Jessica Holden Photography » My Little Corner of the Web

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We’re in the Home Stretch!

Emily and I are frantically working on the humongous list of Scavenger Hunt items for our second year of doing the annual, month-long Clickinmoms Scavenger Hunt. It is a HUGE undertaking, and we are so tired! But we are doing really well this year, we hope. And we are having so much fun!!!! We’ve gone on all sorts of little trips that we might otherwise have MEANT to do this summer but not actually gotten AROUND to (like Santa Cruz, San Francisco, and Davis), eaten foods we might not have otherwise made or ordered (like brownies, a 7-layer cake, and curley fries), and captured a bazillion photos of things you can’t even imagine–foreign foods not commonly sold in the U.S. (like Irn Bru soda, VB beer, and TimTam bars), obscure items you’d never think of (like a Corpse Flower, a tattooed man on a pink bike, and me in a Sumo suit), and some things you’d think would be simple but proved to be very, very difficult (like a 2011 quarter and American flag bunting).

Our friends and family have gotten a kick out of helping us to track items down so we could photograph them (or at least they pretended very, very well!). We even ended up in Minnesota visiting Tom’s parents for a chunk of the month, and they were a tremendous help too, driving us all over the place to track things down and holding our signs! We couldn’t have done half as much if it hadn’t been for everyone’s endless help and enthusiasm! We have met some wonderful people along the way, too, including a few new ClickinMoms!

Here are some of my favorites from the Hunt so far (at least the not-so-embarassing ones–there were a few others I adore but was sworn never to publish publicly!).

Full moon (just cuz it’s pretty):

This one is a favorite simply because it reminds me of the wonderful day trip we took with two of our favorite people…

And a thank you to Tom’s co-worker, Charlie, for bench-pressing 200 pounds for me (actually, 205!)–very impressive!

This one I love because it was taken at night in a hotel room in Davis after a wonderful day. We knew it would likely be our last day in a row of meeting our minimum-12-a-day goal; it would be nearly impossible to keep it up because the items were getting so much more difficult. So for our 12th item that day, Emily put on the false eyelashes just before midnight. Oh–and she was super excited because they are the same false lashes that Quinn wore in the Lady Gaga episode of Glee–woohoo!!!!

This guy was super sweet and helpful! We went in to Ben & Jerry’s to see if they could make us a four-scoop ice cream cone, and he was up for the challenge. I wish we could have given him prettier colors to work with, but for $9.95 we wanted our favorite flavors–cookie dough and mint chip. Thanks so much, Phil, you were beyond awesome!

And another tough one was Marilyn (ESPECIALLY Marilyn!), Emily, and Ralph completing a 1000-piece puzzle for me–thank you so very much!

For this one, Emily set up her tent for me in the back yard, and then she made herself a cozy little bed in it to read. And she fell asleep! So I got “tent” AND “child sleeping outside.”

This is probably our most amusing one–we needed butterflies, and these two were busy having a romantic evening under the glorious setting sun so they stayed still for me.

I think this, though not a fantastic photo by any means, is our favorite story from the Hunt. We had gone to several florists already looking for “fresh-flower lei”, only to be told time and again that it’s the wrong time of year. At the very last shop we could think of, we ended up standing in line beside a man who was being told he was at the wrong branch for his pick-up. He overheard our strange request, and told us that he was on his way to the right shop to pick up the special-order lei he had bought for his wife who was graduating from nursing school the next day. He said it must be fate and that he ended up at the wrong store at the right moment and for the right reason! He was just adorable, and so proud of his wife! So we followed him to the place down the street and snapped our picture.

And a “just for fun” one, as a tribute to the CM we adore. A joint effort: I took the shot, Emily made the C, and Tom made the M:

And this, “man with flower in his hair,” is perhaps my all-time favorite, simply because I love them so…

We have one more day to finish; the hunt goes from July 1 until 8:59 Pacific time on July 31. Emily and I are tired but determined, and Tom is going to help us track down the few stragglers we think we can still get today. Wish us luck!

