Jen’s Birthday Weekend-Date Night-NHRA-5K

I feel like we’ve been ridiculously busy lately. We’ve taken tons of pictures and a few short videos that I need to make time to post. I figured I should try to start playing catch-up by sharing my birthday weekend adventures. We didn’t do anything too crazy, but I have a feeling that this weekend is going to be tough for us to top on a regular basis!

Our adventures began after Brian and I finished work on Friday evening. We decided to have a “date night”, but being the parents that we are, that involved taking our kids out with us. After daycare pickup, we just started driving. Brian and I knew where we were going, but it took our kids a few minutes to realize that we weren’t heading home for the evening. That resulted in rapid-fire questioning so they could figure out where we were going. I repeated that we were going on a “date night”, and without missing a beat our oldest responded with, so we’re going to Applebee’s? I told her yes and grinned because I knew what was coming next. Her response was, “Can I get a “Bourbon Street Steak with an Oreo Shake?” –Come on, you all know that Walker Hayes song! (If you don’t, you should probably Google it so you know what I’m talking about)–

Anyhow, we had a nice dinner, and on our way home, we stopped by the park to let the kids play. We stayed until the park closed at 9 so naturally, the kids were exhausted by the time we got home.

Saturday we planned on getting in the car and heading to the NHRA race in Norwalk, by about 7:30 AM, but let’s be honest, we were just as exhausted as the kids, so we opted to sleep in a bit. We hopped in the van and drove about an hour and a half to Summit Motorsports Park. It’s always interesting with kids in the vehicle! It’s kind of like playing roulette when you all load up in the car, sometimes the ball lands on Black and the older two behave in the car while the little two are being difficult, sometimes it lands on red and the little ones are good and the older two are little shits, then there are those unicorn trips where we don’t have to yell at anyone or they all manage to fall asleep for a while. For the most part, we get to listen to the oldest three argue. The most common is because another sibling is looking out their window, someone else is looking at them, or because they are in each other’s space… Anyhow, we grabbed some donuts and donut holes which helped to keep them at bay for part of the trip.

We hung around the drag strip most of the day, the kids got super excited when the cars would start rumbling and by the time we got home, the kids had all passed out in the car! Jackpot! I love when we’re able to tire them all out and we get to enjoy a nice peaceful ride home! After we woke the kids up, we still got to spend the evening in the backyard. We had to tend to the birds (we have chickens, turkeys, & guineas), checked out the garden, and prepared for Sunday’s adventures!

Sunday was my birthday, so naturally, I got to pick what I wanted to do all day! The oldest two girls and I got up super early and went to do a 5K. It was Stacy & Hailey’s first 5K, but it had been years since the last 5K that I’ve done. This is not something that we prepared for, I just decided the weekend prior that I wanted to go do a 5K. I got the girls to jog a little with me here and there, but for the most part, the girl’s just whined about wanting a shower. We also signed the girls up for the kid’s race that was just before the 5K. Overall, the girls walked away with two medals, so they were super excited!!!

The 5K that we ran was the Blackburn Chasing The Cure 5K. I just wanted to say that this 5K was probably the most relaxed and enjoyable event I’ve ever participated in! We also had a bonus experience at the 5K. I knew that the event was sponsored by Chase Blackburn, but I had no idea that he was going to be at the event. My brother is a huge Tennessee Titans fan, so I asked Chase if I could take a picture of him and the girls. He was excited to take a picture with them, AND, he gave both girls one of his Superbowl Championship Rings to wear for the picture. Shortly before we left I asked for a picture with all three of us with Chase because hey, it was my birthday, and he was happy to take another picture. I haven’t met many famous people in my life, but I will say that I loved the fact that his wife and kids were all at the event participating too! I would definitely recommend that event to anyone in the area that’s looking for an enjoyable 5K to do!

After the 5K, we went home and Brian and the youngest two were ready and waiting with cake and mini cinnamon rolls!

After showers, I asked Brian if he wanted to do anything and he said that we could go do whatever I wanted… …that could be dangerous, he may want to rethink telling me something like that! So I told Brian and the kids to put on flip-flops and clothes that they didn’t mind getting dirty or wet. As we all got ready we couldn’t seem to find Karly’s flip-flops anywhere. A good half-hour was spent looking for those stupid things! We ended up running to Walmart and buying her a new pair. Thankfully Brian was a good sport the whole time, he just drove where I told him to and I didn’t tell him where we were going until we were about five minutes away from our destination.

Shale Hollow Park was our destination. We played in the creek, hiked one of the trails, and let the kids play in the natural play area. If anyone is in the Delaware, Ohio area and looking for a nice cool place to relax, I highly recommend Shale Hollow! We all had a wonderful time!

Again, we got super lucky on the way home and all four kids managed to pass out in the van by the time we got home. We sat in the van for a little while before we woke the kids up. You know, just so we could enjoy some peace and quiet! There’s not much peace and quiet in our home, but we definitely make some memories!