MARSHMALLOW GUN WAR - EIGHTH EDITION

Tonight was the first marshmallow gun war in our new home.    There were 26 people - three rookie families, some veterans, and a couple babies who sat around looking cute.  Such fun!

The "we travelled across the state for this" award goes to John, Amy, and their kids.  Actually, they were in the area for a wedding today and it worked out perfectly for them to join us, but we'll pretend they came up just to battle.

The "I can turn a battle into a craft project" award goes to Sachi for making really cool marshmallow poppers for people with wimpy lung capacity. 

The "I went to the wrong town" award goes to Mike because ... well, because he went to the wrong town for the war. 

The "I'll shoot pictures instead of marshmallows" award goes to Dave who was behind the camera all night.  I saw a shot he got of the sneaky sniper and can't wait to see more.

MARSHMALLOW GUN WAR - SEVENTH EDITION

Our first (and probably last) Friday night battle and perhaps our smallest group yet, but still a great time. You really can't go wrong when you have food, marshmallow guns, and fun people!

The "taking it to another level" award goes to the boys who created marshmallow blobs.

The "pacifists can shoot guns" award goes to Catherine.

The "I'm not good at giving out awards this time because I kept my fueling station at the table, rather than on the field, because my belly was keeping me from getting comfortable on the ground and so I didn't have a good grasp on who was doing award worthy things" award goes to yours truly.

We've talked about squeezing in a totally spontaneous war sometime before the weather gets cruddy, but we'll see. If not, then we'll pick up our guns again next summer.

MARSHMALLOW GUN WAR - SIXTH EDITION

We headed down to Memorial Park tonight for the first marshmallow gun war of the season. I'm really thankful that the approximately third day of temps above 70 and without rain or grey skies this summer coincided so nicely with our war. It wouldn't have been much fun in the rain!

As per usual, we had some regulars and some newbies, scarfed a ton of good food, chatted, laughed, and shot (and ate) a gazillion mini marshmallows. Good times! We're doing another one on 8/19 and it's an open invitation, so come join us for the second one of the season in about four weeks.

Anyway, back to tonight's war.

The "dad of the battle" award goes to Mike for pelting Cade, then asking if it hurt. Of course, all the other dads could probably qualify for that award.

The "I take these wars seriously" award goes to Kyle for sporting a camo vest (and maybe shirt, I can't remember) and riot shield, plus packing his weapons in a briefcase.

The "strength in numbers" award goes to all the boys who created a bunker under the picnic table and worked together to pelt the dads.

The "Food Network" award goes to Deanna for bringing the most popular potluck item, perhaps the only item there were no leftovers of.

The "hide behind the unarmed pregnant woman" award goes to Noah for telling me not to move so that he could use me as a shield.

Hope to see some of you at the next war!

MARSHMALLOW GUN WAR - FIFTH EDITION

We were able to enjoy a warm and sunny evening with friends, pelting each other with little pillows of sugar. A perfect start to autumn!

The "token rookie" award goes to Mike, who also made blue guns. I love blue, so I'll give him the "my gun's better than yours" award too.

The "football coach" award goes to Michael, who hung out with two, then three, then four, then all the boys as they ditched the war for some tackling.

The "world's best parent" award goes to Brett, for managing to get a compliment on the behavior of one of his children, despite the fact that the behavior being praised was actually a consequence for a previous foolish decision.

Good times! You can click here to see all the photos from the evening. Thanks to everyone for coming out!!

MARSHMALLOW GUN WAR - FOURTH EDITION

When we moved to our apartment we vowed to keep the MGW tradition going. However, we totally slacked and summer is basically over, so we busted out our first one of the year tonight. Better late than never, right?

We no longer have a yard of our own, so we headed down to a local park for this battle. We stuffed our faces first, potluck style, then got down to business. I'll post more pictures on our Picasa site tomorrow night, but this post shows you who was there.

The "rapid fire assault" award goes to Noah, who modified his gun to make shooting about 20 marshmallows at a time much easier.

The "bonus grandparents" award goes to Jack & Orma, who hung out with Luke for much of the battle, until Morgen kidnapped him.

The "kick the boss out" award goes to Sheena, Sachi, and Laura, who took over the loading station and camera so that I could participate for the first time. As a sidenote, I have fun doing the loading station and have no complaints about never fighting in previous wars, but it was fun to get out in the battle zone tonight.

The "thanks for the invite, let me introduce myself" award to goes to Michael, who tagged along with friends of friends. Though we send the e-vite out to a bunch of people, it's really an open invitation event, so it's always fun to see who shows up that we've never met before.

The "paybacks are much worse than the inital offense" award goes to Tim, who likes to do close-range, rapid fire assaults with a large lung capacity on girls who shoot one or two marshmallows at him that he can barely feel. Not that I experienced that or anything.

