Found You!!

I just came in from a rousing game of Hide-and-go-seek with the hubs and three of my nieces.

Before I go on, picture this: it got to 90-something outside today and I was extremely happy to just stay in the air conditioned heaven of my dungeon room. However, I was coaxed out of my cave by an email. "Your photobook is ready for you to pick up." YAY! So, after the kids went to bed and we were sure they wouldn't be whining and crying for the next hour and a half, we ran off to Costco to pick it up. It's beautiful! (There are only two typos, bad me!)

Anyhoot, when we got home, we called the nieces up and accepted their proposal for a romp in the yard. I didn't exactly go kicking and screaming... more like whining and threatening heat exhaustion.

The first thing we established before we started were boundaries and game style. I'm sorry, I'm not about to go running for base with "It" chasing after me. So, once found, found. Round one was pretty fast, I found everyone without too much trouble. Round two is where things got interesting. I was the first one found, so I went back to the porch swing where I witnessed two of my fellow hiders running from one spot in the yard to a new hiding spot. I really felt that was down-right fishy. PLUS they chose a hiding spot in what some considered to be out of bounds. SHAME, SHAME!!

So, we went over some re-worked rules at the end of that round. Yes, you are allowed to change your hiding spot, but now that the Seeker knows that you are doing this, it'll be much harder to sneak around without getting caught. The out of bounds spot was deemed okay in the end, but it ended up being the worst spot to hide after that round.

We had a few more rounds where I discovered that moving my spot caused just as many problems as it solved and I was found in ridiculous spots (In the middle of the lawn in full sprint, sneaking through the side yard, kneeling behind some potted tomatoes). After that we paused briefly for a beverage break.

After that, the biggest problem for some of the hiders was to keep quiet after having their carbonated drinks. Do some people seriously not know how to stifle their burps??

I witnessed in one of the final rounds Ben climbing a tree, Cammy hiding in a hollow spot in a bush (in plain view from a certain angle), and poor Baylie wandering round thinking they must be moving because she couldn't find them. The resulting hullabaloo from that area of the yard came when an indignant Uncle accused his bush-hiding niece of giving away his spot.

Heard from the front yard: "I saw you pointing!"

"No, I just did this..."

"You gave me away. I saw you!"

"Hoot, holler, complain, complain!!"

When the three finally came back to the front yard, it was explained to all parties that "it's just a game" and "you don't give away other hiders". All was (mostly) forgiven... but I was nearly positive that someone *cough! cough! BEN! cough!* was going to say "Screw you guys, I'm going home!"

Final round!!!

I was found in 10 seconds... lame....

Ben had compassion and said to go hide again... everyone got a second chance... I don't know where everyone else was found since I WAS THE LAST ONE! YAY! Of course, he found me sneaking down the side yard, in full view. Lame....

Well, I guess the point I was trying to make is that I haven't played a good game of hide-and-go-seek since I was a kid! Aside from coming in hot, sweaty and smelling like I-Don't-Know-What, I had a good time! It's been ages and I felt just a little bit young again.

Next time you're in Utah in the summer, swing by and we'll hit you up for a game!