see what happens when you say the "b" word...

it was the day after

hurricane irene 

made her big arrival.

the hoopla was over.

clean up was underway...

still a down day in the brookes abode,

as irene was making her way further up the east coast.

lo and behold,

a small gaggle of children where hanging around,

mulling about, whatever you want to call it.

then they said it.

they did.

they said the word.

"we are bored"

bored, i asked.

oh no they didn't...

this is when i went into full on 

used-to-be-a-teacher, now-stay-at-home-mom mode.

oh, really, i said.

okay divide into two teams,

get bike helmets on

and give me five minutes.

had two high schoolers upstairs crafting,

so i knew i had a sounding board.

operation scavenger hunt was

officially under way.

living in a gated golf community i knew

i had plenty of options.

here were the guidelines:

two teams of two.

on bikes.

no time limit.

i do think jack 

(the token boy of the group)

didn't know what hit him.

did i mention, jack was not used to speeding

on bicycles chasing down mundane objects,

on random fairways, 

after a storm

only to return sweaty, and hot

leaving him tired and spent?

here was the list

of items the high schoolers and i came up with.

sent them on their way with

one ziplock baggie,

one pencil

one post it note pad and 

one empty target plastic baggie.

away they went.

not only did we get a winner within 30 minutes,

but there was no further mention of boredom.

in fact, 

saw jack the next day to which he confessed

that he slept 12 hours that night thanks

to our little nieighborhood scavenger hunt.

i dare you to say you are bored again.

this mom's got lots up her sleeve.

how do you beat boredom in your hood?