Livin' the Dream: Kindergarten picnic

One of the special activities during Jack's last week of school was the kindergarten picnic. At 11:30 a.m., all of the kindergarten classes hiked a couple of blocks away to a big park for lunch outdoors and a full afternoon of organized games and activities.

When I got there, Jack and one of his best friends, Q, had already eaten and were in full swing.

The last picture of the year with his awesome teacher, Mrs. Benner.

To help tell them apart, each class was encouraged to wear a specific color that day and this is the shirt he chose. Guess what color his class was on field day last year and what shirt he wore?

But around 12:30, some dark clouds moved in and we could hear thunder in the distance. So the decision was made to pack everything up — the food and snacks, all of the coolers filled with ice and bottled water, the color-coded games and equipment spread throughout the park, and the inflatable "bounce house" with its multiple hundred-pound weights — and head back to school.

Back inside their classroom (waiting for directions on what to do next), I was surprised to see them playing Heads-Up 7-Up. I remember playing that game when I was in elementary!

But after unloading everything again and quickly improvising to set it all up again back at school, the "kindergarten picnic" was back on.

It was after Jackson came home from school earlier this year saying, "Do you know what Q can spell?" that I learned how to spell "sarsaparilla."

After just a few raindrops, it was nothin' but blue skies from now on.

After being first up in the bounce house in the cafeteria, their first station outside on the playground was the egg-on-a-spoon relay.

Look at that concentration!

Uh-oh.

They had a raw, chilled egg for every single kindergartener to have one. Or break one.

Next up: "Potato-sack races!"

Jack was the first one to tag Miranda's hand.

After a few tries, the other kids caught on.

Time to take a break for the ice cream man.

Then it was time for the sponge game...

...to get others the wettest.

But who ever stayed the driest got to play again another round.

And finally...

...tug-o-war!

Though the matches were over pretty quickly, they got to play again and again — trying lots of combinations like boys vs. girls and even adding in the adults.