It was a beautiful morning in Fort Collins and the park was so peaceful and serene - except for the 900+ runners warming up for the race! I have my ideal spectator spot all picked out after going to the race so many times, so I kissed A for good luck and set out for my finish line viewing spot.
This spot has a great view when the runners aren't going by too! The runners actually run by the spot twice so I got to see A and cheer him on about 1 mile into the run and then again right before the finish line.
He ran the race in really good time and was pleased. After the race they have bagels, fruit, and drinks for the runners and everyone is busy checking their official race time.
After the 5K is finished there is a Kids Fun Run for kids 12 and under. I didn't snap any pictures but it is the cutest thing! I love thinking about some day down the road when A will run along with one of our kiddos to encourage them in this little run.
After the race we came home to get freshened up to go out for brunch. I'm not a huge fan of going out for brunch, but I love doing it on the 4th of July because it's seriously the only day we ever do it. Once a year makes it more special I guess! We went to IHOP and enjoyed eggs, hashbrowns, and of course, pancakes. YUM! My mom and dad arrived shortly after noon and after getting them settled in and hanging out for a bit it was time to grill our lunch. We ate lunch out on our patio. The lunch turned out well which always makes me happy, but my favorite part of the meal was this...
Didn't the pie turn out great?! I was so, so pleased and amazed that it actually looked somewhat like the picture with the recipe. I don't know what I would have done if it'd flopped!
We had a lazy, summer afternoon before getting ready to head back to City Park for the fireworks display. We stopped at KFC to get dinner and then made our way to the park. We found an awesome viewing spot up on the hill, right under a tree where we had a great view of the stage, which is where the symphony performs, and the lake, which is where the fireworks are. (I didn't snap these next pictures until pretty late in the evening so they aren't the greatest.)
Here is a picture of my mom and dad all ready for the fireworks then one of A and me. I think girls get the short end of the deal on the 4th of July because it's hard to look good when you've been outside in the hot summer sun all day. I wish I would have thought to take my hair down and put on a little powder before taking this picture - ha!
We were blessed with a beautiful evening and a spectacular fireworks display. I don't have good luck taking pictures of fireworks so I don't have any photos of them, but they were so fun and oh-so patriotic! What a wonderful Fourth!
Saturday morning we slept in and had a relaxing morning. I saw a coffee cake recipe on Paula Deen last weekend that looked really good and made it for the family this weekend - it was so good! We all highly recommend it if you're looking for an easy, delicious breakfast treat. We did a little shopping late in the morning and then came back to the house for lunch. Saturday afternoon we spent some quality time in the highly air conditioned movie theater seeing...
... Kung Fu Panda! I absolutely loved it! I have loved pandas ever since I was a little girl so this movie was really fun for me. Lysa Terkeurst has a really cool blog post about all the spiritual applications from this movie, so if you've seen it go check out her post. We had dinner that night at Island Grill. Shrimp tacos - YUM!! It was another gorgeous evening so we took a walk around our neighborhood, had brownies and ice cream for dessert, and then watched The Other Boleyn Girl. I'm reading that book for my book group next month. I'm not very far into the book so it was fun to get an overview with the movie.
Sunday morning we had the most awesome message at church. God really spoke to me through it - it was one of those messages where you feel like the whole thing was just for you. I'm not sure what other people got out of it, but I know it was right in line with what God's been teaching me lately. I'm hoping to write a separate blog post outlining the points of the message later this week. Oh man, it was SO GOOD! We had lunch at Austin's (again, YUM!!), then came back to the house so my parents could get packed up and then they left to head home. After they left A and I took care of a few things around home, but mostly we just enjoyed the remainder of the day of rest and did just that.
To echo my opening thoughts...whew, what a weekend! :) Hope yours was great too!
2 comments:
Your weekend sounds fabulous! I LOVE the pie pics....man, that looks so yummy.
That pie is to die for. Would've been my favorite, too. Love the pictures of your fun at City Park. I think the last time I was there for the 4th was 20 years ago. Yikes. I'm not really 39--i just play that on TV. :)
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