Burton Family Olympics

 Jane and I were in charge of the Burton Reunion last Saturday. It was held at Canyon View Park in Spanish Fork, just like it has been for the past several years. Gayle and Phil will be in charge next year. There is talk of next year being the last year that we put one together, so I will never have to do the planning again.  It was a ton of work, but it was a labor of love to put it all together. Thank goodness I had Jane's help. She took care of planning the food end of things, and I planned the activity. Alan helped so much in preparing all of the game paraphernalia. 

Since the Paris Olympics are currently taking place, we decided to have an Olympic themed event. I made the banner. It was a bear for Ryan to put up, but I think it turned out well.

I loved the table cloths Jane picked out, reminding us to cheer on the American athletes. So patriotic.

As far as food goes, we had a pasta bar with both red sauce and alfredo sauce, bread sticks, tossed salad, fruits, and cookies for dessert. So yummy!

After eating, it was time for the Olympic games. The youth in attendance were jumping at the bit to give them a try. Some teenage boys even "stole" the axes for the axe throw that Ryan had placed high in a tree. Boys!

We had six events - Shotput, Javelin, Archery, Axe throw, Discus throw, and Balance Beam.  

In order to track their progress through the events, they each received an Event Tracker on a lanyard and a pencil to keep track of their score and they received a star sticker inside the other square. 

Once they finished all six events, they came to the "Reward center" where they received their participation reward - a gold medal and a Creamie Ice Cream Bar or Popsicle of their choice.

The kids really enjoyed all of the games, but I think that the Axe Throw was the all-around favorite. We had two stations at each event - one for the real young kids and one for the older kids.

Many of the kids returned to try the axe throw over and over again long after the games had ended and people were leaving.

For the Discus throw, they had to try to toss a frisbee into the Olympic Rings made out of pool noodles.

For Archery,  the younger kids shot the arrows at a target not far from their starting line, and the older kids tried to shoot the arrow through a ring suspended between two step ladders several feet away. It worked out well.

For the Balance beam, the kids needed to walk 3 sections of a 2" X 4" board while balancing a wooden egg on a wooden spoon while also stepping over Kleenex boxes in their path. This created more of a challenge that simply balancing while walking.

The Javelin throw was done with pool noodles weighted down with wooden dowels inside. They didn't travel far, but they were safe to throw.

The shot put was done by the littlest kids launching a baseball from their shoulder and the bigger kids launching a Bocce Ball from their shoulder. Evidently, some were able to  launch the Bocce Ball farther than we anticipated. I'm glad everyone kept safe during the games.

After all was said and done, we got rave reviews for the activities. With the help of Kent & Ann, my children and grandchildren, and Jane's children and grandchildren, we were able to man each event. We appreciated how everyone pitched in to help make things move smoothly and make it fun for all. Those who didn't want to participate in the games were able to sit and chat with other relatives and catch up on each other's lives. I'm estimating that we had about 75 individuals in attendance. So fun! I love my extended family.