Happy Canada Day
We headed up to the Japanese Canadian Community Picnic today. It was the 31st annual picnic and the weather couldn't have been better. We arrived around 10:00 and we were one of the early ones. We remember when the girls were little we use to get there for 8:00 to ensure we got a good spot. The last time we went was back in 2004. Here we are at our spot. As you can see in the background there was nobody around us.
The girls were busy trying to catch the minnows.
There was plenty of wildflowers around the pond.
The highlight of the day, besides eating, is the races. It started out slow with dashes as neither Claudia or Angela placed in their age groups. But then we kicked it up a gear. Here were Angela and Gillian before the 7-15 year old 3-legged race. They won the first heat and finished second in the final. Susan was disappointed because she had no partner for the 16-40 year old category.
Next up was the Geta race, the Geta race is four people per team and they have to work together to walk to the finish line.
Again they finished first in their heat and came second in the final.
Not to be outdone Carolyn, Danny, Susan and I entered the 16+ Geta race. Again we cruised through our heat, but ended up finishing second in the final.
The wheel barrow race was the next challenge. Here are Claudia and Alex practicing.
Gillian and Angela practicing their form. It must have helped as they finished third.
The shoe kick was the next event. Carolyn and Grandpa didn't fare to well in their categories, but I placed third for the 41-59 year old category. A new event to us was the Saikoro. It was an all ages games. There were six people with number cards from 1-6. You would pick a number and stand in that group. You picked the number that wouldn't be rolled by the giant die.
The people standing at the number that was rolled were eliminated. In between rolls you were allowed to move to a new number. After a number of eliminations, they changed it up and you had to go stand at the number you thought would come up.
Susan and Claudia moved from number 5 to number 3, they were the only two to go there. The next roll was a 3 and they both won the prizes.
After the Candy Scramble it was time for Bingo. We had a lucky table. Both Susan and Carolyn had won a t-shirt and $3, but by the time I won two games there were no more t-shirts so I only got the $6.
This dragonfly was on our cooler.
Some of the fish they caught.
Claudia never giving up.
The girls with Grandma and G-pa.
Alex got his shorts in a knot because I was only taking a picture of the girls first. Then he wouldn't get in the photo with him and Emi and the girls.
We finished the day off with the Fukubiki draw, (Dad and I both won a prize) and then the Share The Wealth draw. Dad came up big again winning the third place prize. It was a good day at the picnic, we forgot how much fun it is.
