the rope pull

Still Wednesday, July 4th! Craig & Chris pulled our campers over to the Delaware County Fairgrounds earlier that day as we planned to camp that night. The fairgrounds offered a community 4th of July celebration... complete with a potluck, band, balloon-man, bull-frog races, and... a rope pull :) The rope pull was the whole reason we came over. Sean Dolan found the announcement in his church bulletin and started calling around putting together a team.

Here we are at the camper before the festivities started. I tried to make a jello-jiggler flag ;) Clay & Carter 5-4mo, Lindsay 5-10mo & Lauren 7-2mo.

Eating pizza... despite the heat!

Famous LeaAnn pose... food is always better on Dad's lap :)

The band started playing, she heard the music, jumped down and started heading to the party!

I ADORE this picture!!!  She was truly waving her hands in the air :)

Later waiting in line for a balloon animal... Lydia with her 'guardians' :)

Mikel Dolan dancing with her!! Too sweet... Sara Hogan said to me, "I think she's always going to be hanging with the boys, Jayme"  :)

So this was hysterical & hugely entertaining all at the same time.  This is the other team!!! They are professionals, flying to Switzerland in month for a competition! Here they are practicing.  Notice the boots?  Specially designed with a heal, and the matching shirts... and the wraps around their wastes and arms as to not get burns... whoa. 

Baragary, Dustin & Jimmy 'strolling' over to check it out :D

I wish I could have been a fly on one of their shoulders, b/c they never stopped smiling, talking, laughing...

comparing, judging, sizing-up... it was hysterical :)

I adored taking pictures of it... obviously, there are a few too many, but to me, their face expressions are priceless!

"Craig! Come on over!"

Love this head scratch by Ryan

Almost time to set the beers down ;)

Craig, Dustin & John decided to step-in and check in out a little closer :)

I do believe they're nervous ... just a titch ;) Here is Chris story-telling.

Their cheeks had to hurt.

And as I'm snapping away, I realize... "Kids... right, where are they." :)  No problem, in line for a balloon animal still! Poor guy was exhausted by the end of the night. He was really good & patient, but their was a line a mile long ALL night!

Baragary getting tips from the other coach... smart :D

Finally! We have an elephant! Lasted about 15-minutes... but none-the-less, we were through the line.

Lauren making her horse a zebra :)

Craig joined in...

Not only did this coach give directions & tips, they gave our anchor, Craig, a halter/protector to help him hold the rope!

I imagine this is, "what did he say again?!?"

I just love how intently they listened to him...

"Ok! Here we go!"

Coach Baragary steps in :)

Look at Ryan's face!

"Perma-grins" as Jody & Jill have called them before :)

I love Baragary leaning in...

Two wives, Beth & Sara Dolan, just as  nervous as they are! 

Classic Baragary

Another head scratch... "On your marks..."

Get set...

Go! Look at Dustin smile?!?

"Pull boys, pull!"

Like Baragary's stance here? ;)

The other coach was so calm, cool & collected the whole time.

The other team would breathe together... no kidding. And you see where the rope hits Chris' chest? He had a bruise there after this :) Dustin had the exact same thing... so no wonder the other team wrapped themselves :)

Wonder what Ryan is looking at? ;)

And we won!!  No one could believe it...

Love this shot of Sara

They don't look too bad after this pull.

As you can see, the other team is just a 'little' bit younger ;) and weigh a whole lot less. However they did decide to go with 9 instead of 8 like we had. I imagine to try and even that out a bit ;)

Again, face expressions kill me! Here, their coach is saying, "yup, we switch sides and go again in 2-minutes."  2-minutes?!?  They later said, thought we'd get a drink and take a break for a bit. ;) Not so much...

Good sports!

Notice they are not smiling as much? Hands on hips, Chris bent over :)

On your marks, get set...

Go! Little more serious this time ;)

So this time, they were losing from the start. The other team looked cool & calm, they would breathe together, pull together, and kept inching our team forward...

I thought it was over for sure. Which we later found out from them that they really did not want to lose b/c then they would have had to pull again, and they were spent!

And then somehow they got a break. We heard it was b/c their anchor hit concrete and lost footing? But whatever it was, our guys felt it, took advantage of it, and never slowed down. Kris Wilgenbusch says she saw Dustin snort like a bull (yellow shirt & red hat) and that was the end of it ;)

GO!!!

Love Baragary & Sara here in the background...

They did it!

"Are we really done?"

Oh good b/c we're shot!! :D (I stole this shot from the video camera) After the fact they have all agreed that they want to do it again, maybe at Edgewood Rodeo days next year? And that they need to practice and  maybe drink a few less beers before the pull. :D

After this was bull-frog races, and it was the coolest thing! You could either bring in your own, or rent one for $5. Next year we hope to catch a few.

We headed back to our campers and had front row seats for the fireworks. It was a really fun 4th of July!