Family Olympics

It was family gathering time on New Year's Day and if you know anything about my family, you know that it's very likely we did more than just eat, visit and sit around!  Yes - my sister, the event planner and her husband, the 'rig everything up for the event' guy, planned a winter Olympics day for us.    Unfortunately, the weather was freezing cold and windy so they had to modify things but we still had alot of fun!

We did eat dinner all together and then we headed outside.

Everyone was dressed for the weather!  I love this picture of Esther and Larry,  our hosts.

First event up was biathalon - two people skiing together on 2 X 4 plank skis - this required some coordination - alot like a three legged race!  "Left, right, left, right!"  Luckily there were no broken bones!

I really like this picture of the spectators watching from inside the warm shop!

More ski competitors.

Then we moved on to hockey with everyone having a chance to shoot 4 balls and trying to hit the targets on the corners of the net.  We had to have a shoot-off because each team tied in points!  I think Will, Jen's husband, had the fastest shot.  This is my aunt who is a really good sport!

Next event was bobsled racing where 1 person from each team rode on the GT snow racer and 2 other team members pulled the rider -

on the sled around the loop on the driveway.  That's Melinda (Kelsey's sister) riding with Silas and Meadow on the other sled.  It was a good idea to pull the lightest team member!

Going downhill was pretty fast but coming up the hill on the other side took abit more effort!

Larry even carved the Olympic rings in the snow in front of their house!

After those events, we went back up to the house where the awards ceremony, complete with gold medal canning jar lid rings were presented to the winners and Esther played O Canada on the piano!!!  It was a great way to celebrate Christmas and welcome the New Year!!