McKibben Family Blog: 4th of July and CAT Walk

Thursday, July 10, 2008

4th of July and CAT Walk

So this is our second year in walking the CAT Walk. (Cancer Awareness & Treatment) We'd like to have it be an annual tradition. It's a 5K (3 mile) walk--some people run it, like my two friends Julie and Gabe who are exercise nuts. Since our whole family is pretty out of shape we just like to walk it. Our goal was to walk it in under an hour and we beat that goal by two minutes--so we were pretty proud of ourselves. Garrett thinks that next year our goal should be to run it part of the way. We'll see how that goes. :)

The weather was awesome--cool and cloudy--perfect when you're exercising. Even with the nice weather we worked up a sweat and a pretty red face (mine). Maggie's friend Jessie walked it with us and they both walked the whole way without a single complaint. Lydia walked part of the way, but then rode in the wagon with Paige, and Bella slept the whole time in the stroller.

Last year was ridiciulously hot and Garrett ended up carrying Maggie on his back part of the way. So this year was actually quite nice. I walked in honor of my mom who has beaten breast cancer and Lydia walked in honor of great grandma Laura Mae who we think has lung cancer.

Right after the CAT Walk the Hillsboro 4th of July Parade begins. We had our friends save us some seats while we walked. So we were all able to sit together and watch the parade. Notice my red face! The girl next to me is my friend Julie. (She didn't run this year because she hurt her knee.)

The whole gang.

The kids getting ready to fight for the candy. Well the other kids fought for it. Lydia was always too slow going for the candy. She'd try to get it, but the other kids were more aggressive. She's too sweet. (Out in public anyways :) Just kidding.)

Paigie-girl

FIREWORKS!!!

We let off some of our own fireworks before heading out to Banks to see their show. Paige and Bella fell asleep in the car (they don't start the fireworks until 10 pm) so I stayed in there with them. Since the big fireworks are illegal in OR, people go up to Washington to buy them and bring them back. This neighborhood in Banks where we went had no shortage of the big ones. They were setting them off right by where our car was parked and they were loud!! It's a miracle that Paige and Bella slept through them. These pictures are of the ones that Garrett set off in our front yard.