A Chance To Be A Part of Memorial Day

Saturday, May 24

We were so honored to have the opportunity to be a part of celebrating the fallen veterans this Memorial Day. We joined with hundreds of families from all kinds of scouting troops to place flags on the graves of the veteran men and women in the cemetery near our house. We've celebrated Memorial Day at this cemetery before, but we'd never come before the ceremony to help out.

We had no idea what to expect when we arrived, but the cemetery is massive, so we knew it would take a while to get through it all. I half-expected them to hand us maps of the grave sites and to tell us which ones should have a flag on it, but I was a little surprised when they just put out 3000+ flags in big plastic tubs and told us to grab some and just go find the marked headstones ourselves.

 There were other kids there from our AHG troop, but we separated from everyone right after the flag ceremony because we really wanted to be the ones who placed the flag on my grandfather's grave. We had grabbed an extra flag, but it didn't even dawn on me to ask for directions to his grave site. I'd been there a couple of times and knew approximately where it was, so I figured I could find it pretty easily. As we started to head out, we met some friends of ours who joined us on our hike out to his grave.

After a little while of searching, we decided to go ahead and place some of the flags we were already holding on the military graves we were passing, rather than just walk right by them. We laughed at how random the girls were, talking and looking around as they walked. They placed several flags but also missed several graves as they went along. They jumped from row to row without noticing, working in columns and zig-zags. I wasn't sure how much we were helping things at this point. Larry and I followed behind them, trying to pick up all of the ones they'd missed and we noticed that the other scouts were missing some as well. We also noticed as we walked that many of the headstones had symbols on them or weren't in English and I wished there was some way to actually know which ones were veterans so we could honor them all. It also started to dawn on me that although my grandfather had a proper military burial, I don't remember it being printed on his headstone that he was even in the military. It certainly wasn't the defining factor of his character, or even a major part of who he was as a person. It didn't define his accomplishments, but was just one of many things worthy of honor that he did in his lifetime. I thought about how many other headstones had been made by family and friends who appreciated the deceased's contribution to their country and yet didn't include it in the printed words. Maybe they wanted to say something else instead. Maybe they had forgotten that part of their loved one's life. Or maybe it happened before they were born, and they didn't even know. I thought about them as I walked and placed flags on the headstones that were marked, and I hoped someone somewhere was thinking about those unmarked graves and the sacrifice they made.

We continued the hunt for my grandfather's grave, knowing that if it was indeed marked, we were now in a race against dozens of extremely anxious Boy Scouts, whom I felt would surely reach the site before we did. I tried desperately to remember where his grave site was, but the area just didn't look right. The headstones were facing the wrong way and the hill just didn't seem right. I flagged someone down in a little golf cart and asked if she could help me. She called the front office and they were able to tell her which area of the cemetery his plot was in, but unfortunately, since she works in the front office, she had no idea where that place was. She managed to wave over a few of the grounds people and they eventually pointed her in the right direction. We had wandered off to another area to keep looking and she came driving up on the cart to tell us that her and C had found it and C had already placed the flag there. The rest of the girls rode on the cart and Larry and I walked over to the grave site to see. I was glad we had made all that effort to find his headstone because it didn't say anything about the military and would surely have been skipped over by the other scouts.

We spent another hour or so going through random rows and placing more flags on graves that had obviously been missed by kids who'd skipped around and been distracted. I wondered how many would be missed entirely, but was very proud of the dozens that our families had personally honored by placing flags by their graves. We weren't sure how anyone could know when the job was finished, with 400 scouts wandering randomly around a 330+ acre property, but when we saw groups of families walking back towards the starting area with flags in their hands, we figured that the task must be close to being finished. I had the feeling there were still a few missed sites out there, but it would have taken us weeks to wander that entire cemetery looking for them, so we just looked in a few more areas on our way back to the entrance, turned our flags in, and headed to lunch.

