The Potter Family

A few months ago Hubby saw that there was a very good price for a Halloween 5K. He got an email and showed it to me. It was for the Nebraska Furniture Mart Halloween 5K. He asked if I thought the whole family could do it. It didn’t take me long say, “Heck, Yeah!” I mean we know that the kids can do a 5K now and I love Halloween. So I jumped on my computer and signed us up.

Fast forward a few weeks and here comes the rain that we missed all Spring and Summer. I mean buckets of it. I was so worried that it would be cold and rainy during our run. Luckily the rain seemed to stop. Little Lady reminded me how the rain came for our Running With The Cows Half and stayed away for our Mother’s Day run which was exactly what I wanted. I was hopeful. The forecast for race day looked cloudy but no rain.

The kids already knew what they wanted to dress as for Halloween. They requested to be Harry and Hermonie from Harry Potter this year. At first look it seems like a pretty basic costume. The main thing is the robes. I didn’t go all out and try to get the Gryffindor symbol on everything. That cost quite a bit extra. The only thing we already had was black dress pants for our boy. We have at least one suit for him which unfortunately has been worn a lot to funerals. Everything else I had to buy new. At least I thought the white button up shirts could be worn year round if they chose to. I bought my Little Lady a grey skirt and I skipped the grey sweaters. I mean they didn’t always wear the sweaters in the movies. So between Amazon, Target, and Walmart I got everything we needed. Oh, we also had glasses and a wig. Although those turned out to not work so well. The glasses are too googly and we can’t get the lenses out of them. The wig makes Little Man look like the “fifth Beetle” or the “fourth Stooge” according to my Facebook friends. We did spring for wands though.

The packet pick-up for the race came around pretty quick. They decided to do it at the store. Nebraska Furniture Mart is near a shopping area in the metro called the Legends which is a little ways from us. We decided to get up earlier to get our packets on race day. There isn’t really anything out there that we travel to see.  We pretty much have everything we need close to us.

The kids and I got up and promptly got dressed. I worried about them getting too cold or too hot. We did different combinations of leggings and such. Hubby just slept. It was quite a chore getting him up and out of bed. When I told him we might miss the costume contest he put the pedal to the metal. The kids decided that we should match them. So Hubby dressed as Serious Black in jail attire. I was Professor Trelawney. Hubby already had the old fashion jail uniform from Halloween many moons ago. I also had the stuff for Trelawney from another Halloween way back when. When we got to the parking lot outside the store we got our packets and then lined up for the costume contest. There wasn’t many people there.

Getting our race packets

When we first lined up the little girls from Girls on The Run were so happy to us. They knew exactly who each of us was supposed to be. The award for funniest costume was someone with underwear over their running clothes. I guess they were Captain Underpants. The award for scariest was Beetlejuice. This guy went all out. I mean he was definitely a really good Beetllejuice. When they huddled for the overall award we kept hearing, “Harry Potter! Harry Potter! Harry Potter!” It was a little surprising that they gave the over all award to a dog that was dressed in Wonder Woman stuff. The dog was cute though. Then we saw they had two other bags. They gave us and another family each a bag because they loved our costumes as well. We were the Potter family and the other family was the Incredible family.

We stopped and got pictures done before we headed to the car to get our bibs pinned. Little Man was not amused. He could not stop frowning. The funny thing is that as soon as we got to the car he was all happy and talking about how everybody loved our costumes. Little Lady was having a blast the whole time. It wasn’t long after we got everything pinned we heard the kid’s race start. Our kiddos were doing the 5K and not the kids run. So they waited with us. I later saw that some kids did both races. Maybe we will do that some day if the kiddos want to. It wasn’t that long until we lined up in the street outside the store for the start of the 5K.

