(Side note from Kristi: I have been looking forward to this clue from Nita since I sat down and started working on North Carolina. During the state project this was one of their favorite adventures, and the way I was able to weave it into a map lesson and clue today made me giddy when I came up with it. Hope you enjoy!)
So as soon as Detectives NJ and Bean woke up this morning, they noticed the flag was up...
Noah read us the following:
Noah and Mikayla,
Want to catch me?
I decided to pop over to Michigan for the morning, but am eating at one
of my favorite places from the state I’ve been hiding in. Hurry up, I won’t be here long. I’ve made it really easy – I’m even giving
you a map. The clock is ticking….
Nita
Enclosed was a map: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/24644+Springbrook+Dr,+Farmington+Hills,+MI+48336,+USA/208+W+14+Mile+Rd,+Troy,+MI+48083/@42.4884699,-83.3001143,12z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m13!4m12!1m5!1m1!1s0x8824b127eb6eabd5:0xe80bfb45bb39a7c0!2m2!1d-83.3481089!2d42.4747119!1m5!1m1!1s0x8824c51b7c57444d:0x5ca11ea2d90d053f!2m2!1d-83.1090829!2d42.5346404?hl=en
So we set off....
We looked around - no Nita but plenty of donuts! So we decided since we were there...
As we started to munch, an employee from Krispy Kreme came out and delivered something to our table:
Grant decided at this point he too needed a hat...
Kayla opened the note and gave it to Noah to read
It said:
Noah
and Mikayla,
Aw,
too bad, you were too slow! I enjoyed my
Krispy Kreme here in Troy and now I’m heading back to “The Old North State”,
I’m so close to having it all be officially mine! See ya later alligators!
Nita
So we missed her! But at least we got to have Krispy Kreme for breakfast! (Noah said he'd rather have Krispy Kreme than catch Nita because he's having fun searching for her. Big Mama melt puddle!) We finished up, and we were just about to head out when Grant noticed the following inside his hat:
The kids were stoked! At this point they felt pretty confident they had made the right guess yesterday.
Grant continued to proudly sport his hat.
When we finished up we headed back in the direction of home and stopped at Lowe's. We had been told they were having a Pinewood Derby building workshop so the boys wanted to check it out.
Yep, that's my six year old working the saw! (By the way, super proud of Grant - he was so good explaining everything to NJ and then really letting him do it on his own.)
On the way home, we decided to push lunch back a bit to get in some sledding! The temperature was rising rapidly (we were supposed to get above freezing today, holy cow!) and we wanted to get it in before all the snow disappeared or turned to mush. Even better - Colleen and R were able to join us! So we headed off to Heritage...
Noah amid "the Beans"
The Bean dream team!
Seriously - these two act like they've known each other for their whole lives. It makes me smile every time. They had quite the time together.
We got home for some lunch, some crash time and some time for the boys to continue work on their car (Grant says thank you Mom and Dad - he used his birthday present to buy some pieces for his dremel, a saw they need and a vice clamp.) when Mikayla noticed the flag was up again!
They received the following:
Dear Detectives,
Friday
afternoon I received your email stating that you felt that Nita was currently
hiding out in North Carolina. I hear
that she led you on quite the wild donut chase this morning and you were so
close to catching her in Michigan! I
hope you at least enjoyed your donuts!
It appears
that Miss Directions WAS in North Carolina this past week. I sent the Swat Unit there last evening to
look for her, but she had apparently already left town for your local Krispy
Kreme. It seems she got word from BAD
henchman that we were close to catching her and she did not even attempt to go
back to North Carolina this morning after her breakfast. We have no idea where
she is now located, but are confident that she will be contacting you again
soon. We know she was in North Carolina
because she did leave behind a puzzle piece which I am giving to you for safe
keeping.
Also, I am
passing along some further information from MOMG Intelligence. They first ask that you remove North Carolina
from our “States at Risk” wall. You
should move it to our “Suspect” wall next to the “Last Seen” header. Secondly, they have asked me to enclose the
next 20 states they feel are most at risk based on the information they have
been gathering. Thirdly, I am enclosing
a ball of yarn. We would like to use the
giant map on the “Tracking Nita” wall to show Nita’s track from state to
state. Please ask your Mom and Dad to help
you with this – we have already informed them of how we plan to do this. We have a feeling that Nita will be laying
low for a day or two and will need some time to regroup, but you should expect
her or my Intelligence team to contact you again soon.
Good work,
Detectives! Nita may have escaped again,
but it’s obvious you’re making her a little nervous! She seems to be up to lots of tricks and
she’s sure to slip up sooner or later.
Keep up your hard work – we’re proud of you!
The Chief
Rats, foiled again! That Nita sure is sneaky. But the kids aren't too disappointed and we went about completing the tasks in the letter.
Mapping it out
Where do you think she's going? (Five bonus points to anyone who recognizes something special about all the states up there)
The kids really enjoyed Star Wars last week and have been begging for us to let them watch the next (fifth) one, so we decided after one very full day that'd be a good way to keep it simple tonight. I also had a fun dinner of Lawnmower Taco and Queso Taco Bombs planned to go with it. So baths all around and dinner and a movie for tonight it is! Not sure what we're up to tomorrow (besides Church) though Noah is VERY into working on his car (and I'm very into him working on it before Grant leaves, so that's a good thing) so I have a feeling that's on the agenda. Otherwise, we'll see! So until then...
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