Luke's Amazing Birthday Race 2009

Some of the props.

Most of the kids, with some siblings thrown in.

The green team with one of their nice strangers.

We did an Amazing Race. It was pretty awesome! We had 15 kids, with about 9 adult and 3 teenage helpers. It started with the kids getting "Route Info"s for the invitation. They said "Make your way to Luke's house to get your next clue..."

Once the kids got to our house, we split them into 3 teams and then gave them their 1st clues. They had to run up to the park near our house to find the clue box. Inside was a Detour. Shoot or Hunt. Each member of their team had to sink a basket from the free throw line, or go on a scavenger hunt. From there they had to run back down the hill and down the street to our friend, Paula's, house to get their next clue. It said to find their driver (who was 7 houses north - some of the kids went the wrong way), and then head to the middle school to get their next clue. At the middle school, they got a clue which told them that the entire team had to run one lap (1/4 of a mile. Not too easy considering one of the teams parked in the completely wrong area and already had to run about 1/4 of a mile just to get to the clue box.)

From there they headed to WalMart where they had to go on a price scavenger hunt, and not get kicked out (I was so NERVOUS!!!). They all succeeded (YIPPEE!!!), and then headed to our church baseball field. There they got another Detour, which had ADD or COUNT on it. In ADD, they had to do a crazy math word problem that Derrick made up, and in COUNT they had to count up a jar of buttons. Whichever one they picked, they had to do the answer in jumping jacks. Surprisingly to me, they all picked the math problem, and they all got it right! (Good thing too... because the answer to the math problem was only 11... the buttons had 98!)

They then headed to our friend's orthodontia office where they got their next clue and a funny hat. The clue had them go into downtown and have their picture taken with 5 strangers, who had to be wearing the funny hat. I really thought this would take a long time, but they all had a great time with it, and all the strangers were really willing to play along, so that was great.

They then headed to another park where they had to find three numbers (that I hid a little too well), to unlock a combination lock on an envelope which had their final clue. A few phone calls later, they were all able to find the numbers and get their locks opened to reveal their final clue - come back to the house. The blue team and the green team got here at about the same time, but the blue team actually read the clue which said to go to the backyard, so they got the finish line. The green team tried to come in the front door, and I wouldn't let them, so they lost by just a second.

The red team finally made it in, and then it was pizza, cake and prizes for all! On the actual Amazing Race, the prize is $1 million dollars. Well, that's a bit out of our budget, but we found $100 GRAND chocolate bars, so gave each team a bag of 10, thereby totalling $1 million dollars. Pretty smart, huh! Derrick also made some "trophies" for the winning team. He got some "Indiana Jones" type action figures at Big Lots, spray painted them gold, and attached them to a wooden base painted black with a plaque on it that said "Luke's Amazing Birthday Race 2009" (total cost - about $2.50 each!). Pretty cool. Unfortunately, Luke's team didn't win, so he didn't get a trophy. Now D is going to have to make him an extra one!

Special thanks to Ernie, Brian (and D) who were our drivers; Daelin, Charles (and Chad) who were the videographers/cameramen; Julie, Liz, Paula, Sherry (Macy and I) who were the "clue boxes"; Aunt Heidi who hung out with Reed and Haley while this was all going on; and Patti for the birthday candles. We definately couldn't have done it without all of your help!

Now I think we can get jobs on the actual Amazing Race. Anyone know if they're hiring?????