Monday, May 7, 2012

The girls do Bloomsday 2012

Annie had her first "Ladies weekend". Her and I left with my cousin Teri on Friday morning for a weekend away in Eastern Washington with our Aunt Pam to do Bloomsday for the first time.
Teri and I drove over to Richland Friday night and we settled in quickly with Uncle Paul treating us to something fabulous from the wine cellar. I quickly decided that Annie and I could get used to girls weekends away! We loved getting to spend some quiet time with Craig, Ryan, Emily and little Miss Paige.
We continued on our full girls weekend and hit one of Pam's favorite sewing shops and wine tasting Saturday morning... I couldn't have thought of two things I wanted to do more. Annie loved her first wine tasting trip with the ladies, just hanging out in the sling and sweetly looking around taking in all the girl talk.
Paige LOVED Annie and wanted her to sit next to her baby... Annie loved it too :)
We woke bright and early Sunday morning, (like 4 in the morning early) and groggily drove to Spokane. When we got there I was a little unimpressed with the outfits the ladies were trying to get me to wear. All we were seeing we super fast looking runners and there was no way I was going to put on that silly hat. But I finally decided, oh what the heck! But as we neared the starting line and found our way to the very last section (the only place strollers of any kind are allowed) there started to be more festive folks and the other tutus and silly costumes started to add up.
In the end the costumes we a crack up and Annie loved staring at Mommy in that crazy hair. We had many people say stuff like "next year we are for sure doing that!" We even got interviewed for some local TV channel, when Teri chatted up the camera guy and I quickly hid and tended to baby :)
We waited in the start like and the first runners were off... but as you can imagine there being about 50,000 people between us and the start line it took a while. It was fun chatting it up and I must admit I was a bit prideful when another mom called me a "hardcore mom" due to my breastfeeding in the middle of the road sitting on the ground. We neared the start line somewhere about 10:10 (let it be noted that my friend Shannon who was in the fast runners group had already started and finished the race before we crossed the starting line)
It was such a fun walk. Bands all over, people sitting in every yard waving and cheering. The amount of people involved was staggering. It was such a great atmosphere of hope and happiness. Of the 56,000 participants, we saw walkers from little ladies Annie's age to a woman 90 and another man who was 95 making the 7.6 mile trek through the Spokane streets.
We spent most of it just walking (it was against the very strict rules for us to run with a stroller), girl talking, and people watching. I can not wait to do it again next year!
We headed back to Richland after the race and had another relaxing family evening before heading home on Monday.
It was a great girls get away for me and my girl, I havent felt this spoiled in ages, but I missed my two favorite guys!
Our lil' athlete! Ready to Walk!
 "Hardcore Mama"
 People throw their clothes in the trees when they get started after waiting in the cold and the goodwill comes and pics them up... the trees were full for the first mile.
It was this full for the entire length of the race and people were finishing before we started...
 Well done Annie! She was a little too good... just zonked in the stroller :) I cant wait to go on runs with her when she can actually run :)

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