Fire it Up

This weekend was ISU Homecoming. Why is at that all of the fun things to do are always on the same day, followed by weekend after weekend of nothing to do?
Friday night we went to Mulberry school to decorate the school float for the ISU Homecoming parade. The kids had a great time and ate giant piles of ravioli.

Saturday morning I ran the Town Gown 5K which goes twice around the ISU Homecoming Parade route. I have never run in any kind of a race before, by my friend convinced me to do it, so there I was. I sometimes run more than 3 miles so I knew that I could do it. However, during the 5K, I saw someone throwing up on the side of the road which put the idea of throwing up in my head. As I was running, I kept checking myself to see if I was nauseated, which was distracting and probably would have eventually made me feel nauseated if the race weren't only 5K. As it turned out that I was faster than I thought that I was (although still none too fast). Danny and the kids were slow getting out of the house for the first lap (the parade route comes within 2 blocks of the house), but they saw me on the second lap.

Later, Joseph's school had a float in the Homecoming parade. Everyone had a great time throwing (and eating) candy. I was kind of tired from the 5K, so Argos and I rode the float. He got lots of pets and really loved sitting nestled in the middle of a bunch of kids.



Saturday night was Kids' Night at the Haunted Trail. Every year, the city of Normal decorates a part of Constitution Trail for Halloween. This weekend was the "not scary" Haunted Trail for younger kids. The trail is surrounded by tall trees, so it was already very spooky. There were a series of stations with people in costumes and props. For the little kids, the ghouls and witches tried to be cheerful and friendly rather than jumping out of the bushes. (I would bet that the "scary" version is pretty scary!) At the end of the trail, Sam had his face painted and the kids had hot chocolate. Joseph wanted to go again, but he'll have to wait until next year. The Haunted Trail is limited to 1500 people per night, and the line must have been 0.25 mile long!