Topic: AMAZING GRACE RACE 2011

[kadilahopper]

Merry Christmas all race fans.  We completed our Hubbard's Amazing Grace Race on December 11 and I wanted to share our fun with you.  As a stroke survivor this year was special for me.  I designed the shirts our racers and drivers wore.  One of the tasks took place at the nursing home that my Uncle Edsel resides at.  He is a quadraplegic who can only move his head and one thumb, yet he mentors to almost a hundred service men in our armed forces through his computer, one click at a time.  His perseverance  and rock solid faith in God astound me and I love his spirit.  I wanted to include him in this years race so he was one of my monitors with the clue and answer to part of this years puzzle clue.  He loved it.  The boys loved it.  And I loved it.  I have not got the pics yet from the nursing home, but I have pics from the other tasks.  The tasks were as follows:

1.  Find the buried treasure:  Collect 3 golden stars---task was on the beach
2.  Find  the golden name tag:  Collect 3 golden name tags--task was at the nursing home
3.  Find the treasure:   Follow map and Collect 2 silver coins, one red gum ball, one green gumball--task was at the mall
4,  Find the golden cards:  Collect 3 golden cards---task was at ball field
5.  Solve the puzzle:  4 treasure cards had special date in our family's history. 
      Clue gave a number for each letter needed in the months of the date.  for example: September--1st, 3rd, 8th

This really is a wonderful family tradition at our home and every year more people are stopping us during our race around Wilmington and asking about how to create their own race.   It really is a family bonding experience that will last a lifetime.  You shoud try it.  A tragedy started our tradition, but love and family brought it to fruition.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!
 You should try it. 

[kadilahopper]

The first pics were of the first task.  The next pics are of the 3rd task at the mall

[kadilahopper]

The next pics were at the ball field.  They had to ride those itty bitty bikes around the bases and collect 1 envelope at a time from each base.  When they found the golden card from one base they skipped that base and continued to the others until they had one golden card from each base.  To some it was truly frustrating.  It took Travis 14 trips to 3rd base to get his golden ticket.  But he PERSEVERED!!!!!

[georgiapeach]

Looks like fun!! Thanks for sharing your story, very inspiring!

[kadilahopper]

The last pics are of the boys trying to solve the puzzle and the family race photos.  I hope you enjoy them.

It only cost me 32 dollars to put on this race this year.  The biggest cost was renting the 4 bikes for 20 dollars from a thrift store. (you can't tell, but they were real rust buckets, but all I needed was for them to roll :<)  ).  The rest of the items I used for the race came from the Dollar Store, and my back yard.   

I hope our race inspires you to create your own tradition.  It will bring your family closer together.
AND THAT IS PRICELESS