Beach Olympics

We here in Cayman are keeping track of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, watching from our tropical living rooms in our shorts and flip flops while the competitors stay warm in down coats and fur hats. I'd love to be there, no doubt, but I think our vantage point is preferable this time of year. Honestly, now that I'm no longer living in the U.S. or in public accounting, February is one of my very favorite months.

But being a spectator can only be so satisfying before you feel the call to action. That's just what our church did recently, with the first Sunrise Community Church Beach Olympics day. (I would label it the first annual, but we all know the Olympics only come every four years, so I don't want to get too far ahead of myself.)

However, before we fast forward to the Olympic games, I need to highlight the qualifying event - a Beach Games Day a couple months ago that involved island residents hailing from around the world and traveling across the entirety of the Cayman Islands for the competition.

A former resident of Grand Cayman, CN (far left above) now lives in the Brac but visited "Grand" for the weekend. She arrived just in time to participate in the beach games, organized by SM (the pointer girl below.)

Events included:

Water balloon tossing...

No pressure, JS, but all eyes are on you!

...a race to the water...

...requiring complete immersion...

...fin spins...

...no-hands cookie eating...

...and a popsicle-eating race.

Everyone took it pretty seriously.

Our official mascot, Maya the Morkie, showed up for a post-competition swim.

She's just so easy to love.

As is this one.

Little J is becoming a great swimmer.

That child comes from excellent stock.

So with that training session under our belts, we felt more than prepared for the big time event: The inaugural Sunrise Community Church Beach Olympics!

Like the traditional Olympics, each team had to present themselves with appropriate pomp and circumstance. 

Group synchronized dances were compulsory. 

How do you begin to judge such talent?!

A bunch of events were held, some of which I was involved in so didn't get photos, but here are a couple that I saw from behind the lens:

Moving marbles from a bucket of ice water using only your toes (what do you even call such an event?!)

Coconut toss. Some threw it like a shot put...

...others threw it like a football player, complete with victory dance...

...and some threw it like a cricket ball. That's the beauty of an international event like the Olympics. We all have our own spin.

The ever-popular water balloon toss made another appearance.

I love all those colors crossing the horizon.

More cookie-squirming competitors - an event that has a popular result, no matter the standings.

But in the end, the final standings were announced, and there was a clear winning team.

The blue team came out on top, winning ourselves the coveted Super Man labels.

Yes, despite a technical difficulty in the three-legged race (we almost swept it!), I was a member of the winning team, which called for a team celebration at Dukes.

Is it wrong that we invited the SCC Olympics committee (SM and SS) to our victory dinner?
Our win was legit, I swear!

I do love a good Olympic event, and although it would be a dream come true to attend the Games, this time of year, I prefer Seven Mile Beach to Sochi.

In any event...nay, in all events: Go Team USA!