Hubby and Little Man took off as Little Lady started to have issues with her leggings. She was wearing some warm hand me down leggings from her cousin. At home they looked like they fit, but I guess once she started running it felt like they were riding down her bottom. I know that feeling. I lifted her skirt to check out how bad it was. They looked like they were in place. I guess it was just uncomfortable for her. She kept walking and getting frustrated. An idea finally hit me. I took one of the safety pins from my bib to pin-up her leggings. It worked but she just wasn’t into running at that point.

At first I was annoyed, but after I asked her some questions I discovered she didn’t really like the cold. It wasn’t very cold, but cold enough I guess. We walked most of the race. There were two turn around points where we waved at Hubby and Little Man. He looked happy unlike Little Lady. She got fired up when we saw the people cheering toward the end. I got her to high-five a few people. Then we ran all the way to the finish.

I told Hubby later on how she was pumped up by the people cheering, and he said Little Man was the opposite. He said a lady came catching up to them and cheered “Harry” on to the finish. He said she was very nice, but he didn’t seem to appreciate it much. She was running the race too and crossed the finish line with them. He is just so much like his mommy. I was more introverted when I was little too. What’s funny is that I actually responded to a Hogwarts Running Club post a day or two earlier in our local FB group. A lady named Chelsea, I think, was the one asking who all would be running it besides her. I said we would be running it, and I told her how we would be dressed. She said she wasn’t dressing up for it. I posted one of our pictures to the same thread later and she said she was the one that ran across with Hubby and Little Man. I went back and forth with her discussing her interaction with my boys. I tried to tell her to not take my little guy’s response personal. He had a blast. He just gets a little embarrassed when attention is called to him sometimes.

We did okay. Little Lady asked to be in front of me for the finish. I checked our chip timing. She finished in 49:31 and I was 49:32. Hubby and Little Man were 44:30. We got muffins and water at the end. They were giving out individual medals while we got our food. We went back to the car and ate. We got a ten-dollar off coupon in our packet for the store but we had to spend forty-nine to get it. I didn’t think it was a good idea since we didn’t have something already in mind to get. I was right. I forgot Nebraska Furniture Mart sold TOYS!

Boy! Were we in trouble. It felt like we were in the store forever. The kids wanted toys. I saw some cool games like Harry Potter Trivial Pursuit. Hubby got the smaller travel size game instead of the big board game. We got the Little Man some kind of Jurassic Park toy which was pretty cool. We got Little Lady a pretty pink doll that we thought was about almost half the price it really was. More about that later. We thought we still had to spend something to get our discount. So we looked at movies and found the Jumanji sequel. I was so happy to leave. Hubby wasn’t real happy because he didn’t get anything. I think he either couldn’t decide on something or it was too expensive even with the coupon.

Hubby mentioned something about how the total price seemed higher than what we thought as we were walking out of the store. When we got to the car we noticed the price on the doll was a lot higher than what was listed. I went back in the store and took a picture of where the doll was hanging with a whole bunch of other dolls just like her. I waited in line at customer service and explained the situation. The lady asked if I could get a close up picture of the SKU to see if it matched. So I did. She saw that the SKU did not match. She showed me a picture of what the doll really looked like for that price. Well I felt a little duped seeing how there wasn’t just one doll on the rack under that price but several. Usually places with good customer service give you that price, apologize for the mix-up, and go and correct the issue so another customer won’t run into the same thing. Did that happen? Nope. She just stared at me. I then told her she needed to have someone move all the dolls so it would not happen again. She just thanked me and told me to have a good day. Oh well I guess.

 

We decided to go to IHOP for my free birthday pancakes and get scary face pancakes for the kids. Let me just pause here and mention a few things I hate about some coupons since this was the second time I used one that day. I hate when a coupon says it expires in X amount of days from the date it was sent. I would much prefer a clearly marked expiration date. I guess they do that in case there is a hiccup with the email or something, but it is just so much easier for the customer to have that date. I also hate it when a coupon says you have X dollars off but only if you spend X dollars. I mean they are fine if you already have something in mind to purchase, but to purchase something just because (like we did) is not a good thing.

