The Color Run

Have you heard of The Color Run before? I hadn't until this year. Once my friends and I learned about it we scurried over to their website to sign up for the DC run, just to find it was sold out. Whomp, whomp, whomp. So we did the next best thing and road-tripped to Richmond to take part. It was so much fun!! I mean, you run (or in my case walk, due to some medical stuff I've got going on right now), get colored corn starch thrown at you, and act like a crazy fool. What's not to love?!

Luckily, I'd bought Charlotte a waterproof digital camera a while back. I figured if it can survive 14 feet underwater it can survive a Color Run. I was right. So here are some (unedited) shots during the action:

Now the run itself is fun, but as you can see, our shirts ended up being just a slightly more pastel version of their formerly white selves. Boring! So into the after party we went, where participants get to throw packets of color in the air. Or in each other's faces. Your choice. :)

We stayed in this hue-filled mosh pit for about half an hour before we headed to our cars, dusted ourselves off and went back to the hotel. We met Charlotte and my mom there (thanks Mom for watching her!) and Charlotte didn't even recognize me. Not that I can blame her, given that my face was completely purple.

I'm psyched at the thought of signing up for this again when it comes back to town next year!

At the Carwash

You might have thought it a little strange that 'carwash' made it on our Summer Fun List. In actuality, there was real purpose behind that inclusion. Our regular gas station has a glass-enclosed car wash, and the people around here must love a clean car because we almost always see one getting a wash every time we go to fill up our tank. Charlotte has been asking to use it for months, and we figured it was finally time to oblige.

First, just so you understand the rationale behind what you're about to see... I usually let Charlotte choose her own clothes. And headbands, shoes, etc. So don't be surprised that a big, red bow on a Snow White headband is paired with a Peter Pan shirt and flowered flip flops. It is what it is.

Now, on to the actual car wash photos. Which were all taken with my cell, so mind the photo quality.

It was a bit loud in parts, but overall Charlotte really loved it. She was especially fond of the multi-colored soap (blue, green and pink) and the dryer. I'm fond of the clean car that no longer has bird poop on the door handle. Yeah, that was a fun discovery.

Out of Control

If your volume is up loud enough you can hear her cackling the whole way down. Love that girl!! I suppose the guy in the video is pretty good too, after all he did do this with her about 15 times, pushing the stroller up the hill between each run. ;)


This was from our trip to Longwood Gardens last week. If I get my act together, I'll get a post together tonight so I can share more of the fun we had with you tomorrow. But first up, dinner at Outback. Yummy!!

$5 Flamingoes

I went on a bit of a spending spree this weekend. For no good reason other than I get into spurts where I barely spend at all, followed by spurts where I let loose with no abandon. This was one of those no abandon weekends. :) Most of what I snagged was practical - clearanced clothes for the kidlet, a new hair dryer, thrifted sheets. Not necessary, but certainly useful. One of my favorite purchases was of the impractical variety. Check out what $5 (plus tax) got me in the Target dollar spot:


Oh yeah. These two hot pink beauties. Please... run, don't walk, to get yourself a pair (or more). Even if your husband and/or father doesn't understand. Lord knows mine didn't. But I was so enamored with them that as soon as I got home I set out to find the perfect home for them. Let's take a look at the options:


First up, the west part of my yard. They look pretty cozy tucked in with those peonies (which badly need to be dead-headed) and primrose. Trouble is, this is in the far end of my long and narrow yard. And even though it's nearest to the back door, they're still a bit hidden. And that will not do for Chester and Norman. Yup, that's what I've named them.


So onward to bigger smaller and better substandard things. Our blueberry bushes. You can only see one in the photo, but there is a second bush off to the left of Chester. While I appreciate that these two sentinels would guard those bushes with every fiber of their plastic beings, truth be told, there's not much to guard. The bush in the photo has nothing but leaves and the one not pictured has a bumper crop of seven whole berries. I kid you not. Chester and Norman's valuable time is wasted here.


So I thought that instead of putting them to work, I'd put them in a spot where they could relax. Here they are in a shadier area of the yard, living it up amongst the creeping geranium (thanks Jacqi for identifying that!), lilies and lemon mint. And loads of grass that is in desperate need of a trim. While I'm sure they were quite at home here, something about their rosey color combined with the red of the birdhouse was making me itch. Blasted eye pollution. So on they went...


... to their permanent home, next to the shed. Perfect right? Not only do they get to cozy up to some ornamental grasses and lilies, and not only do they get to guard some grape hyacinth skeletons (yeah, I really need to do some yard work), but their bright pink plummage looks smashing with the aqua color of the shed. Success!


Besides, Chester was tired of moving and said this spot was it. And really, how can you say no to that face?

Flower Party Fun

Charlotte's 4th birthday party was a blur, to say the least. It felt like it crept up on me quickly and then started and ended quickly too. I didn't do nearly the planning that I have for other parties, but with the help of my mom and sister we did give my girl a great time.

Weeks ago Charlotte requested a flower party and it was easy to oblige. My sister added cupcake liners to twinkle lights to make a garland for the sunroom. My mom made the tissue paper flowers that hang from our ginormous umbrella. (Seriously. It's huge. It covers almost the entire patio.) And I picked up some flowers from Costco and combined them with some from the yard to make arrangements for all the tables. I think my favorite of the flowers were the tiny purple ones I found in the garden. I'm pretty sure they're weeds. :)

The goal for the food was just that it be yummy. So we served up deli sandwiches from Costco, along with PB&J for the kids, pasta salad (thanks Mandy!), bean and corn salad (thanks Mandy!), corn on the cob (thanks Mom and Dad!) and loads of fruit. The plastic produce containers I just snagged at Target were perfect for the occasion. Love them!

After we ate we unleashed the kids, small and large, on the yard. It was around 90 degrees earlier in the day (thankfully, the party started at 5pm, so it had cooled some), but the kiddie pools and Target dollar section squirters were much appreciated. The wiser ones in our bunch (take note, that's mostly ladies) situated themselves safely on the patio side of the yard.

It didn't take all that long for the kids to be too exhausted, or too cold (or both) from the water play, so we refueled with dessert. I made pudding cups with crushed oreos, sprigs of mint from the yard and wooden spoons. My hope was that they'd look like potted plants with wooden plant markers. What do you think? And the cake was bought at Safeway. I just added some crepe paper flowers to the top. Yum! Well, the cake was yum. I didn't try the flowers. ;)


Then it was present time. As usual, we were overwhelmed at how gracious our friends and family are. Charlotte received some great loot, mainly of the Barbie and LaLaLoopsy variety. My personal favorite was the Charlotte doll that Mark and I got her (from Princess and the Frog). She's just so darn cute. Charlotte really loved everything, and has played with it all, but her current fave (two days post party) is the dollhouse I found her at an antique mall (and, of course, didn't get a picture of). It was a steal at $10. She and I plan to redecorate it and have our work cut out for us since it's about 5 feet tall and 3 feet wide. Eesh!


All told, we had a really great time! The weather was hot, but not unbearable. The food was yummy, the fellowship was incomparable and my little girl was well-loved. Ahhhh... success. But, I'm exhausted, so this is the last you'll hear from me this week. I plan to be back to the regular swing of things next week.


P.S. Interested in seeing Charlotte's previous parties? Here's the Peter Pan party from last year and the Charlie & Lola party from the year before.