2010 Nelson Family Home Evening Day Photo Scavenger Hunt
A serendipitous turn of events on the Monday commemorating MLK. I was on call all weekend which meant I got Monday off to rest. The kids had the day off as well. So before Wendy and I hit the sack Sunday night, we planned a scavenger hunt hoping I wouldn't have to go back in that night. I got lucky and so Monday morning we were off with the four children in tow with the following scavenger hunt list:
-Eat Lunch with a troll under a bridge
-At "Ye Olde Curiosity Shop" find a tarantula, viking hat and a mummy
-Try a new fruit of vegetable that you've never tasted at the Market
-Have your palm read at the Magic Store
-Find Old fashioned lunch boxes at the Toy Store
-Find a flying fish
-Ride a pig that doesn't move
-Make a Penny Press
-Buy some Bubble Gum, chew it and put it on the Bubble Gum Wall
-Give Lunch to a homeless person
-Have Fun!!!
We headed off to Seattle, and below are some of the pictures from the Hunt.
Above and below is the giant troll under the Fremont Bridge who is eating a VW Bug. We thought we should join him. The children also climbed all over him but Wendy and I didn't want to stay too long as it was our first stop and much dirtier than we expected.
Here is the piggy back ride, right in front of the "flying fish" market.
Did you know that there is more than one bronze pig in the Pike's Market? I didn't either but we happened upon a second that was much larger and taller so Andrew decided to put the smooch on the pig as pictured below. 
For the new fruit or vegetable, we tried one of both. The first picture is the children trying a blood orange, very tasty. They look just like a regular orange. The peel has a slight difference being that it has some maroon coloring on it. Brian started getting a little anxious once the peel came off and he saw the dark color of pulp.. We got him to take a bite but when the juices hit his tongue, it was immediately rejected. Andrew later asked some interesting questions. The first, how do they get the dark color in? and second - - is it real blood? It was good for a little laugh.
This is Eric trying a new vegetable, kind of. We got a bushel of multicolored carrots. Interestingly, the dark purple carrots had more flavor than the other yellow and orange ones.
Next is "Ye Olde Curiosity Shop" that some of our friends showed us when we came up with them. Rachel has the tarantula, Eric has the viking hat on, and the Mummy, Sylvester, is pickled/preserved and standing behind. This shop has a whole bunch of curious things to look at.
Here is Brian and Wendy getting their palm read at the Magic Shop. We prefer the electric palm readers. We all gave it a spin since the shop clerk so kindly uncovered it from the plastic and plugged it in just for us (they were under construction at the time but still open). Brian's reading was "Nasty Relatives" as was Rachel's. Eric's reading was "Lucky in Love," we are still probing into its meaning but Eric isn't saying a thing. Wendy was also "Lucky in Love." Andrew's was "Free Spirit." My reading was "Happiness is Yours" of which I couldn't agree more. It was beautiful day in the mid 50's, sunny and pleasant, and we had a very successful outing with four beautiful, lovely children that we couldn't adore more. I think they are the best children ever, but I could be biased.
The consensus favorite was the bubble gum wall. If you've never seen this wall or one like it, come and visit us (free room and board), and we'll take you up to see this spectacle. I don't consider myself a "germ-a-phobe," or even anything close, but this wall gives you that swelling of heebeejeebees into your stomach like none other. You don't want touch it or even get close to it, but you definitely want to see it to believe it. And we even had bubble gum that we all stuck on it which was still creepy in that germ-a-phobe sort of way.
Click on these pictures if you really want to get your share of heebeejeebes, it's something else.
And finally, here is Rachel with that "should I really be touching this even if I only touch my own gum because this is really grossing me out. . . Mom, hurry up and take the picture!"
Oh to be so young and carefree . . .
