Birthday Treasure Hunt

Here we are, just one week in our new home and we get to celebrate a birthday. My little one is 9 today. Wow. It has flown by and I feel like it was just yesterday that I was posting this post about her (HERE) with some cute old pictures.

With the rush of moving and this birthday so close to moving in, we decided to rely on a family tradition of doing a birthday treasure hunt. We hide her gifts and give her clues to find them. Now that she is getting to be so mature, we made the clues a bit more difficult. So if you want to join us on the hunt...here we go. A little info on this hunt: she had to figure these out on her own. She was given 2 "shout outs" for help. One family shout out and one mobile/cell phone shout out. That is when she was able to ask for help from someone in the family and then ask anyone on the cell phone. This is what the hunt started with...

9 is the number of the day
9 clues will lead you on your way
to find 9 gifts around our place
and put a smile on your face

Happy 9th Birthday, Tristen!!!

Our family has four of these
You have the smallest one
It's basket is the place to look
To start the birthday fun.

You'll find your next gift in a bed
Where you wouldn't want to sleep
How will you know what bed it is?
It's METAL, RED, and DEEP.

This one really stumped her. She used a family shout out and asked Tally for help. Tally helped her figure it out. She needed to figure out that the bed was the truck bed.


It's icy cold inside of here
Your words might freeze if you shout.
When you look inside of me
Don't let the penguins out!I always tell the girls to shut the fridge or freezer door otherwise they will let all the penguins out. Just something goofy I say, but she knew that this meant the freezer.


There's a big black cave that's made of steel
where a stranger leaves us things.
Open the door to see inside...
what did your birthday bring?
Here is Tissy reading her birthday cards from family that is scattered all over the country.

Rabbit ears will point the way
but NOT the ears on Clover
The V they make points to a place
That the ears are watching over.

This one was hard for her too, but she figured it out without any help. Since we haven't hooked up any TV, we have been using an antenna so the girls can watch a bit of PBS at lunch time.

Sit on the phone book while you eat
and get a drink of water
Underneath is where you'll find
another gift, our daughter

This one took her to Clover's cage (where she like to sit on top of an old phone book and scratch and nibble)

Flip a switch to start the flame
Then sit and raise your feet
Now that you've raised your piggys up
Look underneath your seat

Now this clue also stumped Tissy. She decided to use her mobile shout out and call Grammy for help. Good thing Grammy could help her figure out that she had to sit on the couch before she put her feet up.Climb to the top, then drop & flop
The way you do each day.
4 BROWN doors will look at you
The bottom 2 guide the way.
This took her to the bonus room (at the top of the stairs above the garage where they flop on the bean bag chairs).


Now look around and you will see
2 teeny tiny doors.
One is empty, one is not
to look, get down on all fours.
That was the end of the treasure hunt. It was really fun to watch her figure out the clues and find her gifts. Then Tally gave her a gift that was the hit of the gifts (calico critters). Tissy was thrilled with it.Then we went to our favorite lunch...Japanese steakhouse. We all love this food and of course love to watch the show of cooking at the table. We have discovered they have a lunch price which makes it more affordable.



It was a great day and loads of fun. Tristen is such a sweet spirited girl and we are so blessed to have her as part of our family. I am enjoying her determination and the drive that she has. It is a joy to watch becoming such a lovely young lady. Happy Birthday to our sweet little "pinkie".