Friday - Beach Olympics!

We capped off our crazy fun week at the beach by having our first ever Beach Olympics.  This was such a hit that we will for sure be doing it every year from now on.  We recruited three other kids to participate in the games, too!

Jared was the coach of the Pirates--his ferocious team included Teagan, Lila, Presley and Colton.

Price was the captain of the Hurricane Tigers and his team included Jackson, Madison and a brother/sister combo.

Jared and I demo'd the first game...run around all the shovels in your lane, crawl under the ladder (no, I did not do that!), run around the green bucket, then do it all again until you get back to your next team member.

Ready, set, go!  Colton and Jackson were neck and neck.

The two littlest girls ran the anchor leg and both did so good!

Go, girlies, go!

The second event was "Fill your bucket with sand the fastest." 

Everyone did well again, even Lila who concentrated so hard on not dropping her sand.

Maddie was a pro...

as was J man.  I think the Hurricane Tigers won this one, so they were tied up.

The Inner Tube Relay was next.  Teagan got off to a great start...

and everyone else did great, too!

We were so glad that even the little girls could hold up the big tubes and run.

The Beach Olympics had plenty of cheering fans...

and the teams needed it as they dug for buried treasure in these sand piles.

J's team won this round, too, so they had to do a team handshake:)

The Wiffle Ball Kick was next and Lila got to put her soccer skills to good use.

Jackson ran the anchor leg this time and kicked his ball over the line for yet another team victory.

The last event was team digging.  They each had three ladder ball sets hidden in their holes.  The Hurricane Tigers found theirs first, and it actually took all 8 kids to find the last set for the Pirates.  Guess they might have been hidden a little too well!

All 8 kids had a total blast and ran into the ocean to signify the end of the Beach Olympics.

Then Taylor even brought down popsicles for everyone to they could properly celebrate.  It was the perfect ending to such a fun event.

A few last outtakes: Lila singing and dancing to her original song, "Shake it down to the ground."

A big game of sand wiffle ball

Me and Maddie Mae

And before we knew it, Saturday morning had already come.  So sad to be leaving Santa Rosa Beach again.

But happy when I reminded them that we'll be back next year!

Afterall, this sign really says it all.  The beach is my happy place.