Outdoor Adventure

This will be the LAST post about Luke's birthday. I promise! 

Luke invited 3 boys and his 3 siblings to his party. After lots of discussion we 

decided to have a scavenger hunt at a nearby park. (Literally less then a mile away.) 

Darin was eager to participate in planning the scavenger hunt, so I happily passed 

the baton of responsibility to him. Phew! He scoped out the park, mapped out where 

to hide the clues and gathered the supplies. Way to go Dad!

The morning of the party, Darin went to the park to hide all the clues. I was seriously 

nervous that I was going to get a call from the police saying that he had been 

arrested for suspicious activity. He brought along a big heavy rock to place on top of 

one of the clues, dug in the dirt, climbed up trees and hid a huge trunk behind some 

bushes. Surely if people saw him, they would wonder what he was burying in the dirt. 

"What's in your black trunk, sir?" a bomb, dead body???? oh my! 

Thankfully, he had no problems at all. 

The kids began in the parking lot with the first clue. Darin showed them that all the
clues would be in small jars and that there would be 12 clues to find the treasure.
He passed out a trowel, magnet on a long rope and a compass to aid them in finding their clues. 

After they found each clue, they would go racing off to find the next one. 

Aaron thought he was big stuff and Irina joined right along with the boys. 

They had to hold the string off the bridge and use the magnet to pick up the jar with the metal lid. 

Clue number 8: Continue down the path to the bench on the left. 

Sit on the bench and look out towards the lake at the trees. 

The location of this jar cracked me up!

Darin had hammered the lid high up on the tree trunk in front of the bench 

and then screwed on the jar. The kids had to figure out how to get it down. 

It was fun watching them problem solve. 

I felt bad for the man enjoying a peaceful Saturday fishing. He was taking a break and 

relaxing on the bench until we came on the scene. Poor guy watched our chaos for a little 

while and then scattered as I was giggling and the kids were screaming. 

(see him in the denim shorts, navy shirt and grey hair?)

At last, they had success! 

Digging in the dirt to find a clue that Darin had buried. 

The last clue had a key in it to open a large black chest. 

They were told to head west to find it. On your mark, get set, GO!

The chest was filled with gold coins and 7 drawstring camo treat bags filled with a 

flashlight, carabiner, compass, trail mix and some treats. They went crazy 

grabbing the coins, which I didn't expect. 

Since we live close by to the park, we drove home for lunch and birthday cake. 

Luke requested an ice cream cake with strawberries on top. 

Such a fun day that would not have been possible without all Darin's hard work.
Ethan and Aaron said they want Daddy to plan their birthday party.
Hot dog!!! I like that idea! ;)