Martin Luther King Jr. Day fun

Monday was a holiday from school for the kids. We had a fun-filled day. We left the house at 7:30 in the morning to arrive at the dentist's office at 8. We were done by 8:45 and all children passed with no cavities - YEAH!! Then it was off to the Valley Rockwood Clinic for H1N1 booster shots for those under the age of 9, so the youngest four got shots.

Playing while waiting for her turn.

Apparently I missed Darik's cleaning in all the commotion. But here's a pic of the beautiful smiles.


We headed back to the house for about 45 minutes for me to start some laundry and take care of a few e-mails. We left about 10:45 and headed for Albertson's to pick up picnicking supplies. It was a beautiful day that was sunshiny and warm, about 50 degrees. While walking into Albertson's Rachel said, "Isn't that a bald eagle?" We looked up over the cemetery across the road and, sure enough, a bald eagle was circling. It was so cool to see one so "close". Not close enough for a picture but you could clearly see its white tail and head. A woman leaving the store looked up and said, "I think that's a bald eagle." So we weren't the only ones to see and identify it.

After Albertson's it was off to the mall. There we met the Brown family. The Browns have 5 kids and brought a friend along too so we had 13 kids age 13 and younger at the mall. Now what do you do with a group like that? Well, if you're lucky enough to have Jen, their mom and my friend, in your life you get to have something fun planned. We kept Sarah and Caleb at the play area and then broke the other 11 into teams of three. We armed them with cameras and lists and sent them out for a scavenger hunt.

The lovely contestants.

The winning team.


When we finished the scavenger hunt we picnicked at the mall. Food court food is too cost-prohibitive with a group our size. After lunch we headed for SavageLand. That's a pizza joint out in the valley where there is a play structure kids can play in for $2.50 a piece.
Just a few hot and sweaty kids after playing hard.


All in all it was a great day! While the kids were running around the mall, not literally, we planned our next scavenger hunt to be held on February 15th. We think the kids will really enjoy it. You'll enjoy the next set of pictures from that escapade.