Anyway, we got our pancakes. Well Hubby got a sandwich and the rest of us got pancakes. What was weird is that the waitress wanted me to forward my email to the store instead of verifying my email on my phone. I just thought that was strange. I’ve never had that happen until now. We ended up being away from our house most of the day. I was soooo happy to get home. I think the kids might have found another run they want to do again.

Batteries Drained

Wow! What a weekend. We planned to do the zoo run since we signed up for the Sweet 16 Challenge ages ago. Then we found out about the Billy Joel concert a little after that, but at the time we didn’t think anything of the fact that it was the night before the run. Then of course we had a Chief’s game scheduled on Sunday the same weekend. Now I think I’ve mentioned before that I am kind of on the border of the introvert and extrovert spectrum. Well, I’m probably a little more on the side of introvert. I’ve gotta tell you that a weekend like that can totally drain me. I’m not just talking about the physical aspect of the race. I’m talking about all the going out and around town with all the people. I was so spent that I really wanted to do absolutely nothing when Monday rolled around.

Sunset at Kauffman

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m usually at home alone (looking for another job since the kids are in school full-time now). So I like getting out once and awhile with other adults. I was excited about Friday. My mother-in-law and father-in-law usually spend the night before an early morning race to watch the kids anyway. This weekend was kind of a twofer. I grabbed the kids and headed over to my sister-in-laws where the rest of the family was. My kids ate dinner there and my mother-in-law and father-in-law took them back home to bed. Hubby met me over there right after work. We took our oldest nephew and met his dad close to Kaufman Stadium. His job had him out there anyway. We grabbed some Pepperjack’s phillies and headed to the stadium.

This is how close we were to the stage.

We can’t see the jumbotron.

It was kind of cold. We ate in the parking lot as if we were tailgating. Quite a few people were doing that. I had a feeling of worry that I wouldn’t know many Billy Joel songs except the hits. I felt that way when we went and saw the Rolling Stones a few years ago. I actually learned that I know more Stones songs than Billy Joel songs. It was a good show though and we had awesome seats. We were right in front of the stage! It lasted a while and I was tired. I noticed a lot of women in cute shoes. I wore cute shoes to a Black Eyed Peas concert once and I about died. I wore really comfy loafers to this concert and my feet still hurt. I don’t know how these other ladies do it.

All the phones during one of his slow songs.

The next morning came fast. Even though the race didn’t start until 8:30 AM. I knew we needed to be there fairly early because traffic around the zoo for this race is . . . well like a zoo! I was excited to try out my new Sparkle Skirt in the race. I bought it a few weeks ago. I did a regular run in it and I really loved it. I got mine with a BibBuddie just to see how it did in a race. The pockets are so big in the undershort. I was going to try to run with my phone in one of them instead of in my arm band. I was showing my pockets to my husband when he jokingly told me to shut up. I think he was jealous.

We got there in plenty of time. The traffic wasn’t too bad. We parked and stayed in the car to stay warm for a while. I put my bib on when we finally decided to get out to walk to the start. They always put the start a little ways away from the zoo in front of Starlight Theater. I was worried that my bib might fly up and my number wouldn’t show for a picture or something. I decided not to stick any pins in the bottoms holes and try it as is.

We walked to around the ten minute mile mark group and I think that is where we stayed. I heard some ladies talking about the Mt. Rushmore Half Marathon. I turned and had to ask if one of them ran it. The one lady said no, but she wants to do it next year. I told her Hubby didn’t want us to do it this year since it was the first year. He wanted them to work out the kinks before we went. We talked about a few other races until the “National Anthem” started. We walked up as each wave went out ahead of us. There weren’t many. Then we were good to go. I have to say that I was passing quite a few people at the beginning. It amazed me since I was so tired. I was doing real well and then this guy kind of irked me.