Monday, May 26

We went back today to watch the Memorial Day Ceremony itself. If you've never been to one, it's an experience you won't soon forget. Hearing Veterans speak about their experiences, and each and every one of them thanking you for taking the time to remember them and support them, is truly a life-changing experience. This ceremony is especially beautiful and well-done at this site, and I'm proud that our city takes such an active role in honoring the families and friends of our fallen heroes.

Happy Memorial Day!

The Amazing Easter, Part 2

We had a tiny window of time with Jessey this morning, and I intended to make the very most of it and cram as much Easter fun into it as I could. Church was out around 10:20, and he had to be at work by 12:30, which left us just about two hours, including travel time, to do as much as possible.

I'd been trying to think of a mini-version of The Amazing Easter that I could do with Jessey, but we would lose way too much time traveling. So I decided to do Minute to Win It games instead. My mom was planning an Easter egg hunt for all of the kids, and she had a pretty cool activity planned for Jessey, too. I spent a couple of hours watching Minute to Win It Blueprint videos on YouTube, looking for ones I thought would be fun and that I could easily setup and find the supplies for. I took notes and went shopping, and had a bag all packed for the morning.

My mom and I had talked about where we would do the Easter egg hunt. Parks would be too crowded, plus it had to be nearby to cut down on travel time. Then I remembered this doctor office Jessey used to go to when he was a little kid, right across the street from the park where he works now. We would be nearby, we'd likely be the only ones there, we'd have tons of space, and we'd be shielded from the street by trees so we wouldn't attract any attention. It turned out to be the perfect place!

Don't mind my mom's commentary :)

Once the girls had found all of their eggs (C found more than the other two combined!), they sat down to count their candies and cash. Jessey had slips of paper in his eggs, though, and in order to complete his hunt, my mom had made up a big gameboard for him. The slips of paper had random numbers on them and the board had clues for weird trivia facts (like how many squares were on a Monopoly board, or how many years between the Olympics held in Los Angeles). He had to match up the number that was the correct answer to each question. It took him quite a while to get them all right, but eventually he figured them all out. 

I thought for sure I had some video of them doing the Minute to Win It tasks, but I can't find them now. We did the empty-the-tissue-box-with-one-had (Hanky Panky), and Jessey beat all of his sisters, although they had a ridiculously fun time making a big mess. We did the get-the-ping-pong-balls-out-of-the-tissue-box-by-shaking-all-around (Junk in the Trunk) that K demonstrates in the video below and Jessey did with no problem at all. We did the get-the-pennies-out-of-the-panty-hose-legs (Penny Hose) which Jessey completed in a matter of seconds and I figured I must have done wrong somehow, and the move-the-Oreo-from-your-forehead-to-your-mouth-using-only-your-face-muscles (Face the Cookie) which resulted in a bunch of Oreo cookies all over the ground and no winners at all. Jessey did the balance-the-half-empty-soda-can-on-its-diagonal-side (Tipsy) and was surprisingly good at it, although drinking the root beer from the can proved to be the biggest challenge and he ended up having to pour it in the planter instead to save his stomach. He tried the split-M&Ms-by-color (Separation Anxiety) but failed, and the bounce-the-ping-pong-balls-and-stick-them-to-lint-rollers (Stick to It) was a bust because the lint rollers were nowhere near sticky enough to catch the ping-pong balls. We half-tried a few more, but they're a little harder to setup and ensure accuracy of on an asphalt parking lot that is full of little twigs and dead leaves.

Eventually, we ran out of time and had to take Jessey across the street to work. I made sure to give him his well-earned Easter basket so he could look through it for a few minutes before he left, and then we said goodbye until dinner. We had planned to visit our traditional Sunday lunch spot at Boston Market, for the sake of A who does not handle it well if we go anywhere else. After lunch, we'd planned to finish The Amazing Easter, completing the final two legs and then giving the girls their Easter baskets.

