A great weekend!

My brick:
I got up super early on Sunday because I had a 3hr. bike/30min. run brick scheduled and I wanted to get it done before all of the festivities began!  I set my alarm at 4:45, and got to the bike trail by 5:40.  This is what the sky looked like when I got out of my car:

There were some pretty ominous clouds overhead and I was just hoping that I could get my ride in before it rained.  I set off and right away I loved how quiet and peaceful everything was.  I was the only person on the bike path, the air was crisp and cool, and the early morning light made everything look beautiful.  I definitely need to do more early morning rides!
I decided to do a route inside Chatfield Park because it has a good mix of hills, fast flats, and lots of steady inclines. I got into my groove and started cranking out the miles.  Because of the impending storm there was some wind.  And of course, the headwind was during the steady inclines and hills.  Ugh!  It started sprinkling a little bit, and I was afraid the skies might open up, but they never did.  Phew!  My legs started to feel fatigued around the 1:45 mark, but I kept on keeping on and ended up riding for about 2:40.  I would have ridden longer, but I made it back to my car sooner than I thought and didn't feel like going back out again.

The sky was still pretty dark, so I was hoping again to finish my run before the rain came.  I actually don't mind running in the rain, but it's nice not to have soaking clothes when you finish a workout.  I changed into my running stuff and headed out.  I thought my legs would be completely dead, but I was surprised by how good they felt.  There were a lot of people on the trail by this time and I saw lots of families biking with their kids.  It was awesome!  I got back to my car and snapped this picture:

Another brick for the books!  Woohoo! :) 

Rain and fireworks:

source

Later that night we got everything ready to take our boys to see the fireworks.  The city of Aurora puts on a great display around 9:30pm and people just park on the roads/parking lots and watch them from around their cars.  Usually, you can park and sit in an open field to watch the fireworks.  Mother nature had other plans though.  Remember the rain I was afraid about?  Well, it decided to start pouring around 6:30pm.  We didn't know what we were going to do about watching the fireworks, but we made our way over to the area anyways around 8pm.  The rain actually stopped for about 30minutes and we set up a canopy tent just in case we had to watch the fireworks in the rain.  We were all able to play soccer/frisbee/beach ball outside, and the boys were having lots of fun.  But then, it was like a scene from Armageddon.  The sky got black and the dark clouds started moving across the sky super fast.  Then, came the lightning and the rain.  We had just enough time to get in the car before it started pouring once again.  The car is where we sat for about an hour.  Now, if you have small children you know that being couped up in a car is not ideal.  But, they did pretty good and pretty soon the fireworks started.  We headed out, in the pouring rain, and huddled underneath our canopy.  It was pretty hilarious actually!  In the end, it was completely worth it to see the excitement on our boys' faces as they watched the sky light up with beautiful colors! :)

Birthday fun:
My oldest son turned 5 today.  :)  Because his birthday is right after the 4th of July holiday, we always have his birthday party in late June.  So, what do you do to make a boy's 5th birthday fun?
How about a trip to Chuck E. Cheese!

 Gotta love the off-road jeep ride! Ha ha :) 

Oh, but that's not all.   After the boys took a nap, we loaded them up in the burley and rode our bikes to the swim beach.  I think the whole city was there, but we still had fun swimming in the water and playing in the sand.  After we had our fill of vitamin D, we rode to Jimmy John's for some dinner, followed of course with a chocolate dipped cone at Dairy Queen.  They're right next to each other and you have to give your kid some kind of dessert for their birthday!  Right?  Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it! :)  I think we were able to make our son's day special, and it was just a great end to a great holiday weekend.  

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July weekend!