what a way to start a trip

we were behind this for quite some time.  the children and i left at 6:30 so we could be at the lake for breakfast.  we were a little delayed. 

circular rainbows

sister and i were out skiing with the children when little man noticed this circular rainbow.

the lake olympics ~ greased watermelon relays

granddaddy greased up two watermelons for some fun girls versus boys relays. little man and m1 are lined up for the start... after handing the melons off to their cousins they were neck and neck for a while. micadoodle pulled ahead and the girls won with a last second lunge across the finish line. huge roars erupted from the crowd. next was a free for all ~ two watermelons floating in the water... an all out run to fetch them then teamwork to get them back to the finish line.
this one was neck and neck, until a last second push by the boys rendered the race a tie. once again cheers erupted from the crowd and the lake olympics were declared a success. now time for a juicy watermelon snack.

john david presented the awards during the in-lake snacking.

m2 received the award for being the youngest competitor in an olympic event ever, her prize was a book, beach ball and $5 gift card to chick-fil-a.

m1 received the award for winning the opening event (soccer ball challenge) and having the all around best smile and most positive behavior. her prize was a jigsaw puzzle and a $5 gift card to chick-fil-a.
 

little man received the best team-mate award for being a key player in multiple team victories... all with different people. his prize was a notepad, mechanical pencil and $5 gift card to chick-fil-a.

dude received the strong-man award because his bulging muscles powered him through the kayak relay and the egg relay. his prize was a notepad, mechanical pencil and $5 gift card to chick-fil-a.

micadoodle received the flagship award for winning the event that was the most anticipated of the day, the individual kayak races. after handshakes for all in attendance, she accepted a bamboo beach blanket, googly eyes (she once hot glued a googly eye to her forehead so she would know what she would look like with three eyes ~ she learned that hot glue is, well, hot) and a $5 gift card to chick-fil-a.

the lake olympics ~ kayak races

sister and i charted the course for the time trials of the kayak races. we were clipping right along when suddenly we realized we were not moving as fast as before... all the children had silently hitched to the rear of the kayak.

m1 paddled the course first and put forth a great effort for her stature. the crowd cheered her on all the way to the finish line. little man was up next and the time to beat improved. dude was about four seconds faster; micadoodle needed a flawless run in order to beat his time.

and she did it... paddled like a beast and beat dude's time by six seconds. we have to boast because we know that in a few years with muscles on our boys, that will be more difficult. m2 needed a turn, but she was not much help with the paddling. and then it was time for the kayak relays ~ boys against girls ~ and with the times put up in the individual races we knew that it could be tight. little man stood by granddaddy with rapt attention wanting to know the girls time; the time the boys needed to beat. putting all their muscle into it the boys edged the girls out in the team relay. we kinda knew they would.

uncle dane wanted to know how he would have done ~ not too shabby for an older man!

stay tuned as we take a break for station identification followed by the greasy watermelon relays!

the lake olympics ~ part 1

ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls (john david started in his low announcer voice) today is june 18, 2011 you, i and fans from aroooooound the world have been waiting for the games to begin. what games you say..... the 2011 lalalalalalake olympics! it is time for you to compete hard, to compete strong and to compete fairly, and to make your mommy, daddy and ggggggrammy and ggggggranddaddy and nnnnnnana proud. so without further ado, lllllllllllllet the games begin.

micadoodle then led the group in the pledge of allegiance. m2 was the lead off kicker in the soccer challenge with the rest of the children following in age order.

we then headed to the egg races... m2's net, m1, little man, dude and micadoodle's spoons... who do you think has the advantage here? to make it a little harder for the bigger children, they had to trot backwards until they reached the cones and then could go forward towards the finish line.

we then mixed it up a bit and had micadoodle and little man team up to relay against m1 and dude.  the boys were overheard doing some scheming about how they were going to trounce the girls because they are more athletic so the mommies took care of that by mixing the teams up a bit. you can see in this picture that m1 and dude are "thrilled" to be paired together. interestingly enough, they won this event!

our last land event was a team race against the clock... lining up in age order they had to pass the ball under over under over under over until they reached the cones.

a snack break, wardrobe change and more sunscreen was needed before beginning the water sports. stay tuned for the riveting awards ceremony unofficially sponsored by chick-fil-a.