Cap’n Harrison

All right, so Harrison spent the weekend with my folks, which was actually a Godsend since I was sick all weekend. Me sick is a pretty bad thing in any case, but add in a hyperactive pre-kindergartener (for two more weeks, y’all!) and it would have been uglier than I like to imagine. So that was good.

Except that not thirty minutes after he left on Friday afternoon the UPS guy rings the bell and we get this ginormous package from Harrison’s pen pal John from North Carolina. We had mailed our package out earlier this week and Harrison had bugged me just about every day asking when he was going to get a letter from John to the point that I was considering telling him that John saw how much he was pestering me and decided to not send anything. Because I’m mean that way. ;)

But I didn’t.

So the UPS guy gives us the package, I unpack it (because John’s mom Kelly had told me ahead of time there was stuff that would need to be pre-unpacked), and I had to just sit down. Holy moly. I sent a crayon roll and some drawings that Harrison had done, a few crafty things—that kind of stuff. Art teacher kind of stuff.

These guys sent a freakin’ pirate’s chest. With a treasure hunt included. And cool stuff about their state. (How did I forget to do that? I included a map of our favorite places, but no real literature!)

Man, I feel like the cheapskate of the planet.

Man, I want Kelly to be my mom.* :)

Harrison got back today and I had the treasure chest hidden with all the clues placed where they should be. I repacked the folder with the cool state facts, put it in an Amazon box from earlier this summer, wrote the boys’ names and addresses on it and drew a stamp (he’s five—he didn’t even notice!) and put the package out where he could find it when he got home.

We sat down to open it immediately. Once open, Harrison gave the letter from John a cursory glance, looked at the picture (“Look Mom! He rides a bike like me!”) and then got down to the business of opening the scroll. “What’s this?”

“I don’t know. Open it up!”

“A pirate ship!”

At this point, I had to make a quick stop to get his pirate hat as it was obvious we were going to need it. Thank God for Long John Silver!

“What’s this?

“Oooh, it’s talking about treasure! And I think this is a clue. Read it and let’s see what it says!”

He read darned near the whole thing all by himself! (Thank you, Mrs. B!!!) We talked about the clue and figured it meant we should go look in his bed room. So I ‘rowed’ us to his bedroom.

Once there, we had to look at the clue again and kind of regroup. He’s never done a treasure hunt before so he didn’t know what, exactly, he was looking for. But he eventually found it, much to his surprise.

We sat down to read this clue and see what it meant. Rub a dub dub… Had to be in the bathroom! On our way! Along the way, Harrison picked up his football that Pete the Pirate (our school mascot) gave him at a football game last year. To be fair, it could be considered pirate booty by some… :)

Once in the bathroom, he started looking for treasure again. The letter “O”? Sure, I’m sure some people treasure that letter, but not what we’re looking for.

Found it! Reading the clue…hanging up clothes…must mean the closet!

He’s getting the idea by now—really getting into it! Goes into the closet. Nope, it’s not hanging up. I have to send him back in twice to find it. I ask if it’s in his blankets. “Nope.” He didn’t even look. Too excited. Treasure…in the house…vibrating with excitement…

“That’s ok. You just don’t want the treasure. I understand. I’ll follow the clues myself and keep it for me!”

“Nooooooooooooo!” A wail like a banshee. “I’ll look again!!!!!” He looks again, harder this time.

Found it!

Now what? Milk…cold…is it the refrigerator? Let’s go look!

“Nope, it’s not in here Mom!” In his defense, he did look in every drawer and behind just about every container. Pulled out both milk jugs.

“That’s ok. Let’s just have some Jell-O instead.”

“Ah-HA! Found it!”

“Sister sleeping, dreams of mermaids? It’s in her swing!”

Laura, of course, is sleeping through most of this in her swing. Harrison scours the area around the swing, searching desperately for the next clue or, better yet, treasure!!!

When he sees that there is no treasure under her swing (aside from the big, horking pile of toys he’s got in that corner of the room, but those are old toys—they don’t count!) we talk about where else Laura sleeps. In her room! In his excitement, he ran past her room towards his own room.

Finally in her room, we sit down to consult the clue one last time. “Beneath the place she dreams of mermaids…”

“Mom! There’s a treasure chest under here!”

The rest, as you can imagine, is an orgy of pirate goodness, playing with the toys that came in it, looking at the dinosaur cards and stickers and begging to eat the candy immediately, right now, please, please, please!!!!

This is the least goofy face I could get him to make while posing with all his stuff. He’s a bit twitterpated, but he looks semi-normal.

This is how he really feels.

John and Kelly, thank you so much for everything—we had such a wonderful time playing the treasure hunt and Harrison has already started playing with the toys. He asked if we could come to see you guys tomorrow, so we had yet another discussion about how far it is to North Carolina. Maybe some day we’ll make it out there. In the mean time, Harrison has asked if he can keep writing to John, so I expect you guys will be getting some more letters pretty soon. With kindergarten starting up in two weeks, I’m sure he’s going to have lots to tell his new friend.

To the wonderful moms at Life of a Dairy Queen and Superheroes and Princesses, thank you so much for hosting this swap! We had such a fun time planning our end of it and (as evidenced above) getting our package!

*And if my own mom has read this, I don’t really want another mom! But really, you need to see this treasure chest! :)