Afterglow 2006

Even though I don't take part, it is still fun to watch because I get to see my family do ridiculous things. In this puzzle of trickery, you needed to work together to untangle this mess into a circle without releasing these sticks. Sounds easy right? It wasn't. But it was funny.

Tuesday has always been and always will be the day of the Obstacle Course. When we were but wee lads and ladies we looked forward to this day most, but now that we are grown, we despise it. I don't mind watching the little tykes enjoy their selves, but there's no way that I'll participate in it now that I'm almost an adult. Most of the kids follow my lead, but Janelle and James got tricked into being a part of it, and I would have to say that it looked like they were having fun out there. For me though, it's too much work too early in the morning...

Next up, everyone has to hold hands and get this hula hoop from one end to the other. For the little kids it's easy because they fit through the hoop, but for grown ups like James it provides comical bending and twisting through a small opening. The crowd always loves it.

Kids of all ages participate in this event so there are obstacles geared towards every age group. There are small tasks for small people and big tasks for big people. It takes everyone working together to finish with a faster time than everyone else. Choosing who needs to perform each task is often more difficult than actually performing them. Faith turned out to be an expert at the "moving plastic shovels from one bucket to another" task, and James of course was an expert at the "dribbling a basketball around plastic cones" task.

There's a few changes to the obstacle course, but a couple of events have become staples that hold this competition together. Two of those events are pictured below. In the picture on the left, Janelle (pink shorts) and Stefani (gray shorts) take part in the sponge pass. The object is to fill a bucket with water from sponges that are passed over the heads of the teammates. It's always funny because someone always squeezes and ends up soaking wet. In the right picture, both girls scamper to the finish line in these American flag sacks. Someone almost always trips over themselves and tumbles over the finish line, which elicits a chuckle from the Afterglow faithful who have turned out to watch.