Wet 'n' Wild with the Ward

I've mentioned before that wonderful women in our ward (other churches might use the word "congregation") have organized activities every day this summer. Amazing, I know. I thought hosting an activity (or two - see Canada Day Craziness) would help me get to know people better and make new friends while having fun. So I offered to host Water Games at our house, what with it being RIDICULOUSLY hot and all. The thing about me, is that I offer to do things as though it's nothing and I host parties all the time. I'm easy breezy. That's what I want people to think. That's how I want to be, and I think it may come with time and more practice hosting things. Until I get to be an experienced hostess, I will continue to lose sleep, obsess over supplies, activities & their order and waste time cleaning my house top to bottom just in case someone wanders upstairs. I'm ridiculous, I know. 

Even with all my planning and obsessing, I found myself in need of help. My poor husband sat at the spout filling water balloons by flashlight at 11:00 the night before. Bless his heart. Having no idea how many kids would be coming, I foolishly thought that 50 water balloons would be enough. 

Enter my friend and neighbour (seriously, so lucky to have moved in down the street from such wonderful people) Katie who showed up early to fill 150 more, all with Teagan's "assistance". (Thanks to Sarah & Jane for their help as well.) Between water balloon volleyball, a sitting-on-them-until-they-pop relay and target practice, all 200 got popped. Shocker, I know. The real kicker is that only one of them hit someone in the face - a victory if I ever saw one.

 

To open the festivities, we played Drip Drip Goosh. Duck Duck Goose seems to be a game most kids enjoy playing, so I attempted a variation of it, where the person who is "it" drips water from a pitcher on everyone (so everyone gets to cool off a little) until he chooses the challenger and dumps the rest of the water on them while saying "Goosh!" Teagan even played along, sitting and participating the whole time and handled the water in her face much better than she handles it in the bathtub (thanks to Layne for stepping in and helping her not panic.)

We tried Over & Under, passing a wet sponge over one person's head and through the next person's legs to squeeze it out and fill up a bucket. We had a relay race where two teams lined up and each had to run and sit on a balloon until it popped and run back to tag the next person. Some kids (ahem) were more interested in blowing bubbles at the Littles' Station I set up with bubbles and a tub of water with bath toys. Sometimes it can be tough having a large group of kids whose ages are all over the board, but the big kids were very patient and tolerant of them playing, and the littles did really well letting the big 'uns have some of their own fun as well.

The over-the-head-pouring-of-water relay got a little confusing when Carson decided he was hot and just poured it all over himself instead of passing it back. It was kind of hilarious. The poor kids at the back of the line were pretty dry :) I was so grateful to Natalie for stepping in and helping so much with games as well. Even with a 5 week old baby, she was down on the ground in the middle of the action. An impressive lady, indeed.

I didn't intend for there to be white trash swimming (although that's usually what the tub is used for) but Luke jumped right in and got the "pool" party started.

I think there were more kids in the tub before we managed to snap a photo. And I was worried they wouldn't have fun. I think I underestimate kids' abilities to entertain themselves and make their own fun, especially when there's water and friends involved.

Sarah & Katie read their Friend magazine this month and suggested a sponge ball station. I tried to read the directions, but being a natural blonde, they went over my head and I opted to delegate. Thanks to Sarah & Debra for helping the kids create these masterpieces!

It was a fun day, and I think most everyone enjoyed themselves. We had Otter Pops, watermelon and pink lemonade galore which only added to the fun...and the mess. But all went well and I've got one more event under my belt. Look out world, I'm almost a hostess!