Our family has been hiding a small toy monkey for each other to find for ages.
The game originally started with a yellow matchbox car Katie found on the playground at school.
Thinking it would be funny she hid the car in something of Matt’s and then waited on him to find it. Once he found it, he hid it in something of her’s and the game was born. It didn’t take long for Corie to start playing along too.
Somewhere along the way the car was swapped out for a small toy monkey.
It’s an interesting game but you have to be in it for the long haul because sometimes it takes weeks or even months for the monkey, or previously the car, to be found.
They’ve been hidden in all sorts of places like drawers, socks, vitamin bottles, bags of coffee, hunting paraphernalia, vehicles, instrument cases, and yes even cheeseburgers.
I never played the game with them until about three years ago.
I came up with the idea of putting the monkey in one of the tater rows we were digging recently. I knew I’d forget about it so I told Katie to remind me. Well we both forgot about it!
After we got back to the house I put the monkey under the keys on the 4-wheeler where I knew Matt would see it. He was surprised, but told me I better be prepared because he would surprise me with the monkey in an epic way 🙂
Last night’s video: Her Feeling Was Right – From My Highest Hill 7.
Tipper
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The hidden monkey is so much fun to get to see.
Now, that looks fun! We have a very busy Elf on the Shelf who turns up and gets into all sorts of things starting at Thanksgiving. Maybe we need to find out if he has a year round cousin.
I think your game sounds fun! My hubby and his family used to plant an acre of potatoes. There were eleven people to feed every day…plus any friends or family that stopped by were always welcomed to join them for dinner. There were 7 children plus parents and grandparents. He feels very fortunate to have worked side by side with his grandfather, planting and harvesting, and learning everything he knew. His dad worked hard in the coal mines every day, so it was a plus to have his retired grandfather next door to learn from…and an Italian Grandmother who loved to cook!
I love the monkey game you all invented! It speaks loudly of the ‘togetherness’ you all share. Fantastic start for Austin in getting a buck on opening day!! You’re next Matt. 🙂
I absolutely love the monkey hiding game. I think both boys are old enough to get involved with the hiding of it (if they can hold on to that secret!) The places to hide him are endless around your house/yard/shed/vehicles/etc.
I’m still praying for Papaw Tony & Nana.
Our bunch has an ugly wooden fish we have wrapped as a gag Christmas gift and passed around for years. The recipient signed and dated it and selected the next recipient. Now that we likely won’t gather under one roof at Christmas, the fish game might have run its course. We’ll see.
Gene, at Christmas in my wife’s family, the adults would exchange gifts and there would always be a gag gift or two wrapped real pretty and signed from Santa Claus. Two ones, when my nephew was about 14 years old and had started paying more attention to girls, he kept saying he wanted Santa Claus to bring him a doll baby, so I bought gave him a cheap doll wrapped up, and signed Santa Claus. He has never let me forget about it. One brother in law did this to another brother in law that had been in Germany right before Christmas. It was giving a newly married member of the family a package of stinking German cheese- it stunk bad enough to make a buzzard puke. Even though totally innocent, the one that had been to Germany got blamed for it. Two birds with one stone! She never did find out the truth. The good clean fun we once had with one another, now so many have passed on
That is a fun game! Maybe we will start one in our family in honor of the Pressleys and their monkey.
Randy, I sure hope today is our last hot day here in Kansas! My husband keeps saying “This is the last one,” and then we get another hot one. But it has to end sometime!
Morning everyone. The one son that lives with me and myself do occasionally put something for the other to find. But we don’t have your patience so we put it somewhere we know they’ll find it fast. Right now it’s a picture of the Blue Buffalo Wilderness kitten, ripped off the box of wet food. He hasn’t moved it yet. It’s too cute and kind of reminds us of our younger cat. Tipper, the real reason I’m writing is I made your pizza recipe last night. The wetter version. It was the best I ever made. I even doubled the recipe so my son would have some the next day before work. The risen dough was so light like you said. I was watching a Korean lady make bread. She also said “a wet dough makes soft bread”. After years of watching my son make sourdough, you can tell Katie hers looks wonderful. Of course we are never happy with what we make, but Katie is becoming a great “cook”. Anna from Arkansas.
I think this is such a sweet and fun game to do with family members. Your family inspired us and my daughter and I have been hiding a tiny grey kangaroo for a couple years now. Just this week I found it hiding in the salt cellar! Haha. 🙂 Sometimes he has been hidden for months like you said! Good, clean fun.
Good morning Tipper and Acorns. I love the Monkey hiding. I look forward to Matt’s epic turn. TY for last nights book club video. I enjoy your weekly readings and insights. Love ya.
I always look forward to finding out where the monkey was stashed. My favorite was when Matt found the monkey in a burger at a restaurant!
I love the idea of this game. I think the first time I saw it was the cheeseburger “incident”. I’m glad you finally got in on the fun!
I remember seeing a few of your videos throughout the years on YouTube about the monkey game. I don’t recall hearing it started with a toy car, but I’ve probably missed it when you talked about it. I think it’s a great family game Katie started when she was young. As the grandsons get older I know they will eagerly join in on the fun and I hope they will carry on the game tradition throughout their lives too.
I have done something similar in my classroom. I used a pink Power Ranger toy for years until (sadly) someone stole it. Now, I have a few of those tiny, plastic Jesus figurines that seem to be appearing everywhere. I would hide it in different spots in the room and I told the kids it was like an Elf on the Shelf and that Jesus was watching them so they had better be good! I even developed a song parody from Rockwell’s 80’s hit “Somebody’s Watching Me” and I would sing “I always feel like Jesus is watching me.” It was very motivating and just plain fun to see where He would turn up!
I think it’s a great game! You guys keep things interesting in Wilson Holler! More power to you!!! Have a blessed day everybody! Know you’re cared about and prayed for by somebody in VA you never met and I tell you that doesn’t matter-just know you’re thought of in high regards!
I have never been a part of anything like this. When it came to me and some of my coworkers pulling pranks on each other we went by this rule “payback is going to rough.”
Hopefully we had the last extremely hot day yesterday 97 degrees, after a good thunderstorm last night cooler fall like temperatures and more/better rain chances are forecast for next week. I am ready for it.