Julie's Blog: The Amazing Race- Yes, We Participated (Literally)!

The church that Ben and Nicole attend hosted a really fun event today that Dan and I were invited to participate in along with them. It was coordinated by a couple in Ben and Nicole's Sunday School class, and they did a fantastic job creating clues and challenges similar to those that are on The Amazing Race (though we didn't have to bungee jump or scale any gigantic buildings). There were 5 teams of 4 that began at the church, and we had to drive all over the city to find 25 clues and complete various challenges. Challenges/activities that we had to complete along the way included: Correctly matching up the Italian names with photos of 10 animals, completing an obstacle course at a bounce house place (similar to the one that we took Ethan and Kara to yesterday), picking 40 apples at an orchard after finding a designated tree from which to pick them, each hitting balls in a batting cage, each of us dribbling soccer balls half the length of a soccer field and making a goal, convincing 2000 lbs worth of Wal-Mart customers to allow us to weigh them at the entrance to the store (somehow the pregnant lady ended up doing most of the talking/convincing as it was easier for me to persuade people- I think they felt sorry for me!), finding a clue in a pile of manure, getting a golf ball in the hole with 4 consecutive hits (one from each of us), finding a specific book at the public library, finding a specific video case at a local video store then each of us had to correctly file 3 returned videos (which was more difficult than we thought!), each had to carry a bag of potatoes around a church member's house on our heads (like they do in Africa with the assistance of a scarf), finding a tombstone with an anchor on it in a large cemetery, plus a few more things. We had SO much fun and made a lot of great memories. Finding all of the clues and completing the challenges took about 3 and a half hours. We had to take a photo upon receiving each clue, so I'll post some of those here. When all of the teams had returned to the church, we shared a delicious taco dinner and had some fun fellowship time. Despite the race occurring over naptime, Ethan and Kara did really well in the nursery and had fun running around the gymnasium while we ate and visited.

Dan and Ben at church before the race began

In the lobby of the library

Just hit the golf ball into the hole in 4 strokes! (Yes, the green was right next to a cornfield)

At the orchard just before we collected 40 apples

After successfully finding a hidden case and filing 12 DVDs correctly at the video store

After each of us carried a bag of potatoes around the house on our heads (we should have gotten a photo of us in action!) I'm sure that we provided amusement for the neighbors...