The "wars matter more than sleep" award goes to Mike, who had been up since 1:00am and battled anyway.

The "til death do us part" award goes to the Casey clan, who have showed up to all four battles.

If you want to see the rest of the pictures, then head over here.

I think it would be fun to crank one more of these things out in the next week or two. The battle would have to start by 6:00 to have enough time to play before it gets dark. Anyone up for it? Next Saturday? The following one? Don't think we could pull it off much later than that unless we did it in the afternoon.

MARSHMALLOW GUN WAR - THIRD EDITION

We decided on Thursday to host a very last minute MGW on Saturday, as it was going to be one of the last beautiful Saturdays before it's dark at 5:00. The crew above, plus two other people who left before the picture was taken, showed up for some potlucking and battling. Smaller group than last time, thanks to our lack of advance planning, but a fun group nonetheless.

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The "I'll come even though I don't really know these people" award goes to Caitlin, who tagged along with David and Becca. We love it when people just jump in the mix without knowing everyone!

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The "coolest looking gun" award goes to David (funky zebra-ish pattern).

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The "three-peaters" award for attending all the wars of this summer go to Tammy and Kyle, Brian and Anna (and their kiddos), and Susan (even though she barely made it to the last one).

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The "I reached a milestone" award goes to the Nomes-a-licious for learning how to shoot the marshmallows, rather than just eating them off the ground.

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There was a little chatter about doing an "after dark" version with blacklights. Could be fun! With the sun setting earlier and earlier, we could may be able to pull it off without being up too late. Stay tuned for more on that possibility!!

Want to see all the pictures? Click here!

MARSHMALLOW GUN WAR - SECOND EDITION

We hosted another marshmallow gun war on Saturday night and it was a blast! Tons of food, lots of chatting, and some serious battling.

The first war, which was really fun, had 24 people and we went through four bags of marshmallows. This one had 49 people and we went had to stop battling when we used up our fifteenth bag of marshmallows!! It was amazing! I think some of the warriors would have gone all night if we could have kept the marshmallows comin'.

The award for "best dressed" would go to the Wagner family, who showed up with black and silver guns and wearing black shirts with camo pants. I wonder what the neighbors thought when they saw eight people dressed for battle and toting weapons come piling out of their van?

The award for "most violent" would be a tie between most of the twenty-something males, though I was personally assaulted by Chris, who shot me in the mouth. I'm not bitter about it though. Seriously. It was actually pretty funny, though my lip stung all night.

The award for "most enthusiastic little child" would go to Kiana (Did I spell that right?) or Kindra, I keep switching their names in my head, who spent most of the evening warning Nick that she was going to shoot him, then laughing after she fired her gun at him.

The award for "we're not threatened by the younger generations" goes to the Jack and Orma. I'm so glad you guys showed up!!

The award for "we don't really know anyone, but we're coming anyway" goes to several people who just jumped in, chatting over dinner and shooting at strangers, making some new friends in the process

I've dedicated a whole album on our Picasa site to pictures of the war zone, so click here to see them. It's a little tricky to get great pics of people who are moving and shooting at you, but the not-so-great shots will still give you a feel for how chaotic and fun the whole thing was and the good pics will just be good pics. I also took a couple movies, which are posted below. They're short and a little random, but you'll hear lots of laughter!!

Thanks to everyone who came (and you can click the group shot to get a better view of who those people are). We look forward to hosting "Marshmallow Gun War - Third Edition" sometime in the future!!

MARSHMALLOW GUN WAR - FIRST EDITION

Wondering why some of these people are laughing hysterically? Do you know which smiling face looked bored out of their gourd in every other picture, yet found something to smile about in this one? What was so funny about this picture? Well, it has to do with Devon. The little stinker shot a marshmallow at the camera right after Tim set the timer and ran to get in the picture. A marshmallow? That's right. A marshmallow.

Saturday night we hosted a potluck with fantastic food and our first attempt at a marshmallow gun war that involved more warriors than just our family members. It was a blast - a traffic stopping, cyclist almost crashing because they were watching us instead of the road, kids turning around in their seats to stare as they drove by, kids squealing with delight, men gloating in their strength and accuracy, everyone smiling type of event! There are more pics right here, in case you want to check them out. We'll be doing another war before summer is out, so local readers should keep their eyes open for an invitation!!

The warriors, in alphabetical order and in no relation to the quantity or intensity of their fighting, were Andrew, Anna, Austin, Bethany, Brian, Brianne, Carol, Devon, Eric, Erin, Kyle, Madeline, Matt, Michael, Naomi, Noah, Noelle, Ron, Rowen, Sachi, Silas, Susan, Tammy, and Tim.