Memorial weekend in Chagrin Falls is a huge affair. It's their Blossom Time festival and everyone and their mom who has ever lived in Chagrin Falls comes back for it. This year was even more exciting because my husbands brother and wife were bringing our niece for her baptism and 1st birthday party.
Friday night I rushed out of work to go see the baby and upon arrival confirmed she is an absolute doll. She got the Hansen blue eyes, without which I would never have met my husband, what can I say I am a sucker for dark hair and blue eyes. She looks like her mother when she smiles (who is beautiful) and has the Hansen profile. She's laughing a ton, talking a bit, pulling herself upon onto furniture, and has mastered mischievous looks. Obviously the most perfect one year old ever.
I thought for sure Saturday would be a rough day for her with the Baptism and Birthday party, but she handled it all wonderfully. She didn't mind one bit being passed from relative to relative and reacted perfectly to all the right presents. Her face lit up with joy when she and grandma opened her first baby doll, which could not have pleased grandma more. She napped during all the right times and even ate a bit of her smash cake, with a little help from her mom.
I, of course, just want to play with the kid so we pushed around her Elmo vacuum and danced on the floor with her musical phone. The day had so much excitement for her that getting her to fall asleep required a chorus of lullabies ending in a long rendition of "This Old Farmer" having a cat, dog, sheep, cow, and pig. These are the memories you cherish.
When she was sleeping I was kept busy making a water balloon arsenal for the kids. They had a blast and I got some running around in as they chased me and everyone else in the yard. Also mastered my Boccie skills and even won a game of Corn Hole.
After the kids party we stayed up and played Buck Euchre. Because of cushioned seat placement I ended up sitting at the table end with the other Hansen significant others. We made an alliance and nicknamed ourselves the "S.O's" For some reason this struck me as hilarious and I laughed more that night than I have since we saw Jon Stewart Live. I claimed slap happiness but everyone else seemed to think beer and margaritas. Oh well if you can't make a fool of yourself in front of relatives who can you be a fool in front of?
Sunday morning came much to early and I definitely was dehydrated. I got around and threw on my running clothes. Blossom Time has their own annual race which is a 5.25 mile course that runs around the outskirts of Chagrin. Very pretty and pretty hilly. I've done this one once before and managed to place first in my age group. I wasn't feeling too fast with the Cleveland Marathon being one week before but I figured I could treat it as a good hard run. Warmed up with the girls to get in some extra miles then we headed to the start. No chips so if you are relatively fast you want to be towards the front. I spotted MT and wished her luck. She just PR'ed at the Cleveland Half so I was expecting she felt a bit like me, not fresh!
The first mile I kept my sights on MT but felt strong on the hill so I pushed ahead. For being primarily uphill it was a fast first mile around 7 minutes. MT and EM passed me shortly after the hill. It was hot and humid. I partook in the first aid station and dumped water over my ahead. I kept MT in my sights and just held her there. I wasn't feeling great but my pace wasn't bad so I tried to hold it. Nearing the last mile there was a stretch of downhill and a few women passed me. Somewhere I found the energy to hold them for a bit but then let them go. Deciding a moment too late to go after them. I pushed it up the last uphill stretch and passed MT. Ladies were handing out water bottles here and they were tempting except they would be heavy. I prepared for what I thought was not going to be a very fast kick to the finish. Reached the 5 mile mark and tried to turn it on, surprising myself with a 1:30 quarter. Finish time was 37:49. About 10 seconds faster than my first Blossom and good enough for 2nd in my AG.
We had to get in some more mileage for Solar Squirrels marathon training so we headed back out before finally getting ourselves to the carnival for some food. I got my vinegar fries and we wandered around waiting for the awards. Since there were no chips it takes awhile to tally those but eventually they occurred and I grabbed awards for myself, MT, and Solar Squirrel.
Headed back to my in-laws pretty pleased to have run so well one week after Cleveland and after a long day before and a beer filled evening.
No rest for the weary though, it was time to get ready for the big Blossom Time tradition, the Blossom Parade. Every single home lining E. Washington has a yard full of people partying in it as the parade goes through. It's a mad house of people wandering up and down the street saying hello to old classmates, looking for free beer, and meeting all the new babies. This was our nieces first parade so it was fun to watch her reaction to it all. She had a very serious look on her face the whole time, as if she wasn't quite sure what this was all about but she was going to be certain not to miss anything. She had her first sucker which she was very unwilling to give up, she had a death grip on that thing. I got a great picture of her where she resembles one of the Lolly Pop Guild Munchkins from Oz gripping that sucker tight!
My husband always gets to the parade late since he has to work. This year he made it for a bit more than my favorite, the Calliope, at the end. I met some of his classmates before the parade ended and I went inside to play with my niece. She was having a great time playing with some of the other babies and didn't seem to mind me chasing her around when she wanted to crawl away. (I have bruises on my shins and knees from crawling around after her that weekend, kids are resilient!) It was nice having some one on one time with her while her parents were out stopping at other Blossom parties.
It was an awesome weekend which ended for me with yoga in the park Memorial Day morning with Trisaratops. It was lovely to look out on the lake while we worked through a series of sun salutations.
Definitely a Blossom Weekend I will remember for a long time!
2 comments:
Sounds like it was a great time and you had a blast. Nice.
Sounds like you had a fantastic time with your niece. I remember when my nephews were little. They were just so darned cute. Congrats on your 2nd place finish.
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