Whirlwind Weekend

   I'm going to briefly interrupt Disney World postings, to blog about our spectacular weekend.  We had a very busy, yet very, very fun weekend. 
   The weekend started with Ashlyn's first cross country meet.  Ashlyn is in cross country again this year.  She is really enjoying it and has been running at least two miles at each morning practice.  She had a meet a few weeks ago, but we were in Disney World so she missed it.  She was very excited for her first meet of the year.  Ashlyn has improved immensely from last year, but I was figuring that you she would run similar to last year.  She is still in the kindergarten/first grade race.  At practice that morning, I told her to try to run the whole way and not walk at all because I knew she could do it.  She said she would try. Ashlyn's best friend, Sofie, also runs cross country and they were excited for the race. 
     It was a big meet with lots of kids. Almost 200 kids at her school run cross country and there were two other elementary schools there as well.  Ashlyn and Sofie said they planned to run together.  Once they told them to go, I saw that Ashlyn was near the front of the pack right away.  (This never happened last year.)  They disappeared for a while out of our view, and before we knew it we could see them coming for the finish line.  I was beyond excited when I saw that Ashlyn was near the front.  She was running with all her heart.  Some boys came in first, but I noticed no girls had crossed the finish line and she was almost there.  One girl came across the finish line, then Sofie and Ashlyn.  Sofie pulled in front of her, but they were together.  Ashlyn got 3rd place out of the girls!!!  I was so proud and excited for her.  I never would've guessed that she had improved that much from last year.  She is an awesome runner and I could not be more proud of her accomplishments and hard work.  You will notice in the pictures that she is wearing jeans. I had other pants for her to change into, but she insisted in running in jeans.  Hey, I guess it worked for her. 

I love their shirts this year.  Keep calm and run faster, hey that's my mantra!!!

Best friends.  I keep joking that they are the next Shalane Flannagan and Kara Goucher. 

 Part of her school's team

The start line

Ready to go

And they're off!

Coming down the chute

Go Ashlyn!!!

Killing it, and smiling the whole way. 

    After the big race, we headed home and Ella came over.  We always have a movie and pizza night on Friday nights.  It's our favorite way to unwind after a long and busy week.  We decided to have Halloween theme nights for the month of October.  We started the night with making a homemade ghost pizza.  The kids loved decorating the ghosts.  After we had pizza, we watched the movie Casper.  For a special treat, the kids got to make ghost graveyards out of pudding cups.  They loved the dessert!  They ended their fun night with a dance party in the living room.  We had such fun and I can't wait for the rest of our movie nights this month. 

Making pizza

Add caption

Our ghosts ready to go in the oven

Our finished ghost

Dessert time!

The finished ghost graveyards

Dawson dancing.  He has some moves!

Ella kept adding pieces to her outfits

   The next morning, we headed down to a local pumpkin farm.  The do a pumpkin run there each year.  I usually run the race as part of a race series, but didn't this year because I was pregnant.  My brother and sister were running the race as the final part of the series.  I'm not crazy about the course and am focusing more on a half marathon, so I didn't run it.  We decided to go down to cheer them on.  The also have a kids run that Ashlyn wanted to do.
    Ashlyn's friend Sofie was also at the race and they had a great time exploring the farm and hanging out.  After the adult race, they did the kids run.  Dawson never showed any interest in doing the kids run.  They had a short kids race and a long one.  As the kids were lining up for the short one, Dawson said that he wanted to run.  I wasn't dressed to run, so I asked my sister to run with him.  She said he did awesome and ran the whole time!  I was so happy that he decided to run.  One of biggest motivations to run is the example of health and commitment it shows my children.  I am always hoping that it will rub off on them.  I want them to see running as fun and an excellent way to keep healthy.  It is obviously working and I couldn't be more excited!!!
    After the short run, they started lining the older kids up for the long run.  The race director was explaining the course and it sounded pretty long.  I also looked around and saw a lot of older kids running the long race.  I was definitely thinking that Ashlyn wasn't going to have the same success she had the day before.  She had some tough competition.  They took off and she was near the front again.  We lost sight of them for a good while.  We saw them again as they were coming near the finish line.  My brother and I about fell over when we saw Ashlyn very close to the front!  I started counting the girls as they came in, and she came in 4th out of the girls!!!  She beat out a lot of kids that were much older than her.  She was so proud of herself as well as all of us!  I can't believe how good she did this weekend. 
   I have never cared whether Ashlyn was fast or not or won anything, I just wanted her to see what fun running can be and how fun racing is.  I am just blown away by how much she has improved in one year and how good she is for a 6 year old!  I hope she continues to love running and it is something she sticks with.   

The start of the adult race

My sister running

My brother finishing strong at the finish line

Ashlyn and Sofie

Silly boy

Dawson in his first race

I'm so proud of him for running the entire way

Showing off his ribbon

The start of Ashlyn's race  As you can see, there were a lot of kids in the race. 

There goes Ms. Speedy

Coming in.  I so love how she always has such a big smile on her face. 

That girl was flying!

Crossing the finish line

The kids got to pick pumpkins.  Dawson is too funny.  They have the rule that each kid must be able to carry the pumpkin they pick.  Dawson deemed most pumpkins as too heavy, until he found that tiny guy. 

      On Saturday afternoon, we went on a long bike ride.  Ashlyn is getting so good at riding her bike on two wheels.  It's amazing how much she has grown and learned in a year.
     We had a great Sunday too.  I started the day with a long run with my sister.  After, we took the kids to the gym to go swimming.  Gracie just loved the water and smiled and splashed the entire time.  I was so wishing I had a camera. After swimming, we finally had some rest time while we watched the Broncos dominate over the Cardinals.  It was a great game.  We finished our weekend with a family dinner full of great food and family time. 
    What a busy and amazing weekend!  It's going to be a hard one to top.