How the Marx Family Rolls...

Friday, June 6th, we were on the road to LaGrange by 7am. Hayden and Bailey had field day at their school. It would also be their last day of school for this school year.  Bailey's field day events would begin at 8:30am and Hayden's would follow at 12:20pm.  Each child would have two hours of fun in the sun.  This all needed to be photo-documented. That would be my job.  Andie and Michael had to work.  Truthfully, we would have been there even they didn't have to work.  That is the joy of being a retired grandparent.  You can be there for the fun stuff.

We were a little late to see Bailey begin because when we arrived to the place where the railroad tracks are located the train was there.  Nothing to do but wait it out.  So we missed the first event for Bailey which was the balloon bounce feature set up in the gym. However, we managed to see all her other events.

These first pictures are Bailey, She is wearing a pink shirt.  Her teacher this year, Mrs. Morrison, was diagnosed with breast cancer at the beginning of the year.  Her year has been full of chemotherapy and radiation and lost hair.  Through it all the kids have been informed and she has taught most of the time. Amazing lady. So, as a tribute to Mrs. Morrison and her fight against breast cancer, a lot of the kids in her class wore pink t-shirts. Bailey is also either wearing her glasses or my sunglasses and Claude's hat.

The first three pictures are of Bailey sporting Claude's hat and my sunglasses and a little time with her Grampa Claude between events. These granddaughters have Claude wrapped around their little finger. The rest of the pictures of Bailey are of the events she was in:  3-leg race, water balloon toss, water filled sponge pass, ping pong ball in a spoon relay, bean bag on the head balancing relay, hopping with a ball between your legs relay, carry a ball back-to-back with your partner relay, potato sack race and tug o' war. There was a final obstacle course in the cafeteria but all those pictures are blurred while the kids ran the course.

 

 

 

 

 

  

After Bailey's field day events, Claude and I made a run to the local Subway to get sandwiches for our lunch. We made it back to the school in time to have lunch with Bailey in her classroom.  Then we went to Hayden's classroom and ate lunch with him.  Since the cafeteria was in use for the obstacle course, all the kids ate in their classrooms. 

Here are some pictures of Hayden's field day experience.  The first two are the balloon bounce events held in the school gym. Most of Hayden's time through the first balloon bounce are blurry pictures of him bouncing out and jumping to the ground. This time he realized there was an open room and he paused to stand and check it out. Then it was on to the slide. 

 

Then Hayden's class headed outside for the other events.  He is pictured doing the 3-leg race, water balloon toss, water filled sponge pass, a hug from John (one of he buddies) as they lined up for the relay races, ping pong ball in a spoon relay, bean bag on the head balancing relay, big ball in a spoon relay, hopping with a ball between your legs relay, tug o' war and potato sack race.  Hayden also did the obstacle course in the cafeteria.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, that was enough to wear Claude and me out for the day. Was it the end of the day. Nooooo...not at all.  This was the last day of school.  

Last year Andie found a fun thing on Pinterest.  She held the event last year on the last day of  school.  It was enjoyed so much by the kids, it was determined it should become a tradition. So, this year the 2nd Annual Whipped Cream Battle took place.  There were about 17 children and quite a few parents.  

Each child brings a can of whipped cream and comes dressed in their swim suit. As everyone arrived they gathered in the Marx family back yard.  Once everyone was there, they took the kids around to the front of their home and had them sit on the grass for instructions.  They kids were told the area in the street they would use for the whipped cream wars. As long as they were in the street in that area, they could be blasted with whipped cream. If they needed a break, they could get on the grass where no whipped cream was to be used. Once everyone understood the instructions they all headed to the street for a picture.

At the signal, the squirting of whipped cream began.  Here are a picture of Bailey and Hayden enjoying this fun game.  I told Hayden he looked like a statue when he was covered in whipped cream.  This is his statue pose.

 

After their cans of whipped cream were empty, they went back to the back yard where the water was turned on the slip n' slide and a hose was set up to rinse the whipped cream off. Popsicles were provided to help with the cool down.  Water was set out for something to drink.  The parents visited while the kids played on the swing set and water stuff.  Michael made a tight rope walk for the kids that they all really enjoyed.  Here are Hayden and Bailey on the tight rope walk.

