On Memorial Day, spellers played volleyball, wolfed down hamburgers and hot dogs and hula-hooped their hearts out at the annual picnic.
Some spent their time at the picnic collecting autographs in their Bee Keepers -- like Seongjun "James" Lee, Speller 225 from Bupyeong-gu, South Korea and Jeffrey Cho, Speller 266 from Gloucester, Virginia.
"It's good food and good people," said Seongjun, who came to the Bee last year as a spectator. "It's five times more fun (to participate). It might actually be more."
Jeffrey said he can't wait to compete -- but he plans to get a good night's sleep and a good breakfast before taking on the vocab test.
His favorite part so far?
"It's been great to meet people from everywhere around the U.S. and the world," he said.
Ethan Perrins, Speller 91 from Lawrence, Kansas, said he likes the sense of unity he already feels in his first Bee Week. He's spent time so far hanging out with the other spellers.
"We're all friends suddenly. It's pretty great," he said. "It's going to be hard to see some of them get out."
Abigail Pittman, Speller 169 from Clayton, North Carolina, spent some time at the picnic on crafts.
She made a puppet, a spin painting and even a bracelet with bees on it. Abigail said the bracelet might be her lucky charm -- as long as she remembered to put it on.
"I'm going to wear it the whole week, I think," she said.
