4th Annual Water Balloon Fight

This post is actually a copy of Shelly's post on her blog. I had work during this event and asked her to take plenty of pictures so I could post about it. Turns out, I really liked her post with all the pictures, so I asked her if she would just copy her post and post it here, on my blog.

Thanks, Shelly.

(To read any of her other posts, click HERE)

July 1, 2011

 Alright, rewind your mind to July 1.  The Shades were in DE.  Katie had just come home from Girls' Camp and Michelle and Katie had spent the day swimming and filling up 500 water balloons for the  neighborhood's 4th annual water balloon fight.  Here are Katie and Michelle before the mayhem.

Michelle's friend Nancy was the "professional photographer" during the event since dad had to work.  It was assumed that a pregnant woman with a camera was off limits.  The only one who tried to hit her was Michelle...from a 3rd floor window.

 Years ago dad suggested to Katie that she launch water balloons from the top story of the house.  Katie and Michelle decided to do the same this year so they took out the screen to the window and hauled a laundry basket and cooler full of water balloons up the stairs.  They were ready and waiting when the fight began below.  The balloons launched from up high can really get some air...and distance.

While Katie and Michelle were upstairs, Isabelle kept the action going down below.

 The girls had it all planned out so that as soon as they were done upstairs they could run down to the garage, open the garage door, and have the water balloon stash and hose ready.  They unwound the hose as far as it would go and gave it to Isabelle.  She would walk across the street and up people's driveways to squirt them.  She even got a few people who were trying to hide behind cars.

After watching for a while, Aubree wanted in on the action, too.

She mainly liked to chuck water balloons on the driveway but they had some to spare.  She had a great time running around trying to participate like all the other people she saw.

You would think that people would use common sense and leave little kids alone, but one neighbor wasn't doing that.  He pelted Michelle hard in the arm and gave her a bruise, then later threw a water balloon that was two inches from Aubree's head.  Really.  This neighbor, who our family calls Tom Greene, had it coming.  When one bucket of balloons was empty, Katie filled it with water and got her friend to help her haul it across the street.  They entered a neighbor's garage to go through the back yard and come up on the side neighbor, Tom Greene, from behind by surprise.  The friend held down Tom Greene and Katie drenched him.  She said she should feel bad because she accidentally hit the guy with the bucket, but she didn't!

Katie was a beast the whole time.  She put her softball skills to use and chucked water balloons like crazy.  She wasn't mean about it, though.  Katie wouldn't hurt a fly.  She is just one of those people who has a great time, laughing and having fun no matter what.

Michelle had a blast too.  The guy who organizes this event every year kept trying to get Michelle and Katie so they teamed up on him and had a good time.

They were all smiles by the end of the fight.

The great thing is that all the kids in the neighborhood have a blast and play for fun.  They invite friends to play and always want the balloon fight to be bigger "next year."  When the fight is over, everyone helps clean up the after-math.  The streets and lawns are literally covered with balloon pieces.

 Although you can't tell, Katie and Michelle were pretty wet by the end of it all.  Michelle had stored a ton of balloons in her shorts' pockets and some of them popped when she was running around.

 They all had a great time participating or watching the fight and then enjoyed some ice cream in the drive-way.  Hopefully next year dad can join in on the fun!