked some more, I found some shade, I found a friend, and this went on for another 30 minutes. All the while, they were watching people finish the 5k and the one lady in charge was frantically at the registration desk hand writing all the times of 5k next to the person's name. Every single one apparently. They couldn't do the awards ceremony until all the times were written on this paper, and they wouldn't start the kid's race until after the award's ceremony was ended. So at almost 10:00am, the award's ceremony was finished, most of the adults were gone, and we are sitting at the place that is shown on the map to be the starting line when all of a sudden, down the hill, the rest of the kids are lined up and ready to start running! So then we run down the hill and I get Marissa and William in line to start running.

All this time, the hour and a half we have been waiting to run this one mile race, these poor little kids have been in the sun, had little to drink, and had nothing to do but annoy the parents about being hot and not having enough to drink and asking when the race will start. So, finally the race is starting, seriously. Oh no, wait, the lady in charge has to stop and make sure of all this other stuff before she will let them run. Other parents by me are complaining to each other as well. So finally they say go and William and Marissa start running. William takes off in his non competitive kind of running, just enjoying the scenery, checking on Marissa, stopping to walk for a few steps, etc. I realize that Marissa is bringing up the rear and run a straight line to head her off at a turn to help her out. There are only about 20 or so kids, and she would've been very much alone if I hadn't gone to help her out. So I run in my flip flops and capris and we start chasing down the little boy in front of us, since we are dead last. William is ahead of us and I'm yelling to him to run, but he thinks I'm waving at him. So he stops to wave back, but I eventually get to him run faster. Marissa just wants to walk and I don't blame her because I also want to walk. Did I mention that we had been out in the sun since 7:30 and that there was a heat advisory today? Yeah, I think I forgot that part earlier. Anyway, it was hot! So hot! So I encouraged her with things like water at the end, shade at the end, food at the end, and going home at the end. I got her to run almost the whole way and even sprint at the end, I think that is her favorite part. I can tell she really gets serious about getting through those cones at the end. So, William was done and cheering us to the end. We were all glad to be done, me especially.

We got some water, because there was none left at the end of the race. But I did have some bananas in the car. But they both got medals and they both had a great time and I got to go home and have a shower and make bacon and eggs for a very late breakfast. Besides almost getting heat stroke and having to wait soooo long to run, it was really turned out to be a lot of fun and worth doing. I'm getting ready to write an email to the center with my suggestions for improvement though, so if you have any thoughts, you who run 5ks all the time, it would be definitely appreciated! I was thinking that they need to run the kids first, I mean, it was only 15 minutes! And earlier, 8:00 is too late in the July to be running, it is already really hot by then! Well, I hope this blog wasn't too painful to read! I do have pictures, which I will post later. If you want to see some now though, you can check out my facebook page!