When you sign up for the run there is a notice that at some points of the run the trail gets a little tight like a real trail run. It is because you are actually running through the zoo. Well during one the turns where it gets tight I was leaning into it a bit. I realized this and I purposefully tried to go out from the turn so I wouldn’t crowd anybody on the inside part of it. Apparently this guy in a neon green shirt didn’t think I was out enough for him. Did he say, “Can you please move over a bit?” No “Can you please give me a little more room?” Nope. He said using a rather rude tone, “Can you give me some room?” So, yeah, I gave him some room and blew past him.

You can see Dixie straight ahead.

Now I’ve got my eyes set on beating him. Oh, this was after I actually stopped to take a picture of the giraffes and zebras. This year’s run was dedicated to the giraffes which are my son’s favorite. We even adopted the baby giraffe, Dixie, that was born this past winter. We got a little stuffed giraffe wearing a little purple sweatshirt (my son’s favorite color). We got a birth certificate and some cute photos. I mean she really is a cutie pie. Her dark tufts of fur on the top of her head is so adorable.

Anyway this green shirt guy wasn’t running THAT fast. However he also wasn’t stopping at any of the water stops. I felt pretty thirsty so I just had to stop. That started a back and forth thing between us. Oh, and I was sure to give him pleeenty of room when I passed him. I ran all of the race except the water stops and one or two hills towards the end. Even with doing all of that I could still see green shirt guy. I didn’t beat him, but I wasn’t too far behind him either. My time was pretty good for me with all that stopping and such. I finished the four mile race in 42:20. Hubby finished in 39:00.

 

My bib never flew up as far as I know. I mean I have pictures. I’m pretty happy with my skirt. It did ride down a bit with my phone weighing it in my pocket, but it didn’t go down far. I didn’t notice any more sliding down during most of the race. I loved the fact that I have two pockets, and when I got warm, I just took off my arm warmers and put them in my other pocket in my undershorts. I mean how awesome is that!

 

 

People in giraffe hats.

No band this year.

We got home and my in-laws were ready to take the kids to their school carnival. We made it home in time to them ourselves, but we still needed to shower and what not. We told them we would relieve them soon. My mother-in-law woke up not feeling good, bless her heart. We got cleaned up as fast as we could and met them at the school. They took off home to get her some rest. My kids were having a blast with all the inflatables, games, and prizes. The day didn’t end there. Nope. Hubby and I decided to take the kids to IHOP for lunch. We mostly at breakfast items because Hubby and I hadn’t really eaten anything yet except some wonderful Shatto milk at the zoo run. We had a cinnamon roll too at the run, but it was just okay. Did we rest after IHOP? Nope. We took the kids to see The House with a Clock in Its Walls. It was a cute movie. I like Jack Black. He can be pretty funny.

I had planned on making a blue cheese bacon potato salad for the tailgate the next day, but we didn’t have all the ingredients. I was dead-dogged tired too. Hubby was supposed to go grocery shopping after the movie. I was then going to make the potato salad as well as dinner. Well none of that happened. I think we ate leftovers and decided to give money to the person who was doing most of the food the next day at the tailgate.

The kids were supposed to go to their grandparents to go to church with them while we went to the Chief’s game. My mother-in-law was still sick. So we took the kids to my sister-in-law’s house to stay with her and her two kids. Our brother-in-law and oldest nephew (yes the two from the Billy Joel concert) were supposed to go with us, but they wanted to sleep in a bit. We told them we would meet them at the game later and we left the kids there with their aunt and other cousins.

It was a good tailgate. I probably had a little too much of the adult beverages. I also forgot sunscreen. I was a nice warm day, but once we got in the stadium it was soooo hot! Our seats were in the sun and we got fried. So yeah, if it hadn’t been that I normally do laundry on Monday I would have just went back to bed once I took the kids to school. Talk about a crazy weekend.

Note: Sparkle Skirts did not compensate me in any way to say any of the things I said about their product. I just really like their skirts. They make men’s shorts too. I bought Hubby a pair that should be in any day now.