 1 Ben has been building and building, too, using Sam's dominoes during the day. Like his tall tower! |
 2 Here's Sam with a 10x10 pyramid - a personal record. |
 3 Peering down into it. |
 4 And the topple - I think Sam recorded this video himself... |
 5 And now it is time for Burns Night! It is the celebration of Robert Burns' birthday. We've got haggis in store, fire, some Highland Games and just plain old good times with friends. |
 6 Ummm...did you know that rarely Hemlocks do grow coconuts? |
 7 Here is the caber toss! This log is from our Christmas tree. It's probably a good 25 lbs. I did trim off all the spiky branches so as not to poke an eye out. The other small one on the ground is for the kids. You run up to the hose and launch it. The idea is to make it travel straight out from you, end over end, and see how far you can get it. This is Matt giving it a go. He had duty down at Ft Lewis the night before so poor guy just got up a few hours before coming over. |
 8 Ben launched it really well! |
 9 Oh yeah - he gets the lei for now - King of the Camp! |
 10 Now Dave is going to give it a hurl. |
 11 Go Dave! |
 12 Yay Melodie! I think it's as big as you are - you strong girl! |
 13 And my turn - Melodie took some good pictures :) Thanks, Melodie! I am grateful to have a record of my winning caber toss! |
 14 And great work getting the fence in, too, so I can always show Dave just how far mine went! That is mine beating Dave's marker (the bat)! Can you believe it? |
 15 That's how far I get launched past the hose once I spring the caber. |
 16 Fun times! I'm handing the lei over to Ben to wear...until I steal it back :) |
 17 You are SO funny, April! Soooo good to have you back! |
 18 Go April! See all the kids watching? They thought it was pretty cool to be throwing logs at this party. |
 19 |
 20 Go Ian! |
 21 April decided a picture needed to be taken of this happy girl, wearing her fairly won lei :) |
 22 Jeremie really enjoyed practicing his technique. |
 23 Oh - isn't that funny - there's a coconut up there! |
 24 He can't resist going for it. Jeremie is so funny - he said he's like a Lab, if there's something to retrieve, a game to be played, he's all in. |
 25 Got it! |
 26 The next "event" was hurling the coconut. Well, they are not very fresh here, so they are a little brittle I think. Jeremie's throw cracked it wide open! |
 27 April's first bite of haggis! |
 28 Ooooh...not bad! Love this picture of you, April! |
 29 Ben taking good care of the SPAM - another mystery meat in a can, and emblematic of the other culture represented - Hawaii!!! I cut the SPAM on the grill with my machete - an innovation this year that raised some eyebrows. Usually we fillet it on a piece of wood but I took a shortcut and did it right over the fire. A little tricky, but it was done. People were really laughing when they saw the machete turned into a spatula. Only a few were lost down into the fire... |
 30 April demonstrating some technique to avoid twisting the caber :) |
 31 And THIS was the suprise of all surprises...can you hear the faint sound of bagpipes in the distance? At first we all thought Dave had switched up the music...I could NOT believe it. I am giggling and exclaiming quite a bit at the beginning, my apologies. I was very excited. My friend Ben is also wearing a Maui Fire Dept shirt. How appropriate! We had so much fun. I simply cannot believe how much fun that was. Unforgettable. Thank you to everyone who came, endured the Games, and made it such a fun night. |
 32 Oh, yeah...the sap on the hands. Some were wondering where they could wash their hands off after throwing the caber. I was like huh? Wash it off? It smells fantastic and is not dirty - there's no norovirus in that! Plus it helps you hang onto your beer bottle that much easier. I did finally relent and showed a few people where the faucet was :) |
