1st Graham, WA Olympics

This past Saturday, July 26, 2008, the neighbors on 148th Ave E. in Graham, WA held our first summer Olympics. Each neighbor along 148th Ave. E. created an Olympic event for the Olympic participants to compete for valuable prizes. Well, valuable in Graham, WA standards.

The day started out with the arrival of the Olympics althletes to the Ryckman's house for the opening ceremony. Michael rigged up the official Olympic mode of transportation (trailer) to his tractor. We picked up the athletes in style and transported them to the opening ceremony. Once the official Bud Light torch was lit, the games began.



First event, Lawn Bowling at the Ryckman's. Six Blue Ribbon beer cans as pins. Four botchy balls were given as bowling balls. The object? Knock down as many beer cans in four bowls. Gold - Kim Gallagher; Silver - Skippy; Bronze - Mark Ruttan.



Second event, "Schwing!!!" at the Gallagher's. Let me explain this one. Take pantyhose, insert one orange down one leg of the hose, tie around waist so that the orange is dangling between your legs. Place tennis ball on ground and try to hit the tennis ball with the dangling orange across the patio. Gold - Alanna Murdock; Silver - Lisa Carolus; Bronze - Sandy Ruttan. All female sweep!





Third event, wheel barrel obstacle course at the Carolus's. This event caused a few injuries right away. Thank goodness for video cameras! Michael flipped the wheel barrel but luckily Alanna who was inside was completely unharmed. Not a scratch. Michael didn't fare so well. After that, folks modified the rules a bit. Kim tried her run at it. 10 seconds into it, she hit a pot hole and banged her hip. Ouch! Paul decided to outsmart the event. He picked up the wheel barrel and carried it on his back and ran the course. Oops, he forgot to calculate the tree branch he'd have to run under! Ouch! A few others tried, but most decided to take a beer break instead. Gold - Alanna and Michael; Silver - ?; Bronze - ?.




Fourth event, water balloon slingshot at the Dionne's. Teams of two were given 10 balloons. One to launch, and the other to catch. Points were acquired by catching and popping the balloon in your hand. A piece of the balloon must be shown in order to receive points. Gold - Paul and Dora; Silver - Alanna and Curtis; Bronze - Mark and Sandy.




Fifth and final event, water balloon volleyball at the Ruttan's. Teams of two were paired up. The object was to pass the water balloons over the net using a dish towel without breaking. Easy...just hand it to each other back and forth over the net :) Gold - Tina and Chris; Silver - Dan and Kim; Bronze - Skippy and Lisa.



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