The Fourth of July Celebration

This week was filled with activities to celebrate Independence Day. The city we live in set up the carnival, and the kids had fun riding the rides.

7月4日は独立記念日。夏休みも始まり、今週はたくさん遊んだ1週間でした。

火曜日は毎年恒例のカーニバルへ。

Rio is not very big on the bumpy rides, but Marcus loves them.

乗り物があまり好きじゃないリオと、大好きなマーカス。表情から察しすることが出来ますよね。（笑）

Marcus making a face as soon as he realized that I was taking a picture.　カメラを向けるとすぐ変な顔するマーカス…

Rio smiles when she sees me taking a picture. Good girl! :)　リオはちゃんと笑顔を見せてくれます。

Marcus and his friend, Tanner.　大きな滑り台で遊ぶマーカスとお友達のタナー君。

The next day, James, Rio, and Marcus went to see the movie during the day. Then, in the evening we went to the grandparents' house to do fireworks. It's always fun to get together to enjoy the fireworks. Thanks, Mom!

水曜日の午後は、ジェームズ、リオ、マーカスは映画を見に行き、夜は、皆でお義母・義父さんの家へ行って親戚が集まって花火をしました。

The morning of the Fourth of July started with my 10K race. Unfortunately, I strained my right quad muscle while doing my weekly track training with coach Becky the day before. I was not sure if I could run the race, but I encouraged my friend, Emily, to sign up to race with me, so I really didn't want to miss it. My leg didn't feel good when I started walking to the park where the race starts, but by the time the race started, my leg warmed up and it felt OK. I was able to finish the race, but my time was slow. Considering I was not 100%, I guess it wasn't too bad. I enjoyed running with Emily, and I was happy to see James and Marcus at every corner to take some pictures of me. I thought they might come see me at the finish line, but they woke up early to see me run. That was so nice of them because I knew they wanted to sleep in.

そして独立記念日の当日、木曜日の朝、私は10キロレースに参加しました。水曜日の早朝トレーニング中に右太腿の筋肉を傷めてしまい、レースは無理かなぁと思いましたが、当日何とか軽く走れる状態まで回復したので、参加することにしました。ランニング友達のエミリーに、「レースに一緒に参加しようよ！」と誘ったので、どうしても走りたかったのですよね。
レース中、やはりちょっと痛かったので、いつもより遅いペースで走ることになりましたが、とりあえず無事に完走することが出来ました。ジェームズとマーカスが前夜は花火で夜遅かったのに早起きして見に来てくれたのも嬉しかったです。

Emily and I at the start line.　エミリーと一緒にスタート。

About halfway through the race　中間時点。

1 more mile to go　あと1キロ時点。

At the end of the race　レース終了後。

I was #71 of 110 women runners, and the 4th place of my age group. My time was about 8 minutes slower that the last race, but again, considering my injury, I shouldn't be complaining.
Emily said that her time was better than two years ago, so I was happy for her.

結果は、女性110名中71位、年齢層では4位でした。4月のレースと比べると8分ほど遅い結果でしたが、足を痛めていたから仕方がないですね。友達のエミリーは2年前と比べるとスピードアップできたそうで、良かった！

The day ended with the fireworks from our city. Marcus spent a couples of hours with his friend at the carnival again before the fireworks, and he really enjoyed the scary rides. He recently started writing his own blog, by the way. It's called "Marcus's Own Lego Creations". He created the Lego model of one of his favorites rides and posted it on his blog.

Our city does a fairly good job with the fireworks, and there were so many people at the park and everywhere around our neighborhood. People started doing their own fireworks after the city finished, and we heard the noise until the midnight. It's not as fun if you have to work the next day. I'm going to make sure that James will take the day off on July 5th every year.

It's been a fun week. Not overwhelmingly packed with activities, but enough to have fun.

夜は、またカーニバルで数時間過ごした後、市主催の花火で締めくくり。昨年から打ち上げ花火が一般化されたので、近所の家でもあちらこちらで花火が上がっていて、夜中まで賑やかでした。翌日仕事に行かなければならない人(＝ジェームズ）にはちょっと辛いので、7月5日は有休を取っておくべきだと改めて思いました。

ところで、マーカスがブログを始めました。自分でデザインしたレゴの写真を載せるブログです。
"Marcus's Own Lego Creations"というブログです。なかなか上手に作っていますので、見てあげてくださいね。