  • alli - July 31, 2011 - 3:53 pm

    Love. Love your stories about the hunt. Love that you guys had such a great time searching for the items. Love that you shared some favorites here. I hope you find those last few things on your list!ReplyCancel

  • Rachel Potter - July 31, 2011 - 4:54 pm

    I can’t wait to look over all of your submissions! What a wonderful bunch of memories you guys wool have as a result of this! Jealous of your dedication!!!ReplyCancel

  • Angie - July 31, 2011 - 8:18 pm

    Just stopping by to say HI via CM:) I was equally surprised at how difficult it was to find a 2011 quarter-glad it’s over, but will be ready for it next year.ReplyCancel

  • Leah - July 31, 2011 - 10:37 pm

    These are wonderful! It sounds like a ton of work, but it looks like you had so much fun doing it! <3ReplyCancel

  • Satakieli - August 1, 2011 - 7:58 am

    Love the stories that go with the photos, I didn’t take part in the scavenger hunt this year and now I wish I would have!ReplyCancel

  • heidi - August 1, 2011 - 9:09 am

    Oh wow! The ‘cm’ is amazing! How fun these all were!ReplyCancel

  • Katy Laulo - August 2, 2011 - 10:17 am

    What an awesome blog of the month long journey. You have some great stories. It really was fun…exhausting but fun! You did really well! 🙂ReplyCancel

  • staceyrw - August 2, 2011 - 11:22 am

    love that cm photo at night! I also like the ice cream one with phil! Congrats on the photo hunt! It takes a lot of time, effort, and creativity!ReplyCancel

  • Lia Lotito - August 2, 2011 - 1:20 pm

    This is such a fun scavenger hunt!!! And your photos are gorgeous, as always!ReplyCancel

  • Dana Thompson - August 2, 2011 - 4:37 pm

    OK — Your moon shot is GORG! Love this post. It really was absolutely fun and such a great experience. I actually joined CM specifically for the hunt. Worth. Every. Penny. (Even though I only ended up with 174 points!)

    So elusive for me: Troll Doll, 2011 Quarter, DeloreanReplyCancel

  • […] three of us were trying to track down some remaining stragglers (that day we managed to find the lei, the stringless tennis racket, the Tunnock’s Tea Cakes, the cricket bat and ball, the word […]ReplyCancel

  • Ashley Spaulding - August 3, 2011 - 12:09 pm

    Jessica! These are so fun!! I loved reading all the stories behind each image. You (and Em and the rest of your helpers!) did such an awesome job with the hunt!!ReplyCancel

  • Christy - August 4, 2011 - 9:20 am

    I Love the shot of the moon and and the CM using sparklers.ReplyCancel

  • […] headed back “home” on Sunday, and pretty much spent the rest of the trip working on the CM Scavenger Hunt with the HUGE help of Tom’s parents. Jack and especially Nancy helped Emily and I look all […]ReplyCancel

  • angela king - August 18, 2011 - 8:48 am

    love these! looks like you guys had a blast. 🙂ReplyCancel

  • Brit - August 18, 2011 - 8:56 am

    Oh wow awesome! Love the sparkler one!ReplyCancel

  • Monica Wilkinson - August 18, 2011 - 10:13 am

    Love all the stories!! You did such a great job this year!! give Em a special high five from me!!ReplyCancel

  • hope - August 21, 2011 - 11:42 am

    youdid so awesome. congrats!ReplyCancel

  • Mrs. Fun - August 21, 2011 - 11:53 am

    I love these!! I didn’t participate this year but we did finish a 1000 piece puzzle. Love to see the fun you had with it.ReplyCancel

  • Stacey Haslem - August 21, 2011 - 6:26 pm

    We did this last year. It was so much fun for the family. I loved reading about the stories behind the image. I am sure you will remember doing this with Em forever. Good times!ReplyCancel

  • […] Last year the hunt was MUCH harder. I can’t recall how many items were listed (a few hundred, with bonus items listed periodically throughout the month), and we worked our little behinds off and found 390. We came in first place (YAY!!!!!!), but we were so stunningly exhausted by the end that this time, even a year later, we just couldn’t muster the energy to try again. That is, until we heard that they had changed the rules. It made your ability to win a bit less under your control, but I LOVE the rule changes. This year, there were only 150 items listed, and anyone who got 110 or more legitimate items would be entered into a drawing (we found 126—we wanted some “padding” in case any of our items were deemed ineligible for one reason or another). No bonuses for getting more than the 110, no hunting for new lists (and thus new items needing photos) on various web pages throughout the month, and it would only be three weeks long instead of lasting the entire month of July. Much to the delight of our friends and family who were disappointed we were bowing out this year, CM made it impossible for us to resist! […]ReplyCancel