Day Four - Amazing Race

Day four we got up, coffee, visit, walk, swim, lunch, swim, clean-up, played cards, ate dinner and then it was time for the much anticipated Smith Lake 2010 AMAZING RACE!

Of course, I had been working on the race details for weeks and leaking out small amounts of information about the games here and there during conversations with the family. Some were eager to get at it, some were dreading it with every fiber of their being, some were just along for the ride.

Here is how it was organized. There were four teams - Orange, Green, Blue and Pink. Each team had a PassPort that included 10 locations with specific challenges. There were five locations that had to be visited and the task completed in the first half and five more in the second half. The judge in each location was responsible for timing each teams effort and documenting the PassPort with the results. There was a maximum time limit of 15 minutes for each challenge. Here is a quick summary of the locations and the challenges.

FIRST HALF OF PLAY:


Italy - Each team had to build an eight story tower of dominos with each member of the team required to construct two floors each. Upon completion the team had to sing The Barney song loud and proud to the judge. This is where Mario, "The Nice One's" spouse got into serious judging persona and made us think we were really in Italy!

France - There were three 50 pc puzzles on the table. Each team selected the puzzle they wanted to build. Once selected they were handed a baggie filled with all three puzzle pieces. They had to sort their puzzle pieces out of the 150 in the bag and construct the puzzle.

Vegas - Each team had to sort through a giant jar of pennies to find four unique pennies. Much easier than we expected. Upon completion of the first task the team had to take turns rolling three dice until they were able to roll three of the same number. Much harder than we expected.

Arizona - Each team had to unscramble a paragraph of words to decipher the challenge. The challenge itself was to blow up a balloon. Put it between your legs and walk up the steep driveway no hands. Once at the top you had to sit on the balloon to pop it. The kicker was that if anyone on your team dropped their balloon the entire team had to restart at the beginning.

New York - My personal favorite. One blindfolded team member had to put blue eyeshadow, red lipstick and blush on the face of another team member. Oh howdy was this funny!



At the beginning of the evening, we passed out team color bandanna that were mandatory to wear. There was also a mandatory fuzzy boa that had to be passed from team member to team member. Each team was given the country that they were supposed to do first and were required to run around the house to find it - no map was provided.

This is another really nice boyfriend that came to lake. Even though he had never met any of us, he embraced the challenge and even the color pink!

Let me show you the teams before we got started. Orange Team raring to go!

Pink Team was feeling pretty confident after their previous domination in the charade game.

Blue Team is taking a very serious approach - they are ready to win something!!

Green Team is looking exceptionally jolly. I think they thought I was going to help them with the challenges since I had made them all up. Not so, it was more like a three man team with a screaming maniac with a camera chasing them around the house.

We started off in Italy - reading the challenge carefully.

The domino house came together very nicely, however our singing of the Barney song did not impress Mario the first two times and we were required to sing it three times through.

Next we rushed over to New York where Chip was blindfolded and required to put make-up on his father. It was so funny!

Green Team then had to wait for the next location to open up. These boys were so excited about the challenges ahead.

In the meantime, let's take a peek at the other teams in New York. I think Guke is enjoying this just a little too much.

The Queen laughed hysterically through her entire make over. Can you be ticklish on your face?

Pudding Head looked like she stepped out of a fashion magazine. Her and her sister had it figured out and knocked this one out of the ballpark for the pink team.

Green Team facing the puzzle challenge. We can do this guys.

Next, we were outside with the White Legged Plumber judge. He was hardcore! I think maybe he was a little pissed that I put him at an outside event instead of in the air conditioning. This was the event where you had to unscramble the paragraph to figure out the challenge. Hubby could have definitely used me on this one, but since I wrote it, I couldn't help. I am way too honest. See if you can do it:


LOBW PU LALNBON.

UPT TI WTEEENB ROYU GSLE.

NRU OT ETH EDDGINSATE AARE

HITW THE NABOLLN ENBEETW

OYUR ELSG. DPOR TI, TTSRA VREO.

NCEO HETRE, IST NO LANOBOL OT

OPP TI!!!

We finally got it figured out and were off to the races. Don't you love the way Harold has his shorts jacked up. Looks like he might be in need of some antibiotics.

Hubby was struggling the last little bit, holding on to his balloon with nothing but leg hair and pure determination. Maybe he had some lipstick in his eye.

Inside, the blue team wrapped up their final location at the Puzzle station.

There were a few complaints lodged with the head judge, but he dismissed all of them. While the judges prepped for the next station the teams sat around and compared notes.

Spirits were high.

You can most definitely see who got the worse time on this event.

Or not. The Queen looks pretty freaky.

Pudding Head and her fellow look almost normal.

A little adding up of time and maybe strategizing ways to shave seconds off their time. Or Mal is just trying to get her Aunt Jemina scarf situated.

Here are the locations and challenges for the second half of the race.

