Japan has a great idea with making the second Monday in October, the national holiday of Sports & Health (体育の日). The goal of the day is to promote an active and healthy lifestyle. Through physical exercise, not only is physical health promoted but mental health as well. A good physical workout always helps my mood and happiness.
The holiday started in 1964 with the start of the Tokyo Summer Olympics. Schools in Japan honor the day with 運動会 undokai, a gigantic field day. It is like a mini-Olympics with all sorts of athletic events and even a dance competition.
It was a perfect day with blue skies and temperatures in the low 80s, unseasonably warm for mid-October. Oliver was all over the event playing Harry Potter in the house dance, running the relay race and being part of the mukade (centipede race). Owen loves ultimate frisbee and his grade 9 team beat the seniors. On the elementary level it is much less competitive and Ocean did all the activities in the pool and on the athletic field. 
Even Nadia got into the act by joining the faculty tug-of-war team that defeated the grade 12 students. I was the master of ceremonies for the elementary field play in the morning, led the parade and judged the MS performances.
More countries should adopt Sports & Health Day as a national holiday. All of us in the age of smartphones and the internet could be active and need encouragement. A big thank you to Steve L. for the photos!
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