Kaeb Family: The Love Scavenger Hunt

The weekend before Valentine's Day my hubby and I were able to go out for a nice dinner and have a wonderful kid-free evening. We unofficially deemed that our Vday celebration. On the actual day we enjoyed some Mexican take-out, exchanged cards & flowers and hung around the house.

The Saturday after Vday, my hubby told me that I should get my weekend grocery shopping done early and be ready to pick up my valentine gift at 2p. He sent me to Cold Stone Creamery nearby and said that I was going to meet someone there who was familiar to me. He gave me a photo of himself and told me to present it to the cashier. In the car on the way I almost threw-up from being so nervous. I am not a woman who enjoys being surprised and feel very uncomfortable when I don't know what's coming next. I arrived at Cold Stone and didn't see anyone familiar to me so I waited. At one point, I was scared someone was going to jump out from behind the counter or the bathroom but I eventually told the cashier that I had a photo of my husband and I gave it to her. She had me choose an ice cream scoop and then handed me an envelope with another photo of Troy and a pink strip of paper....a clue. As my ice cream melted all over the table, I sat in utter shock over what to do. The clue said I had detailed instructions on how to proceed under my seat in the car.  I was on my way back to my car when the someone familiar to me showed up in the parking lot. She looked equally surprised and nervous to see me and after we chatted for a bit we realized that we were in this together. The instructions said the following:

You are about to venture on a special 'Valentines Love Hunt' and we hope you have a great time together. Both of us have personally pre-selected and pre-paid for items for each of you in several stores listed in the attached Town Center Plaza and Town Center Crossing Store Directory. Just like the clue you got from Cold Stone, each store in the 'Valentines Love Hunt' will provide a new clue for the next store in the hunt.

When you believe you have correctly paired the clue with the right store, you will go to that store, proceed to the cash register, and with the ID of me that I gave you earlier in the day, ask the salesperson working the following question, "Did my husband make a purchase for me here for Valentine's Day?" while showing the picture of me.

If you have correctly interpreted the store clue, the salesperson will give you the purchase and a clue for the next store. Each clue has an incremental number written on it so that you can verify you are in the right order and not skipping ahead. We recommend taking an average no greater than 15 minutes between clues.

If you get stumped and cannot figure out a clue, you may text me for help.

My instructions also included a sweet note from my husband which shall remain private, but spoke to me like only he can. And then the fun began...
We worked through the clues together at each store, some of them were a little tricky and some were easy based on each of our personalities or store preferences. We ended up in the correct store each time (12 of them) although we misunderstood one clue and almost went to the wrong place. At each store we would present our photos and receive our gift with much excitement from store clerks and shoppers. I enjoyed looking through each bag after getting a gift to see what my husband had chosen for me. When a clue led us to stop at Banana Republic a little over halfway through the hunt, the manager shared with me how hard Troy had worked on this, how long it took him to put it all together (a few months) and the sweetest reasons he told her for doing this for me. It was no longer a shopping spree but a wonderfully romantic show of devotion from my husband that brought me to tears.

The hunt led us to a coffee house where we enjoyed some pre-arranged coffee drinks (our favorites had been ordered) and then we got our last clue to head to dinner reservations across the street. When we got to the restaurant, the hostess split us up and we were led to tables with our husbands already seated, watiting for us.  When I was standing there in front of my amazing husband after this afternoon full of sweet surprises I could only cry, laugh and chatter at the same time which went on for 45 minutes before we were able to focus on the menu and order some dinner. He followed up our dinner with a love letter (which he does often for birthdays, anniversaries and special times in our lives) but this one had a special meaning considering the events of the day.

Days later it's still fun to hear about all the behind-the-scenes details of the planning process. Both husbands worked really hard to plan and arrange the perfect scavenger hunt for us. Leave it to two engineers to come up with the perfect surprise! They both put a lot of time into the shopping process and chose some great outfits, shoes, etc. for us to enjoy. They also followed us along the hunt route and took pictures without us knowing.  A huge part of the enjoyment was experiencing it with this particular couple, who are very special to Troy and I.

I know I am truly blessed to have a husband like Troy. He is so creative, adoring and romantic and sometimes I take that for granted. But he also brings out those hidden qualities in myself and I am so grateful for that.

Troy - Thank you for the most memorable Valentine's Day ever....I will never forget it and I love you so much!