Organized Fun for the Boys

The boys are generally able to entertain themselves with minimal electronics time, especially traveling in the company of Lady Carolina and their two boys. They swim, make up games, play on the beach, read Big Nate books over and over again, and they’ve even started writing their own fish guidebook because they have noticed that none of the fish books indicate the tastiness of a fish.  However, sometimes an organized activity is what they need.  So, while in Las Rocas, Tim organized a scavenger hunt for them.  He made a list of things they had to find on the beach, split them into two teams (Alex/Joel, Brenden/Kyle, surprise, surprise) and sent them away.  Here is the list:

• • Piece of small dead cactus
  • Something that could have been left by a
  • Something likely dropped by a panga
  • Plastic bottle (+1 if it has a lid on it)
  • Piece of styrofoam (must float)
  • Something red
  • Something blue
  • String or fishing line or net
  • Beer or soda can
  • Cool seashell
  • One bone from a fish (+1 if it’s a puffer)
  • Beach glass (worn so you can’t see through)
  • Bird feather over 10 inches long
  • Piece of driftwood
  • Very flat rock
  • Something metal
  • Piece of clothing
  • Sexy mermaid
  • A hat (yes, a hat)
  • Something that crawls

Alex and Joel won but by a very slim margin.  They found a puffer fishbone, which pushed them over the top.  I’m sad to say that neither team found the sexy mermaid, but Alex and Joel enjoyed their prize of M&Ms and Skittles nonetheless.

Stepping it up a notch, while we were at Ensenada el Pescador Tim and Steve put their heads together and made a treasure hunt with a series of clues for the boys to follow.  They had to go talk to some guy on shore for their first clue, and it turns out he didn’t speak English as well as Tim and Steve thought, so he didn’t really understand what they asked him to tell the boys.  They had to find a cactus with a red ribbon on it and use GPS locations and compass bearings.  The last clue was in the water, they marked it by a weight attached to a float, and the note on the float said to dive down to get the next clue, but by the time the boys had read the note they had pulled up the weight, and then they had trouble finding the clue.  In fact, they never found it.  Tim and Steve dove for it and they couldn’t find it either.  So, they had to tell them the prize was underneath Lady Carolina, and all four of them enjoyed a package of Oreos as the sun was setting.