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Michelle Bogaard
solves Wally's Souvenir Search $26 ©Where's Waldo?

With love from,
Mummy and Daddy
Happy Birthday

"Welcome to my hometown, Michelle!" exclaimed Wally as his good friend, Michelle Bogaard, aged 9 years, from Pukekohe arrived for a visit. "Hello Wally - it's great to see you again!" replied Michelle. "I'm sorry that David, Ella and Joe couldn't join us today, but I know we'll have a terrific time exploring all of these super stores by ourselves!"

Wally showed Michelle around his town square and giggled when Michelle noticed that each store had a unique flag flying from it.

"I know you're really sharp, Michelle, so it won't take you long to figure out which country's flag goes with each place - I will give you a hint, though, the five countries are the United States, Australia, Japan, France and Italy!"

Wally and Michelle continued through the town to Wally's house, where he got them each a big glass of lemonade and produced his treasured scrapbook for Michelle to look through. "This book contains all the best pictures from some of my favorite countries I've visited!" said Wally.

"Here I am in Italy, eating at my favorite restaurant, and there's a great shot of me and my friends in Australia,

and . . . hey, wait a minute! Woof seems to have gotten himself in every single photo - what a silly dog he is!" Michelle continued flipping through the scrapbook and looked up to find Wally smiling with a twinkle in his eyes. "How would you like to join me in a small adventure I've thought up, Michelle?" Wally asked,

"I've hidden the souvenirs you see in those pictures throughout the stores in my town, and if you can find them all, I'll declare you "Wally Watcher of the Year!" Michelle laughed, "That sounds like fun and I'm a great detective, Wally so you can count on me to find every one of the souvenirs from your collection. I can hardly wait to get started, so let's go!"

Wally and Michelle stopped at the Bijou French Bakery first, which was packed with lunch time diners. "Now, let's see what I need you to find here, Michelle," said Wally, looking about innocently. "My Eiffel Tower statuette is very small and could easily be hidden by all this freshly baked bread and these gooey goodies." Michelle began searching the crowd for the statuette, while Wally followed close behind, giving some "helpful" hints.

"Hey Michelle, is that it over by the thirsty camel? No? Well, maybe that ice cream eating Eskimo has it hidden in his parka, or it could be under the cherry on top of that chocolate cupcake man!"

Michelle kept looking and shouted "I found it, Wally!" when she discovered the little souvenir hidden in a very clever place. "I told you I was a great Wally Watcher" said Michelle, "Now I'm ready for my next assignment!"

As Michelle and Wally strolled through the town, they were stopped by all the commotion at Pepperoni's Pizza Parlor. "Look Michelle," cried Wally, "the spaghetti machine is spilling pasta all over the place! I bet you'll never find my golden gondola souvenir in all of this mess! Gosh, Michelle, I see a terrific mandolin right over there and isn't that a jaunty jester costume on that fellow?"

Wally also noticed the wily alligator lurking in the water, but didn't mention it to Michelle, who was busy peeking under the masks of 15 merrymakers. 'Do you give up yet? Should I tell you where the gondola is hidden?" asked Wally.

"No way, Wally," said Michelle, "but I do wish David, Ella and Joe were here to help me - this is a tough one to find! Hey, wait a minute, I do believe this is your golden gondola right over here - am I correct?" Wally smiled as he saw Michelle put his gondola souvenir in her knapsack with the Eiffel Tower statuette. "You're right, Michelle, let's move along and see what else you can find!"

"I have a special surprise for you, Michelle" said Wally, as they walked up to a beautiful little lighthouse, "this is my favorite museum in town! It's called Nantucket's National Miniature Marvel, and even though you have to climb a lot of stairs to get to the display, it's worth it!"

Michelle and Wally climbed to the top of the lighthouse, where a wonderful miniature model of the United States was set out before them. "If you look closely, Michelle, you may be able to spot my prize baseball somewhere across the country," said Wally, "but that's the easy part, after you find it, I want you to tell me where all of the following landmarks are on the model!"

