escape room 6: The Condo at escape games az**

We went back to Escape Games AZ.

The first time we went here we took our boys. This time we went with some of our awesome friends. 

We did The Condo room. And crushed it.



Entering the Condo was very nostalgic--like walking into my Grandma's house and my childhood. It was so well done! We all loved the details of the room--the VHS tapes, the games, the mugs, the cabbage patch doll, the TV guide with pictures from some of our favorite shows (Full House!)--too fun. 

Eric and I give this room 2.5 stars. (Ok, we probably need to rethink our rating system if I'm going to keep giving things half stars...so if I was using a five star system, this room would be a 4.) It was probably one of the best linear rooms we have been to. It had a good variety of puzzles and elements and lots of fun. 

Having all four of our brains working together to puzzle things out was great. I love how differently we all think about things and use our different strengths. Four people is probably my favorite number for a linear escape room.

We are excited to try the other rooms at Escape Games AZ! We really like this place.

my dad's childhood home

My dad spent a lot of his childhood in Prescott. Two of his brothers have since moved back there and now my dad is up there for the summer. 

A few weeks ago, we were there for my sweet Aunt Randi’s funeral. My heart was grieving that loss, but my dad took the opportunity to share a piece of his childhood with us.

We walked to the house he grew up in. I can just imagine little Brent Allen running around playing with his brothers and having all sorts of adventures. Like with dynamite. Yep, he has stories of playing with dynamite and shooting their guns. There were also tame stories of throwing balls over the house from the front to the back yard. Cute boy!

What a sweet little house to raise four boys. 

Survivor (part 3)

Tree mail came!

It was time for new yellow buffs and...

a merge!!

This new unified tribe could now go anywhere in the backyard except for the pool. They had a merge feast with crackers, cheese, cookies, and fruit.

 Their first individual challenge began lined up outside the pool gate. As they walked in to the pool I showed them examples of three different key shapes. All the keys had been thrown into the pool and sunk to the bottom. I called out a type of key and everyone had to jump in to the water, find that type of key, and make it back to the edge of the pool before the time was up. We started easy by giving them one minute to find a certain color key, like yellow. Then increased the difficulty as we went with less time and more complex characteristics to find. The keys were five different colors, two different sizes, and three different shapes. So I could have them fins things like a red, small, triangle key.

 

Everyone who got out each round made their way to the hot tub (they were not complaining about that).

Soon we were down to six. 

Then the final three (plus Layla).

The winners got points (3 points for first place, 2 for second, and 1 for third place) and they each got to choose one person to hang out in the pool with them while everyone else had to leave. 

The next tree mail was a clue about a memory game.

I didn't have enough tiles for everyone to play at once so we split the kids into two rounds. Each person had a set of tiles. I would show them a combination of tiles by holding these tile signs up one at a time. They had to rememebr the symbol and the color. Then they would pick up their tiles and one by one they had to repeat back to me the combination. When they missed one they were out. The top five winners in each group went against each other to battle out to the final three. The reward was points, a candy bar, and some time in the AC room with the massage chair.

This cup was the tree mail for the next challenge.

This was a challenge of endurance. And skill. Each cup was filled halfway with water. They had to balance the cup on a marker and keep the cup above their head. 

Some of these guys didn't even last five seconds.

But some of them had some mad skills.

The reward was more pool time for the winners and the friends they chose.

By this time it was HOT. And it had been a long day.

So everyone was excited to see the tree mail for the final challenge of the day!

The boys and the girls would each run the course separately. There would be three winners from each group.

At the start everyone had to crawl under the net.










Then race to five stations.




The activities were repeats or very similar of the day's previous challenges. They had to find three correct pictures in the ramada.

They had to memorize the combination of colored tiles then run across the yard and put the tiles in the correct order.

They also had to find the letters and spell the word survivor again, find three duplos legos of the same color in the grass one at a time and then snap them together, dig in the mud to find a flag, and jump in the pool at the diving board and swim to the step to retrieve a seashell. At each station they collected a different color key onto a key ring. The first person to get to the mat with all five keys and a sea shell won the challenge.

Girls turn!

Once we had both winners of the challenges and everyone cast their last social vote we tallied up the points. We ended up with a three way tie for first.

These three guys had to plead their case about why they deserved the $50 and the title of sole survivor. 

Plead their case they did!

The group asked them a few questions.

Then cast their final vote.

We tallied the votes one by one, just like Jeff Probst does. :)

Tee winner was Luke!!! (who generously and kindly gave a chunk of his winnings to Kacin who broke his phone in the pool that week).

It was a loooong day. 

But I think they had so much fun! I certainly did. I would love to do this again soon.