The Great Pumpkin Race

One of the many things Rhett is involved in is the Spokane Meals on Wheels. He is on the board, and this year, was in charge of their fundraiser: The Great Pumpkin Race.

Yes, it was a little stressful, but it all came together and was such a blast!!!

The Wednesday before the race, us crazy parents got Summer and Claire up at 4 in the morning to go be on the local news. Here's a link to watch the "stars of the world" (as one of Claire's classmates later said): http://www.krem.com/videos/news/local/spokane-county/2015/10/21/pumpkin-race-supports-meals-on-wheels/74322992/

I sent the link to the girls' teachers and they watched them in their classes. The students thought the girls were famous now. It was such a fun thing! (But by 5:00 that night, I vowed to NEVER do it again and the girls were in bed twenty minutes later. haha)

The night before going on the news, Claire said, "Mom, I'm nervous. I've never been on TV before." 

I stayed home with the sleeping kiddos and watched the news on the computer, waiting for the Barney Stars. Rhett said that up until it was time for the cameraman, Claire kept saying, "I'm not going to say anything. I'm not going to talk at all." Hahaha. She almost took the mic from the lady in the clip! So funny.

Saturday morning, Grandma and Grandpa Kartchner helped us build our pumpkins. 

Cat: Summer's        Witch: Basil's

Claire colored her mini pumpkin black

Pyper's is a green pumpkin between the bear and crown

We did a few practice runs in our driveway.

THE EVENT

Since Rhett was in charge of the event, I took pictures for it. I got a few of the girls, but lots of other ones as well. (Click on the pictures to make them larger so you can see everyone's faces. So fun!)

During registration, I turned around and Summer's holding this little guy.

Candy from the goody bags

The Scoop, a local icecream and coffee shop showed up to serve free hot chocolate.

Our chiropractor and good friend Kim White (in the purple hat whose lap Basil is sitting on) and her husband Mike (talking to the news cameraman) came to help with registration.

This is one of the heats. I love this picture. (No Barney girls in this one, but I think the guy in the middle thought I was taking a picture of him! haha)

This was Basil's race. The head rolled off the wheels, so . . . 

Rhett kicked it all the rest of the way down.

Action shot (Notice Little Tike Cinderella rolling out of her pumpkin coach)

 Another action shot

Claire's in the pink coat, Rhett is following behind her

Action shots

One of the funnest things was watching the pumpkins start at the line, and then everyone chase after them as they turned and crashed into the curbs. One giant pumpkin even ran over a smaller one! Huge crash! The whole crowd erupted.

Summer's in the pink jacket in front of Rhett

Finish line

 So they took the 1st place winner of each heat and had a final race. This kid in the red sweatshirt won. His brother is in the gray sweatshirt--totally excited that his brother won. 

Michael Baumgartner, one of our State Senators, was the emcee for the race.

Here's a link to the followup report on the news regarding the race. And yes, that witch head with a wig rolling down the hill is Basil's! 

http://www.khq.com/clip/11948040/pumpkin-races-in-spokane

The race was a great success. They had about 75 participants (twice as many as last year), and earned enough money to feed 500 seniors for the next year. Great job Rhett!