bubblicious

this weekend, this e-mail popped up in my inbox:

it's been two years since i discovered my most favorite workout ever!  crazy.  i've also now been running for FOUR years.  i can hardly believe it.  i've never stuck with any kind of exercise for so long before.  and on saturday, those two worlds collided when one of my most favorite barre instructors joined me for a super fun 5K at the fairplex - the bubble run.

their facebook page had warned us to arrive early in order to have enough time to find parking and make our way to the start by 9:00, when the first wave would be released.  so we were there a solid 45 minutes early, and of course, it was already horribly warm.  standing there in the sun was not our most favorite thing to do, but it was fun to chat outside of the studio and watch the shenanigans happening around us.  and amazingly enough, out of all of the people that were there, we managed to find a spot right next to a troop of girl scouts that i knew.  they were having a blast with the giant beach balls that were being volleyed throughout the crowd.

finally, it was time to start.  we ended up in the second wave, which wasn't bad considering the number of people that was in front of (and behind) us.  the bubble cannons at the start line were running on full power, and we were covered almost from head to toe as we finally got going.

since we'd gotten cooled off a little by all those bubbles, we were able to start off at an easy jogging pace.  we wove around and through the crowd, most of which was walking in walls at least 4-5 deep. and then we reached the first of four colored bubble "bogs" - this one was a happy, cheerful pink.

i have to admit, it was really fun running through those mounds of bubbles.

the temperature had only gone up and up and up, and with the crowds we were trying to get through and the uncomfortable heat, we gave up on running altogether and settled on a nice fast walking pace.  i hadn't even bothered to turn my nike + timing app on, and had to just mentally let it go.  whatever, it was fun to relax and giggle our way through it anyway.

next was green.

then blue, and finally yellow.

and then we were done!

and somehow, one of my old friends from my junior league days managed to find me at the finish.  we're always at the same races, figuring it out from each other's facebook pages, and almost never see each other.  it was nice to see her and her family.

as we headed back towards the car, we were astonished at how many people were still waiting to be released at the start.  the announcer had said there were 13,000 folks there, but we'd ASSumed that he was just exaggerating.  nope:

even longer was the line for registration and same-day packet pick-up.  WUT.

it took us a little longer than i'd like to admit to find the car, but we eventually got there.  and when i took off my bubble-splattered tutu, my legs were a mess:

it had been a really fun morning, despite the heat and the crowds.  i hope it comes back to the fairplex next year, because i think maybe by then our girl scouts will be up to the challenge.  yay for bubbles!

food - the universal language

for last week's girl scout meeting, we asked the parents to help their daughters choose and prepare a dish from their heritage.  we thought this might be a fun activity that incorporated all sorts of things - a little bonding time, cooking, culture, sharing.  not a bad idea, right?

although we did get some pushback from one parent, who told us that she and her husband were working really hard on teaching their kids that they are american and not embracing either of their homelands.  instead, she thought she and her daughter could just pick a favorite cookie recipe and call it a day.  after trading a handful of emails, we finally got the point across that we weren't trying to get deep or contradict anyone's parenting choices - all we wanted to do was teach the kids a little about different cultures and diversity.

in the end, the meeting went really well.  our african-american girls brought us things like peach cobbler and yams:

from a daisy who boasts a fabulous mix of backgrounds including creole, swedish, puerto rican and german, a german chocolate cake:

there were quesadillas from mexico:

baklava from our little one with a partial armenian background:

basil-tomato pasta salad and shells with meat sauce from italy:

one girl whose background is british and indian brought delicious, fragrant chicken curry and basmati rice (with sauce on the side):

from our french-canadian scout, crepes with maple syrup:

when i asked the bean what kind of filipino food she wanted to bring, she didn't hesitate for a second before deciding on puto, one of the few homeland dishes she's actually eaten.

there were also pepperkakor cookies from sweden and pan dulce from mexico, but because i was so busy running around helping dish out the grub, i didn't get too many photos to share here.  plus, it was super hot that day - which, of course, meant that i was sweating my ass off (even more than usual).  but everyone seemed to be having a great time.

the girls were great about trying at least one bite of everything, which was awesome.  and it was fun to watch them go up to the front, explain where their dish was from, and what it was.  we were proud of each of them, especially the few who were nervous about speaking in front of everyone, and each girl got a round of applause after their presentation.

and at the end, my co-leader, the teen (who'd come to help since we were down one leader) and i treated ourselves to a full plate of leftovers.

 thanks for dinner, girl scouts!

zoo-per fun day

our crazy fun, insanely busy weekend kicked off with a trip to the l.a. zoo with the bean's class.  chaperoning trips like this are popular with the parents, and so the teacher usually puts names into a hat and draws randomly to keep things fair.  i was lucky enough to be chosen this time, and since the teen had the day off, she and her special friend joined us for the fun.

my group was supposed to have three kids in it, but with one out sick, i was only responsible for the bean and one of her little friends.

i hadn't been to this zoo in years and years.  and while the previous few days had been hotter than hades, we got lucky with about a 10-degree cooldown.  it was still hot, but it was tolerable.  and the animals were fun to visit.

this building contained all the ickiest things, like snakes and lizards and spiders and stuff.

 and there were lots of fun photo ops for the bean and her friend.

more fun aminals!

 this was a few seconds before one mounted the other, and i quickly ushered the kids away - "HEYYYYY, let's see what's over HERE!"

this film crew was snickering and tittering on the sidelines, though.  heh.

we found out the hard way that the elephants only came out once during the day.  this is as close as we got to them.

oh - the teen's old buddy rock-ell and her boyfriend came out to join us, too.  selfie stick time!

in the gift shop, i scared the crap out of the others when i snuck up behind them like this:

we were able to take the bean home in our car instead of having her ride on the hot, sweaty bus.  on the way, we made a quick stop for some refreshments at our favorite boba joint.

first activity of the weekend, check!

happy weekend!

you guys, i have such a busy weekend ahead of me, i can hardly stand it.  and of course, it's been miserably hot around here lately and i feel like i've been doing nothing but sweating all damn day long.  ew.

here's a few hints as to what we're up to this weekend:

and:

then there's:

and to close it all out, we'll have:

i promise, it will all make sense next week.

oh, and i shall leave you with my most favorite meme of all time:

may is looking like it's going to be chock-full of all sorts of awesome, super fun shenanigans.  it's gonna be amazing.