The Mokonkey Garden Olympics 2012

Before breakfast today, Aunty A and I went out. She ran and I rode my bike. We went all around the Hamlet.

We all had breakfast, skyped Grandma and then prepared the Olympic Arenas. The British flags were up. We had the street circuit, equestrian arena, urban sport arena, lower field and Aquadrome. It was very exciting. The crowds were anticipating lots of medals today.

The bunting was flying in the lower field

The first event was Street Hockey. Huffle was goalie. Team 1 featured AA and Smallest. Team 2 was me and Small. Team 1 won.

The second event was Raking (the most important of the lower field activities since the grass cuttings were all over the court). Who could produce the biggest pile of rakings? It was very tense and quite hot work.

Small was first and set the standard for a huge pile

Smallest started well but lacked arm length

This event ended in a four way tie between me, Huffle, Small and AA with Smallest following a little bit behind. Next we played volley ball (since the court was clear of stray grass). AA was umpire. Small and Huffle won that one. Football came next. I was Goalie, AA and Small played a great game and just beat Huffle and Smallest.

There were a few dodgy tackles

It ended up going to penalties. The goalie was put under tremendous pressure.

Basketball was next. It was a tough game in very hot conditions. Smallest and I played hard against Small and AA and just snuck a lead. Huffle umpired.

There were lots of drink breaks and the occasional biscuit or fruit break. The next event was one Small called 'Mokonkey Bars'. (this is how he wrote it on the list - needs to get back to school!). First up was Small who scored a massive four. Smallest came next with an impressive three. Huffle controversially broke the bars which made the scores for the rest of the participants null and void. Also the swinging event was cancelled due to lack of equipment.

Cricket was next on the list. Huffle was bowler and umpire. Each player got 6 balls and the rest of the team were fielders. It was fast paced. I won this event. Wahoooo.

The event everyone was waiting for happened next. The Dressage. The jumps were beautifully created. AA gave us a demonstration of what was expected. Each 'horse' was allowed creative input.

Horse AA demonstrating the Oval jump.

 

Horse Small executing a fabulous Oval jump also.

Horse Smallest with a very eager jump on the 'tunnel of difficultness' at which he actually fell. Both rider and horse were unhurt.

 

Horse Huffle cleverly using the sound of hooves got extra points here but unfortunately lost them when he went over a jump the wrong way. Bad luck for this first time jumper!

 

There was a long stop for practice jumps on the Aquadrome for the boys and AA while Huffle and I barbecued our dinner.

We had burgers, sausages, vegetable kebabs, roasted rosemary potatoes, corn on the cob, salad and a cheeky beer. Much hilarity and reliving of the start of the games happened here.

After dinner everyone (well the grown ups really) was tired and just wanted to sleep. We decided to each chose one more event. Small chose Bike and Scooter time trials. Huffle won this on his bike with a fantastic time of 44secs. Everyone else did very well. AA made a fabulous run in the same time I cycled.

Small set a strong pace at the start

The fast pace of this new cyclist won through (was it the Wiggins sideburns?)

Next was the Boules competition which I chose. Smallest won this one. AA chose Gymnastics. Of course she came first with her exceptional display of Cartwheel, Handstand into forward roll, a bridge and ended with a round off, amazeballs!

What an amazing gymnast AA is.

Showing great gymnastic appeal. The crowd loved this first time gymnast

 

Huffle chose Chipping (Golf). Smallest showed a lot of promise and Huffle and him won this event. Newcomer AA certainly showed she doesn't normally play this sport.

Letting the professionals start

Promise? Maybe!

For the final event, we got changed and went to the Aquadrome. Team Small and Smallest showed the judge (me) their three jumps. The first jump was very well synchronised and got full points.

 

Their second jump was a little off, and they were penalised slightly, however their third jump was brilliantly timed.

 

They set a very high standard here for the next finalists, Huffle and AA, who incidentally have never synchronised their jumps before. Their only practice was a whisper on the side before they jumped. For this the Judge awarded them an extra point. Their jump was photographically good. A jump, a point to the judge and an almost perfect entering of the water. However, it wasn't as first class as the other team. Maybe next year, maybe with a bit of practice.

Nice touch, pointing to the camera

To mark the end of the games, all of us got in the pool and created a whirlpool. Then we changed directions and created another whirlpool. Floating time came next, then tag freeze was played, lots of squirting of water and finally everyone got out, got showered and we began the medal ceremony.

It was a poignant moment as Aunty A presented the Bronze medal to Small who earned himself a whopping 45 points, just one point less than the silver medallists. A sterling effort for this youngster. A definate Gold hopeful for next years Garden Olympics.

AA then presented Huffle with his Silver medal who got 46 points throughout the day. He shared his Silver with me and Aunty A, who was presented by Small.

The absolute Gold winner of the day was awarded to Smallest who had an amazing 50 points. What a trooper. Only one tantrum during the whole games and this was only because he thought he was doing badly. If only he knew at the start how well he was going to do. The youngest of all competitors by far. Surely many more Golds for this young man.

All the British Medallists

The nations favourite gold medallist

We ended the ceremony with the National Anthem of Great Britain, a salute to the Queen and then a good old fashioned cup of Yorkshire Tea.

What an amazing day for the British today. All the other competitors of different countries obviously found something much better to do on their Canadian Labour Day. Small has stated that we must do this every Labour day from now on.

The kids watched a film, I blogged and Huffle updated the IPad.

 

 

 

 

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