Today was Bloomsday! We have done it together as a family for the last 3 years (since Chase was in my tummy!) This year the weather was beautiful, we had a really cool stroller that Nick got on Craigslist, and we were armed with plenty of snacks to keep the kids occupied while we walked over 7 miles!

Here are some pictures of the boys at home getting ready for the race. Patrick was trying his best not not cooperate for the picture taking, and I couldn't manage to get a shot of him looking at the camera:


Chase recently learned how to say "cheese" and every once in a while I can get him to practice. I guess I got lucky today:


Here is Daddy with the boys, walking from the car to the starting line:


Look at that sweet stroller! I actually didn't get that many pictures; it seems like there were always too many things going on and I forgot to take a lot (sorry!) Here's Chase and Mommy at the starting line:


Chase doesn't look very happy. The streets were packed with people, and he kept seeing things that he wanted (like a balloon, a doggy on the sidewalk, etc) and was upset that Mommy wouldn't just turn him loose and let him explore. Patrick wanted to "push the stroller" so he was standing behind it hanging onto the handle, and I and went to hand Chase to Nick for a minute and the next thing we knew Patrick was flat on his back on the street and the stroller was on top of him! Apples were rolling out into the street...it was not good. He recovered quickly though. There was another time that he sort of slithered out the bottom of the stroller onto the street, but we weren't going very fast. So we had a couple of stroller mishaps, but the boys had fun eating some snacks in the stroller (I think for the first time Patrick started to confuse "hungry" and "bored" because he ate two breakfasts before we left the house, and then kept saying he was hungry the entire time and ate as many snacks as we'd let him have, including an entire apple, core and all!) I didn't get any pictures of any of this though, sorry. Chase fell asleep when we were passing SFCC, and slept the whole rest of the way until after we picked up our t-shirts. I took these pictures while Patrick was having fun with Daddy peeing on the Monroe Street bridge:




After we got done we actually went to a restaurant to have lunch as a family (something we aren't brave enough to attempt with two toddlers very often, let alone after just walking for three hours!). We went to the Rusty Moose, and Patrick had ribs and Chase had a grilled cheese, and they did great (mostly)! We came home and they both took naps, and I took a little one too while Nick finished the fence. Nick and I are worn out, but we're getting to be pros at this :)