Happy Independence Day, folks! Life, Liberty, the Pursuit of Happiness and all that jazz. So, Happy Birthday, America. (Although Peyton posed a good question today and said 'well, technically, if the Declaration of Independence was a declaration of war--and nobody really knew if it would pan out, shouldn't we celebrate when the Constitution was signed instead?' I guess fireworks in September wouldn't be as nice as the middle of the summer. ) If you missed my blog yesterday about our fireworks viewing and celebration, just page back. I posted it just after midnight.
Today was the wrap up of Beach and Water week, and it went out with a bang! We held the Third Annual WATERstraut Olympics. See, this is where that link thing would come in handy, so I could link back to the last couple. Anyway, we started this tradition when I wanted something for the boys to do on July 4th, without dealing with the crowds. They actually get really excited about it.
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I thought for a moment about not doing medals. But then I thought, I had to- and it would only take twenty minutes or so to put together. When I told the boys I considered not doing them, they we're like "But... we have to have medals, it just wouldn't be the same".
Our first event was the Water Toss. The boys each had one minute to see how many 'baskets' they could make. There were floating plastic baskets in the water and each time they got it in, they got a point (Asa was the ball return man)
Hayden got one in one minute. Peyton got five (to make it a little harder, we took away baskets every time he made one until he only had one basket left).
Then Calib was up. (Don't you like Peyton and Hayden in the background on the podium thinking they already knew what place they were getting?)
Calib actually tied with Peyton, so we had to have sudden death: 30 seconds to see who could get the most in one basket.
Peyton actually came out on top, and won the gold medal in Water Toss.
The Water Toss Medalists.
The next event was supposed to involve squirt guns. We put a hole in a plastic cup and strung it through some string which was tied between two trees. The object was to get the cup from one side to the other with the squirt guns, but when Asa and I tried this out it was way more difficult than I thought it'd be, so we ended up using the hose instead.
Asa demonstrated.
Hayden went first, it took him 45 seconds.
Peyton did it in 13 seconds.
But Calib managed to get the cup from one palm tree to the other in only 6 seconds.
The medal ceremony (I like how Hayden looks genuinely happy for Calib, and you can see how Peyton feels about this event)
The medalists. (Oh, Peyton someday you'll look back at these pictures and wonder why you took things so seriously)
The next event was sponge crown races. I made them these handy crowns out of sponges from the dollar spot at target (all the summer stuff is 70 percent off, guys! Take a peek, I got a four pack of those handy dandy corn on the cob holders for 30 cents! I also got some sand toys for 30 cents too)
The object of this event was to be the first to fill your cup by dunking your head in the pool, and getting lots of water in your sponge crown, running over to your cup, and wringing out the water into your cup.
This got pretty intense.
But Calib prevailed with Peyton close behind him. It was a nail biter!
Peyton had a much better attitude about his silver medal though.
The last event was everyone's favorite (and the only event that has been held at every Waterstraut Olympics): The Frozen T-shirt Contest. This year, Asa took part too. He didn't count for a medal, but he said it always looks like so much fun he wanted to try it out.
I handed out the t-shirts I had put in quart sized ziplock bags filled with water a couple of days ago.
I gave the go-ahead, and set the timer (we always do this just for fun- the winner is always the first person who puts on their t-shirt)
The rules are pretty simple: You can use anything outside to help you get the shirt thawed and be in a state where you can put it on. You can't go inside, and you can't go inside to get anything.
The strategies are always fun to watch. We had the usual water-dunking.
Asa found that the watering can had rain it from yesterday, and the water was significantly warmer than the pool water, so he gave his shirt a shower.
Then, more water-dunking.
There was the smack it against the ground approach.
Calib tried to break apart some of the ice with a rock.
The most popular strategy was definitely the water in the baby pool.
Once they got a little of it undone, Asa and Peyton tried beating it against the patio.
And then Peyton resorted to beating it against the palm trees.
Hayden eventually got out the hose and tried that.
It was pretty obvious Peyton was winning, but he had ice that stuck the arms together, so he tried to chew it free.
