Treasure Hunts

We headed to the Midwest to see family over Memorial Day weekend. We don't often see my side of the family, so it was a really nice opportunity. Desert Boy had a late birthday present that consisted of a treasure hunt. He found a clue that led him to this big box. He thought it might be the treasure chest.

He and Desert Girl figured out how to open the lock (with a little help!)

What did they find inside?

Another locked box and a clue.

The clue was rather hard to read, though, unless you were reading it from the correct side. ;)

Meanwhile, the younger cousins were cruising around the yard.

With the clue deciphered, they opened another box to find yet another box! This one was a puzzle box. The clue said to look for the cold, hard cash.

That turned out to be $5 bills frozen in a huge block in the freezer.

It was fun watching the kids trying to figure out how to get to the money faster.

While we were there, we celebrated my youngest brother's 30th birthday. Woohoo! It was a great day for a backyard barbeque.

Then Andrew had his own treasure hunt. One of the clues was "I want to see summer."

Andrew looked for a tiny Olaf lego that we didn't even know existed. Then he clued in to the artwork and found a clue behind a different version of Olaf.

His treasure hunt was hard, with clues such as "Channel your inner Michelangelo during breakfast" (under the dining room table), and "It's behind you when you sit on your throne of comfort" (in the toilet tank). Andrew took it with good humor.

He was required to come back and read each clue to the onlookers.

My brother Matt came up with the great idea of putting one of the clues into a different type of code.

Do you recognize it?

 Hint: it was used in the movie The Martian. Since Andrew is a self-employed computer and app programmer, we knew he would get it fast. And he did! It was hexadecimal.

Soon it was time to eat some more.

Including birthday cake!

It's so fun to see the kids look on with delight at birthday cake. Oh, so much anticipation!

Andrew had a little help blowing out candles.

Desert Boy had some quality time with Grandpa.

We also enjoyed the fun children's museum, where both young-in-years and young-at-heart play.

Desert Boy and Desert Girl especially loved the Creativity Workshop, where they mastered the use of glue guns.

 We had a great time at a nearby nature preserve. I asked the kids to be quiet and listen for a minute to see what they could hear. This is what they did.

One of the biggest treasures of the trip was meeting our new niece/cousin. She's only two months old, so she will be changing so much over the next months. We were delighted to see her and hold her.

And then it was time to return to the high desert and show off its wonders with our au pair, Charlie. We knew many more adventures awaited us, but were so glad to have gotten to spend some lovely time with family. Thanks to our terrific hosts!