24 Comments

What a blast!!

Happy Birthday to Lola:)

Lynn

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Sounds like loads of fun!!

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I’m glad you showed Lola holding the panda for scale. She and I are around the same height. I thought the panda was almost life-sized. (You have a knack for finding majestic animals!) Now I know it is a petite bear. Happy birthday, Lola!

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A live-size metal bear would be an amazing, life-ruining gift! I'll have to keep my eyes open for one.

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What a great way to (a) celebrate a birthday and (b) fill in the void left by 2 weeks of Paris Olympics extravaganza! Happy birthday blessings to Lola!

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Lola is a big fan of the real Olympics. This helped tide her over, too.

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I love your idea for olympics at home! So happy everybody had fun! You've made work what I always dreamed of conducting with my cousins, but they were never eager to participate in. Thanks for sharing how to make it a reality! Wishing Happy Birthday and all the best to Lola!

I am in favor of making removing trees (or at least their fallen branches) an olympic competition - I too can perform well in doing that, even though I'm rather small and weak.

Despite having little to no participants, organising tournaments and their systems is where I thrive. One summer holidays I was left alone dreaming of having my own olympics and used my free time to study many typical and unusual such as round-robins, gauntlet and double-elimination brackets, king of the hill,swiss system etc. Supplying that by writing down my results from various video games from Forza and FIFA to World of Tanks, I was able to make my personal games. To make the medal table diverse, I counted each result by the nationality/country of manufacturer of each game's vehicle. It was odd, but I had a lot of fun.

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You are I are a lot alike. I'm an event organizer, too, but only for things that are dumb or don't matter. You should totally throw the backyard Olympics with your cousins. The more chaotic, the better.

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Thanks, will try to do just that! Last year we had real-life counter-strike while playing with nerf guns, so I think I already know one of the competitions.

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So much fun! But, where’s the cake and ice cream?

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We had cheese cake toward the end. Although I didn't bring it this time. I learned my lesson after the last party where I had six uneaten cakes.

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Was there a reason for pulling that twig from the ground or was it more “you had to be there” - moment?

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The tree was dead and needed to be replaced. We were bored and pulled it out for our own amusement.

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Happy Birthday Lola! You and your family make everything so fun…even when you trim trees or pull them out of the ground 😉

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Trees should start being scared of me. I'm on a bit of a streak.

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My goodness, I want your friends. I was only able to get about four people, including my husband, to my birthday brunch this year, and only one of them joined us for my obligatory birthday "I want to see animals" caveat. After over a decade of being my friend in many cases, I have a personal theory that they may be tired of going to zoos to feed giraffes lettuce. However, the joke is on them, because if they'd agree to be on board, I can include 6 in a group private event to see an otter up close. I haven't gotten that many people to agree yet, but I'm assuming it's close-close, since the fine print insists that everyone wears closed toed shoes. Before reading that, I had no idea that my toes were in danger while swimming in Colorado, where river otters still roam, but, then again, I never go swimming in Colorado, since the water is Rocky Mountain cold and, as a born and raised Texan, I prefer when my swimming water is closer to room temperature, or, if your room lives in Texas, "hot tub lite". I'm not sure if any would agree to a backyard Olympics, but I do know my friend Rob loves improv. Which could be an entertaining mix, actually. I'm very happy to hear everyone had fun and Lola had a wonderful birthday!

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I can only assume otters are notorious for eating toes. Must be like a delicacy to them. Even so, I'd risk a toe or two to get up close to an otter. They're that cute. Advertise that you have an exclusive otter pass and you'll have friends lining up outside your door.

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Best day ever! I bet your eldest, deep down, wishes she had been there. Great memories.

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When she's an adult, I hope she'll participate in silly stuff like this. As a teenager, I sometimes have to trick her into spending time with me.

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Happiest of birthdays to Lola.

(You really should let her enjoy her victory, and not ride her coattails.)

LOLA! LOLA! LOLA!

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If you'd known about the tree ahead of time, you could have added caber toss to the roster.

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I have no idea what ANY of those games are, but sounds like they went as would be expected. As long as Lola enjoyed them! Happy birthday to Lola!! 🎂

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Hmmm, I noticed your set of guns. Anyway, I am envious of you and your friends' activities and it allowed me to reminisce about some fun parties we had as younguns. And how great to have friends that join with you for the celebrations because at my age, our friends have moved, died, or faded off as the years rolled by. What a birthday to remember for Lola!

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Happy Birthday Lola!!!

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