Scavenger Hunt: Arlington, TX

Thanksgiving was a little odd this year.  David and I are preparing to go our separate ways with him heading up to his new job in Montana leaving me here to sell the house.  We went back and forth over what do and where to go for Thanksgiving.  With our move coming so soon, both families were anxious to have us there for our "last" Texas Thanksgiving (at least the possibility of that).

Ultimately, we decided he would go see his dad and brother out in East Texas and I would go to Arlington and be with my parents and some of the extended family.  A few days before, I ran across a scavenger hunt idea on Pintrest aimed at getting you out to walk off some of the excessive amounts of food ingested during the day.  I didn't go crazy with the food but I still thought the idea would be fun to do.

After eating I rounded up a small group and we set out in my parent's neighborhood to find:

1. A family playing football
2. Smoke coming from a chimney
3. 5 or more cars parked at one house
4. An out of state license plate
5. A family on a walk
6. Pinecones and/or acorns
7. A pile of leaves
8. Thanksgiving decorations
9. Early Christmas decorations
10. Decorations for a holiday that has gone by
11. Trash bags on the curb
12. A college football flag/yard decoration

I admit that I modified the Pintrest list some.  The original list had "a black bird" on it and I decided to change that to trash bags on the curb since that is totally similar.  I took a few off but wanted an even dozen.  The original list I found had write in blanks at the bottom for your "own ideas" so I didn't completely go off-script.

And away we go:

1.  We didn't see any families playing football which made me kind of sad.  We always played football at my grandparent's house on Thanksgiving.  However I did see:

My niece and my brother abusing each other with Ping-Pong paddles.  I have conflicting stories about whether my niece or my dad won the game they played later.

2.  It is in the upper 70's on Thanksgiving day so seeing smoke coming from a chimney is unlikely.  Unless...

You count my daughter who smokes.  I can't take credit for this brilliant substitution.  My sister-in-law thought of it.

3.  5 or more cars in front of a house was really easy.

This house is right across the street from my parent's house.  We are really working hard on this walk/hunt.

4.  Out of state plates (California) and the walk still hasn't taken us far.

That white truck in the background is parked at the house next door to my parent's house.

5.   I cheated on this one and I knew I was going to before we even set out.

My family on a walk.  When I re-read the Pintrest list later I noticed it said "another family".  Sometimes I think I might need to join another family.

6.  Pinecones and acorns and sparkly shoes are Kendall's specialty.

She is definitely paying attention and helping us find the things on the list.

7.  In fact, she is very helpful on the next item: a pile of leaves.

"Here grandma, I made you a pile of leaves."

8.  I knew Thanksgiving decorations would be too easy. 



The good news is we finally made it off of my parent's street.

9.  Early Christmas decorations were harder to find than I expected.

My niece is bolder than I am.  She will walk up in a stranger's yard to get a picture.  I prefer to stay in the street lest someone look up from their turkey leg and say, "Why is some woman I don't know outside taking pictures of my house?"

10.  I know Halloween wasn't that long ago but let's keep up people.

Actually I am a little surprised I couldn't go further back, like to the 4th of July.

We interrupt this scavenger hunt for:

"Take my picture grandma."

11.  I added the trash idea to the list thinking that there would be bags of leaves on the curb even though trash is certainly not going to be picked up on a holiday.

I am pretty sure those two bags don't contain leaves.

12.  We found lots of yard décor for the local high school (Kick Em Colts!) and even one for the local elementary school (Go Shorthorns!) but...

We never saw a college flag or anything else related to college teams other than this one house that had the University of Texas Longhorn on their painted curb-side street number.

We only ended up going one short block but it was fun.  I would definitely do this again at Christmas or at some other get together if the situation arose.  

The hunters:  Rob, Miranda, Kendall ("don't take my picture anymore"), Aaron, Me, Ashley (in front) & Cathy.