Bix Weekend

This weekend was Bix weekend in the Quad Cities. Uncle Brian, Aunt Diane and cousin Hannah came up from St. Louis to celebrate with us AND so Brian could run his first Bix 7 road race. But first, Maddox participated in HER first official run! She did the Jr. Bix Friday evening. It was 70 yards long complete with a medal waiting for her at the end. Parents were allowed to 'help' the kids so Eric went along with her while Kennon and I watched from the sidelines. Initially she was scared of all the noisy cheering and excited parents and immediately wanted to be picked up by Eric. But, she quickly realized what was going on and wanted to get down again to make a dash for the finish! She did great. There were a ton of kids down there. It was like minivan heaven! She got her medal, took a quick picture by the Oscar Meyer mobile ( which she had no idea about because she hasn't had a hot dog yet!! ) and we headed for the car as Kennon had had just about enough of the carseat. Saturday AM Brian and Eric got up early to head downtown Davenport to get in line for the race. The rest of us loaded up the STROLLERSAURUS and found a spot out along McClellan BLVD to watch all 18,000 runners go by. Maddox was really entertained, not only by the runners, but by cousin Hannah. We were able to spot both Eric and Brian who did raced really well despite the warm humid air. The rest of the weekend we hung out at the house. Grammy Marti and Grandpa Dick came over to visit and we grilled out. Maddox and Hannah were quite the pair together. Hannah really took her under her wing and played with her the entire weekend, reading books, teaching her letters etc. Maddox woke up Sunday AM saying ' Hannah' over the monitor as if to ask if Hannah happened to be downstairs. Unfortunately the Gillaspies made an early getaway back to St. Louis Sunday AM. But it was a great weekend had by all and we are planning to make it a Kies/Gillaspie tradition.