Our Color Runner

 About a year ago, John told Orelia about "color runs" - races where the runners are doused with colors as they run the prescribed route.

 Orelia latched onto this idea (somewhat randomly), and has been "training" for "the color run" by sprinting back and forth in our yard occasionally.

 While I was at Starbucks the other day, I noticed a flyer advertising a color run at a local high school.  It was in three days.  I sent John the link, he and Orelia were registered immediately, and our weekend plans were made.

 Bennett was also registered for the color run, but it was a 5K, and I couldn't even imagine him really doing a 1K, much less tolerating being "dirty" with colors for more than thirty seconds.

 Thankfully, the race had bounce houses and bubbles, and perhaps most importantly, DORITOS for purchase.  So Bennett and I were well taken care of while we waited for Orelia and Daddy to finish.

 And when they finished, they were both smiling and happy, and I was so proud of my girl.  John said she ran/jogged the entire thing except for a few photo ops (and they skipped one quarter mile loop on the track).

 First things first, Orelia wanted to get changed IMMEDIATELY, and also wiped down with a wipe thank you very much.  John was much more tolerant of being human tie-dye.

 Orelia celebrated her big finish with her first henna tattoo,

And by jumping on bounce houses until I dragged her away.  Because when you finish running 2.85 miles, jumping on a bounce house is exactly what everyone wants to do. 

Orelia is dying to run another race, but actually she would prefer one without colors next time and preferably one where she can win a trophy or medal, please. 

Eastering

 We had a great Easter this year celebrating with two kids filled with excitement for every holiday.

 Presents and candy don't hurt.

 Bennett tried his first chocolate bunny, and then over the next week forgot about it and Noni and I finished it off for him.  Sorry, Bennett!

 The Easter Bunny hid eggs outside for the kids, with each kid getting their own half of the yard to find eggs in.

 It turns out ole EB could've hidden Bennett's eggs much harder, as he picked them up in lightning speed.

 Orelia's were a bit more challenging, but she made her way meticulously through the yard until each egg was found.

 The last egg was hidden in a bucket, but after a few "hot and cold" hints she found it successfully, amidst much fanfare.

 Bennett got a mini UPS truck in his basket, and played with it all day.

 It was a lovely afternoon, and we decided to take the kids to our local botanic garden for a walk.

 This seemed like a fine idea, until Bennett lost his mind when we didn't have his water bottle and was not able to just hang out in a flower garden for a second longer.  Whoops.

 Orelia was a bit more relaxed, but her meltdown was coming later.  :)

 The kids tested out their new sidewalk chalk paint. 

 We got Grandpa to take some porch photos for us.

 Thanks, Grandpa!

 We played the egg cracking game, as we do every Easter.

 Unfortunately, Grandpa proved my "it's just luck" theory wrong, because he won for the millionth time.  Here he is with his winning egg. 

 Orelia said she wanted to start a new tradition by having an egg-on-spoon race.

It was all in good fun until John beat her, and then she became quite a poor sport about it.  So each kid got their turn to let the holiday excitement get the best of them.

It was still a great Easter celebrating with family!

Water Logged

I've never had a classic "water baby."

 Neither of our kids lived for bath time or learned to swim at age one.

 Neither would spend all afternoon at the water table or want to stand at the kitchen sink for hours.

Swim lessons have occasionally been forced instead of looked forward to.

And we have never once considered buying a home with a pool.

Which is why this year's trip to Hawaii almost surprised us.

 Both kids, but especially Orelia, spent almost every second they were awake in the water.

 In the pool.

In the hot tub.

In the ocean.

It's a good thing I brought more bathing suits than clothes for these kids, because we needed it.

 Uncle Bobby and Uncle Scott came with us on the trip, and luckily they were game for whatever fun the kids wanted to have in the water.

 Bennett spent a lot of time scooping out ocean water and removing it to some location he deemed acceptable.

 In the pools he was the floatie king and happily splashed around in his floatie for hours.

 Here he is "enjoying" an excruciatingly warm hot tub and laughing at my attempts to convince him it was too hot.  Too each their own.

 This was Orelia's first floatie-free vacation, and she loved it.

 She can swim enough to get from point A to point B, and finally has enough pool saavy to make sure she's generally within swimming distance of a shallow end or a ledge.

 Hooray for one less floatie to pack.

 And hooray for a happily swimming girl.

 She has taken lessons on and off for years and it is so wonderful to see how happy swimming makes her (now).

 It was a great, and very wet, vacation for these kids.  And a great vacation for the kids means a great vacation for the adults too.  :)