The two Chelsea elementary schools — North School and South School, and don’t let anyone tell you they have different names, because they’re wrong — have a friendly competition to see which school can eat more servings of fruits and vegetables. At the end of the competition, the students are rewarded with the Wacky Winter Olympics, in which the teachers compete against each other in a collection of games that are — as the title suggests — wacky.

The Wacky Winter Olympics bring the entire Chelsea elementary school population together in one gym. Chelsea is a small town, but it still has a lot of kids.

When you pack that many kids into a small gym and get them excited about a competition, there’s one inevitable result: NOISE. After enduring last year’s bedlam I told myself I’d bring earplugs next time. This was next time. Guess what I forgot?

The kids made signs to support their schools.

This particular sign was my favorite:

It says “Go North Creek, Helho South Metos, Get a tayst of us.” Were that a sign written by a high schooler, it would be sad. But since it’s a sign written by a young elementary school student, it’s just plain wonderful.

(If case you’re having trouble with the lexicon of youth, here’s the deciphered sign: “Go North Creek, Hello South Meadows, Get a taste of us.” North Creek and South Meadows are the names some would insist applying to the schools. However, as with the Methodist Home and the old high school, we longtime Chelsea residents know better.)

If you doubt the noise level in the gym that day, the student at the bottom left of this photo should convince you:

The wackiness began with a beanbag toss.

The students were ecstatic when the North teachers won the first event.

The next event involved a basketball and plenty of intensity.

After that came my personal favorite. I can’t remember what it’s called, but it involves one teacher pushing another on small carts.

This event also featured plenty of intensity.

Every time I see that photo, I hear Braveheart’s “FREEDOM!” in my mind. Except She’s a teacher, so maybe she’d be yelling “LEARNING!” or something.

That’s my brother doing the pushing in the above photo.

The next event had teachers catching footballs in laundry baskets.

Then the teachers found a fascinating way to carry balloons.

Between events, the Beach Middle School principal helped get the wave started.

Then the teachers started dragging each other around on blankets.

Here’s my brother again:

Hey, I reserve the right to exercise nepotism. If you have a problem with it, I’ll take unflattering pictures of you.

Since this was the fruit and veggie challenge, it seemed appropriate that at least one of the events involve fruit or veggies. How about bowling with cantaloupes? Yeah, that works.

The final event featuring all the teachers was the ever-popular tug of war.

To conclude the Wacky Winter Olympics, the principals and PE teachers teamed up for a few challenges. To make it more fun, they dressed up as fruits and veggies.

One of the challenges involved stacking cups as high as possible within the time limit. The grape team created an impressively high wall of cups.

South ended up with more servings of fruits and veggies, but North ended up winning the olympics.

With the Wacky Winter Olympics concluded, the teachers got their sportsmanship on with a handshake line.