It was a totally fun last day of school event for all these kids. It is fairly easy to plan and pull off.  Everyone headed home by 5:30 or 6pm.  Now Claude and I knew we were tired. Andie prepared a wonderful orange chicken for dinner.  I helped finish Bailey's tutu for the Saturday festivities.  We headed to bed by 10:30 to rest before Saturday's full day.

Saturday morning found us all ready and out the door at 7am.  That's right folks, 7am.  We were headed to Louisville. All six of us in the Marxmobile.  Michael got us there safely and found a great parking spot. No small feat since 12,000 people were expected to participate in the Color Run in Louisville.  

I have seen others post pictures of their adventures in a Color Run in their city.  It looked like lots of fun.  Andie felt their kids were old enough to actually have their entire family participate.  She told me they were doing it and I suggested I come and take pictures. Game on!!

A Color Run is put on by a company that does them all over the world.  You pay a fee and this covers the companies expenses, a nice donation to the charity of choice, and gear to be given to the participants.  The gear includes a white t-shirt with Color Run printed over it, a wrist band, a head band and some temporary tattoos. The course is a 5K through the streets of a city, in our case Louisville. This can be walked, run or skipped at your pleasure. Wearing of interesting features is encouraged. Throughout the walk there are arches set up in 4 different colors.  The first of these was blue.  After going through the arch there are barrels full of the color of the arch (blue, pink, yellow and purple). This color is made of cornstarch and color. It will be liberally tossed at the participants coloring their white t-shirts in a rainbow of color by the end of the run.  

These are pictures of the first color, blue, for the 5K Color Run in Louisville.  The first is as the participants will walk through.  The second is the volunteers already doused in blue and ready to squirt more color out of bottles and toss it with their hands on the participants.

Here is our Marx family ready to begin their run.

Claude and I left them at the starting line and headed to the blue area pictured above to get pictures of them as they came through.  This was the first runner through the blue color.

As the runners came through, all 12,000 of them, the color blue followed them along and down the street for a long way in the form of a blue cloud.  The Marx family was closer to the end of the 12,000 participants.  Before they arrived, we noticed the tree across the street from where we had positioned ourselves to take a picture.  The little tree, which originally had green leaves, was now blue in color.

The Marx family made it and the Mini's were sure this was going to be a great morning.

My intent was to walk ahead of them and take pictures at each color. Andie did put her cell phone in a Ziplock bag so she could take a few picture through the plastic.  We walked a way with them and then realized the course map we had showed them going all the way down the street to the 2nd color (pink) and coming back to turn down the street we had walked to. As they proceeded down this street they would reach the 3rd color (yellow). Claude and I decided to go the the yellow color and wait for them.  We walked down this street to the next block and there was no yellow arch or color where it was featured on our map. Hmmmm... We walked on down the street and turned the corner and waited on some steps while drinking a bottle of water.  Nice break.

After our break we proceeded on to the last color (purple).  Claude went on past the purple arch and waited under the shade of a tree.  I went back just before the purple arch to look for the arrival of the Marx family.  It turns out the course had a change and the pink and yellow were at the end we didn't walk to.  When I saw the Marx family they were doused in blue, pink and yellow color.

I left them to go just past the purple color to get a picture of them after they went through the purple.

Bailey loved it so much she joined many of the other participants in laying on the street and rolling in the colored powder.

The Marx family would make it through the finish line.  There were just too many people and we didn't see that part.  We met up at the trees on the way back to the car.  These very active Mini's were very tired.

We made our way back to the Marxmobile. I brought 4 old flat sheets and Michael used them to cover the seats for the Marx family.  We loaded up and headed home.  

Hayden headed for a shower, Claude and I figured out what to order from SteveO's for lunch. While the rest of the Marx family ran through the shower routine and Hayden and Michael left for haircuts, Claude and I went to SteveO's to pick up lunch.  We all enjoyed our pizza and salads very much.  Then I gave each of the Mini's little bag of treats I prepared before leaving our home Friday.  I looked them right in their tired little faces and said, "You two find a movie you like and curl up and eat these snacks while Mom and Dad get a nice nap!" This was cheerfully agreed to by the entire family.

Claude and I put our gear in the car and made our way back to Sadieville. Tired. A lot of pictures on my camera.  And having had a delightful weekend.  That Marx family really knows how to fill up a few days!!