The 2nd Annual "Fear Factor"

Last weekend witnessed the running of the 2nd Annual Fear Factor. Voluntary participants endured a daring obstacle course, a nail-biting infant rescue, and food that tested both their stomachs and will power.

We began our evening, as most evenings do when I am involved - late.

Yes, yes. Those of you who know me well know that I run on my own time schedule: "Hillary Standard Time. " (Usually 15-20 minutes behind everyone else.) However, this night it was not my fault. Truly. As I left my driveway (on time, I must add) , I braked at the first stop sign and the car made a horrible sound. Terrible. Metal grinding metal; like fingernails on a chalk board. (insert heebie-jeebies here)

Ashamedly, my first thoughts were along the lines of, "I can't miss this! How many times do I actually have to brake along the route to Fear Factor?" But after visions of my car hurtling offf the interstate into the river below, or into oncoming traffic, I chose to slowly limp home and call for help.

The lovely and gracious Mrs. G. picked me up and drove me back to where everyone else was gathered. We arrived about 30 minutes late, and I was shocked, shocked, by how much pizza two grown men and 8 children had eaten in one sitting.

But, enough with the rabbit trail. You want to know about Fear Factor.

Here are the basics: 8 children, 3 rounds, mucho prizes.

Round one: The Obstacle Course

Once again proving herself a fantastic event-coordinator, Mrs. G. dreamed up an obstacle course that was both challenging, yet completely do-able by children of all ages.

Contestants began by crawling through two separate tunnels, then climbing onto a table and walking the length of it. After jumping off the table, they were to slide down a slide headfirst, and then race to abasketball hoop and make a basket. (Each contestant had 3 tries to make a basket.)




Next, the contestant was to run outside, in the dark (again with the heebie-jeebies), to fetch two hula hoops. Standing on the door mat, they had two tries to throw a hula hoop over a baseball tee. This was harder than it looked and the biggest laughs came when, one after another, every child threw a hula hoop over the tee. (We'd been concerned this might be too tough for the kids, as Mr. G. hadn't been able to get his hoop over the tee.)


Next the children rode a scooter through orange cones to a jump rope.


After jumping rope 5 times, they hopped through a hopscotch grid and ran to the finish line. Sadly, the kids did their activities so quickly that most of my photos were blurry. These were the best of this event.

Event Two: Kitty Litter Confection

Or "Kitty Litter Pastry." I can't remember what we ended up calling this round. Pretty much it was just "Kitty Litter."

For this round I baked a cake that looked like a kitty litter box. Even though I made the cake, and knew that it was indeed a cake and not an actual litter box, I was still disgusted.

Here Mrs. G. models the cake for the camera. It looks like she's frightened, but really she was smiling and saying things like, "Yum!" and "Mmmmm!"



The colored specks are cookie crumbs colored with food coloring. We softened and re-shaped Tootsie Rolls to make the....um.... poop. Some of the Tootsie Rolls are on top of the cake. Some were hidden inside.

All of this was inside a clean, unused litter box.

We took the kids outside to eat, and the dark made this activity soooo much creepier. The dark really helped the litter box cake look convincing. We blindfolded the children and reminded them that they had to eat the cake blindfolded.



All the kids bravely tried the cake, except Colson. He promptly took off his blindfold and declared, "I don't eat poop." Smart guy.

Here's Braden, who was still nauseous when thinking of the cake the next day.






Round Three: Save the Baby

I present to you, the victim. A helpless, innocent baby doll with a really big head. She was hidden inside a play structure in a big, empty gym.



Here we have Mrs. G. explaining the directions to the contestants. They would be blindfolded, spun around 7 times, and then left to themselves to find the baby and remove her from the play structure. Scattered between the start and the playstructure were multiple obstacles.



The spinning was fun.



Some chose to crawl.


Some chose to walk.




And they all made it in under 5 minutes!

We had a fantastic time. I think Mrs. G. is already thinking of ideas for the third annual Fear Factor.

We can hardly wait!