And after 18 minutes, Peyton was the first to get on his t-shirt.
We have a new reigning champion! (Hayden had won the last two in a row)
But just about a minute behind him was Hayden getting his shirt free from the ice.
While Asa and Calib still had a ways to go.
I don't know how they bring themselves to put on that shirt (it's still FREEZING)
But they do, after 19 minutes Hayden had his shirt on.
Asa was just minutes away from having to clock in (He volunteered to work overtime today, so he not only gets holiday pay, but overtime pay for actually working it-- um, hello big pay check!), but he was close and wasn't giving up.
After 24 minutes, he finally got his shirt on (It's actually tricky putting it on, too)
He said it was a pretty big sense of accomplishment, and at dinner noted it was his favorite time of the day (please note, this is not a staged picture-- this was his actual reaction when he finally got the shirt on)
I even tried to get a self taken picture. He was too busy rejoicing in his third place finish.
Although, he wasn't eligible for medal, so Calib got the bronze by default. This is the third year in a row Calib hasn't even finished the frozen t-shirt contest. I don't think he's ever actual put the shirt on, he just ends up with third place by default.
He was not very happy about his medal, but I tried to cheer him up with the "yea, but you have two gold medals", and he responded with "Everyone knows the Frozen T-shirt Contest is the only one that matters", and then Peyton agreed. Apparently, it's the most coveted medal in all the Waterstraut Olympics. I had no idea.
I tried to get a nice picture of all of them with their medals, but I guess that's all the enthusiasm Calib could muster.
The boys played a little with all the water, before coming inside.
Hayden, as always, stayed out the longest. You know, to that guy at Walmart who asked me what I was going to do with a baby pool and no babies- well, I've certainly gotten my 9 bucks out of it.
Peyton, meanwhile, told me he was changing in pajama's, when I asked him why he responded with "the question you should be asking is why not?"
Asa, meanwhile, has not had very many calls today. That wireless headset is really coming in handy. Also, cute moment, Dipper also likes playing clash of clans.
We did have the typical fourth of July cookout. Asa made some hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill, while I took care of the corn on the cob and the watermelon. Peyton made some eggs to put on top of the burger, too. He discovered at Red Robin that he was a fan.
Since the grill was hot, back by popular demand was the smores bar!
It's almost too hot to even be outside roasting marshmallows, but we did it anyway. (The chocolate got so melty just from being outside for a few minutes that we literally squeezed it out of the wrapper and onto the smore.
The boys decided to eat their smores in the baby pool in an effort to keep cool.
So, what do we do around here for the fourth besides the Waterstraut Olympics? Well, this is our big spending on fireworks: a whopping $2.
I took the boys outside to throw the pop-its.
And then we headed out to the pool to swim for a bit. Calib stayed behind because he thought it was going to be busy-- but check it out, we practically had the whole place to ourselves. Asa of course, couldn't go because he's working.
Hayden was in dire need of some points, so he offered to cut some coupons for me. I was pretty happy with that arrangement.
I also gave them a pop quiz for Plinko chips about Independence Day. They did really well, they could even answer the fill in the blanks for: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are __________, _____________, and the _______________. (For those of you wondering, I did recite that from memory, and I'm sure ya'll know that answers are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness) I was impressed, because we haven't gone over that since our trip to D.C. Smart boys, I tell ya!
Then the fireworks started. Making them even more traumatizing for my poor Sophie was the pairing of a summer storm. It was thundering and lightning, too. She's currently hiding out under Calib's bed.
Between the rain (and while it was still sprinkling), we managed to get in some sparklers.
And as always, there's a nice display of fireworks over the pond we live on. See, we don't need to spend money on fireworks, our neighbors do that for us.
That's all for beach and water week. Tomorrow the boys have some things scheduled, and we're nose-to-the-grindstone-ing it next week with school so I have lots to do to get things in order. We need some fraction help, some new daily boards, and we're behind on some pen pal letters. And don't even get me started on the laundry I have to do. My gosh, do I have laundry.
Up next: Making Pies!
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