Record-Breaking Fun

This past Saturday my family and I had the opportunity to be part of an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest water gun fight. I know it sounds kind of silly, but tell me honestly... if you had the chance to do something like that, wouldn't you take it?

It was all part of my town's Independence Day celebration (which had to be rescheduled from the 4th because of rain. In Arizona. That was weird.) At first we hadn't thought much about going to the festival, because honestly braving the heat to be crammed into a park with thousands of other sweaty people didn't really excite me.

But then I read about the water gun fight. And it just seemed like one of those things that we had to do. Luckily, my husband jumped on board. He then proceeded to drag us all to the nearest toy store to "properly gear up."

Yes, after ten years of marriage, my husband can still surprise me. I had no idea how seriously he took his water gun fights. But he was clearly just as excited as the kids were (or possibly more.) And that, for me, was awesome.

The actual fight itself didn't last more than a few minutes. But the hour+ that we waited while everyone filed into the staging area and geared up was probably the most fun part. There was great camaraderie with the strangers-become-friends around us, and plenty of "friendly fire" as we all used our squirt guns to help keep each other cooled off in the sweltering Arizona heat.

The whole experience was, quite literally, a blast. (Please forgive the bad pun. I couldn't help myself.) And while the official record has not yet been verified by Guinness, our local ABC affiliate has reported that we did indeed break the record, with 3,804 people participating.

An interesting side note that I never knew before - only kids 7 and older are counted in the official number. (Nobody could tell me why - just that it was the rule.) But even though my kids didn't officially "count" on Saturday, they still had a great time. (And they honestly didn't care that they didn't get the wrist band - they were just happy to be there and excited to play with the squirt guns.)

So yes, water gun fights are fun. And yes, being part of a Guinness World Record is cool. But in the end, as always, it all really comes down to these two smiling faces.

And that, my friends, is what makes it all worthwhile.