Today's "scavenger hunt" was loooong but ended up being a success!
The valley is hosting a City Wide Water Day in the park this Saturday. We already have a slew of small water guns but where hoping for some more water-fun options.
The kids and I headed out at nap time on our mystery adventure. They were supposed to keep their eyes closed until we got to our first destination; aka mission Ellie take a nap.
We eased south, about 40 minutes from our house to hit multiple stores in he way home. We arrived at the first store and went straight to the restrooms like any other trip to the store with lots of kids.
While hey we're in the stalls using the bathroom I slipped pictures clues I'd ripped in 1/2 under each door. I got one smirk, one confused grunt, and two excited squeals.
We finished up, washed hands, and their next clue was found in a section of the store we NEVER visit. I sent them on two aisle where I could see them easily and then got caught scattering the other 1/2s of the clues. Oh well.
They all rushed to put their pieces together and confirm what we were shopping for- water guns/toys! This plan is also my way of making their participation in this errand running more voluntary and hopefully fun.
After finding out what we were hunting for, we quickly talked about how we were going to RuSh in and out of stores, discover where clearance and toy sections are located, scan the sections for appropriately priced water toys, and then purchase those that fit our needs. And GO!
We found a pool water shooter at the first store. When we were checking out, the sweet checker gave each child a sucker in their favorite color. Crazy sweet. We found a backpack of water balls and a frisbee at the second. Before heading to the next town, we broke out our snacks and water bottles. The third stop, we found nothing. The fourth stop, we found 20 larger water guns and two packs of water balls. The fifth place we stopped we found nothing. The searched and searched, talked to some employees and still found nothing at our sixth stop. We met some friends to add to the adventure at our seventh and eighth places where we found nothing. Our ninth, and closest to home stop, we found a gazillion water shooters and snatched up a few.
Our last couples stops, we'd used up a lot of our good but made it through and ended up home just in time to make a picnic dinner!
How do you run errands with your kids? Do you have to spice it up occasionally?
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