Just a Saturday morning

Another mom friend recently likened the busyness of May to that of December.  I thought that was a bit of an exaggeration, but looking at my next two weeks, I'm starting to think she's right. We've had a fun, but quite busy morning, and I am so grateful for a little pause for rest time.

We were supposed to have soccer this morning, but LO was invited to run his school's fun run with his best buddy and his mom. I thought I had read the fun run was just loops around the track at the park, so I thought that would be reasonable.  DH is working today and Papa and Lah-oo are out of town, so I didn't have any extra helpers for Boo or I would have run it with LO myself.  In fact, LO and I have talked about running his first race together sometime this year.  I thought running on a flat track with his buddy, and where I could join some and cheer a lot would be a great start.  Unfortunately, I was wrong about them running on a track and about five minutes before the race, I found they would be running on local roads in a loop.  LO didn't seem to mind, but I felt badly for the mom who is also my friend, but who doesn't know LO well enough to know what "running" a race with him might involve.

There was really no time to explain, so I cheered wildly as they ran off, then tried to cut through the woods to hopefully meet them at the middle of the race course.  My best intentions there failed as I carried Boo uphill on dirt trails through a patch of woods, I could see LO and my friend walking, but my cheering wasn't loud enough to reach them.  I then tried to make my way down the trails without falling as I still held Boo and looked for LO to enter the park area below.  I managed to make it to the park as they were on the far side and I cheered and waved again while I hustled to get a position along the final stretch to the finish line.  But, those were mama fails number 2 and 3 for the morning as he didn't hear me screaming across the park, and he got confused about the finish line and never officially crossed it.  As I took pictures of some of his friends and waited in anticipation, I realized I could no longer see him and he had to of gone another direction.  (In all fairness runners were taking three different routes to the finishing area, only one of which was actually race course with a finish line.  It just wasn't marked very clearly.)

So, in the end, I met my sweaty faced walker exactly where you'd imagine, near the race snacks, and asking for food.  I was able to get a picture of him with his buddy, and we re-enacted an impressive race finish just for photos purposes.  Then, after half a bagel and a banana (because walking a mile is hard work, mama!) the boys enjoyed playing together at the park before we had to return home for part two of our morning.

I'm sure this is how they finished in their own minds.

First race ribbon

School buddies, D, W, L, and LO

That might have been enough for our morning, but, alas, we had a birthday party to attend for LO's oldest friend on the mountain, and his little brother who is Boo's friend.  We had received a royal summons for LO to arrive at 11 to receive his sword and shield and be knighted, while Boo and I were invited at 12:30 for cupcakes to celebrate.  It was a sweet party, and beautiful weather.  LO, during his knight's expedition through the woods, encountered the evil Sir Striped Hat who had stolen the knights' pizza lunch.  The knights successfully fought the evil one off with their trusty swords and teamwork, then dined like kings at the picnic area.  When we arrived, cupcakes were eaten and then the younger squires proceeded to attack bubbles with their swords while the older knights defended the fort.

Squire academy, learning to fight with Mr. M

 

Squire C attacking bubbles

Squire Boo planning his bubble attack 

 Needless to say, after races, expeditions, and sword fights, Boo is out cold for nap, and LO is headed for an early bedtime.  We still have hours left in our day, but so far it's shaping up to be the stuff of dreams.