Hip Hop 5K Erie

     I have been talking with the race director of the first Hip Hop 5K in Massachusetts and she has taken on the task of spreading the Hip Hop 5K nationwide!
     If everything pans out the way I hope for it to I will be the race director for the Hip Hop 5K in Erie, PA! I've submitted the first of the paper work and and waiting for my director packet. I've been scoping out 5K sites with all of the 5K's we've been doing and have run into only one issue.
     Cost.
     While I would love to through myself and everything I can into making this 5K happen it simply is not possible. This is where all of you come in. I need ideas on how to fundraise to fundraise. There are some upfront costs to doing a 5K (renting the timer, race bibs, shirts, water, etc.) that I will need to fundraise for. I'm starting early because I have a tendency to procrastinate and the 5K will be sometime next summer.
     So if you have any ideas (or have been on a 5K committee before) let me know. I'll take whatever suggestions or advice I can get!

Hip Hop 5k Revisited

     The countdown to the FIRST EVER Hip Hop 5k is winding down. It is in Easton, MA on August 24th (that's just 18 days away!) and proceeds go to the International Hip Dysplasia Institute and Boston Children's Hospital.
     If you're too far away to participate please consider donating or assisting in spreading the Hip Hop 5K around the nation! I'm working on bringing one to our home town because I believe that no child (or adult) should have to endure surgery for a condition that can be screened for at birth and treated with non-invasive measures.
     If you would like more information about heading up a 5K, would like to talk with me about working together on heading one up in my home town please feel free to contact me.

On to the Next One

     Have I mentioned lately that I'm OVER rain? I feel like we'll start floating away soon if the rain doesn't hold off! At least the next few days are supposed to be dry (as of right now anyway). It looked like it was going to rain ALL day and it did for awhile but after dinner the sky looked blue and promising.

     Did I mention that I got new shoes today? So, of course, we headed out to do our loop to finish our distance for the Let 'Em Know 5K for FragileX. Froggie was a little upset for awhile and ended up being carried for a bit. She  ended up falling asleep on Big Brother shortly after our ice cream stop. I'm amazed that she wasn't covered in ice cream when we got home!
     It started to drizzle sporadically on our way back and Hubby and I were a little fearful that we  would have to sprint home in the rain. Now that this 5K is in the books we'll be working on the next one (scheduled for 8/11).

Mid-week Blues

     I'm starting to feel a little run down and know it's just because it's mid-week. I even tried telling my boss today that tomorrow is Friday! In the hectic life I live I tried to become a little more organized today.
     I updated my planner and compiled my Facebook events, phone events and random stuff floating around in my head. I also registered Hubby and I for our August 5k. It turns out that the race we wanted to do is on a Saturday when he has to work in the morning so we're doing a different race than planned. It's nice to be registered! The day of the race is also the last night that Froggie has to wear her harness to sleep in!
     Off to bed for another day. Tomorrow is a special day for our family - more to come on that later though!
   

Froggie coping with the mid-week blues

Let 'Em Know 5k Follow Up

     Right smack in the middle of two thunder storms we decided to take a walk. Normally that would have been my excuse not to go but I figured since rain has become an equally foul "four letter word" as snow I should probably just go.
     After dinner and prepping everyone to head out the door we packed the kids in the double jogging stroller and headed out. We decided to officially count our distance today as part of my distance for the Let 'Em Know 5K. We decided to take a walk to the local ice cream stand, get a snack, turn around and come back.

Froggie sleeping on her Big Brother.

     We logged 1.8 miles towards our 5K (3.10686 miles) which means we have 1.30686 miles left which means another trip for ice cream and we'll make our distance!

5K Day and a Few Other Adventures

     Well today was 5K day... we were up bright and early and headed up to the peninsula to do our walk. At least that's what we thought. We started off walking but walking was no fun for Big Brother so that quickly turned to running. If you've ever tried to run with a 2 year old you know that it's a mix between sprinting, running, jogging and making your walk look like a run. AND it's VERY tiring! Froggie started out in the jogging stroller and didn't seem to care at all about the frequent transitions from walking to running. 

                       

     As we neared the halfway point Big Brother started to get tired. He said he didn't want to go in the stroller but agreed to the Ergo UNTIL he realized that meant he wasn't going to walk anymore. So we stuck him on Hubby's back and he did fine with it aside from the fact that he kept yelling "I want down" in Hubby's ear. 