Leg 10 involved a series of questions. My mom and I had walked the mall late at night a couple of days earlier when all the shops were closed and we wrote more than 40 questions from different stores in the area. Answers could be found on signs, price tags, logos, store numbers, light colors, displays, and even the number of chairs in the hair salon (we would have accepted either 36 or 37, because we weren't quite sure ourselves). We were hoping that no sales had changed in the last two days and that no signs would be hidden or mannequin's clothes replaced. What we weren't counting on, was that all the stores in the mall would be closed. I hadn't even thought of that when we were there the day before. Thankfully they'd been closed when we made the questions, and although we whined about the limited options at the time, we were glad we had done it that way, or they wouldn't have been able to find the answers now. But sadly, our fun was all cut short when we realized that they were using this holiday to do some construction in the mall and  had caution-taped off almost two-thirds of the mall space. We were so sad that all of our hard work thinking of witty questions had been cut down to 1/3 of its former glory. And we seriously regretted calling the game off earlier the day before. Even if the stores had been closed, at least we could have gotten to walk to them. But who would have ever thought the mall would be blocked off? Not us, that's for sure.

The girls answered as many questions as they could, and then we sat down at the end of the mall for the traditional end-of-the-race puzzle. If any of you have seen The Amazing Race, you should remember this one. I had printed pictures representing each leg of the race and they had to assemble them in the order they had done them. I separated the girls so they couldn't see each other's papers. Right away, they all had one picture they just couldn't place. "When did we go on a plane?" they all said. Even the adults had a hard time figuring it out. Within a couple of minutes they had them all in the right order, except for the airplane. A said she was done, but when I went over to check, she had 9 of the pictures in the right order and had hidden the airplane picture under her leg, hoping I wouldn't notice. Nice try.

Eventually it dawned on C where she had seen a plane and she called me over to check her paper. She was right! Do you remember where it was? It was the plane on the playground they were supposed to find the nickname for. I walked the victorious C out to the car to claim her Easter basket and then came back in to check on the other two. It's possible they looked at C's paper, or that someone had given them a little hint, or maybe they just figured it out on their own, but soon the other two had the right answer as well and I gave them their Easter baskets. They dug into them right there in the middle of the deserted mall floor and began digging right into their candy and treats.

We headed home for some much-needed relaxation at the end of this crazy weekend, but I don't know what in the world I'm going to do for Easter next year!

Actual Date: April 20

The Amazing Easter, Part 1

Growing up, my mom always had this fun tradition to help us find our Easter baskets. She would leave a trail of jelly beans along the floor with an empty paper cup at the beginning. We'd follow the trail through the house and at the end of the trail we'd find our Easter basket. It was such a cute tradition that I continued it with Jessey, and then with A, but after that we had some serious logistical problems. We moved into a house where the bedrooms shared a hallway, the three girls shared one bedroom, and the floor was tile. This means that the slightest bump, the littlest rolling bean, a simple trip to the bathroom in the night, and the trails were history, if you could even tell them apart in the first place, that is.

So, about 6 or 7 years ago, I had this great idea. I decided to just hide the Easter baskets and make it a treasure hunt to find them. I started out hiding eggs around the house with clues inside - sometimes they'd be clever and written in rhymes and sometimes they'd just be simple, like "Go look in the fridge". Each child would have one egg for each year they were old, and the last egg would lead them to their baskets. This system worked great for a few years, and the kids loved it, but eventually I ran out of witty material and original places to hide things and I needed a new plan. So one year I just hid eggs around the house, a different color for each kid, and inside were puzzle-pieces I'd cut from a sheet of paper. They had to reassemble the pieces and then follow the directions, which were spelled out in paces ("Take 3 steps forward, turn left, take 9 steps, etc.."). This took some serious planning and estimation as I tried to guess at the different-sized feet, but once again the kids loved it. And by this point, the Easter basket tradition had become something they all looked forward to - and something I winced at. Why had I thought this was a good idea so many years ago? Every year I kept trying to be creative (except the one year I wimped out and just hid their baskets, and the one year I just handed the baskets to them). And then this year, I had a great idea. Why not make looking for their baskets like the TV show The Amazing Race? We could make a whole weekend out of it, doing fun activities with each other, and enjoy the hunt as a family. If you're thinking that it sounds like fun, so was I (and it was!), and if you're thinking it sounds like a lot of work, then you are certainly right.

