bishop family reunion - day 5

my mom got everyone a flag shirt from old navy to wear for 4th of july, so we looked extra patriotic all day

the project for the day was to decorate bird houses out of gourds my mom grew.  

wednesday was also the big 'tea party' day with grandma and grandpa.  only the grandkids were invited, of course.  they used a brand new tea set my mom got in nauvoo this summer.  everyone got a couple of fancy bracelets everyone got a special name.  cody was 'prince charming and thoroughly enjoyed the party...if only for the food.

after lunch and naps, we started the bishop family olympics.  i had originally just planned to have a bunch of games (minute-to-win-it type), but then decided to make medals for the winners.  and of course with medals and the 2012 summer olympics coming up, it only made sense to have our own olympics.  it turned out to be way more fun than we ever expected.

after each event, we had a medal ceremony on the steps in the front room with a flag raising and olympic music (hummed by the flag holders).

for our first event, you had to get as many cotton bowls into the bowl as possible using only your nose in one minute.  most of us used vaseline to make our noses a bit sticky, but ryan came out winner for using just the suction of his nose to pick them up.

next we were given a spoon to transport as much water as possible across the garage to a cup.  julie had the smooth walk and steady hands to take the gold.

for the third event, we had to keep 3 balloons (1 for the kids) in the air for as long as possible.  its a lot harder than it sounds!

we headed outside for the water shot put next.  annie showed us the proper approach.  after our throw, we had to stand where the wet ball had landed on the pavement risking getting hit by all the following shot putters.

ryan and i got the idea for the 'tinnissippi river' from family fun magazine.  our boats were made from milk jug lids, toothpicks, and paper.  bailey's won (after several heats), but she was a little too shy for the picture.  her boat stood in for her.

probably the funniest event to watch was face the cookie.  you have to get the cookie from your forehead to your mouth using only the movement of your face.  i don't think it even moved it a millimeter on my turn.

next we were timed to see who could set the cups up in a pyramid and return them to a stack the fastest.  caitlin and ashlee were super speedy 

and may or may not have had a fraction of the number of cups.

we stayed at the table to build spaghetti towers next.  tallest tower won.  it made it a little bit easier to see other people's techniques...i mean, i used all my very own, totally original ideas....

in the garage we did the elephant walk where we had to wear a pair of nylons on our head with a tennis ball in the end and swing it to knock down water bottles.  ryan swung cody upside down and he got them all, but wasn't quite as fast as maddie!

the last event was a puzzle race.  we had 20 seconds to put together as much of the puzzle as possible.  i'm not sure how anyone thought they could compete with the puzzle queen.  i've been doing puzzles since before i could crawl. 

we ended the day by watching the fireworks over the lake.  we started to wonder if they were ever going to start, but once they did it was a pretty fantastic show!