Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Father/ Son Olympics

Casey and I participated in the Father/Son Olympics held by the YMCA. The minimum age requirement was 5 years old. We decided not to go the route of the Chinese gymnastics federation and enter Sydney under a false age. Sydney attended, and assisted, but was not a fully participating member. Casey and Daddy represented the ummmm 'country' of San Diego. Our first task was to construct our flag. Casey was the chief flag designer, and he included an ocean, a gorilla, a tiger ( in honor of the SD Zoo and Wild Animal Park), and portraits of Nai-Nai and Ye-Ye ( residents of the 'country' of San Diego) on the flag.



There were 8 events.

The Paper Airplane Design and Toss: Daddy was the head airplane designer. I tried to incorporate as much of my graduate level fluid dynamics engineering education in my airplane design and construction... And I failed miserably. We took turns flying the plane, and the longest recorded flight was a whopping 5 feet! I'm pretty sure we set a new Olympic record for futility.

The Potato Sack Race: We each had to hop in separate Potato sacks; then Daddy had to drive Casey the wheelbarrow; and the last leg was a three-legged hop, with one of each of our legs tied together. The race went relatively smoothly with the exception of Daddy landing rather hard on his tailbone when trying to 'exit' the potato sack.

Photo is a little blurry, but I LOVE Casey's expression. Warms my heart!


Rock Wall Climb. Each father and son climbed the rock wall separately and recorded the cumlative time. Casey went first, and after he made it to the top of the wall, Daddy had to man up and climb to the top too. Fortunately, I didn't injure myself and, eventually, I made it to the top.

The Memory Challenge: There were playing cards turned upside down, with one heart card in each row. The task was to find, and remember the path of hearts. Sydney helped his older bro and Daddy, and together we completed the event. It was apparent that all the matching games we play around the house helped both boys. They were pretty good at remembering the location of cards.

Casey's concentration face!


Ping Pong Ball Toss: Think beer pong, minus the beer. Casey and Daddy each contributed one made 'basket' in this event.

Block Building: Essentially Jenga. The goal was to stack the building blocks as high as you could without the block falling. Again, I attempted to use my Engineering skills. I designed, and Casey and Sydney built the tower. Apparently, I should have been a civil engineer, because my building design skills were better than my airplane design skills.

Team effort!


Ring Toss: The goal was to toss hula hoops around traffic cones. With one round of practice, both Casey and I went a perfect 3-3; and as a team, we scored the max of 6 pts.

Action Shot!


Bean Bag Toss: Throwing bean bags thru holes in a target board. Getting strategic, I noticed all the holes were the same diameter, but were assigned different point values. So, we aimed for the holes with the highest point value, and both Casey and Daddy scored well. Sydney got in on the fun, and moved closer to the target. That handicap aside, he managed to throw 3 bean bags through the holes as well.

After the events were completed, lunch was served followed by closing ceremonies. It was a fun event, and cool to see the development of Da Boys.



The scores that are circled denote the highest score in the event!!

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