News Photos by Darby Hinkley Above, Tristan Schultz, on left, and his sister Elsa Schultz pose by one of the chalk sidewalk drawings Elsa made to turn their city block into a Monopoly Junior board.

ALPENA — Chalk it up to boredom, or ingenuity, but this sister and brother found a fun way to pass the time on Wednesday. Using colorful sidewalk chalk, they teamed up to turn their city block into a life-sized Monopoly Junior board game.

Elsa Schultz, 13, and her brother, Tristan Schultz, who will turn 9 in a few days, took this reporter on a tour of the block Wednesday afternoon, before the rain washed away their handiwork overnight.

Elsa was inspired by watching a morning news show.

“This morning I was watching CBS News, and I saw this guy, he wrote positive things on his sidewalk, and I decided that sounded like a cool idea, and Tristan actually gave me the idea to make it a Monopoloy Junior board,” she said.

Tristan brought the board with them as a guide, while Elsa created the chalk drawings.

Here is another Monopoly space Elsa Schultz created, while her brother Tristan carried around the board as a guide for her.

“I’ve been keeping myself busy,” she said of being out of school for the past two weeks. “I like to draw a lot, so when I’m not doing homework, all I’m doing is drawing.”

Monopoly Junior has different spaces than regular Monopoly, but it has the familiar “GO,” “Jail,” “Free Parking,” and “Go To Jail” spaces.

The Monopoly Junior board features “Chance” card spaces too. Other spaces include a burger joint, pizza house, candy store, ice cream parlor, museum, library, skate park, swimming pool, arcade, movie theater, toy store, pet store, bowling alley, zoo, and Park Place.

Elsa said the “Go To Jail” space is her favorite.

During their time off from school, the siblings have been spending a lot of time outside getting fresh air.

“I love walking around here, because I actually have spastic cerebral palsy, so I do have to be pretty active,” she explained.

Despite her rare disease, she exudes a cheerful demeanor, warm smile and positive attitude.

“Yeah, she can’t sit for too long, or else her muscles will start to spasm,” Tristan noted.

“I can’t do anything for too long,” she said, still smiling. “It’s nothing to worry about. I have a very mild case, and it doesn’t really bother me as much as it used to.”

Her health has improved over the years, she said.

“I used to wear braces when I was little, but now I just wear insoles,” she said. “I’m pretty proud of how far I’ve come.”

Although the rain did away with the board on Wednesday, stay tuned for more chalk art around the block at the corner of Tawas and 8th Avenue in Alpena. The children hope their creativity inspires others to make their own positive contribution to their neighborhoods.