Capture the Flag

We had about 6 more show up after this was taken. 16 boys and 4 girls. You have to enlarge this to see how pathetic little Liam looks. He was sooo tired, and so I had just told him he needed to stay inside with me and we would watch from the window. He was not happy about that. He seemed to think he was big enough to run the neighborhood with the other kids (in his socks no less!)
Poor Brad catching his breath after chasing a batch of would-be flag stealers away (the flag was up in the tree behind him).
Some of the winners enjoying their donuts and cocoa.
Little James was just in the middle of it all looking cute.
Zane was actually the one who captured the other team's flag (he's holding it up). Apparantley he did it by spraying the ground with the hose so that when the kid trying to come after him started running, he slipped, allowing Zane to get away. Pretty clever!

Brad has told the boys stories many times about playing "Capture the Flag" in scouts and in college. They decided they really wanted to play. So about a week ago, I called all the kids we know in our neighborhood and arranged for everyone to play. It was really cold outside, but at least it stopped raining. No one seemed to mind the cold though, they played for nearly two hours. Our house was one base, and our friends' house about 1/4 mile away was the other. They had the neighborhood divided into all kinds of freezing zones and neutral zones. I made everybody stay with a buddy just to be safe. Poor Brad had to come inside and get a drink of water a couple of times because he was so tired from chasing all the kids. I, on the other hand ,stayed in the warm house making hot chocolate for the winners. I'd told them that the winning team got donuts and hot chocolate and the losing team had to have stale bread and lukewarm water; but they were all such good sports, I let them all share in the prize.

Definately a day the boys will remember!