     So down he went and straight into the stroller and Froggie hopped into the Ergo. She could have cared less where she was at as long as she was moving. 

     Overall it took us about an hour and ten minutes to complete the 5K. Which isn't too bad considering we were taking our pace from a 2 year old. 

     After the 5K we went to breakfast as a family before Hubby had to return to his drill weekend obligations. When we parted ways with him the kids and I headed to the zoo for Frozen Safari day. We used our zoo membership so we don't have to pay admission and we got our nifty Frozen Safari Passports. This passport contained check offs for 4 stations sponsored by local organizations. We were given our passports as soon as we entered the zoo. 

     Station 1 - Sponsored by a local grocery store. 1/2 ice cream sandwich. Near Front gate. 

Station 2 - Sponsored by Blue Bunny. Whole ice cream sandwich. Near Tiger exhibit. 

Station 3 - Sponsored by Slush Puppie. Blue or Red 9oz Slush Puppie (Big Brother chose red). Near Giraffes. 

Station 4 - Sponsored by Sam's Club. Klondike Bar (we split this one instead of getting 2). Near carrousel. 

     There was another station sponsored by a dairy farmers organization and they were giving out cups of ice cream but there is only so much ice cream that someone can eat before enough is enough. In addition to eating lots of special treats we saw most of the animals who were also getting special treats today. 

     When we left the zoo we had a graduation party to make a pit stop at and stayed for awhile. We left once Froggie and Big Brother started to get cranky. Both kids fell asleep in the car (which NEVER happens) but when we got home we were asked if we wanted to walk down the road to meet my cousins new baby. Boy is he cute! So of course I couldn't say no and I attempted to stealthily transfer my sleeping children from their carseats to their stroller. Of course this didn't work and I ended up with two awake kids who were surprisingly not very cranky. 

     After this everyone either napped or dozed off on the couch until Hubby was done with his Navy obligations for the day. When he got home we left the kids with my mom and headed out to dinner with some friends of ours at a local restaurant who was donating a portion of food sales as part of a fundraiser for the Navy Ball in October. 

Ready to Run

     By run I mean walk... and by ready I mean I laid out my clothes and shoes. Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we will head out to do our 5K!

     Froggie had another great day! She seems to have transitioned seamlessly to life without the harness.  She rolled around and kicked her feet, she even nursed with her leg stretched straight up in the air for awhile this evening. 

     It's still a little weird to pick her up. She feels a lot smaller without the harness and she wiggles more. The harness, even though it wasn't that big, seemed to make her chest feel thicker and her entire tiny body wider. It also held her steady. She seems to wobble more than she did when the harness was on. 

Release the... ducks?

     Today way the rescheduled duck race. Like I said on the 4th the local Kiwanis Club floats TONS of rubber duckies down a creek, each duck has a number and you can purchase a duck for $5 and the chance to win one of a bunch of prizes. The money they raise goes to a bunch of youth programs including two local marching bands. 

     We headed over a little early because there are normally a lot of people there. I'm guessing since it was rescheduled people were busy today since there weren't many people there. Then on top of that some of the ducks got through the net so they had to let them go early so no one was really prepared. Big Brother really liked seeing the ducks float down the creek and once they were all released we walked down the road to see them "cross the finish line". They pull all the ducks out and call numbers until they run out of prizes. None of our ducks crossed the finish line before the prizes ran out but it was fun to watch and Big Brother doesn't really care as long as he gets to see fun stuff. Froggie was pretty interested in the ducks as well and watched the people standing in the creek pretty intently. 

A cute, sleepy Froggie laying on my lap and holding hubby's hand.

Heading down to the creek accompanied by some REAL duckies.

Sleepy Froggie

Escaping duckies!

Hubby and Big Brother watching the ducks.

Walking to the "finish line"

Hubby and Big Brother heading to the finish line.

Collecting ducks

Froggie and I watching the ducks come in.

Happy Froggie while we sat and listened to the rain.

What's in the Envelope

     So here's what was in the envelope I got yesterday from the National Fragile X Foundation.

     That's right, my 5K packet has officially arrived! July is National Fragile X awareness month, and as Healthy Hips Awareness month comes to a close I am preparing to begin my month of 5K's including the NFXF Let 'Em Know 5K.

