<a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/285204588872255461/" target="_blank" rel="attachment wp-att-11809"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-11809" alt="285204588872255461_B1ZkhZLG" src="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/285204588872255461_B1ZkhZLG-300x168.jpg" width="300" height="168" /></a>My friend Dawn sent me a list of playdate ideas that were lifted from a Pinterest Bucket List.

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The ideas were enticingly fun:

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* Get in a taxi and yell, "Follow that car!"  (I've always wanted to do that!)

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* Have a paint fight

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* Build a treehouse

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And . . . .

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* Let go of a floating lantern.

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Maybe I've been hiding under a rock (or behind a computer), but I had never heard of Floating Lanterns aka Sky Lanterns aka Wish Lanterns.

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But when you know how to work The Google, then Pinterest Bucket Lists are your oyster.  I promptly ordered a set of 5 Wish Lanterns.  (For the record, I chose the eco-friendly ones.)

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<a href="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/?attachment_id=11811" rel="attachment wp-att-11811"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-11811" alt="World&quot;s Most Precious Pooch Plays Vanna White with Wish Lanterns" src="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/PC140034-300x225.jpg" width="300" height="225" /></a>

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Dawn arrived at my house for din din and a Wish Lantern Extravaganza.  We quickly watched a YouTube tutorial on how to work these thingamajigs and then set off for our adventure before we got rained out.

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That's right.  Rain in the desert.  It hadn't rained since . . . . September maybe? . . . . and then it rains on our Wish Lantern Parade. Humbug.

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Although in retrospect, a wet desert was probably a good thing when playing with fire.  I had no desire to become a newsworthy Wish Lantern chick.

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We drove out to the edge of the preserve in an effort to keep my neighbors out of harm's way.  Dawn and I were alone save for a deserted car.  Probably a night hiker.  Doesn't he know that javelinas are running amuck in these parts???

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I volunteered Dawn to go first.  I tend to be a bit <a href="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/2011/10/11/day-356-my-very-first-concussion-italian-style/" target="_blank"><strong>accident prone</strong>.</a>  Wise choice, if you ask me.

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The mother of all coinkidinks!  Not only did we have a lurker in the not-so-deserted car, but he just so happened to know a thing or two about Wish Lanterns!  Who woulda thunk it?

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I'm not sure if we would have ever figured out how to cast those suckers had it not been from our young Car Friend.

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Perhaps if we had read the directions (found by me 48 hours after our Wish Lantern Extravaganza) and known what we were doing, we would have never known about Car Friend.

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<a href="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/?attachment_id=11816" rel="attachment wp-att-11816"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-11816" alt="Read the Wish Lantern Directions first! " src="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/PC160004-300x225.jpg" width="300" height="225" /></a>

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Our night would not have been the same without him.

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Favorite line of the night (in case you couldn't make it out in the video):

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<span style="color: #ff00ff;"><strong>Me:</strong> </span> What are you doing in there?

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<span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong>Car Friend:</strong> </span> Watching a TV show.

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Dawn and I shoot one another the "What the?!" look.

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<span style="color: #ff00ff;"><strong>Me:</strong> </span> Do you have a girl in there?

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<strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Car Friend:</span>  </strong>I wish!

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Well, young man.  This was a night for wishing!  I hope your dream comes true!

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Time for Ms. Accident Prone to let go of her floating lantern and two accompanying wishes.  (You may as well wish big or go home, right?)

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So there you have it!  I experienced two firsts within one week:  <strong>Geocaching</strong> and Wish Lanterns!  (And a third first is coming for Playdate #50.)

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May all of your wishes come true in 2013.

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Have you ever let go of a wish lantern?  Did you wish come true?  :-)

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