Run for the Roses

In this case, the run is for people, not horses. We went on a road trip to Ames this weekend to participate in Emily's sorority philanthropy event for the year, the AOII 25th Annual Run for the Roses. Proceeds from the race benefit arthritis research. The littles were very excited to hit the road and get to "Emily's school". I was pretty excited myself to visit with my eldest daughter.

Our first stop was the AOII house to check out Emily's room, shared with roommate Jeanette... (appearing incognito later in this post).

Emily, Anna, Sarah, Thomas and Candace

Checking out Emily's bed... the top bunk is so awesome.

After a delicious dinner at a downtown Ames eatery, we went back to the hotel for some swimming and hot tub fun.

Sarah

Warming up in the hot tub

While Emily and Anna went out for some sisterly bonding, Tom and I put the littles to bed with some soothing Disney channel programming (we girls) and college football (the boys). The next day, we were up and at 'em for racing. While Tom waited for his 5K to start, we posed for pictures with Stella the Panda, an AOII mascot.

Hmm... Stella looks an awful lot like Emily's roommate, Jeanette.

We couldn't find Daddy at the start, so we hurried over to the finish line to catch him there.

Tom at the finish

Finally, it was time for the kids' Fun Run. Thomas chose to run with the 5-7 year old age group with Candace and Sarah. They got off to a good start, first third of the pack. Thomas was a little speedster and passed many kids and finished third. Candace and Sarah were sixth and eighth. All of the kids were awarded a participation ribbon and a great time was had by all!

Thomas making his move.

Candace





















Sarah

Well done, runners!