I called it The Amazing Easter, and I even made a logo for the event.

Look familiar?

I bought envelopes at the teacher supply store, since I wanted to be authentic and have the kind with the tear-strip, just like they do on the TV show. Each envelope had the logo on it and the Leg # written on it, with a clue and cash inside, just like the show.

I spent a couple of weeks thinking through the possible tasks in my head and working things out with my mom, and then we spent an entire day driving the whole route, looking for landmarks, noting important details, hours of operation, fares and fees, and obstacles that may present a problem. We also had to set approximate times for transportation schedules, and to fit in meal times. I definitely have a new respect for The Amazing Race production staff!

On Friday night I packed all of the envelopes - 11 Legs for each of the three girls - complete with clues, answer sheets to fill out, and of course, cash. Here's what they had to do.

We started at 11am at the train at Vasona Park. My dad was driving the train that day so A had gone with him to fire up the engine at 6am. We met her there and started the race near the train station. Their first quest was an easy one. They just had to take the cash in the envelope and buy a snack and drink for themselves, and buy a water bottle to give to a worker they didn't know. We had agreed on a water bottle ahead of time since that's the only food or drink staff members can have while on duty, and we thought giving food to a complete stranger (my original idea) might be scary for the girls, and maybe a little bit creepy for the strangers.

Once that leg was complete, they were given their next clue. This one was a little more cryptic. First, they had to figure out from the clue that they were supposed to ride on the carousel. And then, each one had instructions that they were supposed to ride "with" a specific animal (that they had to figure out from a different clue). See that animal barely visible on the chest of the horse? That's what they were looking for. It took them all a while, but A and C managed to figure it out in time to hop on and ride, but K was still puzzled by the time the ride started so she had to wait until the next go-round to ride her assigned horse.

The next clue told them to take a ride on the train and they had to fill out the answers to some questions along the way (of course this required us walking the entire track the day before to see what would be visible from the train since it was only open on weekends). They only had to get two of the four (one was a  bonus) question right in order to get their next clue. They had to count the swings on the playground, find the speed limit on the road next to the train, and write down all the letters on the switch signs next to the track. The bonus question asked them to estimate how high the trellis bridge is (it's about 5 feet). A managed to get all the questions right, and the other two got 3 right, so we were off to the next leg. 

This one required them to go to the playground and look at the real plane they have there. It's a fighter jet and on the plaque it said the plane's nickname. They were supposed to write the nickname down. The first time they ran all the way out there and ran back with the answer of the letters that were printed on the side of the plane. I told them that wasn't right and sent them back again. They all returned a second time with the real name of the plane from the plaque instead of the nickname, but after running to the playground and back twice, I didn't have the heart to send them a third time. They'd actually been running the whole way because in true Amazing Race style, the clue said "Warning: The last person to check in, may go hungry." Lunch was our next stop.

We headed back to our cars and drove out to Togo's for lunch. We were running a little behind schedule and we were going to either have to eat in 10 minutes, or miss our bus and catch the next one 30 minutes later. We opted for the latter and hoped we'd make up time somewhere else.

Once we'd all finished our lunch, I gave the girls their next clue. It told them to take bus #66 and to get off after they saw Original Joe's, a restaurant downtown. I hadn't looked at the bus stop, so I said take the bus 'north' when the sign only said the end-of-the-line name instead, so I had to break my own rule and tell them which way to go. But once on the bus, they kept their eagle-eyes out for Original Joe's. We had driven the bus route two days before, searching for a landmark that was easily visible, between the previous stop and theirs. I was really thankful we found one! The clue also told them to follow the signs to the Tech Museum, which happened with some manageable level of chaos.

