This should be roughly 17 seperate posts, but I'm exhausted, so I'm throwing them all in together. We headed to Orlando yesterday afternoon, and spent the evening swimming in the pool and eating at McDonald's. Jace's choice. When we arrived at the race site at a little after 6 this morning, Seth was not impressed. Jace said "Mom, do you realize it's still night time?"
Jace, however, was incredibly excited about running in the kids race. We manned the registration booth for the kids race and ended up with over 40 entrants, from the ages of 1-11.
He made me pin his number on very carefully. Then he had some adorable brother bonding time. Are these not some of the cutest boys around? I think so, but I may be biased.
Seth leaning his forehead on Jace like that is his version of a hug. He headbutts very affectionately all the time. It's hilarious.
There was an awesome spot set up for all the racers to get massages before and after the race. One of the therapists offered Jace a massage and he said no, very quickly. Then he told me "She didn't understand. I DON'T WANT A MASSAGE!" I think maybe he thinks massages are something bad. Like bedtime. Who knows. He'll learn that they're glorious someday.
The turn out was awesome! It was so cool to see everyone out there running or walking their four miles to help raise money for Rhyan's Hope.
The kids and parents in this picture are other cochlear implant families. It's so funny that this time last year Seth was just a new baby, just past his diagnosis, and now he's hearing just like these kids! Last year, these were the kids whose parents I talked to over and over trying to make our decision. Now he's one of them!
The race was so cool. Some of the first to finish completed the four miles in less than 22 minutes. There was also an 81 year old woman who ran the race! It was awesome to see. On the back of her shirt, it said "You just got passed by an 80 year old lady!" Hilarious. She probably would have passed me. And by that I mean definitely.
The boys got bored and decided to examine the sidewalk. Seth was multitasking by crawling and eating a bagel. It hit the ground several times. Yum.
Still good! Just knock the dirt off it, right?
Contemplating whether to go after it. I stepped in at this point. Even I have standards.
Jace and Rhyan's little sister, Evynn, getting read to run!
Can you see him? He's in the blue shirt.
On the way home! He ran hard. I was worried he would freak out if he didn't win, but it turned out he didn't really notice and was thrilled with his very own blue ribbon.
It was awesome to be able to be a part of such a cool event, and I can't wait until next year's second annual Run to Hear! Maybe I'll actually run in that one. Or not.
After the race we went out to brunch with a ton of the people who made the event happen, and the kids went completely nuts, probably due to how overtired they all were from such an early start. The staff was glad to see us go, I am sure. But it was so cool to be able to catch up with everyone and help them raise money for their next recipient. Now I'm going to go sleep for about three days.
