Treasure Hunt

Our family is on our last camping trip before school starts in a couple weeks. Skip and Pepper have gone off to the store leaving me in charge of the kids. Since Macy is still sleeping (and I will not wake the bear!!) and the boys went off to the camp treasure hunt I poured myself a cup of coffee and got comfy in my camp chair. The campground we are staying at has a staff of a couple college kids that come up with activities during the day to help keep the youngest campers happy. They play water games and basketball with the kids, do crafts and nature walks… it is usually quite a variety of things.

I am not liking the treasure hunt thing though!! For most of the activities the college kids keep the kids in a contained area and do things with them. For the treasure hunt the college leaders simply hand each pair of kids a piece of paper and yell, “Go!!” On this paper are things like ‘paper clip’, ‘staple’, ‘Map’, ‘gum’, ‘ribbon’, ‘band-aid’, ‘something green’ …… and about 20 other things.

So here is what happens after the college kids yell, “Go!”. They sit down and have a nice conversation or turn on their iPod’s or take a nap and wait for the kids to come back with all their things. Meanwhile, hordes of kids come barreling back towards us unsuspecting parents yelling, “Mom, I need a BAND-AID, receipt, a map, a bottle of glue, a pencil, a staple and a piece of gum….. HURRY!!!”

“HUH?” I really hadn’t heard past BAND-AID and wonder who and what is injured. Pete quickly explains his list and all the things he needs and I am cursing to myself thinking that when the schedule said “Treasure Hunt” I did not realize it was MY treasures the kids would need to acquire!! So I set my coffee down, get up from my comfy chair and try to help the kids locate all the things they need. Teens from another camp come over and try to help find things on the list….. things are as busy as a bee hive in my camper and it is spinning out of control. Finally, the kids decide that they have pillaged as much as they could from our camper and all move on in search of the few remaining items.

They were like a little cluster of locust zipping through Charles Ingalls wheat field…. They left ruin in their wake. The first aid kit is spilled all over the floor, books are mangled trying to get staples out of them, no drawer is closed, and every cupboard is open…. I am in shock, but only for a minute. I know the plot of those damn college kids. They want me to tell my kids that they can’t go to the next activity (water games) because they have to clean up the huge mess they made. Thus giving them ANOTHER hour of free time to listen to their iPods and nap…. I don’t think so, my young friends…. Put on your bathing suits, prepare for the little horde of locust….. I will clean the mess you caused…. My children are coming your way and I may give them each two candy bars and a tablespoon of sugar before they get there!!! ☺