China - One teammate feeds the other team 10 jelly beans using only chopsticks. OR one team member could eat a cut of pudding with no hands.

Wonder what Blue Team picked?

Then we had some other doozies.

Africa - There was a huge tub of beads and the challenge was to make an exact replica of the bracelet sample. It was a hodge podge of beads, but everyone finished in short order.

Detroit - Dad brought his big can of various nuts, bolts, screws, nails, gaskets, hinges, basically a big coffee can full of random garage crap. In the can were 10 bolts and matching nuts. The challenge was to find five matches.

Japan - Two team members had to volley a badminton birdie back and forth ten times then it had a step two. The team had to construct a paper airplane. Each team member had to throw the airplane through the window cutout in the stairwell.

Bahamas - This one was a killer. It was a team relay and you had to carry a sponge full of water down and squeeze it into this bucket until the bucket was full. It was so hard and took forever! Note to self - Bigger Sponge or Smaller Bucket!

My family was cussing me by the end of this one and we were a hot sweaty green team.

After everyone was done, the judges convened to determine the winner. At first it was me and Dad, but we needed some double checking so we called in The Duck Lady. She brought a calculator and that helped. But dead serious, the hardest part of the whole affair was adding the time up.

Blue Team was victorious!!! Their hard core pose at the beginning paid off! Way to go Blue.

Pink team was very disappointed in their performance. The killer for them was the nuts and bolts.

Look at Chip in this picture. My boys were ten times kinda P.O.ed. We are coming back next year stronger than ever. We might even cheat a little to get the gold.

Orange Team brought up the rear. The total time separating the number one team from the fourth place team was about 3 minutes. Tight competition.

Orange Team is already training for next year. Heard Guke had them out filling up their pool with sponges and putting makeup on with eyes closed. I thought he enjoyed that too much.

Anyway, it was a big success. Tons of planning to put it together but it paid off in a night to remember! Can't wait for Amazing Race 2011!

Day Three - Caught the Big One

Day three of our fabulous lake vacation started out pretty similar to day two - minus the getting locked out of the house in the wee hours of the morning. Got up, visited, drank coffee, made breakfast, went for a walk, managed to get into a bathing suit and hit the lake.

Harold did you remember to put on sunscr.....oh, nevermind I see it, it is all over your face.

Big excitement came late morning when Mom started screaming that she had a big one. Guke had to rush over and help her tighten her line or drag or something like that.

We were all screaming like the Lock Ness monster was being pulled from the lake.

They got it out of the water without breaking the line, the pole or having my mother drug out into the lake.

That is a large catfish people!

It's a keeper! Granny is going to love frying this baby up!

Way to go Mer!

The kids all rode on the island. It looks like they are behind a boat doesn't it?

Here's the boat. Hubby was letting them float out and then trying to flip them off the floating island by pulling them really fast. Doesn't that sound like fun? No? Me either.

These three loved it and screamed "AGAIN, AGAIN" until Hubby's arms fell off.

It rained a little in the afternoon so we did some fun indoor activities.

Like, throwing this giant parachute guy from the balcony and trying to land it on the coffee table in the living room.

It was challenging but fun!

Back out in the afternoon - Toby getting his float on! These little half intertubes with seats were awesome. For $5 at Walmart I would highly recommend them as a floatation device.

Another awesome flotation device were these Oil Booms that Guke got at Costco. They were filled with stryofoam or something. Very cushy and very floaty.

Standard pool noodle holds up this kid.

"The Nice One" kept her flotation vest on the entire week. She must not have the human buoy gene that I have.

Who took this picture? Why is my youngest child laughing and drowning? Where is his life vest? Someone is in big trouble.

Granny frying up that catfish!

Wouldn't you know it was my night to cook for this crowd and now I have to compete with Granny's fresh caught catfish fillets. Not fair. Thank goodness there was only one fish and 20 something people to feed. They were still hungry at dinner.

I heart these boys.

Hubby went to the Marina to lead some more folks back to the lake house. We didn't even risk having anyone try to find the place. Stop at the marina and we will come get you.

This is Hubby's sister, we will call her The Duck Lady, with her two amazing daughters and one of their really nice boyfriends. They didn't enter the house like this...this is their pose after they beat the pants off of us in Charades. They dominated.

We still struggled, but managed to come in 2nd place. Looking at these pictures makes me think I forgot to pack shirts for my children.

Guke and his family came in third. They were not thrilled about that. Better tighten up!

"The Nice One" and her family bringing up the rear. I would give anything to have had videotape of the Queen doing her charades. The game was you had one minute to get your team to guess as many right answers as possible. The Queen is an actress in training. After her team would guess a correct answer she wanted to pause for a few minutes to soak in their accolades, big smile would be on her face and I swear she almost took a bow. It was so funny!

Tons more laughing, yelling, ribbing, family fun competition! Tomorrow, Day Four, is the big night of Amazing Race. It was beyond fun and I can't wait to show you the pictures.