Mysterious

Sydney's 11th birthday party started out like another. Kids started showing up to our house, ready to have a birthday party. I asked Sydney to go to the mailbox and get the mail for me. The only thing in there was a letter...addressed to Sydney. As she opened, the confused look turned to excitement. She read the letter aloud to her friends. The letter was from a " Kay Romanin", who said she was a the last of 4 " secret keepers". She said she was dying and needed to find an honest person with a good heart and loyal friends to pass this secret on to. The letter then described events that took place a long time a go and a symbol that they needed to follow. Once they found this symbol( a keychain with a key on it), they would be able to piece together the clues to know the secret.

The first clue said that one of the secret keepers was an author and that he kept codes in his books. Along with the cue there was a piece of paper with #'s on it.

24-16-32

128-4-25

63-12-11

etc.

The clue said it was an " Ottendorph Cypher". None of the kids knew what that was, so I had them look it up online. The 3's represent the page #, the line on that page and the letter in that line. Now all we had to do was find the book. So we went to the nearest book store ( whom I had already arranged things with). The kids asked for the store associate where they could find this author's books. He led us to a section where there were 4 books by this particular author. The kids pulled out the books looking for something that would lead to their next clue. Then in one of the back covers of a book was the symbol...the book was called " Atlantis". Now the kids were really excited! They started solving the cypher and found part of thier next clue....but what about the rest? I suggested that someone look closely at the back cover. Sure enough there was something there, but it was invisible. I handed the kids a black light flashlight I just happened to have. Wow...that blew them away...invisible writing. All it said was " Grout".

Put together with the cypher, the clues led them to find an airplane at the grout museum. They needed to find the #'s on the plane to put with compass directions. These directions would guide them through a cemetery to find another clue left by another secret keeper.

Once at the cemetery, they had to find a starting spot. The letter at the beginning said that the secret keeper in the graveyard told her that, " a tower of 5 crosses would mark their path to the truth". So the kids had to find a grave stone that looked like a tower with 5 crosses on it. From there the had to use the #'s from the plane and the compass directions from the cypher to count , 4 stones north, 1 stone east, 5 stones north, etc. until they reached the last stone where they found their next clue.

Once the key was found, we were off to our next clue. A locker at World Wide Fitness. The kids were bouncing in their seats they were so excited...chatting about what they would find next. We got to the gym and the locker was located in the girls locker room, so only the girls got to go in. They opened the locker to find an envelope. We took it out to a table where the boys could see what was in it also. The opened envelope contained a puzzle they had to put together ( a picture of a building that I took...a building at their next clue). The envelope also had a magnifying glass in it...so they knew they would need that at some point. It didn't take them long to put the picture together. A couple of them recognized the building as the Hartman Nature reserve center. They all wanted to jump in the van and go, but I reminded them that the nature reserve was a big place, how would we know where the next clue was. Then Sydney, my smart cookie said that they should look for some small clue with the magnifying glass. she flipped over the puzzle and found some extremely small writing that said " The key to BRIDGE the past and the future is friendship and trust". So we are off to find a bridge. There are several bridges at Hartman...but one with a special name on it. I would leave it up to the kids to figure that one out on their own.

Once at Hartman, we start walking down the path to a fork in the road. To the right is a bridge and to the left is a bridge. But what one do we go to? Then one of the kids recognizes the name on one of the bridges as the name of the secret keeper who sent Sydney the letter...Kay Romanin. Now they are off...running full speed down hill toward the bridge. Before I can catch up, they are searching all over and under for any clues. They find a treasure box, wrapped tightly with chains and a lock. But where is the key...ahhh the key that came with the letter and that has the symbol of Atlantis on it. We took the box up to the van where we had the letter and the key. Once we opened it we found another letter and treasures from Atlantis. The letter said that the secret is that Atlantis was real and that not everyone died...but there are descendants of Atlantians who are amoung us today and you can know who they are because they bear the symbol. ( I had tattooed myself with pen and put a small symbol on my wrist) The letter said that this was a big secret and that we had to be careful not to let anyone know. Each kid got a blue crystal, a seashell, an Atlantis keychain and an invisible ink pen and paper so that they can write secret notes to each other, and a blue light to see the notes.

Then it was back to our house for pizza, cake and ice cream and presents. What took me 2 months to plan and organize took those lids all of 2 hours yo solve. Next year I think we will just have a sleepover or something simple! This was a ton of fun to do...and I love making my daughter happy, but boy was I worn out!

Happy Birthday Sydney!!!