Thirteen years ago Amos woke up with the simple thought to have some fun with his kids. We made up a bunch of games for our little ones and had so much fun that we called it the First Annual Abplanalp Labor Day Olympics. That simple idea is still going strong and has become quite complex as the Annual Abplanalp-Fulton-Thomas Annual Labor Day Olympics and this year it was held in both Independence, Missouri and Lake City Florida.

Michael recently broke a couple of ribs, so he played it easy this year. We began the morning at the Temple Run at the Kansas City Temple. It was such a great event. We all planned to do the 3K but the girl holding the sign for the 3K turnaround was a little off her game and it caused our front runner – Evelyn to accidentally take the 5K route. She was a champ and was super confused but finished the 5K before us stroller walkers even finished the 3K.

We had a full day of fun with the entire day planned by our family event planner – Kirra. She and Clancy took first place overall with Evelyn in second and Ruth in third. It was little Billye’s first LDO and I think she loved it. Tim and Lyn came over to judge the dance competition which Blakely won. I’m so glad we named her Blakely Dance. She definitely lived up to her name. Clancy and Kirra were pretty competitive. He gave her a hard time for winning the brain games competition since she had a chance to see the puzzles before we solved them. She quipped back at him for his win on the shooting competition since it seems that his two best shots went through the same hole. Kirra thinks it’s more believable that he missed the target completely. With Porter in Florida, I’m glad we have Clancy around to be a big brother to Kirra. Someone’s gotta keep her humble since she’s good at everything.

Ruth showed up with her quiet strength and showed her endurance taking the planking contest. I still remember her as a sweet little girl, crying in her plank but never giving up. She has amazed me her whole life with incredible self-control.

Jill participated while in her 3rd trimester and nearly beat Porter. She really shines on Beat Saber. Her brain moves fast! Love my growing family and so happy we got to make more Labor Day memories.