August highlights, Part 2 {Color Run, general shenanigans, Children's Museum, Kennywood}

 1) Color Run. the first annual Color Run for school took place on a Saturday morning in late August and it was so much fun! our school opened in Fall 2020, and I am continually amazed at how much the school community has grown since then. over the last year in particular, there have been an explosion of events for families outside of school (spearheaded by volunteers), and I just love how these programs foster a sense of common purpose and boost school spirit. 

the Color Run was sponsored by the school's cross-country team, and dovetailed with the Back-to-School Breakfast hosted by the parent volunteer group. Greta had no interest in running the 1-mile course (they had two courses designated, one that went up a hill and along a trail for a bit, and one that was flatter and suitable for strollers or walkers). so she volunteered to help as a color-sprayer! she was stationed at the beginning of the race, and then also was tasked with guarding the water balloons at the end of the race so that no one started the water balloon fight until all the participants had finished. most of her classmates were running rather than helping out, but she was in good company with several of the 7th/8th grade girls who also volunteered.

a high school student led us in singing the National Anthem beforehand (I assume she was an older sibling of one of our students -- our school is K-8)

ready to do some damage

Cece and her best friend, running into battle (do you see Greta's devious face?!)

"get me! get me!" her friends squealed

they used dyed cornstarch in buckets and condiment squeeze bottles at various points along the course -- each color station featured its own color. at one station they had people up on ladders dumping colors down from above! poor Cece got a mouthful of cornstarch at one point and was pretty sad about it for a while, but swishing her mouth out with water helped, and then of course there was a delicious breakfast to wash the taste out of her mouth. 

you can see Cece's glare through the streamers at the finish line -- she still hadn't fully recovered, poor thing!

I definitely didn't want the babies to inhale the cornstarch dust and also didn't want the stroller to get stained, so as I approached each color station, I would jog off to the side of the path, hit the brakes on the stroller, and then run back through the station. I didn't realize until Greta told me that I had huge smudges of color on my forehead! 

thanks to one of the parents who was snapping photos of everyone on the course!

after the run, we all headed over to the pavilion for a delicious breakfast of pancakes, sausages, fruit, juice and coffee. the kids played on the playground and there was a rousing game of gaga ball. it was a great way to start the weekend!

Cece got her mojo back and wanted some pictures of her new look

thankfully, this all washed out completely in the bath. the white shirts did end up a little stained with color, but that was expected and I chose these shirts specifically for that purpose!

2) Random shenanigans. (almost) self-explanatory. 

I set off on a run down to the local creek. I had never once been down there and thought I'd be able to run alongside it. nope! the "path" was more like a rocky gully with huge dips. so my run turned into a walk. but it was pretty!

the one section of the trail where I could jog a little

I took a screenshot of this post on our local Buy Nothing page to send to Nick because it looked like tools he might be interested in. then I scrolled up a bit and realized HE was the poster. 

monkey see, monkey do (she's using a remote control as a phone)

Greta's skin care routine (she has a collection of cleansers and moisturizers that I've abandoned - all vetted to be kid-safe with no irritating ingredients). she'll go through spurts of doing this every night and then I won't see it again for a while. please note, Cece is holding the plastic trumpet she won at the fair this summer. our ears may never recover.

if you thought a 13-month-old couldn't look guilty, here's your proof. she absolutely knows she's not supposed to climb on chairs! 

update on Victoria's hips -- still NORMAL!!!! amazing. we don't have to go back to the ortho now for a full year! 

3) Children's Museum. many of the public schools had started up again by the third week of August, so that last week was a great opportunity to soak up our last days of summer with fewer crowds. with the same library program that provided us with free tickets to the zoo and the aviary, I was able to get free admission to the children's museum too. Greta wasn't keen on going and I told her she could stay home with Nick if she wanted. she ended up deciding to come, and had a blast. they do a good job with a range of activities and exhibits so that everyone from babies up to adults can find something interesting! 

she made tons of origami over at a side table with the help of an instructional booklet while I was helping Elizabeth with a screen printing project

making her own circuits to power these funny robots

this was a new addition to the museum since our last visit -- a larger-than-life play structure based on a sewing table. see the huge button, and the measuring tape?

you could write messages and then crumple them up and put them into the coin press machine to come out with...

...these!! the girls spent a long time making their own. they saved some, and some went into a large glass container along with the coins created by other visitors. 

working together to launch parachutes (Greta is loading the bucket and Cece will haul it up). this was an unusual circumstance in which both older girls actually did work together creatively without any fighting or snark. I just held my breath and let them stay here as long as they wanted, haha!

the individual panels on this art installation would flip to form your mirror image as you moved. super cool! 

running their own shaved ice store

4) Kennywood. finally, on the last Saturday of August, we spent a fun day at Kennywood with our good friends! the day was off to a bit of a rough start as I had a 6-mile run on my training schedule for my upcoming 10K. I slept in and realized as I was halfway through my run that even with cutting it to 5 miles, by the time I got back home, showered and got the car packed for the day, we still would be late for the agreed-upon meeting time at the amusement park. then we dealt with sudden periodic rain showers off and on throughout the day, but other than that, it was a fantastic day with short lines! Nick, Greta, Cece and I even got to ride one of our favourite coasters, Phantom's Revenge, all together while our friends kept an eye on the sleeping babies in the stroller. 

riding out the first monsoon of the day under shelter. it soon passed!

the older girls loved being "camp counselors" and helping the littles

finished out the day with ice cream. I opted for a raspberry/pineapple swirl Dole whip and it was absolutely delicious! 

Your turn: Have you ever participated in a color run? Do you know how to fold origami? Are you a coaster lover or do you prefer tamer rides?