((HUGS))

Michelle's first day of school is tomorrow (doing her once-a-week cooperative) and the rest of us start on Monday, so as a last hurrah, we went on an end-of-summer field trip. And guess what we went and did?

Just guess.

You'll never guess.

We helped break a Guinness World Record today! And it was doing something we're really good at ~ Hugging!

We made the drive into Denver where we actually figured out the parking meter machine at a downtown parking lot (which may have been the hardest thing we did all day) and loaded up the stroller:

• Water? -- Check.
• Juice boxes? -- Check.
• Diaper bag? -- Check.
• Sunscreen? -- Check.
• Pretzels and raisins? -- Check.
• Yuyum's blankie? -- Check.
• Yuyum? -- Checkedy check.

Then everyone grabbed their "buddy's" hand (a Big or Big-ish sibling with each Little)...

... and joined the throngs at the hug-fest! Two DJs from one of our local stations hugged one thousand ~ and seven people in one hour today. And we were those seven! Michelle, Theresa, Cathy, Anna, Gabe, William and me.

It was the first time the Littles had ever been to downtown anywhere and the whole thing was quite the experience for all of us, start to finish. It was novel, it was adventurous, it was... EXHAUSTING! Let me tell ya, shepherding six kids, five under 9 y.o., one in a stroller, through a crowded lunchtime outdoor mall is no small job in itself. But, I got a mental workout today, too. There were so many questions to be answered, so many concepts to be discussed, I'm pretty sure I have a sprained brain. (How do you explain to a five year old what a Democrat is???)

But it was tons of fun, too. I am sooo bummed I forgot my camera in the car (Note that was not checked off), because there were so many perfect photo ops!

The little boys were in awe over some of Denver's finest on their very shiny and impressive bikes. But they were most impressed when the nice policemen gave them all coupons for free Slurpees at 7/11. Gabey shook two cops' hands and talked to them for a bit. (I'm still waiting to come up with a shy child in this bunch...) We also got to shake hands with a ventriloquist's dummy. We looked through all the store windows, marveling at all the business people hurrying by us. Finding a Barnes and Noble on the way, we dipped in to cool off and read some children's books. Good, calming comfort-zone time, that! Then, with our "hug stickers" to vouch for us, we went back to get free hamburgers and Fuse drinks from the radio station sponsors.

It was a wonderful experience for the children to participate in this kind of event, most especially because it included a fund raiser for Denver's Children's Hospital. Anyone who hugged the DJs was expected to donate at least $1 to the cause for sick kids. We took our cow can full of coins, equalling over $25 (Most of which I gleaned from the laundry over the summer, which means our absent teenagers took part in this more than they realize!) and the girls got to dump it into the donation basket.

It was a good thing. And a very good day, all around.