An Exciting and Very Busy Day

Yesterday was an exciting and exhausting day for both girls!  Julia's class took a field trip to the Franklin Park Zoo, and the chaperone for her group was none other than:

We had a great time exploring the zoo amongst the mobs of about ten other schools on their own school field trips. We managed to see every area of the zoo, even doubling back on some of our favorite spots, plus we spent ample time on the playground.  Needless to say, after 3.5 hours walking the zoo grounds in the bright sunshine, we were all wiped.  However, that did not stop Julia and her friends from bellowing out EVERY SINGLE SONG they had learned in first grade during the entire bus ride back to school.  Yes, that's right.  Julia the self-conscious Readers Theatre singer was the ring-leader in a total belt-a-thon during the bus ride.  I guess when she's not in the spotlight, she'll readily come out of her shell.

After the field trip, Julia had 45 minutes worth of laps at swim lessons, and then we headed over to Boston College for the Runners World Kid Races.  There, we met up with Madeleine, who had enjoyed her own action-packed day in downtown Boston with Auntie Caitlyn and Chad.  You can tell Madeleine was feeling simply FABULOUS as she was out and about:

You can see that Madeleine was already amping up for the evening's races by wearing my old Hartford Marathon medal from 2003.

The kids' races kicked off the weekend long Heartbreak Hill races, starting with the quarter mile for kids aged 2-5.

Madeleine was a bit apprehensive as she awaited the start of the race:

After the horn went off and the kids started running, I stood nervously awaiting the next sighting of the runners.  I had no idea if Madeleine would actually manage to a) make it through the run without a major face-plant, and b) not break down into a crying mess, wanting Mama part-way through the race.  Once the kids came into sight again, I kept an anxious eye out for Madeleine.

Turns out my fears were completely unfounded:

Yes, indeed, there was Madeleine, joyously skip-running along the course, having the absolute time of her life.



In summary, she had a BALL.

Julia was a trooper making it through her own half mile race.  After the long day at the zoo and her rigorous swim practice, she managed to pump on through the whole course like a champ:

The girls even got their own t-shirts and medals upon finishing.  Madeleine, who had cried over the fact that I made her take off my Hartford Marathon medal in order to run her race, ditched the aforementioned medal like a bad habit the moment she heard she would get her own plastic one:

What a day for the girls!