A Father's Day post...albeit somewhat late

Every year in a coastal town near where we live, there is a chainsaw wood carving competition. How cool is that? Professional chainsaw-ers from all over the globe come to compete and see whose sculpture is the best. We went on the second day, which happened to be Father's Day. The artists had been working on pieces for the whole two days and while we were present, they had a two hour competition to see who could come up with the best idea. I have attached many photos for you to see. Keep in mind, ALL of these were done with a chainsaw. Mind you, there are many sizes of chainsaws, but they are chainsaws nevertheless.

This diamond back rattler was one of the two hour beauties.

This man has won different competitions all over the world. This piece was one he had been working on all weekend. That carving is all from ONE PIECE OF WOOD.

Both of these were in the two day category.

I believe some artists also brought other carvings to be sold at this venue. Since we weren't there the first day, I'm not exactly sure of when some of these masterpieces were created. But still, pretty awesome, eh?

Now we're getting into my favorites. This elk is amazing! And the eagle. Breathtaking.

They had a "crowd favorite" voting and this is the one I chose for my absolute fav. On the backside (which is in a photo further on down) there are elk climbing up a trail, and also a little canoe with a person inside it. Sweet Mother of Abraham Lincoln! There was so much detail and raw talent possessed here. It was unbelievable.

Awwww. A mommy and her baby bigfoot. Precious.

Too bad my baby bigfoot was not enjoying herself. Seriously, folks. She walked around with her nose plugged because the smell of freshly shaved wood was stinky. Oh, she also had her ears plugged and while she was using her hands to cover her ears she was doing some very heavy mouth breathing. Trust me when I say that a whiny, complaining, persistent 4 year old, wears on your last nerve like nothin' else. Finally, I went back to the car, grabbed our handy dandy wagon, some Salt and Vinegar Pringles, licorice, and duct tape and headed back to the celebration. She was happily (and quietly) contained for the duration of our stay. Especially with the duct tape staring her down like a prison guard just waiting for his prisoner to slip up.

This is the backside of the lighthouse. See the elk?

And the tiny canoe with it's passenger. Amazing, I tell you.

She was happy as a clam when her daddy picked her up. I snatched this pic just after her caved and lifted her to freedom. I call it the "Smile of Triumph - Suckas!"

Despite all of my own whining, I sure do love this little smooshy face.

This was a 2 hour entry.

Another 2 hour carving.

I'm not sure if this little guy was having as much fun as his human counterparts, but he knew how to work a crowd, I tell you what.

See the wagon? And the Pringles? And the bag of cotton candy stashed under her knee? But most importantly, do you see her not CRYING? Happy faces all around.

Since we were right near the beach, we decided to take a little side trip to the sandy shores. We busied ourselves with making a small city complete with levey's and canals and high walls all for the purpose of saving said city in the event of a tsunami. And we all knew it would happen, we just didn't know when.

The engineers needed a couple of breaks here and there, and they occupied themselves by playing a nice, friendly game of, "You better run before I grab you and throw you in the ocean."

Alas, our city was eventually destroyed by a wave measuring, I kid you not, 9 and 1/2 inches! It was just too much for our beach sand city to take. Luckily, though, we evacuated the premises and all were saved.

Total poser.

A close up of the highest city wall. It was all very technologically advanced.

So a fun thing for us to do was to see how Laynee would freak out every time a wave would even think about sneaking up on her. Just after I took this picture, Michael goes, "Watch this," and then he yelled, "LAYNEE! RUNNNNNN!" And boy did she run.

Hahahaha.

Those chainsaw artists got nothin' on my mermaid sand sculpting skills.

And then we were done.