The Lee Family: Sofia's Gator Games

Sofia had her first "Gator Games" at her school and her last Fun Day of Elementary School. Sofia loves her school so much and she has said numerous times that she wishes she could have just one more year at Glen Hope with Ms. Hayes and all of her classmates. I do think that 6th grade, her first year of Middle School, will be a big change but her group will mainly stay together, so it won't be completely different than it is this year. She's made a lot of creative and smart friends who are similar to her (and love dragons) and she really has found her nitch! For the Glen Hope Gator Games, the kids were asked to wear their Glen Hope class t-shirt or a Star Wars shirt, since the theme is Star Wars. Of course, Sofia chose her Star Wars shirt and when I dropped her off at school it was clear that everyone else wore their class shirts. As I drove through the drop-off line I asked Sofia if she was supposed to wear her school shirt and she said "We could do either and I wanted to wear my Star Wars shirt, so whatever." I love that the girl just doesn't care and follows the beat of her own drum.

I returned to Glen Hope at 11:30am to watch/cheer/volunteer for the Fun Day. All the kids were eating lunch - pizza, a chocolate chip cookie and Gatorade. Just what everyone needs to eat before running around on a hot and humid day! Each of the kids had a bright blue bandana to wear so it was hard to find Sofia in the sea of Glen Hope shirts and blue bandanas. I talked with Ms. Hayes, Sofia's teacher, who is clearly going to miss her class so much when they graduate in two weeks. This is her first year teaching 5th grade, which means this will be the first year that she won't be seeing her kids again next year in the halls. I love how emotional and connected she is to these great kiddos! I found Sofia sitting on the ground with Liam and another boy, eating their pizza. She looked so cute with her bandana on her head. I had her hair in a french braid so it could stay off her neck during the games, but she later took her hair out and changed up her bandana.

Finally, it was time to begin! All the kids arranged by class in the back of the school and waited for the Opening Ceremonies to start. Each class also had a "class flag" which they made to represent their group and they were all creative and clever. The Opening Ceremonies started, and Coach Maupin was a Jedi trainer and welcomed all of the young Jedi to their training seminar, where they would be tested and challenged. Just then, Darth Vader showed up to challenge all of the young Jedi and encourage them to go to the Dark Side. Coach Maupin/Jedi Trainer chased Darth Vader away and the games began! It was really a cute Opening Ceremony! I arrived fully expecting to volunteer but was thankful to find out that I could enjoy the events and just watch since the Cross Timbers PALS - 8th grader volunteers - did all the work and received volunteer hours for their work! They did a great job too!

Sofia was super excited for the "Gator Games" and for me to be there to cheer her on. The first event Ms. Hayes' class had was the "Storm Trooper Bloopers" in which their class and Mr. Boykin's split into four groups and they each competed against each other by taking turns spinning around 10 times and then trying to use a baseball hanging from a string to knock over little plastic cones. It was pretty crazy, yet most of them weren't really that bad at it. After knocking down six cones, they then had to balance and walk over a raised plank and then jump over two obstacles. It was pretty fun to watch. Unfortunately, it was pretty hot and humid out, so watching the kids compete while standing in the beating sun was draining!

After that competition, all four of the 5th grade classes competed against each other in the "Truck Pull" which was literally a Ford truck with a long rope tied to the back hitch in which each class pulled it from a stop past a line in the grass. The event was timed, and the classes competed against each other and each had three turns! It was actually pretty remarkable that a class of 21 kids could pull a full size truck across the field in 9-11 seconds! Once the kids got it rolling, the truck actually got a good amount of speed going too! It was so fun! Ms. Hayes' class got close to wining but Mr. Boykin's class ended up winning with a time of 9.23 seconds! It was amazing!

After, we headed into the gym and a little bit of air conditioning! Inside the gym were four identical structures that each had 9 spots. The kids each took a spot and used a beach ball to hit it out of the their square and into another one. If that child missed it, they were out and everyone moved a square closer to #9. The person in the 9th position was the person who served the ball. On one of her rounds, Sofia actually made it to the 9th position only to serve the ball out and across the room! Oops! It was a pretty clever and fast-paced game and fun to watch.

The group of kids then made their way back outside where they competed in the water-relay, which was basically a way for the kids to get as wet and cool as they wanted. The idea was for three groups to compete by filling a bucket with water transported by aprons which were filled with water from a kiddy pool using frisbees. It actually was a great idea, although the aprons didn't actually hold any of the water, so even though the kids tried their hardest, by the time they arrived at the bucket there was only a few drops to add. The kids didn't seem to mind and basically focused and splashing around and spraying each other. I think each kid enjoyed getting wet and cooling off. Of course, Sofia loved getting wet.

The final event was the obstacle course, which Sofia was super excited about. It involved running through tires, jumping over obstacles and then climbing through a huge inflatable structure and then crawling on a tarp which Coach Maupin sprayed each kid down. Sofia was actually 2nd in line for this event, so she was obviously super excited to do it. It was super fun to watch each kiddo compete and they all did a great job. It was just after 2pm, so I told Sofia I really needed to go and she was sad and begged me to stay. I told her I could take her home with me, but she would need to leave without doing the obstacle course again and would miss out on Kona Ice. She chose to stay at school and take the bus to CES. Thankfully, Abby's mom, Kelly offered to take her home for me!

I returned home and picked Olivia up at CES and drove home. It was great to get that extra 30 minutes at home without waiting in the back of CES for Sofia. Sofia arrived home with a huge snow cone from Bahama Buck's, since they ran out of time to buy Kona Ice. I was so thankful to Kelly for bringing Sofia home for me. Sofia had such a fun day and loved every event! She loves her blue bandana and plans to wear it every day.

Sofia is ready for the Gator Games to begin!