Starlight Parade 5K Run

 We have participated in the Starlight run a few times before, but this was the first time we did costumes.  I had always been pregnant or nursing and just not up for the task.  So this was the year, I decided. The kids really got hyped up for this run all week as I worked on the costumes.  When the day finally came to wear them, everyone was so eager to show them off.  Right off the bat, before we even got our stroller out of the van, people were getting excited about seeing Angry Birds.  From there it never stopped for the whole night.  I think having so many of us really made it fun.   We met at the high school stadium for the pre-run events, including a costume contest.  I was secretly hoping that we had a chance because I thought it would be so fun for the kids to win.

The rest of the family that came dressed as superheros. There was a lot of excitement in the air.








When it came time for the contest we had help from Andy and Lucy.  We knew that being in character is a big part of winning so Peter asked Lucy to bring her human slingshot, which is a big stretchy piece of fabric.  Peter and Lily went on stage first and then the rest of us birds were slingshot at them.  The crowd cheered a lot for us. It was a success. 




Waiting for the results of the contest.

3rd place!!!! We were so happy to have placed.  We won 10 tickets to the rose festival fair, 10 tickets to the air show, and ten vouchers for zip car rentals(craigslist anyone?). We came in after some elaborate Muppets and Monty Python characters. It was surreal to have placed at all.



When it came time for the run, the thousands of people grouped up and started to run. We told our older kids over and over that we really wanted to stay together as a family, but things got too exciting when the crowd started to run.  Dallin and Tanner were off, never to be seen again until the end.  We were not prepared for that.  We just had to keep running and hope that they were with a relative.   It turned out that Dallin just booked it the whole time by himself and finished in like 31 minutes.  The race ends back at the field so cousins started to come in shortly after him so they hung out and waited for us.  Tanner found Spiderman of course.  They became great friends. and that kept him running the whole time. I don't think Tanner would have run the whole thing without that kind of motivation, we were totally surprised. Peter's dad stayed with him the whole time thank goodness. I wished that I could have seen this whole thing.

The rest of us stayed together and had a great time too.  Eden was so fun to watch.  She kept going and never complained.  I could tell she was a little tired, but then she started high fiving everyone on the sides of the route.  Afterward she said, "At first my feet were hurting, but then when I started giving high fives, I forgot about my feet and they didn't hurt any more."  That is a great lesson for life isn't it?  People were shouting "Angry Birds!" the whole time. Kids would especially start screaming like we were celebrities or something.  This is really a slow run, so Peter could pretty much speed walk since he was tired from his marathon.  There are hills though so it was still a good workout.

My sister Cami and her family were on the sides so we stopped long enough to high five them too.  A couple of people said they saw us at church the next day too. Toward the end we also ran into the kid's principal Mrs. Schofield. We took a picture with her(her camera so I don't have it) and she was really excited to see us.  Then we also ran into the school receptionist who knows us well.  The kids loved all that.  At school on Monday, Mrs. Schofield announced over the intercom that the Dickinson kids had won 3rd place in the costume contest.  Cool!

 Afterward we sat and watched the parade for a long time and then headed home.  We were definitely worn out and I had a huge sense of relief that it was over. That was a lot of hard work that was well worth it.

  I think the kids did feel like they were part of something special and this is such a fun run with all the spectators to cheer us on.  Peter and I really try to emphasize family unity.  Mission accomplished.