Who knew you could have this much fun outside?

My memories of elementary school Field Day are pretty sparse. I know there was some running involved. And ribbons were handed out at the end. And I usually didn't get any.

As most of you know, I'm not very athletic. Or competitive. Or outdoorsy. So the very notion of Field Day really had nothing to offer me. Until now.

Now, I get to enjoy the fun and frivolity without having to do much of anything. My first order of business was collecting signatures on my t-shirt. We never did this when I was in school, but it's a pretty fun tradition. Everybody, students and teachers alike, gets a Field Day shirt and the first thing you do is have everybody in your class sign it with a Sharpie. Since I teach computer to almost every kid in the school , they all wanted to sign my shirt. I didn't come close to collecting everybody's signature, but the end result made me feel pretty popular.

The rest of my day consisted of cheering everybody on in various events. The Little Ocho had been honing her skills for a month. She'd been running laps in our living room to prepare for the 50 yard dash. But she fell short.

And she jumped rope in her bedroom every evening. But the jump rope relay held no glory for her.

And she kicked a soccer ball all over our back yard. But the soccer ball kick victory was not to be.
She also didn't fare very well in the wheel-barrow race. But I enjoyed watching her try.

She mostly enjoyed hanging with her best buddy J.
She did manage get second place in the basketball throw. I suppose that's because she'd never thrown a basketball. In her entire life.

All the kids really enjoyed the 60 foot inflatable obstacle course our principal rented this year. (And I will admit that after school was over,the Ocho and I took a turn on it together. And I beat her. I'm just sayin'.)

But the highlight of the day was the end. That's when all the classes gather together on the front lawn and compete in the egg toss, the water balloon toss and the tug-of-war.

My friend Tabby had been trash-talkin' me on Facebook about the egg toss so when the time came, I threw down the challenge. Then she started whining about salmonella poisining and chickened out. So I was forced to humliate her in the water balloon toss instead. Better luck next time Tabby. : )

During the tug-of-war, each grade level competes with each other which put the Ocho's class at a distinct disadvantage. You will remember that they're called the Princess Class because there are 14 girls and 0 boys. The other second grade class has 6 boys and 7 girls. They might have lost, but it wasn't for lack of effort.<>

Once all the competition was over, the PE teacher started hurling water balloons at all the kids. And then they started hurling them at each other. Here's the Ocho after catching one right on top of her head:

It was a hot, sweaty, exhausting, fantastic day. And as much as I enjoyed the sports, the sunshine and the thrill of balloon toss victory, what I really enjoyed was the reminder of how much I love air-conditioning.