Torchlight Run and Parade

The annual kick off for SeaFair was this weekend, the big Seattle party on Lake Washington where the Blue Angels perform and the hydraboats race. The kick off is in downtown Seattle, and there is a 5K and 8K run and then a parade through downtown. We went down with the Strattons so the older kids could run the 5K race. Lisa, Miles and Cole all ran in it (and the boys even did it in very crappy shoes, all the more impressive.) The boys did amazing, finishing in around 25 minutes, beating a lot of adults in the process. They are quite the little runners. Lisa ran with them, and I don't know who had the harder job, her running, or me chasing Gage and Shay all around the finish line while we waited. Luckily they had lots of booths set up to distract them with hand outs and candy. They even got interviewed by the local TV station since it was a family affair. Or it was just they we looked like freaks since between us and the Strattons we had 8 kids there. They're not quite used to that many in a family up here. They guy behind them in the interview picture, dressed as a pirate isn't there to shanghai some crew for his boat. The theme for SeaFair is pirates, and a lot of people dress up and run the race as pirates. The shirts Miles and Cole are wearing have the pirate theme on them too. In fact the SeaFair pirates, a group of middle aged men who like to dress up and play with swords, are fairly well known and have even been in Sports Illustrated. After the race we hit the parade where they kids waited in vain for someone to throw them some candy. Shay had fun dancing with the UW cheerleaders when they came by.