“We’re off to Blue Job mountain,” I said after picking you guys up in Dover and Madbury on a gray-sky day. “Are you ready for some hiking?”

“Yeahhh!” you shouted from the back of the Youk, the big white GM SUV that has brought us to and from so many adventures (along with our previous ride the black Lincoln Navigator SUV which Emma called “the alligator.”).

And then came the unavoidable question:

“What else are we going to do?”

I gulped. I should have known better.  After all, a 3M adventure has never been only one thing… it’s a combination of things.  I had nothing else in mind beside the hike!

“We’ll see, ” I said, scrambling for ideas, but finding none.

“Tell us, tell us!”

“I will – but you have to be patient!”  That was the only reply I could think of!  Maybe it would buy me a little time.

The sun was peeping out, the snow was finally gone, and we were going to enjoy our special outing.   Someone said hi to Ben – he is famous after all – so he led the way, taking the trail to the right. Up up up we climbed.  About three quarters of the way, we paused for a quick break to check out the view below us.  But the most interesting view was down, not up, and at our feet!

We were surrounded by slithering root structures that popped out of the ground everywhere, threatening to entangle us in its venomous embrace.  Yikes!

I took a selfie of all of us, the wild and crazy hikers.

At the top, we sat and ate our snacks. Everyone had plenty of energy left so after a little more scampering about we decided to head back down the mountain and do the next thing on my list… which was…. uh… I still didn’t know!

By the time we got down Mt. Blue Job, it was much warmer and time for food.  That made the next idea a slam dunk  “How about lunch?” I asked, “are you guys hungry?”

“I’m starved Camden said,” followed by the inevitable “where are we going to eat?”  I quickly flipped it around:  “Where do YOU guys want to go?”

You didn’t have any answers, so the pressure was back on.  “Man, there’s no relief for the weary,” I said to myself. “what’s nearby?  where would they like to go?  Then it hit me, a proven winner from the past:

“How about Friendly’s? You like it there right?  We’ll go to the same one we went to after we brought presents to St. Charles Children’s Home at Christmas last year, remember?”  You did.

They sat us fast and gave us quick service.  Soon we were enjoying an assortment of club sandwiches, mini cheeseburgers, fries, milk and shakes.  And oh yes, sundaes.  Energy restored, we piled back into the Youk.  You immediately asked:

“Where are we going next?”

I needed to pull something out of my hat, and fast!  What could we do, where could we go?  We had already been on a hike, it wasn’t summer so swimming was out, no one wanted to be cooped up inside…. hmm, what were my options?

Then it dawned on me.  We’d go to a place where we could all still stay outside, where you could definitely have fun, a place you hadn’t been in awhile, a place that had recently opened up its full assortment of games and services as Spring sprung.

Saved by my last minute idea, and knowing the pressure was now off, the ride to Rt. 108 was a breeze and went by fast.  As we turned into Hilltop Fun Center you voiced your pleasure with the choice.

“Are we going to play miniature golf first?” Emma asked, and that’s exactly what we did.

Ben was crazy, getting down on the ground to blow his ball into the hole:

After miniature golf, Emma and Camden zipped around on the go-carts as Ben and I watched.  Round and round you go, where it stops, everybody knows!

I wasn’t surprised when you asked, “Can we play some of the games?” We bounded inside and soon you were working hard, trying to win as many tickets as possible.  Emma won the prize when her tickets just kept coming out and out and out and out! We were all laughing our heads off, there were so many!

Our second 3M adventure of 2014 was a success as you headed home with an assortment of mini prizes.

There was a moment of silence before I heard today’s inevitable question:

“When’s the next 3M adventure Papa?”