The Color Run - Brooklyn

I drove down for my first trip back to NYC since moving on Friday afternoon for a half weekend spent with all my NYC girl friends.  It was my very first time away from the kids by myself and I enjoyed every minute of it!  Friday evening, we went to Brooklyn to pick up our packets for the Color Run race on Saturday and we celebrated Heather's birthday at a Brooklyn restaurant.  The views of the city at night were pretty amazing.

Saturday, we all rolled out of bed and brushed the crusties out of our eyes from the night before to prepare for our 5K run.  The walk to the subway, subway ride all the way out to Flatbush in Brooklyn, waiting for over 45 minutes for the shuttle, sitting in traffic on the shuttle to get to the race took about 2 hours.  Kinda crazy when all we were doing was running for 30 minutes.  BUT, it was so FUN and so WORTH IT!!!!  The race wasn't timed so none of us felt the competitive edge to run as fast as we could.  Made it stress free.  This was by far the most fun I've had running in a race.

All the pictures don't do it justice.  The girls were all amazing and we made so many memories.  Definitely a must do and I'm so glad I did.  As you'll notice below we all had a blast.  So blessed to have such an amazing group of friends.

I had to rush home after the race and scrub scrub scrub because we had a dinner party to host that evening.  Glad all the corn starch food coloring came off.  I'd be embarrassed if I had to serve dinner with blue and green hands.

Posing with this bike in hopes of winning it.

Sign by the bike.

Mary and Kelly at dinner - Alma Restaurant.

View of the twin lights at the 9/11 memorial.  So beautiful and humbling.

L to R:  Ashley, (Jesus), Shay, Heather, me, Mary, Kathy, Kelly, Jen, Beth and Katie.

We finally made it to the run.

Not sure if we would get another opportunity for a group shot (since there were 9 of us) we took advantage of the opportunity and posed in front of the port a potties.

Our official Color Run before photo.

Photo with a little tweaking. L to R: Me, Kelly, Kathy, Heather, Jen, Candace, Ashley, Beth and Mary.

Yes we had a jam session with the DJ at the start line before we ran.  We danced and did squats and jumping exercises, they handed out prizes and we danced some more.

Kathy definitely had a good time as did Mary and Ashley.

Mary, Ashley and Candace at the start.  Here we go!  The 4 of us and Kathy pretty much stuck together.

Heather and Jen wanted a special limited edition bright purple color on them so naturally they rolled in it! 

A huge color party at the end.

Kelly had great specks of color on her face.  Most of us had huge amounts of blue and green smothered everywhere.  Sort of like the Wicked Witch.

Lots of color runners on the subway home.  You should have seen the looks we got.

Yes, it was as fun as it looked!

And there is Ashley photo bombing Jen and I.

Official Color Run photo post run.

Another photo of us partying before the race.

Immediately post run. Candace, Kathy, Ashley, Mary and I.  Just a little dirtier and sweater than 30 mins. prior.

Kathy and I acting ridiculous during the race.

On the shuttle to the race. 

Heading back home.  So much fun girls!

Cove Island Beach with Friends

After only 1 day of school the kids had off for rosh hashanah, so we spent the day with friends of our's from Denver/Manhattan who now live in CT at the beach.  It was a little cloudy and a little sunny at times with mild temperatures, not a whole lot of people on the beach, warm water and a very laid back, chill atmosphere.  It was a rejuvenating day for me and the kids.  And I know we all had a great time.  So much fun Katie, Jacob and Carly.  Glad to have you so close to us.

Cloudy with a chance of fun.

Katie and I spent some time burying all the kids.

Mikey just loved Jacob's bucket that had a spout.

At the end of the day I asked the kids what their favorite part was; Katie said "Jacob" and Mikey said "Jacob's bucket."

Turning into a Mikey mermaid.

First day of school!!!!!

Wow - The kids first day of school could not have gone any better.  Our morning was filled with lots of excitement and giggles from the kids.  I was the nervous one, mostly because Katie has never been away from me in a group setting before.  She's a momma's girl.  The kids talked about going to school and how they are going to have fun and play outside and have snacks and read books and sing songs.

One we got there, we dropped of Mikey first.  We washed his hands, went to the bathroom, hung up his backpack and lunch box (he doesn't eat lunch there yet, that starts in Oct. but he still wanted to take a snack in his lunch box) and he gave me a hug and walked right into his class room.  Didn't look back.

Katie's class starts 15 minutes later.  I was expecting a little hesitation on her part but again, walked in excited to begin and didn't look back.  She too left me high and dry.  What?  Don't they need me anymore?!  They are growing up so fast.  But to be honest, I'd much rather have drop off go just as it did instead of having them clutch my leg, screaming not wanting to go.

I was told the second day is a little harder because the kids now know what to expect and they were right.  Mikey was sad for one minute before perking up and since then drop off has been easy breezy for the last 3 weeks.  Mikey has 11 kids in his class with a good mix of boys and girls.  He talks about his friends all the time. Beckett, Samuel, Elliot, Parker and Miss Kathy I hear about often.  Miss Janet is super outgoing and has high energy to keep up with all the kids.  I see the 4's class give her high 5's often.  Clearly, they all loved her from the year before.

Katie's class consists of 5 cute and super sweet girls.  Yup, an all girls class.  They are all adorable and on the first day we got invited to our first school birthday party.  Katie's has two teachers, which is an amazing student-teacher ratio and one of her teachers Miss Kristin reminds me of my late Grandma Cichy.  She is a very sweet, older women who just loves to envelop the kids into her plush frame.  Katie loves her.

We told Daddy all about their first day.  It was fun to watch the kids talk over the phone and hear the excitment in their voices.  Scott was in Phoenix and LA this week.  Sad he had to miss their first day.  (For privacy reasons I photo shopped some info.)

Acting all silly.  Got some great shots.

Clearly he's had enough pictures.

However he did oblige me and pose with his lunch boxes and back pack.

And we are off!

See how excited and happy she is.  That's my girl!

We found Katie's cubby.

The 2's class identify their cubby by their picture.

Mikey found his name and cubby.

She ran right in to play tea party with one of the teachers.

Katie's first day board.  She told me all about Spot.

She survived a first successful day at school.

She is even happier for day 2!  Just love her to bits.

Last day before school

I really wanted to soak up everything on the day before the kids start school (I know it's not official but to me that signifies the end of summer).    We went to the Stamford Nature Center, out for lunch, caught fireflies in the late evening in our yard and laughed, giggled, told each other secrets, yelled, ran, climbed, hugged (each other and pigs),ate Popsicles that made us shiver and turn our tongues colors, bathed and told each other we love them.  It was such a joyful day being able to put everything aside for the day and just really enjoy the kids and reflect on how big they are getting and noticing things that they can now do with ease that they couldn't do a few weeks ago.  I know I hear it all the time but time just slips right on by.  So I'm thankful for being able to spend such a lovely day with my lovely kids.  It was an almost perfect day, except maybe next year Daddy could take off.  Then it really would be a perfect day.

Mikey is all dirty.  Why you ask?  Because he actually got to go in the pig pen and play with the little baby pigs. (There was a volunteer there.) Mikey had the special touch as all the baby pigs who were playing in the mud wanted to rub up against Mikey.  He loved it.  Another girl was there and was pretty upset that the pigs ignored her.

A boo boo on her knee wasn't stopping her from having fun and enjoying her pop.

Totally care free and I love it that way.