Birthday Photo Scavenger Hunt Finds

This year I decided to search for the items on Rinda's Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt List throughout my week-long birthday celebration.

Robbie and I always give each other pre-birthday gifts; small gifts for several days leading up to our actual birthdays. This year was no different, and I had to laugh when I opened Robbie's first gift - a whole bag of chocolate treats for the weekend get-away he planned.

20. Someone laughing

There were other useful items as well: Five Crowns (a new card game to play), Paint by Sticker (a new creative activity), nail polish (in FUN colors), chapstick (in a new flavor), bath balls & a loofah, and magazines (which I read on our trip).

4. A book or magazine read during 2016

 Knowing that Robbie had planned a trip for us, Mama & Daddy took me out to lunch several days before my birthday and let me unwrap my gift - a Harry Potter coloring book!

7. A family gathering

Robbie took off work early on Friday, and we enjoyed a road trip to Brenham, Texas. We spent a couple of nights at the Ant Street Inn, which has a great porch out back.

5. A porch or deck

The porch overlooks the gardens where we found a couple of wild hearts.

1. A "wild heart" - a naturally occurring heart

After checking in, we spent some time exploring the inn and looking for items on the scavenger hunt list. In the long hallway upstairs, we found an old map of the town of Brenham.

16. A map showing a trip taken during the time period

Downstairs near the front entrance, among the flyers and advertisements, Robbie found a lighthouse.

alternative 1: a lighthouse

We also found a newspaper at the registration desk.

21. A photograph of you with a newspaper or calendar page from the time period covered in the Hunt. Note: you may not use a substitute for this item.

Our room was furnished with antiques, like the one I used to set out food and snacks for us to enjoy during our stay.

14. A buffet of food

Of course, Robbie had requested that a bouquet of roses and a birthday cake be waiting for us in the room! Chocolate cake is always good with my favorite beverage . . . and Blue Bell Ice Cream (we were in Brenham after all!).

19. A seasonal cocktail or beverage

The room was decorated with quite a few pieces of artwork, including this one depicting three girls playing near the shore.

9. Someone playing with, in, or around water.

There were stained glass windows throughout the inn. My favorite was the one next to the bathtub.

12. A window

We didn't actually see any twins, however Robbie thought this statue outside the Brenham Grill looked a lot like Peter Lorre. What do you think?

17. Twins

We only spent a little time wandering around the downtown area (temperatures are well into the 90s this time of year), where we noticed quite a few murals and advertisements on the side of buildings.

15. A team logo

And we found large paw prints painted on the sidewalk across the street from the inn.

2. A footprint or pawprint

Robbie had searched for a FUN activity and signed us up for a Craft Night at Palettes & Pairings. We were able to choose from several craft projects. I chose to paint a Texas flag and bluebonnets on a piece of old barn wood while Robbie painted a canvas with a barn scene.

8. A drawing, art project, artistic photograph, scrapbook page, greeting card, or art journal page created by you.

The walls were covered with canvases that the owner had created for previous (and future) classes. One of my favorites is of a bicycle with a basket full of flowers, but I was also glad to find the moon in one of the scenes since we couldn't spot the real one when we walked outside the night before.

13. The moon

We took a different route on our way home from Brenham and spotted a camper along the way.

6. A camper (caravan)

Our route took us through College Station, home of Texas A&M University. Judging by this bike rack, there are quite a few students on campus this summer.

10. A bicycle

We spent a couple of hours touring the George H.W. Bush Presidential Museum, which had an interactive CIA exhibit. The X-ray sensor is showing an image of Robbie at the exhibit.

3. A skeleton, bone or x-ray

On the way home, we also stopped at a roadside stand to pick up some tomatoes.

11. Fresh produce

Our last stop was at Buzzard Billy's in Waco, where we enjoyed a late lunch. Then we headed out to the deck to feed feed the turtles - big ones and little ones. (I'm sure that one in the top left of the photos is a baby, right?)

alternative 2: a baby (human or animal)

It was a FUN challenge hunting for the items on this year's Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt List! (Were you keeping track? I found 22 items, everything except #18 - a supermarket cart, basket or trolley full of groceries.)

Of course, we took tons more photos as it was a great week all around. Here are a few more of my favorites.