Play Unplugged

A neighboring city runs a summer program called "Play Unplugged." The basic idea is that local businesses partner with the city and sponsor small activities at their locations. Kids who complete the activity earn a "brag badge." If they earn all 15 badges, they can turn them in for a 3 month membership to the aquatic center.

The last week of summer we decided we wanted to participate. So, partnering up with our good buddies, we spent two days hopping around to different businesses. Some of the brag badges asked for things to be done at home, such as "build a fort and bring in a picture."

 

Others wanted you to complete tasks on site, such as "check out a library book and show us your receipt." 

Most of the activities were quick and enjoyable. Things like, "Toss a frisbee between two cones..."

...or "Show us a picture of something you collect." Graham wanted to show off his candy collection. Ha!

We were quite a sensation at every business we visited. Apparently, with 9 kids between us, we were the biggest single group anyone had seen come through. We were asked repeatedly, "Is this a daycare?" Lots of places asked if they could snap a picture of the kids.

After our first morning collecting badges we stopped at Chick-Fil-A for lunch. The kids ate quickly then took off to play in the play area. A few minutes later a restaurant worker walked by, stopped next to our table, and stared for a moment before asking incredulously, "Were all of those drinks just for the two of you?!" Bwahaha!

Our second day started with a fun breakfast with Aunt Sue. She had a 4 hour layover in Seattle on her way to adventure in the Arctic and invited us to meet her and her traveling friend for a quick brunch.

IHOP was a good choice. The kids loved their breakfast selections, especially the funny face pancakes.

It was quick, but so enjoyable.

After dropping Sue back at the airport, we spent the afternoon finishing up collecting our brag badges. At one stop Bryce's paper airplane ended up as the 4th best flight out of all the play unplugged summer participants.

We managed to get all 15 and turned them in for our swim passes. We haven't had a chance to use the swim passes yet (whoops!), but the play unplugged program was a lot of fun regardless.

Of course, after we finished up Aubree and Kenzie had to make everyone an afternoon snack.