color run kalamazoo

The Color run came to Kalamazoo and I loved it!

It's definitely more of a fun run than a race and it's not timed so you just make your way around the course, soaking up the atmosphere and trying to get as colourful as you can over the 3 miles.

The start is staggered so that there isn't a big fight at the first colour station. I swear there were at least 5000 people there!

The colour stations are spread out about every kilometre. There are a load of volunteers who have paint bottles of dyed corn starch which they squirt at you as you run past. You can get handprints on your back, a new hair colour or just a splash of colour on your front. They don't spray it in your face and as long as you keep your mouth closed you won't really breathe too much in.

I wore the official white t-shirt with my running trousers and a tutu that I made at home. The tutu was just for fun and seems to be the 'in-thing' at races at the moment!

I ran with a friend and her 8 year old daughter - she was so much faster than us! Oh the joys of youth!

Jeremy and the kids were cheering us on and met us for the party at the end. That is where you really get covered in colour!

They give you a colour packet at the finish line and then everyone gathers around the stage. Every 15 minutes they countdown and then you throw your 'paint' up into the air or all over your friends.

Charlotte was very excited but I guess we didn't really explain it to Toby who looked down at his new white t-shirt in dismay and asked why we threw orange all over him! Whoops!

But he soon got over it and joined in the fun, watching all of the colour go into the air and throwing handfuls of confetti at the finish line.

When we got home we had the funniest shower ever! Pools of blue and green paint collected in the bottom of the shower and even scrubbing couldn't get off the most stubborn dye... I had blue elbows for about 3 days! And blowing my nose produced surprising results!

I would highly recommend this race to anyone and hope that Charlotte might even run it with me next year!

P.S. I put my iPhone in a small ziploc bag. Some of the photos ended up a bit fuzzy but it certainly saved my phone!

a little trip down under...

What a busy couple of months we have had!

March was one of the most surreal and amazing months of my life...

We took a trip down under for a wedding in Melbourne, Australia. We went with friends (they flew east from England and we flew west from here) and spent 2 and a half weeks there. We met kangaroos, wallabies, koala bears, my favourite F1 driver waved at me and we climbed to the top of a bridge!

Every day was an adventure with one amazing experience after another. I can't even tell you what my favourite thing was as we loved every minute of it!
It took about 28 hours to get there and over 30 to get home as we were delayed. Thankfully it wasn't just one mega long flight so that helped break up the time but it was an epic journey! The kids did amazingly well throughout the whole journey. The jet lag has been surprisingly tough to get over. It's hard to get up in the morning and bedtimes have been a struggle but it was well worth it!

The first part of our trip was spent in Manly where we stayed in a beachside apartment.
We woke up to the sound of the ocean and could see the beach from our windows.We even managed to do yoga one morning out on the rooftop patio just after sunrise.

Each day we walked past the beach and into town to catch the ferry to Sydney harbour. The kids loved running races along the beach path on the way home - it certainly made the 20 minute walk go by faster!
We spent 4 glorious days exploring the city, the botanical gardens, the zoo and of course the famous Sydney Opera House.
I am always one to rise to a challenge and when I heard you could climb up the Sydney Harbour bridge I decided to give it a go despite my fear of heights.
And I admit I was terrified at points. There was a section part way up where you had to climb up and down ladders, stepping across to get to the next ladder. And you had to look up or down to check the way was clear before stepping onto the next ladder. That was the worst bit. One of the group didn't even make it as far as that. They put the most anxious ones at the front. I was third after the girl who bailed and her boyfriend! I was so scared that I couldn't even look up at the bridge whilst we were still on the ground!
You are connected to a safety line the whole way so I couldn't actually have fallen off at any point but that didn't help when I was asked to let go of the rail for photos. I mustered my best smile for the camera before planting my hands firmly on the metal!

Before we knew it, we had to say goodbye to Sydney and make our way down to Melbourne.
It was a bizarre mix of wedding duties and trips to see the wildlife. One minute we were on our knees in the dust feeding kangaroos, then jumping in the car to drive two hours back to Melbourne to meet the new in-laws in a posh restaurant!

I had the most wonderful experience of sitting on the ground, surrounded by wallabies, feeding them grains. They would hop over and claw at your hands to see what goodies you had. They were so close that I could see my reflection in their eyes! There were wallabies and kangaroos carrying babies in their pouches. From tiny little pink babies to joeys so big they were bursting out of their mummy's pouches!
The kangaroos were bigger than Toby but that did not phase him! It was the kind of experience we were hoping for and exceeded our expectations.

We had so many other wonderful experiences and I could probably write at least 5 other posts describing the fun we had at the F1, the wedding, watching tiny penguins come out of the ocean at sunset, walking around Ramsay Street, running along the beach in the morning, the steam train ride into the bush and spending so much quality times with our friends.

But instead I will just leave you with a few photos of the highlights!

We made it to the top! 

  

Kangaroos! 

Up close to a wallaby

Kanagaroos as big as Toby!

Ruby the koala bear

Walking down the F1 track after the race

I spy the 'Kennedy house' on Ramsay St! 

A little girl's dream dress! 

Dancing outside the Church