Violet solved a problem for me

I have to write about this one.  If anybody has spent time with our family eating outdoors in the screened-in deck area, you know that sometimes things get stuck down between the wooden deck boards and gets caught by the screen underneath it all.  We have enough stuff stuck down there to someday have a garage sale if we ever get things out of there.  Each child about age 2 discovers the wonders of slipping (or sneaking) something between the boards and being fascinated that its "down there", able to be seen but not reached.  There are pencils, crayons, papers, books, beaded necklaces, bubble wands, puzzle pieces, etc...and...utensils.  Two spoons to be specific.  Eli is at the age right now where almost everything he gets his hands on - he tries putting between the boards on the deck.  He dropped a spoon down a crack on Tuesday evening this week.  The other spoon was dropped down there a couple years ago. 

It. drives. me. nuts.

Well, today Eli put down there one of Violet's perler bead shapes.  A dolphin - her favorite. 

We've been only about 5% successful using a wire hanger to try hook things out.  I have tried sticking really sticky tape on the end of a long stick and gotten paper out before I think.  But it is hard because if the item does get hooked and lifted higher, it has to fit through a tiny slot to get out. 

I just happened to be walking by Eli on the deck this afternoon when I noticed he'd been in the same place for awhile.  I am not sure what prompted me to look down between the boards underneath Eli but that's when I found the plastic perler bead dolphin shape.  Violet was pretty distraught this happened and saw me try to use tape and a wire again.  It was too heavy for the tape, so I said, "It's gone, I can't think of any other way to get it out."

She got a bright look on her face and said, "Hey! I have an idea! Let's try using a long stick and hot glue! Like...put glue on the end of the stick and stick it down between the boards and glue on to the thing that's stuck then pull it up.  The hot glue snaps right off when it cools off!" 

I was super impressed with her thinking skills.  I told her she had a brilliant idea and we should definitely try it.  She was totally on board to help execute, helping me find a long skinny stick.  We found one in the garage that resembled a yard stick.  I plugged in the hot glue gun on the deck and we tried it.  Strip of hot glue on the end of the stick, put it down and stick to the object, wait for it to try a minute, then pull it up.  It worked like a charm on our first try.  When the plastic dolphin was raised high enough, she reached in with the tweezers and pinched it and pulled it right through the slats. 

Nicely done, Violet!  Good thinking!

We also retrieved a long lost puzzle piece (the "mommy monkey" to a mommy/baby animal puzzle).  Vanessa found it satisfying to reunite the baby with her mommy.  She told me the mommy had been on a long trip and came back.

Oh! And we retrieved the two long lost spoons.  We hot glued the curved part of the spoon to the stick, raised it up, and slipped a string with a slip knot over the handle and tightened it, then released the glue, and used the string loop's grip to pull it out.  She was so happy and proud to have helped me solve this problem.  We didn't try find anything else, although we KNOW there's a lego piece to Calvin's new lego helicopter that dropped down there somewhere, we just haven't found it yet.  But when we do, there's an "easy" way to get it out!