Alaska--4th of July

4th of July

We started off the day bright and early, participating in a 5K Color Run.  This run "Freedom Run" is named after Alex's (my brother-in-laws) dad.  It's called the "Victor Guthrie Sr. Memorial Freedom Run."  Apparently, he used to run this loop every day, until he got brain cancer and eventually passed away from it.  So, it was kind of cool to participate in something that means so much to Alex and Savann.  

This is a map of the part of the island of Petersburg where the race was held, and the red line is the route of the race.  

The race started at 8 am and we had to be there at 7:30 to register and get our shirts and glasses.  

We were able to borrow a stroller from Savann's neighbor since there was no way this boy was walking the whole time.  Here he's showing Uncle Alex his 'shades'. 

This is right as the race was starting.  

Everyone participated except for Georgia, who has bad knees.  

I loved the color part of it where they toss colored cornstarch on you.  

Paige and Bella along the way.

Maggie, Noah and I had gone on ahead, and so had Sydney, Alyssa and Rosa.  These guys took it a bit slower.  That's why Maggie and I aren't in any of the pictures.  

The route took us along the road that Savann and Alex live on and Grandma Georgia was out in front watching everyone go by and cheering us on.  By this point, (a mile or two in) Bella was tired so she stayed with Grandma.  

Alex and Savann

I loved this part of the race that went through 'downtown' Petersburg with the flags and stuff.  

More color--red and blue for the 4th

Lydia was getting tired at this point and wanted to give up, but Garrett pulled her along.  

This was just past the airport and down the home stretch. 

Garrett and Lydia getting covered in blue.  I guess Lydia was avoiding the powder.  

At this point, Maggie ran the rest of the way and I ran off and on.  I'm not much of a runner, but I gave it a shot.  

Beautiful scenery!

Garrett and Jim crossing the finish line and getting their medals.  

We did it!  

After everyone finished, the tradition is to give everyone cups of powder and then on the count of three, everyone throws it up in the air or over someone's head or wherever.  It was pretty fun!

Everyone is pretty colorful, too.  Except Noah--I tried to keep the stroller out of the powder.  

Riding home in the back of the truck

Maggie and Grandpa

We didn't have much time between the end of the race and the start of the parade.  Some of us quickly showered and changed so we could see the parade.  We were a few minutes late, but we saw the tail end of the parade.  I guess the parade is so short, that it goes around twice in case people were late or didn't see it the first time.  It's literally about 5 minutes long.  :)

 watching the parade

 Of course there is Smoky Bear and a fish in the parade!

 Right after the parade was finished.
They have food booths, face painting and games all up and down main street pretty much all day.  So, we walked around for a bit and then grabbed some lunch at some of the booths.  I had some hawaiian pork that was delicious.  Garrett had Korean beef and fried rice and the kids had elephant ears and cotton candy.  (They had lunch at home)

As we were standing under the tent eating--it started POURING!!  We kind of waited around for a bit until it let up and then headed back home.   We watched some of the World Cup.

We went back downtown later and Bella and Paige wanted to get their faces painted.

They were having some kind of "bed races" on the luggage carts from the airport.  The girl in red on the left side is Syndey (our niece).  She was racing with her friends and it was raining the whole time so she got pretty wet.  One person rides on the bed while the other two push the cart to the other end of the street.  I think they were supposed to brush their teeth, shave their faces, put on a nightgown...stuff like that before they switched places and came back.  Kind of silly, but fun.  The rain wasn't really letting up so we came back home and started getting ready for a BBQ dinner that Savann was making.  Garrett's aunt and uncle--Doc and Bev (Georgia's sister) were coming over for dinner, too.  Their daughter is Rosa.

Kids eating dinner.

The fireworks that the city puts off don't start until 11 because it's almost dark by then.  So, we started our fireworks about 9:30 because I was hoping to get Bella and Noah in bed by 10.  They were up so late every night--poor kids.  Notice how light it still was.

 Garrett and Alex look like they are in a contest or something to see who can light the firework first.

 Helping the kids with sparklers

 Deciding what to do next--Garrett, Devon, Lydia and Maggie

 Georgia and Jim watching from the porch

 A view of everyone in front of the house

 Alyssa excited about something.

 I love how serious Noah looks.

 Everyone went to see the fireworks except me and Bella and Noah.  They looked pretty cool.