Almost Spring? 7K and other things!

Saturday I ran the Get Lucky 7K in Minneapolis.  When I signed up to run this race last year their promotions showed last years race was 78 degrees and everyone was wearing shorts and T-Shirts!  Of course we all know that isn't typical March 16th weather, but I figured it would be in the 40's.  Well it WASN'T!  It was 19 degrees as I was driving to the race and had snowed the night before.  There were over 11,000 crazy people signed up to run this race along the river in Minneapolis.  It was beautiful scenery, but I had to keep my eyes on the ground for ice and snow and puddles.  The race was supposed to start at 9:00.  I'm about a 10/min miler, so I took my spot near the 10/mile starter line.  There were so many people to run they let people go in groups.  My group didn't start until 9:40, so I stood there freezing for a long time.  The boys showed up about 9:30, so I got to see them at the Start Line.  Alex was sad the whole race, because he wanted to give me a kiss(I hugged and kissed them both before I ran).  I met up with them after the race and the boys drove home with me.  The race is full of people dressed in green clothes and wigs and crazy things(so it was great entertainment for them).  I saw a few people in shorts.  My favorite stat about the race is that I passed 637 people!  It did feel like I passed a lot of people!  When I stopped off at the start line to see the boys I jumped in with the 9/min mile people, so I guess I did pretty good passing that many people that think they run a 9 min/mile!  They give you a chip to wear on your shoe and at the official start line you cross over a pad that records when you start and finish.  I ran the whole time except when I had to stop to tie my shoe twice. 

The boys took turns wearing my Get Lucky Finisher Metal(Cool)!

After I got home and warmed up we decided to go to the MOA to ride some rides.  We are taking the kids to Disney next month and want to get them geared up for rides.  You can see Evan is wearing my metal in this picture. 

We took a ride on the Ferris Wheel.  Alex even rode the big roller coaster.  This was a giant feat for him, because he has not wanted to do anything like that before.  I think it was Evan's third time on the roller coaster and he is still a little emotional and wanted me to keep my arm around him during the ride.  I think Alex is now ready for rides at Disney! 

When we got to the mall traffic around the mall was stopped and it took us nearly an hour to drive around the whole place to find that every entrance was blocked.  Lots of cars leaving, but nobody going in.  The boys were pretty set that they wanted to go to the MOA, so Eric drove to the park n ride a little east of the mall and we took the light rail transit to get to the mall.  By the time we left the mall they were letting people get into the ramp.  Would have been nice if they would've put a sign up to let us know we weren't going to be able to access the ramps and we would've gone with plan B from the beginning.  Lots of angry people going nowhere on a Saturday afternoon at 2:00!  One of the reasons for the crowds could have been this new One Direction store that had it's grand opening that morning.  One Direction is a boy band like New Kids One The Block was for me when I was a teenie Bopper!  They weren't even there, but girls want to be the first to be to the store or get their goods.  They had a line up outside and would only let a certain number of people inside at a time.  The store is located right in the rotunda and we had to walk right by it to get to Nickelodeon Universe(which was not even very crowded).

The boys were walking around with the vacuum this morning.  They didn't have it plugged in, but it kept them entertained!

Eric and Evan went for a snowmobile ride this morning....Yes, March 17th and you can still snowmobile on the lake and there are still people driving cars/trucks on the ice.  Something tells me the boat will not be in the water on March 30th like we were last year:-(

March 17th and still wearing hat, scarf, gloves and boots!

Evan likes to make smoothies with milk, strawberries, ice and banana's.  I use a hand mixer and it mixes up really fast.

Wednesday I got to go to Owl Moon a play at the Stages theater in Hopkins.  Evan sat very quietly though the show and loved the music and dancing.  I can't say the same for the other kids who were talking and had the wiggles during the play.  He just sat in his seat and payed close attention.  It is the story of a little girl and her dad as they go out on a walk at night looking for an owl.  It incorporates lots of ballet dancing and music.  Alex gets to go see the play this week!