*Golden Gate Bridge - San Francisco, California
*Sears Tower - Chicago, Illinois
*Mount Rushmore - South Dakota
*Lobster - Maine
*New Orleans Jazz - Louisiana
*Capitol Building - Washington, D.C.
*Taos Pueblos - New Mexico
*World Trade Center - New York City, New York
*Kennedy Space Center - Cape Canaveral, Florida
*Mount St. Helen's - Washington State

"I'm all done, Wally," said Michelle as she finished finding all of the monuments, "that was a tough puzzle! I'll add your baseball to the other souvenirs I found and then we can be on our way."

"Look, Michelle, the Super Surf Emporium is having a sale on surfboards today!" exclaimed Wally, as he led Michelle across the street. "Let's go take a look and see if you can find my little koala key chain amongst all the awesome Aussie articles."

Michelle walked around the surf shop looking for the koala souvenir, while Wally simply stood in front of a poster, gazing at the Australian scene of surfers and sunbathers. "Hey Michelle, why don't you take a look at this poster with me," asked Wally, smiling secretly to himself. Michelle ran over to the poster and laughed at seeing the koala key chain sitting in plain view. "That wasn't a very good hiding place, Wally," giggled Michelle, "I found it right away!"

"I really just wanted to have you look at this poster," replied Wally, "the koala souvenir was easy, but see if you can spot the koala that's on the poster, as will as five starfish and a kooky kangaroo, only then will you prove your worth as a true Wally Watcher!" Michelle found all of the items Wally asked for and tucked the koala key chain safely in with the other souvenirs.

"On to the last adventure, Wally, you lead the way!" said Michelle, and they set out, quite happy with how well they were doing.

"I've saved the best for last, Michelle," said Wally as they entered Tokyo's Titanic Toy Store, "this is where I get all of my favorite toys!" Michelle had to find Wally's souvenir set of seven samurai figures and followed Wally over to a display of Japanese toys. "You shouldn't have too hard of a time finding my set here, Michelle," laughed Wally, eyeing the mountain of toys that lined the shelves.

Michelle found two off the samurai right away, but then a Godzilla figure fell off the shelf, followed by a silly stuffed giraffe that wouldn't stay put! "Wally, wouldn't you like a nice tin soldier for your collection instead?" called out Michelle after only managing to find three more of the samurai souvenirs. "I'm sorry, Michelle, but I really like my samurai warriors and I need all seven - so please keep looking!" replied Wally.

Michelle finally spotted the final two figures and excitedly ran over to where Wally was standing. "I did it!" exclaimed Michelle, laughing with joy, "I found all seven samurai, the koala keychain, the prize baseball, the golden gondola and the Eiffel Tower!" Wally smiled at his friend and declared, Yes, Michelle, you did it and I officially name you 'Wally Watcher of the Year!!'" He hugged Michelle and they happily strolled back to Wally's house, talking about the great search they had been on.

As Wally carefully put his souvenirs back in their special cabinet, he told Michelle that there was just one more game he wanted her to try, as a reward for being such a great Wally Watcher and friend. "I've gathered all the flags I've collected in my travels, Michelle, and I want to see if you can identify which flag belongs to each country. Then, go back through our adventure and find where each flag is hidden!"

A little while later, when Michelle was finished, they walked back to the train station so Michelle could get back to her own hometown and family. "I had a terrific day, Wally," said Michelle smiling at her special friend, "I can't wait to visit again because we always have such a great time together!" Wally waved good-bye as Michelle got on the train. "Good-bye, Michelle! Say hello to David, Ella and Joe!

Keep your Wally Watching skills sharpened, because I'll have a new game ready when you come to see me again!"

P.S. Here's an extra bonus for all of my favorite Wally Watchers! Every page in the book has each of the items below hidden on it - can you go back and find all of them? Don't forget, my friend Wenda and my dog Woof are on each page, too!