Something So Big: Indiana Jones & The Lost Treasure of Snake Hollow

Impossibly, our son turned 8 today. I can remember his birth as if it were yesterday....my having contractions and walking around the park & sidewalks near the hospital...a nurse scolding me to come back into the hospital (I was supposed to be walking in the halls but it was SOOO nice out and I was tired of the scenery inside...did I pass on this mischievous behavior to our little boy?)...my husband phoning up his assistant football coach to tell him that he didn't think he'd make it to the first game of the season that night........Cyrus arriving exactly 1 hour and 3 minutes before kick-off......me in euphoria after a speedy delivery and a big healthy baby boy, giving Mark my blessing to get to the game and do his coaching thing....me holding our new son in my arms and listening to the radio as Daddy's team beat Wauzeka 27-8 (hearing later how Mark ran onto the field just as warm-ups were over and the game was about to begin, shouting "It's a boy!" to the cheers of his players). Cy arrived fast & furiously and has not slowed down since.

I think I've mentioned that Cy likes super heroes. This year he's been on an Indiana Jones kick, which is great for his parents, who get to re-live the good old movies. Like Indy, our son wants to be an archaeologist and is constantly wearing this old brown fedora from my costume collection. (Did we get him a whip for his birthday? I think not.)

This past week I have been on my own creative binge, planning a scavenger hunt filled with challenging adventures that our own little Indy would have to complete (with his buddies) to get to the ultimate treasure--the Lost Ark of the Covenant (see previous post). I took the former name of Potosi--Snake Hollow--and ran with it. Yesterday we had a party and turned this place into "The Potosi Museum of Natural Hi

story".

Stealing a few ideas from other mommy bloggers, I tweaked them to fit our situation (of course). Long story short: The ancient Viper Tribe of Snake Hollow stole the Ark & it became Indiana Siegert's mission (along with his esteemed colleagues) to find it. The biggest challengers to the mission were the Sugar Spirits, who could injure or kill with their poison marshmallows....but who could in turn be destroyed by getting them sopping wet (like a dissolved sugar cube)!

As you can see, the girls had no trouble playing the part of broth

er's enemy.

The first challenge was to practice the ancient Viper Tribe belief of mummification (I had inserted a clue inside 4 toilet paper rolls). You'd think a bunch of little boys would love the mummy wrap game, but it pales in comparison to shooting water at a bunch of girls.

Thankfully my brother & his bride-to-be were good sports, or we would have never found the first clue and continued on the Adventure!

Off to the Viper Tribal Burial Grounds we went, digging for 10 gold coins which spelled out the next clue in ancient Viper code. (Good thing 9-year-old cousin Payton was there to translate into English for us!) We found out that a 4-year-old is superior in digging skills when compared to his older counterpart

The next challenge was destroying Chief Cobra with poison darts, because legend held that cutting off his snake tattoo would lead to the next clue on the Adventure.

Note to self: Leftover interior house paint (although a suitably safe "poison" when applied to a q-tip) is not machine-washable. My sincere apologies to my mom-friends/sisters.

Next stop: across the snake river. You can't have an Indiana Jones party without lots and lots of snakes!!

Then it was down to the creek to cross Python Pass (Mom Disclaimer: the pasture was Dad's idea). The official party photographer was busy hanging up clothes and watching our 2-year-old, therefore no pictures were taken of this segment of the Adventure.