Once we were in front of the museum, they got their next clue, which told them to go to the billiard-ball machine, choose a single ball, and follow it through the maze three times. They were supposed to write down if the ball took the same path or different paths, though they were yelling at, cheering for, and encouraging their balls so much during the trips that it was hard to miss what was going on. If you haven't seen the billiard ball machine before, you should go see it!

Surprisingly, everyone's journeys ended right about the same time, so they received their next clues which told them to walk to the Museum of Quilts and Textiles. This museum is seriously one of the coolest museums around, and if you haven't been there before, you are really missing out. My mom and I were looking for something else fun and interesting to do downtown so we didn't just ride the bus out and back, and this was the first thing we thought of. We weren't in there long, but I don't ever mind giving this place some money to keep supporting what they're doing. The only hard part was that we couldn't visit the museum ahead of time without paying, and the questions I tried to write based on the text descriptions on their website, were pretty horrible and nearly impossible to answer. Thankfully, they had a prepared scavenger hunt that they offer to kids who come into the museum, so we just switched to that. They had a huge potholder collection on display that was really fun for the girls to look at, and the theme of the front room was all food-based textiles, so that was kid-friendly, too. I wish I could have taken some pictures in there to show you, but you'll just have to go and see for yourself. :)  We all were so busy looking around the museum and spent way more time in there than we had allotted. So now our 30 minute delay had become over an hour, and I was getting a little nervous about the timing of the last few legs. We were supposed to finish the race today, but that possibility was quickly slipping away and it was looking like the race would carry over into Easter Sunday.

Once we left the museum, the clue told the girls to hop on the lightrail and take it to Oakridge Mall. Our bus passes wouldn't have been good for two trips anyway, so we decided to try another mode of transportation out of downtown. The clue told them to go to Sorabol. It was the only place in the food court I knew they hadn't heard of and couldn't necessarily guess by the name. We would need the food court tables, but they would need a map to figure out where Sorabol was once they got to the mall from the lightrail station.

Once they found Sorabol, I gave them their next clue (#9 if you're keeping track), and I was so sad to realize that we'd have to rush this clue since I thought it was one of the cleverest clues I'd made. We were going to have to skip #10 for today because #9's activity was looming. It literally started 15 minutes after we got to the mall. This is how #9 was supposed to happen: The envelope for #9 contained no clue, just 30 pieces of a small puzzle that they had to put together on the table and $8.75 in cash. They would assemble the puzzle and then wonder what to do next. Hopefully, one of them would have noticed some blue writing on the back of one of their pieces, or they would lift it up by chance to look at the back. Once they did, they would notice a giant letter written in blue Sharpie on the back of their puzzle. Each of them would turn their puzzle over and realize that one had the letter "R", one had an "I", and one had "O2". Then they would realize that the clue was telling them to go watch the movie Rio2, and the money was to buy a movie ticket with. They would buy their movie ticket and then we'd do Leg #10 while we waited for the movie to start.

That was the plan. Here's how it really went: They opened the clue and dumped the pieces out on the table. I snatched up all the cash and ran off to buy the tickets for the movie for everyone really quickly. I came back and all the adults tried to help the girls hurry to put the puzzles together without seeming like we were rushing them or taking over. Once the puzzles were all together, I gave the girls about 30 seconds to think of something before giving it away and turning one of the puzzles over. Well, almost. Turns out that when you buy a dollar store puzzle and assemble it once, it sticks together enough to turn it over. When you assemble it again and try to turn it over, the whole thing falls apart all over the place. So, I did my best to put enough pieces near each other that they could make out the letters on the back. They did actually guess it, and then we all ran upstairs with just a few minutes until the movie started.

After the movie was over, we were all pretty wiped out and decided to officially end the race for the night and pick it up again in the morning after church. We met my dad and Jessey for dinner and then called it a day.

Actual Date: April 19