Color Run Fun! ::by Kelli::

About a month ago I heard about a color run. All we knew about it was it's a 5k where people throw color at you while you run. It sounded like fun and we all wanted to do it. However with only a month left the price for admission had gone up. And being daughters of a Scotsman we didn't think the color run was worth the price. So we passed it off.

Then, with about a week to go until the run Mandy suggested we all volunteer instead. It's free, we don't actually have to run, we get a T-shirt, and (most important) we get to throw color at people.

Kenna and I were immediately on board with this idea. The instructions were to be at the Waterfront Park in Louisville at 6 am. Sound pretty reasonable right? Well Louisville is about an hour drive. Which meant we were up at 4:30am to get ready and head out so we could be on time. It was still dark when we arrived but lucky for us we found the sign-in station right away.

The woman assigned us to Color Station #3. We were handed yellow T-shirts with "The Color Run" on the front. Kenna and I were just excited not to have to wear pink shirts. While Kenna and I got the shirts Mandy got directions to our station from a couple who would be volunteering in the same station.

Us before the race started!

So following Mandy we walked up the street (avoiding the automatic sprinklers) toward the direction the couple had indicated. But as we walked we weren't seeing anything to indicated a Color Station. So we turned around and headed up another street. Again, we walked a little ways before deciding we weren't headed in the right direction. So we turned around again and headed up another street. By this time the sun was up, more people were filing in for the race, and we had already walked a 5K trying to find where we were suppose to be. Finally we found a lady with a map who showed us the race course.

From there we were able to find our station. The funny part? If we had continued walking down the first two streets both ways would have gotten us to where we needed to go. Oh well!

 

Kenna checking out one of our attractive group leaders. The other is in blue behind us.

Kenna's sad face after the guys leave.

(Also, Kenna and my relief of not wearing pink was reaffirmed when we arrived and discovered we'd be sharing that portion of the street with the pink group. A bunch of young teenagers who liked to 'woo' loudly at anything and everything and sing songs at the top of their lungs, before the race even started mind you. Dare I say they were annoying.)

After setting up barriers, flags, and laying out tarps on the grass we opened up one of the many large barrels of color. It's really just colored corn starch so they were big tubs of powder.

We filled mustard bottles full of the yellow powder and once the race began we squirted as many people passing by as possible.

All colorful!

It was a lot of fun for us and the racers. We came to realize why it's called 'the happiest 5k in the world'. For some reason its hard not to smile when getting sprayed in the face with colored powder.

We as the volunteers had fun too. Kenna had about five people stop to take pictures with her and a group of boys even stopped to 'serenade' her. The air was completely yellow and at some points we couldn't see the mob of racers until they were already through.

After the race (you can see pink in the background)

Clean up was easy and one of the staff said we'd done the fastest and best job she'd ever seen. We were out of there at 10.

All in all volunteering turned out to be much more fun than we'd ever thought. We would all do it again in a heart beat.  

How did I get to be this old?

I call this one 'And they were never seen again'

Last Thursday I turned 33. I don't really look forward to getting older but 33 ain't so bad. You're only as young as you feel anyway right?

With Meric out of town, he had ordered most of my presents online and had them shipped to me. I got boxes all week and he wouldn't let me open them until we talked on Wednesday. Wednesday night for me is Thursday morning (my birthday) for him. Typically we aren't able to talk to each other on Thursday nights for me because Meric has a committment most Friday mornings. By Wednesday all of my presents from Meric had come and all of the ones my mother sent had come, so I got to open all my presents while Skyping with Meric. My mom had gotten me books, car fresheners, hand soap, and some fun soap/loofa things. Kelli got me a Doctor Who shirt. Meric got me a couple Firefly shirts, pizza stones, a machette, and a yoga video. What can I say I am a spoiled girl and it doesn't end there.

My actual birthday started with Kelli taking the dogs out for me. Then she made breakfast for me. Mozzarella bites! (It is what I felt like having okay!?!) Next we headed to Bowling Green (about an hour south of us) for some fun. We went to Lost River Cave.

Dance floor in a cave. It use to be a night club.

 They have a little walking tour and then an underground boat tour.

Sitting on the boat

 The cave actually has a river running through it so instead of walking through the cave you get in a boat.

Inside the cave

It was really cool. There also were several hiking trails.

Kelli's happy face

A butterfly habitat.

 And 4 blue holes.

What are blue holes? Well the river that flows into the cave is mostly underground. In 4 spots the water is above ground and looks like little ponds. Because of the minerals in the water, the ponds are an opaque color. The white/gray color of these ponds reflects the blue sky giving the ponds a beautiful blue color.

After the Lost River Cave we went shopping and then to lunch. We ate at Smokey Bones, a restaurant I haven't been to since I lived in North Carolina. Kelli asked the waitress if they did anything special for birthdays and she said they give a us a piece of cake and icecream. When she brought it out it was the biggest "piece" of chocolate cake I had ever seen. It was really good as was the rest of our meal.

We then headed home and played Beatles Rockband and watched some Doctor Who. It was a really fun birthday. I wish Meric could have spent the day with me but Kelli and Kenna did a good job of making sure I had a good day.

Friday was not nearly as much fun. When I got braces one of the major things that needed to be done was getting rid of my baby tooth. My top right canine never came out when I was a child. It has never been an issue for me but the older you get the more it can cause problems and the harder it is to fix it. So Friday I offically lost my last baby tooth. I now have a hole where my baby tooth use to be and a gold chain coming out of it. The chain is attached to a bracket that is attached to my adult tooth. My orthodontist will slowly pull on that chain to get my adult tooth into place. I won't go into more detail than that or share any pictures because it is really gross. I just hope the tooth comes down like it is suppose to and that the braces thing gets easier after that.

Despite the dental work, it was a very fun week. I am a very blessed girl and am very loved. Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes and for making my birthday a good one!

Hot Fun in the Summertime

July has been a crazy, busy, hot, fun month. It all started when McKenna came to visit for the summer. Kentucky, along with most of the country, was experiencing a record breaking heat wave. Kenna has handled the heat well and I haven't heard a single complaint from her.

Even though she is only a junior Kenna wants to take some senior pictures while she is here.

For the 4th of July Kelli, Kenna and I went to a Louisville Bats baseball game. A minor league baseball game on the 4th has become a tradition for my family. I didn't tell Kenna where we were going and she was suprised when we pulled into the stadium parking lot.

Despite the heat and the Bats losing the game, we had a lot of fun. Also because of the holiday we were treated to a fireworks show after the game.

Since this is Kenna's first time in Kentucky, Kelli and I have been showing her some of our favorite spots. 

We have gone hiking a few times.

Visited Lincoln's birthplace.

Ate pizza in the old jailhouse.

Another thing we have done a lot this summer is swimming. Earlier the summer I learned to swim and Kenna wanted to learn when she got here too. At first she was a little nervous but she soon got comfortable as long as she could touch the bottom. After a couple days Kelli and I pressured her to jump in the deep end. She jumped a couple of times hanging on to the ladder. Finally we made her do it without hanging on. By the end of the day she was doing cannonballs in the middle of the deepend. We call her Cannonball Kenna now.

This past weekend was the campground pig roast/potluck. The campground provides smoked pork and everyone contributes a dish. It is really good and a good time to socialize. This year they also had skydivers and a fireworks show afterward.

(There was a burn ban in effect during the 4th of July so we couldn't do fireworks then.) It was a fun night and a good show.

We are only half way through Kenna's visit. We have had a lot of fun and have a lot more fun planned.