Oh Happy Days: Viking Fest...

Each year our quaint little Norwegian town turns out the Viking Fest. It is three days of carnival riding, parading, fun running, performances, Viking reenactments, midway food, and general revelry. We went all three days this year.

Day 1 we carnival rode. Afterwards Jason broke up a fight (such a stud!) between some teenagers and the girls got their first dose of marijuana smell. In the defense of the local youth some other teenagers did warn us not to walk further down the boardwalk because "people are doing stuff".

Day 2 we fun ran and paraded. The run started out a little soggy, but nothing is too soggy for hearty Pacific Northwesters. Lena and Annika started out the one mile run with their friend Jaden. Along the way they spotted their friend Abby in the crowd of runners and she joined them. About halfway through they "ran" into their friend Delany and she hopped in the group. By they end it was five little girls sprinting across the finish line together. It was practically a Nike commercial in the making!

My friend Kim (Jaden's mom) and I are ready to dominate the one mile...or at least not get beaten by a four year old...

After the one miler come the 5 miler. The group of girls await their daddy's/mommy's arrival. And I must give a shout out to Jason who ran his best time EVER...almost 3 minutes faster than last year...in the top 25 overall...and there were 476 runners...7th in his age group...and faster than he ran in high school...such a double stud!

Day 3 brought performances. Lena and Annika had participated in a four week Hip Hop/Cheer class and they had the opportunity to show off their routine at the Fest. Annika readies herself for her debut...