The Waterstraut Waterspout: 2020(1) Summer Games Day 10: Track & Field Extravaganza!

I'm up to blogged about Day 10! I'm catching up! Day 10 was Friday, which meant Asa only worked until lunch time, and Calib had the day off. I knew at some point we would do a Track and Field Day and head down to the park for a little more space, but Friday was really my only option for it. Because Calib has requested off for my birthday celebration at Disney, he's not getting anymore days off until then, so we had to squeeze a lot in!

So lets talk about our Olympic Spotlight country. I explained it in the very beginning, but in case you missed it, every day there's an info sheet placed in a little "secret compartment" (aka mailbox) and the boys guess what the country is. Sometimes, it's pretty easy, and sometimes it's difficult. The next morning they find out if they were correct, because that country becomes are Spotlight Country of the day (mostly meaning we eat the dinner we had for that country back when we did the country project).

So, this is what an info sheet looks like. Peyton was the only one who knew the Postcard Picture was the Galapagos Islands, and got the country of Ecuador correct.

But the one for tomorrow in the secret compartment was giving Peyton pause on Day 10.

He just could not figure it out (and they aren't allowed to use google or anything- all from memory). Asa doesn't know them either, so he took a look.

Then Hayden got in on it. And nobody could figure it out.

After they placed their guesses inside the box, Peyton went to Googling because it was bugging him so much (It was throwing him off because he thought it was in Africa but the postcard picture was of water- it was actually in Africa, the lake was Lake Victoria). Anyway, through some googling he discovered it was Uganda.

Calib was in the shower for all of this, and started blurting out he would pay Peyton $5 to tell him what country it was. Peyton stayed strong until Calib offered $15 and then Peyton just shouted "UGANDA!" There was some debate on if there was a handshake on it or not, so they settled on $10. But I told them this sort of collusion was no longer allowed and would disqualify you next time.

Since we will have to take down the blanket fort for our weekend at Disney, we also wanted to get one last take-out meal in the fort. Since our dinners are all planned by the countries, Asa and I decided we'd swing by Wendy's for lunch on Friday.

And then it was time for events. Hurdles was held in the backyard. Easy enough, I just re-used my pool noodle hurdles.

They took two laps around, and Peyton ended up the winner.

For the rest of the Track and Field Events, though, we needed more space than the backyard could offer. So, I loaded up the wagon and we headed down to the park.

Nobody was down there (probably because it was so effin hot), but that just meant there was plenty of space for our events and to spread out.

Up first: the long jump!

The could get a running start. and had to jump before they hit the sand.

We brought a measuring tape for an official measurement.

Peyton took his turn..

And then decided it wasn't good enough..

Since he had earned an advantage for guessing Ecuador correct the day before, he asked if he could get a second jump for his advantage.

We obliged

and he killed it on the second go around.

The medalists (later back at home).

Next up: Racewalking! Yes, it's an Olympic Sport. We had them race with an egg on a spoon to slow them down (and we told them they could walk fast- but no running!)

And they're off.

Calib and Hayden both dropped their egg a few times which hung them up.

Which really made it Peyton's race to lose.

Rounding the corner..

And crossing the finish line.

Technically Hayden crossed the finish line second, but there was some debate about if he obstructed Calib.

So while Peyton was the winner..

We let Calib and Hayden tie for second.

The next event was Discus. Pretty straight forward concept: who can throw the giant frisbee the furthest.

Everyone got two throws.

And we measured them by throwing a pool noodle of their color on a skewer in the ground. Super easy to keep track of that way.

You can kind of see the noodles out there in the picture, but you could definitely see them in person.

Calib killed it on his second throw, besting his brothers.

Finally, someone knocks Peyton off the top of the podium on track and field day!

By now, everyone was getting really hot. I had planned for Asa or I to participate in a couple of these events, but it was SO hot, I decided to keep it strictly to the kids. We moved on to Shot Put. Same concept as Discus but you had to keep one hand on the tetherball pole (too bad the tetherball keeps getting stolen or we could have made that an event!), and one on the ball up by your chin. After two runs around the pole, you threw the ball. Farthest ball out wins- and we measured it with the same pool noodle/skewer combo.

They also each got two throws.

Nice Peyton action shot.

Calib's second shot was close to Peyton's,

We needed an official measurement (see Asa way out there on the ground)...

But ultimately, Peyton took home the win on this one too.

Your shot put Medalists.

Last but not least was our Javelin event. I picked up some 'lawn darts' awhile ago at Five Below to use for this event.

There job was to get it into one of the rings (we added in some hula hoops along with the rings that came with darts)

This one was harder than it looked.

Ultimately, it was Calib who came out on top.

Close between him and Hayden though. Peyton was fine with it, he headed home on his bike to get out of the heat as soon as he realized he was out of the running for gold.

Your Javelin medalists.

We did try to play some Beach Volleyball. But it was so freaking hot. We basically let Hayden and Calib win and came home.

But, Asa and I did get the silver medals in beach volleyball, even if we kind of threw it.

After all of that, we packed it in and headed home.

We decided we had surely earned a pool trip after all that track and field.

And the guys insisted on swimming races.

Like I said way up top, our country for the day was Ecuador. For dinner we had Ecuadorian Churrasco, which is basically a huge plate full of all kinds of different food, and a couple different salsas/sauces. In case you couldn't tell, I try and also plan the dinners that'll be a big hit when Calib is guaranteed to be here for them (he doesn't always get off work in time to eat with us).

A couple of things about our dinners:

1. Peyton is showing up for them, night after night. This was not a common occurrence before the Olympics.

2. Everyone gets pretty psyched about them. I mean, they are coming from the five spoons up cookbook, so we have voted that we wanted to have these meals again at one point. (Peyton keeps saying we need to cook from that cookbook more often, and Calib opts not to pick up food on the way home in order to eat them instead.)

3. Asa has gotten so much better at cooking since we did the country project. Seriously, you should see the pictures of the meals before and the meals now. He's come a long way! (Not that they weren't delicious then, but they are even better now!)

Fitting that our Track and Field Extravaganza Day was the first day of Track and Field Events in Tokyo, so we'll be betting on those the next few days.