Scavenger Hunt

Two weeks ago, April 9 to be exact, my Facebook status read: Agh! I'm going crazy. I don't do this sahm business very well. I had just recently quit my job, and was immersed in a lifestyle of a stay-at-home-mom immediately and I wasn't really liking it all too much. May sound a little ungrateful, but I was used to contributing to the family financially. Sure, before I would spend time with Michael after work, but this 24/7 time with him was/is like a brand new job where I am my own manager, making my own priorities, to-do lists, and learning to get paid by something other than paychecks. (They say parenting reaps great reward, right).

Nancy, SAHM herself and mother of 2 adorable girls, quickly commented affirming my "stir-crazy" emotion and brainstormed the idea of a scavenger hunt. Being that we live in different states, we agreed to both take our kids for a stroll on Wednesday (yes, that would be one week ago-I'm slow), locate various items on our list, and then blog about our adventure!

To be honest, I thought about the event quite a lot leading up to Wednesday, but then on Wednesday completely forgot! Right around 5pm, I received an email from Nancy asking if I had done it. Oops! I got Michael's coat on, wrote out the list, briefly explained we were going out with a purpose and off we went.

First find from our list was "a pretty flower." Sweet! I knew exactly where to start, and we weren't even outside yet. We looked out the window from our building and saw lots of pretty flowers.

Then we crossed off that item from the list.

Before we left the apartment, I tried to define some of the words to Michael. For example, one of the items on the list was "Find something prickly." How was I going to describe prickly? Richard did that job by having Michael rub the stubble on his chin. "Oooh, prickly!" Outside, we were having difficulty finding something prickly. We finally settled on a pine cone. Yes, a very prickly pine cone.

This beautiful popcorn-blossomed tree looks white, but there is a lot of pink in it, so that counted as "something pink." "Something yellow" but it also scores us double points on the "pretty flower" hunt too.
This find was sweet. We had to find a sign with the first letter of your name on it. Little did I remember that our neighbor is a music school of course! (We have a love/hate relationship, that school and I. Especially when the drummers are there. At 8pm. On Tuesday nights. When I have to be to work at 1130pm. But, I already explained I quit that job, so I guess I'd best get over it now).
This part was actually Michael getting distracted. He saw a telephone pole, and was so infatuated with it that he hugged it and loudly proclaimed, "MOM! I LOVE THIS TREE! I WANT TO CARRY IT HOME!" Then he tried to pick it up, grunting and moaning, and eventually crying that he couldn't do it. So, we found him a stick instead.

Nancy, thanks for the great idea. I enjoyed the walk, and especially how the list prompted me to talk about what we walked by and not worrying about the distance we went, but rather just the moments we spent together outside.