Fourth Of July, 2011

Fourth of July, 2011, is going to be one of the most memorable Holidays in our family history. We can already hear it: "Remember the year when Nanny won the watermelon eating contest?"

Yes, the Captain's 94-year old grandmother joined the contest and won the "18 and older" category in watermelon eating!! We are so proud of her! Our Nanny rules!!!



Nanny wasn't the only one who brought home a watermelon. Missy didn't disappoint this year either: she won her age category and the finals, and can be now called The Machine. Here is a blog post The Captain wrote about her last year. We actually have great video footage (very short, obviously) of her murdering devouring one of her watermelon pieces, but due to trade secrets we cannot release it to public viewing, regretfully.



After pie eating and the watermelon eating contests, the firetrucks came out. One of the highlights on Nantucket Island during the 4th of July festivities is definitely The Great Main Street Water Fight. Here the fight is just getting started - you cannot be on Main Street and not get wet. Little Miss wasn't feeling well, so we headed back home for a few hours of respite before more contests started. All the big kids (and some of the adults) stayed back to fight. (If others got any pictures of that, I'll add them here later.) Such great fun!!!



A few other people had decided to spend the holiday on the island, as well... This is a picture of Main Street, closed for vehicles (except for firetrucks).



After lunch and some napping, we took our crew (18 of us celebrating this year; 9 adults and 9 kids) to the Children's Beach for running races, sack races three-legged races, wheelbarrow races and tug of war. Our nine children brought home quite the collection of ribbons, and everyone had a wonderful time. After much encouragement Little Miss agreed to join in a couple of her age categories (earlier in the day she would not participate in anything), which was a huge step for her - even with daddy being her partner. Maybe next year she'll do all the races, too?

Our last activity of the day was going to to dock after dinner to watch the fireworks. As tired as we all were by then, it was worth it, and everyone was ready for bed immediately afterwards.

Such a great day of celebrating this nation's independence - and a great reason for having a Grand Party! Below is a slideshow sampler of some of our photos (I would like to know how many pictures were taken by the three papas, the Captain alone too almost 300 :)


Our Paparazzis

"FourthOfJuly"

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I am linking this post to Hip Homeschool Hop.

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Yhdysvalloissa osataan juhlia itsenäisyyspäivää kunnolla (Suomessa juhla on arvokas ja hillitty, täällä raisu ja hulvaton). Me vietimme juhlaa Nantucketin saarella Kapteenin perheen kanssa.

Tämän vuoden kohokohta oli 94-vuotiaan isoisoäidin osallistuminen vesimelonin syöntikisaan, ja kisan voittaminen! Nanny toi kotiin vesimelonin palkinnoksi, aivan kuten Missykin. Missy jälleen voitti oman ikäluokkansa (muistaakseni 11-14-vuotiaat), päihittäen myös veljensä ja serkkunsa. Minulla on lyhyt, todella lyhyt videopätkäkin hänestä, mutta se paljastaa Missyn voittojen salaisuuden, joten en valittavasti voi liittää videota tähän julkiseen postaukseen :)

Syöntikisojen jälkeen Main Street'llä oli jokavuotinen Suuri Vesisota, jonne kaikki kahdeksan isoa lasta jäi taistelemaan. Pikkuneiti ja mama lähdimme kotiin vesisodan alkaessa, Pikkuneiti oli saanut auringosta ja väenpaljoudesta jo tarpeekseen.

Iltapäivällä lastenrannalla oli lisää kisoja, joihin kaikki lapset ottivat osaa. Hauskoja kunnon pihaleikkejä: säkkihyppelyä, 3-jalkajuoksua, kottikärryjuoksua ja köydenvetoa. Päivän päätteeksi menimme satamaan katsomaan vielä ilotulitusta, minkä jälkeen me kaikki 18 juhlijaa olimme valmiit kaatumaan sänkyyn. Onnistunut juhlapäivä!