Wouldn’t you know? The week track and field is scheduled, it rains. A lot. Postponing field day a week. Luckily, we completely lucked out and it wasn’t sunny and 95 degrees. It was *only* 85, with clouds and a breeze. It was heavenly. Definitely different from the field days I volunteered at where it was 58 degrees, cloudy, blustery and drizzling.
One thing we learned, field day in Texas involves a lot of water. A foreign concept for this Minnesotan. Not just water for drinking, but every station had some sort of opportunity to get wet. If not in the game itself, then volunteers walking around with bottles to mist you.
First game, water balloon toss. Basically, you start across from your partner, fingertip to fingertip and you toss your balloon, then take a step back, repeat until you explode your balloon. Some children took it right in the chest, water everywhere. Ella takes the approach of duck and cover, balloon be damned. She did manage to catch it a few times successfully, had a few drops that mercifully didn’t result in a popped balloon and loved throwing the balloon to her partner. The teal balloons weren’t actually water balloons, but regular balloons filled with water. Once the kids learned these were indestructible, it became mission number one to try to pop them.
The balloon by Ella’s foot didn’t pop! But I captured it in near squashed capacity. Awesomeness. Lily was given a balloon, as you can see…happiness.
Next up, water relay. The kids were broken into teams of three. Each team had a bucket full of water on one end with a sponge. They had to soak their sponge, run across the patio and squeeze the water into the empty bucket. The team who filled their bucket first won.
Another game, not featuring water, was called Christopher Columbus, and we aren’t sure why. But it is a good teamwork game. Three hula hoops, everyone crowds in two of them, and they pass the empty hoop behind them forward and then all squeeze forward, slowly moving toward the finish line. I wasn’t sure Ella would like the proximity factor of this game, but she actually took some initiative, rather than just be told when to move, she knew just what to do and would grab hold of the hoop and threw it forward for the team rather than just pass it on.
What kind of track and field day would it be without an obstacle course? Lame. Luckily, the course was present.
In classic Ella fashion, she flashed her doe-eyes and got a teacher to help her run the course. She even managed to get a little boost over the hurdles. After a few rounds, she hopped the hurdles on her own.
This was my favorite game. Car wash. The class lines the sidewalk on both sides armed with various water weaponry. Two children race one another down the sidewalk while getting sprayed by their classmates. How fun! Ella refused to drive a scooter. She was all about spraying her classmates. Lily was even armed.
By this time, Lily had officially been indoctrinated as a guest kindergartener. She abandoned her parents and took Mrs. Ciccolella’s hand and started participating in some of the events. She even got a Ciccolella’s Chick’s shirt at the end
Ga-ga ball? We had never heard of it either until we moved to Texas. It’s kind of a big deal recess-wide here. Loran and I had to google it. aka: Israeli Dodge Ball. Basically, kids pile into an octagon, they smack the ball with their hand and can’t let it hit them. If you get hit, you stand outside the octagon (or Ga-Ga Pit). Ella chose to cheer with pom-poms. Lily was put in charge of chasing down stray balls.
And, a glimpse into our future. Yes, I see you, boy, nonchalantly trying to talk to my daughters.
Another relay race. Run down the field balancing a pompom on a racquet. If you drop you pompom, you have to put your racquet face down on the ground and your forehead on the handle and spin around (after doing ten jumping jacks). Hilarity, and a little like a field sobriety test.
Someone may have taken some liberties in the balancing department.
Really though, what would a field day be without a class relay against the other classes? I figured the Chicks would have this in the bag. They have like seven fewer kids in their class. In. The. Bag. Then, the phy-ed teacher announced they’d determine the winner using their average. Psh…
After the games concluded, the classes went in for lunch, and then to get ready for their big end of year performance. Busy day for them! We had too little time to leave, but a bit too much time to hang out so we just loitered around the hallway before crashing their in-classroom lunch, where Lily mooched food from her sister. Texas field day is pretty fun. I like the water aspect. I’m guessing since we still have seven more years of these between the girls, they aren’t going to all be overcast and 85 degrees, so I’m going to savor this one.
Being an honorary kindergartener is hard work. This is how Lily spent some of her time between field day and the program. Oh, this is in the middle of the office. Oh, the office was packed with parents/visitors who were checking in for the afternoon track and field, parents checking out from the morning and some staff. So, clearly, no problems with this girl’s self-consciousness.
No comments:
Post a Comment