Treasure Hunt - Dec 25 2014

We get away with very few surprises in our family so it is always fun when we can pull one off.  Jessica and I love Black Friday shopping.  As we get older and as Black Friday evolves, it hasn't been quite as fun - but we have a system and it works well.  Wal-Mart had 50" TVs in their one hour only sale for 189.00.  I believe it was from 6pm to 7pm.  So first of all we don't head out until about 6:20 p.m. so that we will arrive at 6:30 p.m.  We had two items we wanted in the one hour special.  One - the tv- we received a voucher for and the other Beats headphones we were able to go home with.  Black Friday is worthy of a whole other post so I won't go into those details.  I got the big tv so that Dave could use it as a Computer Monitor on his desk.

I have recently begun reading blueprints and doing "take offs" for jobs.  We are constantly enlarging areas of the blueprints to see where the windows are and to read the fine print.  So a big computer monitor would be a great plus in this area.  Well Dave knew we didn't need any more tvs and I don't think he was thinking computer monitor, so he could not figure out what that gigantic present under the tree for him was.  He worked hard on Ben hoping to get him to crack but Ben stood firm.  Jessica and Ben decided to "hide" the present after Dave had gone to bed on Christmas Eve.   They then set up a treasure hunt for him to follow the next morning.

When Dave got up in the morning, of course he wanted to know where his present was.  He was sure it was in Jessica's room as hers was the only room he didn't really go into without being invited first.  We had to wait for all three kids to get up (remember Joe had just had spine surgery 15 days prior.)

Finally when all were up and we were ready the clues were laid out.

CLUE ONE
Wondering where your present has gone?
Moving it took a great deal of brawn.
Again, you'll see your precious prize
Solve these clues for your surprise.

CLUE TWO
If opening your present is what you wish,
Go to what will wash your dish.

No photo  - dishwasher

CLUE THREE
Oh the prices for this are falling.
The petroleum engineers are bawling,
Now you know where to go,
I hope you enjoy the snow.

CLUE FOUR
There's one more place to look,
It's a place you like to cook.
Not the ordinary spot.
Operate this, I cannot.

CLUE FIVE
You're messing with some brilliant minds
Whose talent has been well spent
Go to where you keep the blinds
And uncover your present

It was hiding under all those black bags full of bubble wrap.  He had even tried to look in the garage that morning and hadn't seen it.  It was a good surprise.