Of course my day started with the usual breakfast in bed. As I came out of the bedroom I saw a ribbon banner with sealed envelopes clipped onto it. Twelve envelopes to be exact - a number that was certainly appropriate. Each envelope had a time written on it. Doug explained before he rushed off to work that I was to open each envelope at the assigned time. There would be an activity that I should complete before moving on to the next envelope. Fine. Should be fun. Here is how it all played out.
7:00 am Envelope - "Do a video chat with Scott to find out what you have to do to get this first gift." I did just that. Scott directed me to chew 4 pieces of Bubble Yum and blow a respectable bubble in order to get the gift. So I began, 1 piece at a time. Getting each piece chewed to perfection before adding the next. I had just had a root canal with just a temporary filling in it and didn't dare chew on that side. So it was hard work! Well by the time I got 3 pieces in my mouth I was wondering if I could even insert another piece. Scott had mercy on me and lowered the gum count to 3. I began blowing. Most of you have probably seen the screen shot of my killer bubble. After blowing the successful bubble I was directed to a small gift hidden in a rooster pitcher in the kitchen. In it I found - wait for it - more gum! Um, thanks?!
8:00 am - "Do a video chat with Lindsey to find out what you have to do to get this second gift." I did just that. Lindsey had the kids (well just Sadie) join her in singing Happy Birthday to me and then demanded that I show her 5 pictures of me in my younger days. After I did that she told me the next gift was in Doug's briefcase. In it I found a large bottle of Jergens Age Defying Lotion. Hey, is that a hint of some kind?! I'm letting it go.
9:00 am - "Go visit the sister in the ward who has been the main person behind the monthly Sunshine Club meetings. She will have a challenge for you to complete." I drove over and she greeted me with a smile. Then she handed me a duffle bag that was locked closed with a huge combination lock. Then she gave me a sudoku that I had to solve. Certain squares were marked that would be used in the combination I needed. So I took it home and worked the puzzle. Sure enough the combination worked and I opened the bag. What did I find? A mini clip board with more sudokus attached. Thanks.
10:15 - "Go visit the tennis sister you invited to a performance of "America's Choir". She will have a challenge for you to do." I arrived a little bit late but when I got there the task was to bounce a tennis ball on my racket 54 times without the ball hitting the floor. He gave me 30 minutes to try to complete this. I sense that he didn't think I could do it. But it was a cinch - got it on my first try. Can anyone guess what significance the number 54 has? Well the gift for completing the task was a vibration dampner for my tennis racket. Yes!
11:00 - "Turn on the GPS and enter the following coordinates and follow the directions to this location." So I used our GPS to enter the coordinates 33.578044 North, 112.116348 West. I was directed to the east side of the Black Canyon Freeway. I was supposed to go in a business to see if I could find anyone I knew. I called Doug for a little confirmation that I was close to the right place and then entered. There I found MOM and BECKY waiting for me to arrive for a lunch date. So fun! They gave me a helium balloon I had to carry around with me in the restaurant. Most of the gifts are sort of related to the challenge so far. I guess this one was a gift that floated in the air because the GPS used satellites that orbit in space to direct me to the correct place. Right?
12:00 - "Go to the nearest Phoenix Public Library and find a copy of the Clive Cussler book titled The Thief (in the fiction section). Then look at the following pages/words to find a clue to where the next gift is located. Page 318, Word #135 - Page 229, Word #38 - Page . . . . " Luckily I took Mom and Becky with me. They helped me to count for the words. The message was to look behind the car front seat. There is a secret flat pocket on the drivers seat and in it I found a small gift that turned out to be book marks.
1:00 - "Go to your counselor's house who has teenagers." When I arrived I opened another envelope. I was to either have the teenage daughter french braid my hair OR give me a manicure. I thought the manicure would be easier so that was my choice. She is in a program in High School where she goes to cosmetology school and then does classes for school online. So she is trained or training. She gave me a nice manicure and we had a little friendly conversation too. The gift was some hair clips.
2:00 - "Go to your secretary's house. Instead of having you do a challenge, she will just give you your next gift but only under the condition that you must share your gift with her." That one was easy. I walked next door and she gave me a package out of her freezer. I opened a box of vanilla caramel Drumsticks. We each took one and sat down to chat while we ate them. Yummy!
3:00 - "Go to a well known Glendale Pet store (yes the one that you know the owner) and find the store's mascot named "Zeus". So off I went to downtown Glendale. Pratt's Pet Store has a funky looking chicken that can't fly that they place up on a platform above a hallway. The chicken is also referred to as a "rooster in the sky". The gift was too high for me to reach so I had to ask an employee to get it for me. It was a very cool Space Pen that writes upside down or underwater or anywhere.
4:00 - "Do a video chat with Evan. Guess how tall Calvin is and then have Evan measure him to see if you are correct." So I chatted with Evan and Calvin for a while then guessed 33". They took forever to find their tape measure but finally confirmed that Calvin was actually 38". I was off by quite a bit. But then they told me to look under the eliptical pedal for my gift. I found an 18" ruler. Nice.
5:00 - "Take a break and relax until dinner. What's your pleasure? Surf or turf?" I chose turf. So we were going to Smashburger for dinner. Yummy. We had to wait for a while until Scott could make it over here to go with us. His girlfriend Stephanie drove all the way over to celebrate with us too. By about 6 we were putting our order in. YUMMY!
Doug had to go straight to mutual from there. The rest of us went home for my last activity and then played some games. Scott bought me some flowers. They were very pretty.
Then finally the last clue for the 12th gift. A very good treasure hunt designed by Isaac. He put some really good clues in there. He even had me chase Scott down who was riding dad's bicycle. Sheesh! It ended with a nice pinata. It looked like an evil snowman. I hit the thing completely off the supporting rope. Pretty fun!
So that was my day. It was fun. It was unique. It was tiring! I was going all day long! But I had fun. Thanks to Doug for putting it all together and everyone who participated and helped to make my 12/12/12 birthday a memorable one!
