Let's Play Croquet!
(Sunday April 26, 2008)
It turned out to be a warm, wonderful Sunday for all of us to get together for dinner, croquet and to hear about Kirk and Deanna's visit to Ireland. We had so much fun playing croquet last year that we could hardly wait to do it again. After dinner Cheryl set up the playing field and we all picked our colors.
Tim and Kirk are thinking about it.
Bradley and Papa decide it's not for them.
Nor are Jen, Amanda and Megan showing much enthusiasm.
Cheryl's showing us the layout....and the game's about to begin.
The idea here is to hold an opponents ball secure beneath your foot and hit it so that it knocks the ball where you want it to go. In the cartoon below, Foghorn uses his competitors head instead of the ball.
Kirk obviously is about to do something mischievous.
This is an obstacle much like a sand trap. The indentation in the lawn acts like a trap for the balls. It took quite awhile for the players to get past it. Cheryl's reading the rules to us. They changed a few times before we got them straight making our game even funnier.
This is where the course ends, and we head back to the beginning. It's also another traffic jam.
Brent and Mason get down to take a closer look, and Brent takes a shot.
Timmy uses his mallet like a pool cue. After reading the directions again, we discovered it's against the rules, so we laughed and were off and running....eh...if we can just get outa the jam and around this obstacle.
Cheryl and Timmy are leading the pack on their way back....
While the rest of us still struggle getting out of here.
Kirk uses the foot on the ball routine to get things moving.
Margie's trying to get that pesky lil' ball to go through the hoop.
Kirk knocks her ball out of the way again so that he can get through the hoop.
Grammy's just getting there. Oops! I missed the post.
Meanwhile, Drew and Karli just got back from the motorcycle races in Virginia City. He placed ninth, and proudly shows us his plaque.
Time out for some pie. Hurry up Kirk...It's your turn.
It's dark and we're still at it, but the goal is getting closer.
Oh no! Timmy's almost there.
Yahoo! He's the winner. Now he can start back and take out whoever he wants.
Brent's second!
Kirk comes in third!
Whoopee! Grammy's fourth.
We retire to the living room to see Kirk and Deanna's pictures of Ireland, hear about their adventure. Evidently there are many old castles throughout the country-side.
What can I say? It's been such a marvelous afternoon with best friends. Who could ask for anything better that this. We're considering a Croquet tournament annually.
