Yesterday was the last day of school for both of my kids. As I was leaving to pick up my daughter my neighbor mentioned the great Balsam water battle, which I'd never heard of before. She told me it was a big water battle that happens every year on Balsam Ave. on the last day of school. People who live on the street put out buckets and hoses and the kids show up from all over the neighborhood to celebrate the last day of school.
When I picked my daughter up she said all her friends were talking about some water battle they were going to and I told her I heard about it too. We had to check it out. She got on her bathing suit and we waited for her brother to come home to see he wanted to go too. He did, and he dug our giant water gun out of storage and we started walking two streets over, along with several other towel-draped, plastic-gun-toting familes. It was epic.
There were at least 200 kids there, along with parents trying to stay dry on the sidelines.
Several houses had food out for the kids - Popsicles, hot dogs, watermelon, etc. It was great to see such generosity and even better to see the kids so happy an excited.
At one point, a mob of kids marched down the street chanting, "BALMY! BALMY! BALMY! BALMY!" (Balmy Beach is the name of the junior public (elementary) school in our neighborhood.)
When we got home my kids were talking about how neither of them knew who Bobby was, or why everyone was cheering for him, but it was fun.
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