Marathon Morning

It was another cloudy and rainy start to the day. We had a nice breakfast with Nana at home, then Koen and Nana headed upstairs to play. His imagination is hilarious. By the time I had finished cleaning up the kitchen and got up to the playroom with Tavin Koen had he and Nana on an exploration of Antarctica searching for a pink pengiun. And to top it all off, he was driving a bus (his top bunk) to get them there. Hilarious! We played some more and got ready for our day and finally by about 10:45am we were ready to go do something. I checked the radar and decided to just think positively and ignore the green blobs hovering and churning around the greater Pittsburgh area. Today was the Pittsburgh marathon so we headed out on foot because with all the road closures driving anywhere would be frustrating. Plus, with all this rain, we were all in need of some fresh air and exercise. From our house you could actually hear the cheering and music, so we decided to walk down to Liberty Ave. in Bloomfield and see what was going on. It was a party! It was so much fun.
Right at the end of our street practically there was a water station and where they had music playing and a very pro-Pittsburgh/Bloomfield lady was welcoming all the runners into Bloomfield, "It's all downhill from here" I heard her say. She was a trip. Here's a video of her singing along to the music, welcoming the runners and checkout the police officer enjoying her job of watching over this water stop!

We stayed there to watch the runners (we must have come at a good time because there were lots that passed right then), listen to the music and people watch for awhile. I had to include this picture. Check out the nuns running!
Then I figured we might as well walk the course down Liberty Ave. I had no idea that we would run into 3 live bands and tons of "fans" out to cheer on the runners and their friends.
People were partying on the sidewalks and keeping spirits up for the runners. It was such a fun experience. I had no idea there was so much watcher-fun involved in a marathon. Is it like this everywhere? This is going on my list of things-to-do every year for sure!

On our way home we were passing by the playground in Bloomfield so we made a last minute decision to chance the rain some more and let the kids get some exercise. It was fun to see Nana working with Tav on the slides and swings. She pushed Koen on the swings a little too, but apparently I push harder and higher, so I was back on Koen duty.After awhile we headed home for lunch. I was so, so thankful for the surprise outdoor time. It was so good for my soul to get outside after all this rain and a forecast that looks like much of this week we'll be indoors as well.

Nana left around naptime. It was a fast visit, but a great one. Thanks so much for making the trip, Nana. It was a great time for all of us!