The Lee Family: Fun Day!

Today was Fun Day, which both girls were really excited about. We didn't buy the "Fun Day" shirts this year and Olivia nagged me about it a few weeks ago, but ultimately neither of them wear those school t-shirts again, so I figured they would be fine without wearing a shirt like everyone else. Plus, I discovered after I arrived at school that it was much easier to spot both girls in the packs of kids! Olivia wore her CES Class of 2029 shirt while Sofia wore an older CES shirt that is grey since her Class shirt was still dirty from her trip to the zoo. The "Fun Day" shirts were bright blue, so both of the girls really stood out and they were easy to see.

I arrived shortly after Fun Day started and after looking at the map I decided to find Sofia and her fellow 4th graders doing the 50 yard dash. Olivia and her fellow Kindergarteners were on the far side of the track doing the tug of war. I watched a few of Sofia's classmates run, since she had apparently already run by the time I arrived, and then decided to follow Olivia's class to the sack race. Sofia's grade went to do the Tube Tug, which was always one of Sofia's very favorite events but she said she was going to sit out. When I asked her why, she said that a lot of the kids (boys) took it very seriously and they would pull her down and before she could let go she would be drug across the grass. So, she wasn't interested.

The Sack Race was off to a bad start when Olivia jumped the gun and went along with the person in front of her. She is very sensitive and started crying when her classmates said "Olivia, it isn't your turn." She said they were "being mean" even though I explained they were just trying to tell her and weren't being mean. She finally calmed down after Mrs. Schultz and I both comforted her and we somehow convinced her to give it another chance. She hopped her little heart out and ended up having a great time! After the Sack Race, the kindergarten kids moved to the Water Relay. The volunteers and gym teacher explained the rules and apparently the kinder kids have been "practicing" at PE, probably without water. The Water Relay is a race between four teams of kids where the first kid runs with a sponge to the pool of water to fill up the sponge. That kid runs to the back of their team and stands backwards to pass the sponge to the front person. The front kid wrings out the water from the sponge into a bucket. The goal is to fill the bucket to a certain line. It is actually my very favorite Fun Day activity to watch and Olivia obviously feels the same. She had a huge smile on her face the entire time and also got soaked. She ended up going through a few times for her team and had so much fun, even though her team never won. They did get close to filling up their bucket with water though.

Once the Water Relay was finished it was time for snacks. That morning, I'd given both girls $6 for snacks that would be for sale. Of course, Olivia picked the $4 snow cone with cherry syrup. Just looking at it gave me a belly ache! Since the kindergarteners had a 30 minute snack break, I decided to find Sofia. The fourth graders played Hungry Hippo, which I don't remember them playing before. It was such a super fun activity and it was obvious that all the kids love it. Hungry Hippo is a game where eight teams battle against each other at the same time. Sofia was on a team with six boys and the goal was to collect as many foam and other balls that were set out in the middle of the gym floor. In order to collect balls, one member of their team had to lay on top of a wheeled platform and be pushed out to the middle of the gym floor, while holding a bucket to capture the balls without using their hands. The kids that pushed their team member couldn't pass a line on the floor, so it was actually a lot harder than it looked. The kids did a great job taking turns. Sofia was bummed that she only got one turn. At the end, Sofia's team was just two balls short of winning. It was such a fun game!

After Hungry Hippo, the 4th graders went to play Newcomb so I went to find Olivia and the Kindergarteners who were set to play the Tube Tug. The Tube Tug is a game where they line up four groups of kids in a square and an inter tube is in the center of the square. One kid from each of the groups is called out at random and they have to fight over the inter tube and try to get it to their team's cone to score. Olivia was up against three other boys and held her own. She reminded me of Sofia in how serious she fought and hard she tried. Just as they started pulling on the tube, two boys fell down which meant they were out, so it was Michael versus Olivia. They tugged and fought hard, but Michael ended up pulling Olivia slowly to his team's cone. She went a few times and had a great time playing!

From there, the kinder kiddos went to the Obstacle Course, which was actually just an inflatable bounce house that they took turns climbing and running through. After the Obstacle Course, the kindergarteners completed their last event which was the Last Flagg Pulled. This game involved each of the kids wearing a flag that could be pulled off by someone else. Then, Mrs. Nuegent who was in charge of the game, would pit one class against another or girls versus boys. Olivia ran around like crazy and since she's so fast she can avoid most of her classmates. However, she never tried to remove other kid's flags, so she was stuck just doing defense. In the girls versus boys competition, she was actually the last girl left against three boys. However, the boys ganged up on her and pulled off her flag. If she went after the flags she would have lasted longer or won. At the same time, Sofia and the 4th graders played Tug of War and Sofia told me that the girls beat the boys in the final competition which made her really happy! The teachers didn't even help, which is pretty cool! Once Olivia and the kindergarteners were done running all over the field chasing each other, the Kindergarteners were done with Fun Day. We were able to get a cute class picture of Mrs. Schultz and her Cuties before they headed into their classroom. Once at her table, Olivia drew a picture of me. I'm pretty sure they will all sleep very well tonight!

I gave Olivia a hug and headed to meet Casey to go to Luna Grill for lunch before we returned to watch the 4th graders compete in the Water Relay. Sofia loves the relay and usually gets soaking wet, although this time she didn't get as wet as years past. Some of the kids were actually jumping and sliding into the pools of water and getting drenched, but I knew Sofia wouldn't do that. Her team had fun and did well before they headed to Hyper Ball, which was similar to Last Flagg Pulled but involved having to secure balls from the "competitors." It took a good amount of strategy and team work and the kids had a blast. Sofia played defense and guarded her team's balls. The game ended up getting pretty intense and physical and the teachers ended up stopping it after about 20 minutes and few minor injuries. At that point, I felt like my skin was on fire from standing in the sun all day. I really hadn't planned on being at Fun Day the entire time and probably wasn't as prepared as I could have been for the sun. I gave Sofia a hug goodbye and headed home. Both girls had a blast and it was so fun to watch them compete. I love how much they get into it and how hard they try. The activities are all a lot of fun to watch too!

The girls' lunches are ready to go!