Last Saturday, July 22nd, we had the CBC Amazing Race for the Sr. Highers. The concept was taken from the CBS television show Amazing Race where teams travel all over the world racing against each other as they participate in different challenges. Obviously we did not have the time or money to travel all over the world, but we did travel all over Aurora.
We had two teams of four. Team 1 was made up of Brad, Jakob, Melinda, and Annie. Team 2 was made up of Jess, Jess, Rick, and Alyson. These two teams participated in 11 different challenges and different people's homes from CBC. Each team had a driver and videotaper. Team 1 was driven by Mrs. Arnold and taped by David. Team 2 was driven by Mrs. Mulligan and taped by Ryan. Each team was given an envelope with instructions in it about the event, and when they had finished the event they were given another envelope with further instructions and usually a map to the next place.
Do you want to know what they did? All right here are the details:
1. We started at the church. The first challenge involved solving a giant word search puzzle. One player found the words and circled them. The other 3 players could help but had to stand behind a line in their help. The focus of the word search puzzle was the attributes of God.
2. The next challenge involved driving to the Wick's home where 1 team member was blindfolded and had to reach into a bag with 30 balloons. Each balloon had a message written on it, but most just conveyed the idea that they had to keep going. They were looking for the balloon with the word "Congratulations" on it. The other team members stood at a distance and when the balloon was blown up by the blindfolded team member, they could read the message. There was also "Delay" written on one of the balloons, and team 2 found it. A delay meant that the team had to stop for 5 minutes and wait before continuing the challenge and race.
3. From the Wick's home, the teams went just around the corner to Linda Weddle's home. Here they were given gloves, a shovel, and a trowel with the instructions to fill a box with weeds. When the box was filled to Mrs. Weddle's satisfaction, the kids received their next clue.
4. The clue told them to go to the Scarbrough's house in North Aurora. At this stop 1 team member had to take a Bible quiz of 25 multiple choice questions. What the kids did not know was that the first test they were given was not the real test. The instructions said to read all the questions before beginning. Question #23 told them this was not the real test (I have actually had this trick done to me when I was in school). But both teams did not realize this until they got to question #23. Then they got the real Bible quiz. The other team members could be told the question by the one person taking the test, but they couldn't be told the answer choices. Every question on the test had to be answered correctly, and if there were questions wrong, the host could tell them how many they missed but not which ones they missed. This made this challenge last a pretty good amount of time. By the way, at the end of this challenge, Team 1 was in the lead by a few minutes.
5. The next challenge involved the kids going to a local store parking lot and rounding up grocery carts. Each team had to round up 20 carts at one location. The carts had to be taken to one central cart hub that the team chose. And as the kids deposited the carts, they had to say "Yee Haw" or "Get along little doggie". Once the 20 carts were "rounded up" the team's driver gave them their next clue.
6. The teams now had to go to the Anderson's home. Here they were given 3 20oz. beverages. One was water, one was Sprite, and one was Coke. Three team members had to be chosen for this event, one for each beverage. The beverages had to be drunk completely. When the first team member completely finished his/her drink, the next team member started. When that team member finished, the final team member started. When that team member finished, he/she had to burp and say "Thank you very much". They then received their next clue.
7. The next two challenges took place at the DeVries home in Oswego. One team member was chosen to build a banana split with all the ingredients given. All ingredients had to be used entirely. The banana split would be judged by the DeVries and the winner of the best looking ice cream treat would be rewarded with 3 minutes off their time. Once they were finished constructing the banana split, the teams were given their next clue. The next clue told the teams to eat the banana split as a team. Everyone had to have at least a little bite. The funny thing was that Team 1 left the DeVries home and got in their van before opening their clue. So they then had to get back out and come back inside losing a few minutes. Team 1 still was in the lead, but only by a minute or two.
8. The next challenge involved going to our (Bonner's) house and having 1 team member search through empty boxes (still left from the move last August) looking for the next clue. When the next clue was found, it gave instructions about the next place to go. However, scattered with the clues were envelopes that had a "Delay" in them. And team 2 got this delay as well. Team 1 was now further ahead.
9. The next challenge involved going to Warren and Kris Scharbert's home. However, this was just the beginning of this challenge. At their home, they left a little red box with streamers that contained the next clue. Warren and Kris were awaiting the kids elsewhere. The clue at the park told them to walk or run to Lincoln Park, just a couple of blocks away and look for familiar faces and the sound of thumping. There was also a bonus opportunity - the kids were to bring six balloons with them (these were attached to the outside stairs at the Scharbert's home). Once the kids got to the park they were given their next challenge. This challenge involved them shooting a free throw with a basketball. Sounds easy? Maybe, except two team members had to do it together with a hand from each team member on the ball at the same time while shooting. The teams were required to make 3 free throws with a different combination of shooters, but only 2 if they brought the balloons. (Both teams came bearing balloons). When this was completed, they received their next clue. It told them to walk or run from Lincoln Park to the church (about 6-7 blocks away). Team 1 was still in the lead by a few minutes.
10. Once at the church, I was awaiting them with their final challenge. Letters were hidden all over the church. These letters when unscrambled spelled out a phrase. The team had to find all the letters and then unscramble the letters. When the puzzle was solved they would be finished with the race. The answer to the puzzle was "Congratulations you finished the race". Each word's letters were a different color to give the teams a little bit of a hint. However, the letters were hidden all over the church and some were hard to find (like the one taped under the toilet seat lid). While Team 1 came in with the lead and the 3 minute bonus for the best banana split, Team 2 was able to come back and find all the letters first to win the race.
Overall, it was a great race. It also took 4 hours to complete. And the kids were worn out at the end. Who knows, this may be the first of many races to come. We'll have to wait and see. Congratulations to both teams for a race well run!
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Woot! The Amazing Race was awesome! except for chugging the pop, that was gross and i just recently was able to approach Sprite....
... yeah, i want to do that again!
~Jessica aka "Mama Smurf"
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