Saturday we woke up and everyone was happy healthy and energized. So...my husband (Christopher Robin) said, "Hey, why don't we do the scavenger hunt with our friends from church this morning?" I said, "Really?" (that was Rabbit-mommy talking) "Are you sure the girls can handle being in the car that long and all the running around?" He said, "Sure, let's give it a try." With a shrug I agreed and off we went.
It was a beautiful cool August morning and as we drove to the meeting place the air crackled with excitement in the car. My middle child, Winnie, kept asking nervously, "Where are we going? Are we there yet? Why are we going to church on Saturday?" To which I replied, "You'll just have to wait until we get there to experience this yourself sweetie. Mommy can't explain it well enough for you to understand." Which was true. I had tried several times to explain what a scavenger hunt was, using various metaphors and I just wasn't getting through.
So after what seemed like an eternity we arrived at our destination (5 miles down the road) and we all jumped out of the car and ran to meet the group. There were hugs and greetings for everyone as we learned that friends we hadn't seen in months were in town visiting...yay! We received our instructions: A list of items to "collect" via digital pictures or actually taking them with us if we could, and a suggested return time back to the park for lunch. The winner would get...drum roll please...bragging rights! That worked for us! Our fearless leader prayed and we were off like a herd of wildebeests.
As we proceeded to get back into the car (strap kids into carseats, oldest (Eeyore soon to be Roo) climbing over the other two to get in the back seat, explaining to Winnie what we were going to do next without much success, Christopher Robin and I (now Kanga) began to form a plan. We looked over the list, determined what could be done at home and then planned our route.
We had so much fun taking pictures of the girls pushing each other in the stroller, Oldest playing a video game and walking the dog. We drove to a nearby town with a small airport to take pictures of planes taking off and landing, then we found an old building called The Ox Barn in that same small town. We drove a little farther and found a replica of a covered wagon or a Conestoga on top of an old building and took a picture of that. We collected a grocery store add, a take out menu and junk mail. We took pictures of people riding horseback in parades that were happening in several of the small towns we drove through and we spoke with store owners who were so sweet to give us directions and get caught up in the hunt with us. My husband took a picture of a Starbucks employee holding a Venti cup, while I took a picture of a girl carrying a kayak to the river. I kept reminding my husband that this was about the process not the end result, whenever his competitive spirit would get a little out of hand and he'd try to rush us along. The girls loved getting out of the car at the airport and watching the airplanes take off and land, but this took us more time than just taking a picture out the car window as we drove by.
We had been at it for a couple of hours when we called in to the organizer who told us that people were starting to trickle in, so we decided to call it a day. We didn't get everything on the list because we couldn't fine a Nutria (a small gopher/beaver looking animal that lives along the river in our area). We were the last ones to the park. We soon found out that we were the only team to actually go out and take pictures of the items on the list. Everyone else went home and took pictures off the internet, or from books they had around the house (a herd of deer..which we got out our Christmas lawn ornament deer and took a picture of my husband and oldest holding them) and used those instead of actually finding the items and taking pictures. My husband was extremely irritated by this because he felt that it wasn't in the spirit of the game, and I had to agree, but whatever.
The end result for us was that we had a GREAT time, and it was the first time since having our youngest that we have been able to get out and do something like this. There were no meltdowns in the car or fights. Eeyore was Roo for the day and Tigger and Winnie got along well. We laughed a lot and were excited to see towns we haven't been to before. We got to see parades and festivals going on in the area that day that we wouldn't have been able to see. It really felt like we crossed a threshold that day and gained some freedom for our family. Perhaps a new season of our life has started now that the kiddo's are getting a little older, or at the very least it was a glimpse at what is to come. Happy times, together as a family doing fun things and enjoying the journey as much, if not more than, the destination.
