A Super Fun Weekend

This past weekend was one that we do not want to forget.

It started on Friday, because Molly was sick on Thursday. While she was feeling fine, the school nurse said she had to be symptom free for 24 hours. So Molly and I went to early matinée of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. It was a fun movie and engaging on several levels. However, I believe it is only loosely based on the book by the same name. After the movie we spent some time at the mall playground and had cheese pizza at Costco.

On Friday evening, we drove to Nevada, Iowa (not be confused with the state of Nevada, which is pronounced differently) to help with packet

pickup for the Ashlie Duit Memorial Run. Cheryl is one of the race organizers and has spent a good part of this summer helping to put this race on.

On Saturday morning we were up at 4:00 AM and driving back up to Nevada to help set for the race. It was a rainy

morning, but the weather cleared just before the race started. While Cheryl worked the finish line, Molly and I ran the 5k. Turns out if you pick the right race you can medal. Molly and I took fourth overall and third among men (I know, Molly should have been second fastest women, but I was pushing her in the BOB, so we were a team).

At the awards ceremony, Molly accepted our third place medal from her mom. Molly also participated in the kids race. In her 5 and under age group she took a respectable second place.

But that's not all for Saturday. After some naps and cleaning up we were off to West Des Moines for the Mid-Autumn celebration, Illumifest. There were bouncy houses, egg rolls, a movie on the lawn, kettle corn, and of course the annual painting of a lantern. Molly ended up a little cleaner then last year. But we missed Mark, Sarah, Julia, and Phoebe.

On Sunday, after catching up on some sleep, we headed out for the kids music festival

"Every Family Rocks", at the zoo. In addition to tattoos, face painting, bracelet making, sock puppets, and wild animals, we got to see live performances from Justin Roberts and the Not Ready for Naptime Players and Dan Zanes and Friends. Molly fell asleep after three songs from Justin Roberts, but did a lot of dancing to Dan Zanes. Justin also autographed her arm, but we made her wash off during her bath. It was a good weekend.

Speaking of things loosely based on the original, Molly and I saw the trailer for Where th

e Wild Things Are when we went to the movies. I cannot say that I am big fan of movies taking away our imagination's version of these stories. Will you be able to read Where the Wild Things Are without seeing the movie version of the characters and their back story? At least with X-Men or Harry Potter, they are taking developed characters and generally putting the full story on the screen. Where the Wild Things Are is a ten sentence story that has been turned into an 111-page screenplay by Dave Eggers and Spike Jonze. What's next? Judi Dench as the old lady wispering hush in the two hour epic Goodnight Moon?