     As I noted in my last post about this 5K "Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) is a genetic condition that causes intellectual disability, behavioral and learning challenges and various physical characteristics. Though FXS occurs in both genders, males are more frequently affected than females, and generally with greater severity. (http://www.fragilex.org) 

     Please consider donating to our team and helping to raise awareness of something that affects people on a daily basis. Until you read this you probably had never heard of Fragile X Syndrome, but it is those causes that you knew little about that require the most help. If you want to check it out or donate you can do that here. http://www.crowdrise.com/Kathleen-NFXFLetEmKnow5k-kathl/fundraiser/michellemong

Got Mail

Today I got a special envelope! Tomorrow I'll show you what's inside...

Hip Hop 5K

     Like I said, I'm all about the 5k's this summer!
     The Hip Hop 5k is happening in Easton, MA on August 24th. The money raised during this event is going to benefit the International Hip Dysplasia Institute and the Boston Children's Hospital Hip Program.
     Unfortunately I will not be able to attend and participate in this event, because it is simply too far away, but every little bit helps and I can at least spread the word. Most cases of hip dysplasia are missed in children because screening methods are currently lacking.
     Without the support of patients, their families, and those in the community hip dysplasia will continue to be an unheard of diagnosis. The more people know about hip dysplasia the less likely it will become for cases to go undiagnosed!
     If you are near Easton, MA and able to participate in the 5k please show your support. If not and you can spare a few dollars to go towards treatment and awareness please donate here.

     Here's your daily dose of Froggie - She has started to play with her toes and frequently hangs out like this.

Let 'Em Know 5k - Fragile X Syndrome

     I mentioned that I had registered for another 5k in July, this one is to raise awareness for Fragile X. It is a virtual 5k so I'll be walking/running it on my own during the month rather than en masse with everyone who is signed up to participate. 

     Much like Hip Dysplasia, I didn't know anything about Fragile X until recently. It was brought to my attention through social networking. A friend of mine from college has been posting about family members with Fragile X and was the one who alerted me to the 5k. I'm all about raising awareness; especially with the new understanding that without knowledge funding for early detection and treatment is almost impossible to find. 

     So the big question you're all asking is - What is Fragile X?

           "Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) is a genetic condition that causes intellectual disability, behavioral and learning challenges and various physical characteristics. Though FXS occurs in both genders, males are more frequently affected than females, and generally with greater severity. (http://www.fragilex.org) The only way to identify Fragile X is to know what it is and push for testing. Without knowledge of the syndrome parents may not know to push for a better diagnosis than the one they may have been given instead.

     Please consider donating to our team and helping to raise awareness of something that affects people on a daily basis. Until you read this you probably had never heard of Fragile X Syndrome, but it is those causes that you knew little about that require the most help. If you want to check it out or donate you can do that here. http://www.crowdrise.com/Kathleen-NFXFLetEmKnow5k-kathl/fundraiser/michellemong

Upcoming Projects

     I got a package in the mail today that I've been obsessively checking the tracking of for the last week. In it was a new book "The Parents' Guide to Hip Dysplasia". It's a new edition that was updated by author Betsy Miller and published this year. My first upcoming project is to read my new book and learn more about Froggie and others with Hip Dysplasia.

     My second project is to develop a logo for Froggie and the fundraising I'd like to do for the International Hip Dysplasia Institute in the future. It's coming along nicely and I'll be sure to share it with you all when it's completed (or at least closer to completed than it is right now). 

     I've signed up for 2 (yes... 2!) 5k's this month. Both are in the month of July and as I mentioned before one is the Armed Forces 5k. The second is for Fragile X awareness. I'll post about it tomorrow, stay tuned.

     That's it for tonight. Froggie hopes you all had a good day! My car has a "boo boo" though so we're getting up EXTRA early to take hubby to work. 

Fundraising Idea

     June is Hip Dysplasia Awareness month.
     To show support for Froggie and raise some funds for the International Hip Dysplasia Institute (IHDI) I was thinking about ordering wrist bands. This idea came after finding out that IHDI discontinued their distribution of wristbands to individuals for the foreseeable future due to an inability to meet demand because of funding.
     They would be Blue & light yellow swirled (the IHDI colors) and say "I love a Hip Baby" possibly with the IHDI website on the opposite side and would cost $5 per band. This would cover the cost of production and shipping as well as allow for a portion of the cost to be donated to IHDI.

     Please contact me if you would like to purchase a wristband. The more we order the bigger the donation for a cause that's become very close to my heart.