Every year, our good friends the Wilsfords (parents of the lovely Evangeline, who makes frequent guest appearances on this blog) host the Backyard Olympics in their ginormous backyard. The festivities this year included opening ceremonies (including fireworks and Olympic torch), fierce athletic competition, crazy relays, feats of strength, and closing ceremonies involving medals, podiums, and national anthems. Those who participate have to sign up in teams of two and represent a country of choice. Costumes are strongly encouraged.
This year, our family represented South Korea. Anika insisted on dressing her part, and our amazing designer-friend Amy Lee Harrington whipped up a old-school Korean outfit in her basement. Here are photos of the results and some from our Backyard Olympic day.
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| Anika's Olympic uniform hanging in her locker. Can you believe this outfit was made from scratch in a matter of hours!? |
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| Anika will be insisting on silk pajamas in no time--she really liked the feel of her dress! |
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| Anika wondering how she's supposed to compete in this fancy outfit. |
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| A proud mom and her little backyard Olympian. |
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| The complete Korean backyard Olympic team in uniform at the opening ceremonies. Anika is not impressed by Dad's lackluster, homemade Korean t-shirts. The Koreans won gold in the throw-softballs-at-plates event and bronze in the crazy relay race that involved stacking of cinder blocks, pounding nails and catching raspberries in one's mouth. (Due to a scandalous judging error, however, the bronze was awarded to the Caribbean). |
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| The gold medal for costumes went to the Ancient Romans (the Kopps), whose homemade costumes were phenomenal. Who knew Matt Kopp could sew!? (Apologies to Rachel and her flashy gold toga--this was the only good picture of the little Emperess, Josie.) |
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| The infamous pirates of the Caribbean (aka Parker, Kaia, Amy Lee, and Pat Harrington) before the games. The Caribbean cleaned up in the medal count this year, including the theft of the Koreans bronze in the relay event. (The Backyard Olympic Committee is currently investigating and PEDs are suspected.) |
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| Anika putting her game face on after getting a pre-game pep talk from Dad. |
I don't think any review of the medals should be needed. We competed, and when we saw our time, knew we were 6 seconds behind gold, and about 3 behind silver. we heard Columbia Heights beat the record, so we figured we were out....we were confused by the medal, and will gladly give it to S. Korea, they earned it!
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