Girls and Boys' Weekends

This weekend, we divided up into two camps - Girls' Weekend and Boys' Weekend! Daniel accompanied Will on his trip down to Wichita for Will to run a half marathon race (what everyone advises a week after your first full marathon!). Annika held down the fort with me in Manhattan. We had an ongoing competition all weekend to see who had the best weekend, Girls v. Boys style. 

Girls' Weekend

Saturday morning, my friend Christine and I ran in a local 5k race. We did this last year when it was called "Unleash the Power of Aging," but the race was renamed this year to "Run for the Hills." We thought this might be because in the race last year, the route went up Colorado Street and the Most Insane Hill Known to Man. This year, however, the route was different and incredibly flat - perhaps the title was because it was Flint Hills Day? We ran it in 31:18 and were happy for much-improved weather over last year. 

After the boys departed (after my race), the girls tried to see just how lazy we could be. Annika's friend Rachael had spent the night and we all lounged around forever having not eaten breakfast, not changed, and watching a Scooby Doo marathon. Eventually, we decided to return to civilization and went to grab lunch at Subway in Aggieville. 

Next up: Staight Upp Studio for some pottery painting!! If this place goes out of business, it will not be due to our family's lack of patronage.

Getting ready to paint! Rachael chose a horse and Annika a cat. I was able to pick up my mug that I had made during book club, too.

My own big event of the afternoon....14 mile walk with my friends Jenny and Amy to prepare for our Estes Park marathon. We walked 7 miles out on Linear Trail and then came back the 7 miles. The consensus of our group was that there was a long stretch of trail that needed way more water fountains. We did it in 3.5 hours - longest training walk yet!

While I was walking, Annika got to hang out with our very favorite babysitter, Elizabeth, all by herself. Elizabeth is fabulous and took Annika on all kinds of adventures: the Humane Society (to play with the cats), Dairy Queen, Target (to buy nail polish), and then indulged in nail-painting, game-playing, and movie-watching. Heaven. Thank you, Elizabeth!

And of course, they played with the cats. Especially Half Pint.

Since it was a special weekend, Annika slept in our giant king-sized bed with me. We were both lazy and did not get out of bed until around 9 a.m. Heaven, again.

This morning at church was a church-wide outreach event - food packing! All of the children in the church and many of the adults helped out with assembling food packets to be distributed in the community at the Flint Hills Breadbasket and Ogden Friendship House. In the event, we assembled 2,238 meals!

Annika was measuring out noodles. Or perhaps cheese. I was in a different part of the assembly line...

We opted to skip worship service in church today to have more girl time, starting with shakes at Sonic. Annika loved her Oreo Caramel shake. It sounds like the image of health. ;)

Annika was also insistent that she paint my toenails. Really, she would have liked to have painted my fingernails, too, but she is very bothered by my two black toenails and thought it would be good to beautify them.

Waiting for Annika's handiwork to dry.

Next up - puzzles!

Finally, we grabbed some lunch, visited the library, and then took Annika over to her friend Kelly's house to celebrate Star Wars Day in style with some dragons (May the Fourth be with you!). Fabulous girls' weekend!!

Boys' Weekend 

Will and Daniel headed out on their adventure Saturday morning, complete with a giant stuffed SpongeBob. Packet pick-up was in Wichita until 5 p.m. on Saturday so they grabbed lunch on the way down.

At packet pickup! The race organizers seized upon the fact that the race was held on May 4th (Fourth) to engage in a brilliant marketing strategy with much Star Wars cross-promotion.

And even better, packet pick-up was held in conjunction with KidFest, meaning that there were many children's activities to enjoy.

Bounce Houses!! I think that Daniel could live in a bounce house.

Will even bought Daniel a special $5 light-up sword.

Race bibs! I love the Star Wars theme.

Will and Daniel stayed with my parents, and Daniel had a blast playing with old toys. I remember this construction set that D used to construct a wheelbarrow fondly - many memories of building with Julie.

The night before the house, everyone headed to - where else? - McDonald's, to enjoy delicious ice cream cones. Between the sugar and the extra attention, Daniel was in heaven.

This morning was the race! This picture below captures the giant lines formed for the port-a-potties. Wichita races do many things well (particularly the naturally flat terrain), but they do a terrible job of having enough port-a-potties at races, especially compared to how well all of the Kansas City races do. First world runner problems.

Will at the finish! He made it and did not permanently injured himself, which is fantastic. It was a really hot day with temperatures in Wichita reaching 100 degrees in the afternoon, but Will said he did not even notice the heat since there were so many other issues, particularly his utterly dead legs. My dad was impressed with just how awful Will looked in the last mile, but he made it!

And even better, manged a shiny new PR! 1:42:58. Very impressive considering he just ran his first full a week ago. Insane, but impressive.

Finishers' medals. Even the medal has light sabers.

Celebrating after the race at....McDonald's. Tradition is important.

In an effort to try to launch to the top of the boys v. girls competition, Will took Daniel to Jimmie's Diner on the way back, a restaurant full of many happy high school memories for me.

AND - Daniel was able to order his very first chocolate shake (that he remembers), which he was still buzzing about with excitement over several hours later.

The best part of the Jimmie's Diner shakes is that they are too large to fit into a glass, so all orders also come with the "extra" in a separate container. Daniel assures me that this is Heaven in a Glass.

Julie's Weekend 

Meanwhile, my sister Julie traveled up to Lincoln, Nebraska for a full marathon today. She rocked it, finishing in 2:58:04 on a very windy day, and utterly smashed her sub-3 goal. Way to go, Julie!! She and Charlie came over to our place when they got back in town.

Oh, and Greg! He was harder to photograph, since he is a Man About Town. ;)

Both families headed to McAlister's for dinner (Writing this blog post reinforces: Oh boy, do we ever eat out a lot. Must change.). This picture captures the attitudes of our children: Annika looking annoyed, Daniel acting crazy.

So this leads to our final question....who had the best weekend, the boys or the girls?? Obviously, I am partial to the girls, but am willing to concede that it might be a tie. ;)