Sunday, June 29, 2008

Treasure Hunt

Themes from movies often remain with us long after the movie ended. For example, if you watch an action movie, such as Live Free or Die Hard starring Bruce Willis, you might just feel the need to find and beat up some bad guys. During the first few nights after Michael and I saw I am Legend, I was sure that some crazy half-human being was going to attack me in my home after sunset. After watching Pride and Prejudice, Michael (yes, Michael watched Pride and Prejudice and actually liked it) noted that he enjoyed the language the actors used during the movie and that he had the urge to speak in Old English as they did.

Last night, after Michael got home from studying for the bar exam, we watched National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets. We have already seen it once, but decided we liked it enough to watch it again. As expected, I was entertained. The theme is very similar to the first National Treasure movie, involving another treasure hunt. Nicolas Cage has finds a treasure map and in order to get the clues, he must do unimaginable deeds, such as breaking into the oval office at the White House and kidnapping the president of the United Sates of America.

It was pretty late once the movie was over and I fell asleep quickly. When I woke up this morning, I found myself thinking about the movie and how fun it would be to go on a treasure hunt, just like Nicolas Cage. As Annabelle and I played happily downstairs for a while, I decided that I was going to make my own treasure map.

Now, who would participate in my hunt? Michael was still upstairs sleeping and so that left only one person...Annabelle. That made things a little bit difficult since she couldn't read the clues or decipher any clever, tricky pictures that I wanted to draw. So, I made it easy. I asked Annabelle where certain things that she uses everyday were located. For instance, I asked her, "Where's your drink"? She knows anything she wants to drink can be found in the fridge. After I asked her the question, she ran over to the fridge and I opened it and found the next clue, "where do we throw our trash away?". Another clue was, "where is the piano?" and 'where's your toothbrush?". Anyway, this went on for several minutes before we finally found the hidden treasure...a string cheese and bubbles! She loves string cheese and loves going outside. So, out we went and enjoyed the sunshine and blew a few bubbles while enjoying a luxurious string
cheese.



It is so satisfying and rewarding to see my daughter learning and growing. Everyday she is trying new things and everyday, I'm amazed at her intelligence and desire to learn. We had fun on this simple treasure hunt and I imagine we will go on many more hunts together. Perhaps one day soon, she will be able to me me treasure map and our adventures as treasure seekers will go on.

3 comments:

Cyppy said...

Glad to see you're carrying on one of the time-honored traditions in our family! We've had lots of fun with treasure hunts through the years.

Michael W. Brown said...

What an awesome mother you are! Clever title, by the way. I look forward to your future postings!

Anonymous said...

How fun. I loved looking at the pictures you posted. Annabelle is the cutest. And my gosh, you are one helluva housewife. Who would've thought to make a treasure hunt for their 16 month old. :]