Utah - July 4th

This week, I'm in Utah. This is the fourth post of the trip - and fittingly, it's all about the 4th of July!

We started the holiday in an interesting way.  A little backstory is required.  My brother-in-law's wife (E) has a great family.  Most of them happen to live here in Utah, so that my brother-in-law and E visit...they get to see both sides of their family.  Unfortunately, E's father has cancer and can't travel very much.  Last year, E and her family organized a "fun run" to honor her father.  It was a really neat experience.  This year, they decided to continue the tradition.  We were invited to the 2nd Annual Fun Run for Juan (a nickname).

It took place at a local elementary school, and ALL ages were welcome.  The grandkids really got into it.

This was the "before" picture...lots of people turned out for the race

They were going to hold it at a high school track, but that was closed.  Instead, we ran around the perimeter of the elementary school...which was just the right length for most of the kids you see in the picture above.  We lined up at the starting point...and were off!

As you can see...we had kids running...adults running...adults running with strollers (that's what I was doing) and even kids running with dogs:

I was so proud of G-Man...he kept up with his cousin, who is 2 years older than him.  It was tiring, but he hung in there:

Both of my nephews did a great job, and my niece hung in there, even with the dog! At the finish line, all of the kids were given little bags of colored "chalk" to thrown at each other, and into the air.  With the white t-shirts, it made for a lot of fun! Then, they attacked their grandfather with the color ; )

G-Man even got into it.  He even tried doing a chalk "high-five" with one of E's brothers:

All of the kids earned a medal for their efforts...and G-Man thought that the Gatorade was a real bonus:

Our little L had a blast - I mean, who wouldn't want to be pushed in a stroller at a fast pace, with lots of kids around you??

All in all, it was a great experience.  It was fun to watch this family show their love and respect for their patriarch, and give the kids a chance to participate in something that meant a great deal to their grandfather.  We were lucky to have a chance to be a part of it.

To finish of our nations birthday, we had another BBQ, complete with more homemade Gnutella Gelato.  This time, Grammy made a fresh raspberry cream pie with berries picked from their own garden.  It was amazing:

What a great way to celebrate Independence Day!  We only have one day left in Utah, so there might be one more post before the drive home to Texas...