PEZ-ure Hunt

Wow, this place is full.

Sure, it's still technically summer, but I rather expected most of these kids to be in school already. Mine, on the other hand, go back after Labor Day, so I thought we had a week where we could take a bit of a vacation. And early in the week is supposed to be the quiet time, right?

I should have known when I saw the parking lot full of cars.

Well, my kids would hopefully be well behaved, but they do like PEZ a lot. More than the average kids, if I'm honest. I think there'll be a convention or two in my future. At least they haven't asked about collecting the expensive ones yet, just asked to come to the museum / factory today and visit the rare ones in their home.

That's a lot of PEZ. And it started with the wall, floor to two or three story ceiling, of PEZ dispensers as soon as we walked in.

They sure know how to sell their product! The treasure hunt prize was advertised at kid's eye level when I paid our admission, and they also had a QR code to scan to unlock games inside. But beyond the inner doors were the cards with extreme closeups of eight PEZ dispensers, and you're supposed to go find them and write down their names for a treasure hunt... Yeah, okay, my kids are gone, with a card and pencil each.

We are definitely not the only ones.

Adults, too. Like that trio, two girls and a guy, gently swaying to avoid the careening kids zooming around trying to find the right ones. The one lady is pointing to the card, and I can almost hear her telling the other two which is which. They're wearing masks – well, I can see why. There are a lot of people here, from all over if the license plates in the parking lot are any indication. The confident one has the look of someone who's been sick for a while, and is recovering.

The confident one goes off to check out the second story exhibits, but the other lady stops her, motions to see the card again. And pulls out her phone. Ah, clever! Take a picture of the card, and now they can split up and look independently.

I can watch them, because my kids are off and joining the swirl of people hunting for the matches near them. Some are easy, they are familiar characters from movies. They are also easy for the two adults, who are drifting back and forth towards the exhibit columns. And then I see the camera ease out again, and click click, one more ticked off their list, and they move on. But not before catching the eye of a few kids, and very obviously pointing to the spot when they found a match.

And the kids are no fools, and rush forward for the match.

My kids see it too, and join the surge.

We end up just following them. They're going with the flow, like bigger fish in a school of smaller ones, and it's neat to watch the dance. And they motion with hand signals when not aside of each other; they spotted what I didn't – that all the matches are on the lowest shelf, so the kids can find them. Sneaky!

The exhibits are grouped in loose categories, so it's easy for these two to circle from a farther distance, gauge if the image matches the theme, and move on. My kids are still going from column to column, so eventually I see the two adults break off and go shopping. And their confident friend is back, and also shopping. I think she's the collector, and the other two are along for the ride. Nice!

They go off to a corner, and pictures are shown, the card is filled out for the collector, and off they go with their intended purchases.

And my kids come back to me, very sad, because they're missing one and can't find it anywhere.

It's a stumper, that's for sure. I don't know either.

But I know who does.

The three didn't go to the checkout like I expected, they stopped at another spot and are still shopping. So I gather my kids, whisper some suggestions on how to approach strangers, and accompany them over. I'm right behind them, but if they want this, they must do it themselves.

I'm so proud of my little girl, doing the scary thing for herself and her little brother.

She very timidly tapped on the camera lady's arm, and asked, “Excuse me? We can't find this one, can you help?”

I know some people find mask wearers scary, or political, or suspicious, like they're already sick or something. But I taught my kids, look at the eyes. And all three, their eyes were kind, and the crinkles at the corners told me they were smiling, and had been most of the time we were there.

Those crinkles suddenly got a lot deeper, and the camera lady motioned them to follow. So did I, curious on how they'd do it.

They went further on, to a column near the checkout counters. That one wasn't getting a lot of attention, since it faced the back wall stuffed full of PEZ to purchase. Who can resist that? But the lady, she glided straight ahead towards the counter, not even looking, and then suddenly, repeatedly, pointed at a spot to the right. My kids rushed over, and the lady did a U-turn right around the column, doubling back to her companions, and gave me a thumbs-up on the way.

Awesome that she really didn't point to it exactly, just showed them where to look for the answer. But we got Frankenstein, and we did some shopping of our own, and those three went off to pay for their purchases. And collect their prize.

They didn't have to do that. But you could tell it gave them a lot of joy to see kids discover the treasure for themselves, instead of being spoon-fed answers.

My kids loved their free PEZ, Boog the Bear from the movie Open Season. I feel they earned it.

And I have a story about another type of treasure hunt, the people who helped kids just for the kindness of being helpful without being overbearing. I wonder where they're from?

Whoever you are, thank you, and best wishes for more fun adventures in the future!