Ginny's family has invited us to The Games (Winter is the day after Christmas and Summer is July 4th) every year, but we've never been able to make it. This is the side of the family where McIver's name comes from. EVERYone there knew exactly how to pronounce his name! Now that we're back in SC, we decided to give it a try. The weather was gorgeous as we packed up the kids to go to Effingham, just outside of Florence, about an hour and a half away.
On the agenda for the day: Tug of War, Horseshoes, target and trap shooting, chicken chasing, pig chasing, guinea chasing, turkey shoot, corn shucking and a corn cob fight.
As we drove, I couldn't help taking a picture of Olivia and McIver enjoying their new DSi's from Santa. At one point, Olivia leaned up toward the front seat and asked, "Mama, aren't you glad we're playing our new games and not aggravating you?" Guess I need to hide my frustration a little better when we get the dreaded "Are we there yet?" questions.
McIver jumped right into the Tug-of-War. He needed a little bit of help on his side, but he dug his boots in and slid all around while the other team pulled him across the line.
He also thought the corn kernel getter-offer was pretty cool. You had to shuck the corn by hand and then put it through the thing, so I'm not really sure what else to call it.
This old oak tree was THE COOLEST!! It had a lots of ropes to help you climb into it, a slide, a zip line and a tree house, not to mention just being big enough to climb around and get lost in. It took them a little while to figure out how to get to the zip line, but once they did, they could have stayed there for hours upon hours. They're already looking forward to going back to the tree next year.
Tex was right at home in the skeet-shooting field. He didn't even flinch at the sound of the gunshots. I'm not sure if Will ever hit a skeet (is that the correct singular?), but I can confirm that I was WAY off the mark when I gave it a try. Good news is that my arm wasn't sore the next day since I only tried once.
That was one tired puppy at the end of the day!
They had a target shooting area set up for the little kids. Both Olivia and McIver had their first try at holding and shooting a BB gun. (Our neighbor got one for Christmas so I'm sure it won't be long before they try again.) The prize for the best shot was a live turkey. According to the invitation, "winner must take home turkey. Turkeys may run loose in the yard much like a pet dog. They make excellent pets. You will be the envy of all your neighbors." Thankfully, our kids missed the target entirely so we weren't in any danger of bringing home a pet turkey.
This would have been the new pet turkey.
After the target shooting, Will took McIver over to the skeet shooting area. He had a blast trying to hit the skeet and even tried his hand at the skeet-shooting machine, too. (Again, I apologize for not knowing the correct terminology!)
All in all, it was a great day. I'm not sure we'll be able to make the Summer Games, but I hope that we can add the Winter Games to our family Christmas tradition. Next year, I'll need to remember to bring a few extra layers of clothes and the extra memory card for my camera. We'll also know to bring some food that is more 'kid-friendly' than the pig pickin' that was offered. Olivia and McIver were totally grossed out by the pig on the fire.
No comments:
Post a Comment