LEWISTON — Within sight of a sculpted paper torch, 5-year-old Avery MacKenzie learned her own personal Olympic lesson.

She tried her best, gently tossing a jiggling water balloon to a friend. But when it came back, the balloon ripped and water erupted, some of it spilling onto her red skirt with white stars.

She crumpled, burying her head against day care provider Rose Pelletier.

For 34 years, the Lewiston woman has run a day care in her home. For the last six, she has organized Rosie’s Olympics. Friday was her seventh.

“It’s not a competitive thing,” she said, watching the children toss play with Hula-Hoops.

Mostly these are games meant to anticipate and enjoy.

On Wednesday, each of the 10 kids decorated white T-shirts with the stars and the words: “7th Annual Rosie’s Olympics,” something the banner above the torch also noted.

Friday began with an opening ceremony in the driveway, with the kids passing the paper torch to each other. Then, they went right to basketball.

The morning concluded with an obstacle course run. The afternoon saw the group headed to the pool for the water events.

Lydia Celani, 8, preferred the obstacle course over the other events.

Why?

“I don’t know,” she said, sitting in the middle of the T-shirted group of 10 kids, ages 2 to 10.

Jamie Poloquin, 9, said she liked the balloon toss because of the shock that comes with each balloon’s explosion.

Forgetting her own mini-trauma, Avery MacKenzie said she, too, liked the balloons best.

Of course, she’d been whisked away when her balloon had erupted onto her skirt.

The Olympic motto — swifter, higher, stronger — seemed not to apply to dampness, she learned.

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