Geocaching

On Monday, February 21 there was no school and a day just itching for some adventure! We decided that we were going to do some geocaching as a family and see what fun we could come up with. We were going to have to take Luke back to his mom's anyways so we decided to spend our time out in East county. Our first stop was to pick up my lil' sis, Paige. It was so good to see her and get to spend some quality time with her. She adores the kids and we adore her;)

Once she was in the car the fun began. Our fabulous geomate jr. was on and searching for adventure in the form of gps coordinates and directions. All in all I would say it was a successful day. We went to 8 locations and found 6!

#1- cache in a bush: we let the boys search for a little bit before Andrew stepped in to help out. It was a giant rhodie bush and Jonathan was walking around inside it saying "geocaching....where are you?" It was hilarious! Andrew found the cache, but Jonathan claimed it;)

#2- cache in a parking lot: I was in the van nursing Reagan watching the troop wander and thinking of the spot they should check....that they weren't checking. After about 15 minutes they gave up and headed into the store for a potty break. I finished up just as they got back to the car. As we were about to drive off, I mentioned to Andrew my idea of where it would be and he decided to hop out and check. Sure enough, it was there! Point: Toshia.

#3- cache at the park: We went to a park we had taken to boys to when they were little. Adrian and Luke were off with Andrew. Jonathan spotted the slide and had other plans:) The boys found the cache while Reagan and I looked on and Paige bonded with Jonny. After we let them play for a little bit, we headed off to hunt down another cache before lunch.

#4-cache in a dog park: so the driving to this one was ridiculous. There were streets that didn't go through, miscommunication between driver and navigator (aka wife and husband), but in the end we made it to the location. There was a bit of concern right before we actually found it that we weren't going to. And frankly, after the effort devoted to it I would have been irritated if we hadn't found it. In the end it was by the tree I first thought it had to be by. (Another point for me, but who's counting?)

LUNCH BREAK

#5- cache under a bridge: FAIL. Ok, the fail wasn't so much our fault though. Honestly, it wasn't. Andrew was walking with the boys while I sat in the car with sleeping baby, when he realized that the bush they needed to get to was also home to someone in the form of a grown man in a sleeping bag. He decided that a troop of geocachers was probably not the best alarm clock and they turned around. This was the perfect opportunity to discuss homelessness and compassionate service though.

#6- cache by a pond: FAIL. We seriously searched the banks of this stinking pond and found what seemed to be remnants of a caches contents, but nothing else. When we got home later and looked it up online it looks like the cache is no longer there. Oh well, we had fun anyways!

#7- cache at Powell Butte off a hiking trail: a fun hike following an opportunity to help a mom and her son try to jump start their dead battery. In the end she had to get a tow truck and we went off to find our cache. I think this one was my favorite simply because the terrain was so nice and the view was awesome.

#8- cache at a cemetery: apparently this is pretty common? It was a little strange, but the cache was actually in a tree along the edge of the cemetery. Luke got to climb up in the tree while we gave direction from below.

I think that the kids all had a fun time and that the day was spent perfectly. After we dropped off Luke and then Paige we headed over to Costco for some grocery shopping and their $1.50 hotdogs. I think we shall do this again!