Crawfish Boil

The annual US Synthetic summer work party is a crawfish boil for the families. The crawfish are flown in live from Houston where many of USS's customers are. They also bring in seafood gumbo from one of the favorite Houston restaurants. I always love the gumbo, but the kids preferred the crawfish. Of course, they also have things like hot dogs and corn-on-the-cob for non-seafood people. It is always fun and something we look forward to each year. It is held in the company president's "backyard."

Crawfish

Jared getting ready to eat another crawfish.

Amanda's painted face

Megan's painted face

Ethan's painted face
(He was the only one we ever saw who got his full face painted!)

Ethan & Jared jousting


Amanda & Megan jousting


Todd & Jared jousting


Ethan rock climbing


Joshua sliding (with Dad's help.)


Taking a break from all the action to enjoy snowcones.

Uncle Kevin helping the bowling ball cannon get ready to fire.
(When I say "bowling ball cannon," that is exactly what I mean! It is amazing how far this thing shoots bowling balls onto or over the mountain. I have no idea how far they go, but know they go far enough that you lose sight of them before they actually land.)

This is a picture of some random person going on the human sling shot. It is hard to see what it is really like, but you can see a short video of this in action if you click here. No one in our family went on it this year, but it really is fun.