Serious Play

Geocache with Friends

Today was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the air was fresh and our GPS was calling us! We decided today was the perfect day to call up our good friends and go geocaching. We chose to download a few coordinates out in Bragg Creek, a scenic 40 minute drive west of the city. 

Our friends had never done geocaching before and with 3 young children, the idea of treasure hunting piqued their interest! We found the first cache a little too easily, but that only ignited the little ones. They each chose a 'prize' and were thrilled. This spurred them on to go searching for cache #2. The second cache proved a little more challenging as we clambered our way up a steep bank.

The kids had a dilemma on this one. They had to decide if the contents of the cache were more intriguing than what they already had from the last cache or not. If they liked something in this cache more, they had to trade in their previous prize. It is entertaining to see the thought process of small children when really, they want it all!

The next two caches were a big disappointment as we could not find them. Instead, we decided to go for supper. We found a little cafe where we could sit outside under the umbrellas to eat and visit and laugh. Following that, we hit the ice cream store. Once we had filled up with gas, we head out for one final cache. This one took us on a pleasant hike along a river, where we came across a young deer laying in the grass not too far away from us. We wondered if it was injured or something as it did not budge. However, when another couple came along with 2 dogs, the deer jumped up and dashed off into the woods.

All in all, it was a day enjoyed by everyone. Have I mentioned that I love summer? 

 

Lady MacDonald Inn

So, back a few weeks, during Spring Break, Sean and I ventured out to Canmore once again. It is one of our favorite places to get away! As part of Jessica's mission trip to Cuba, the school had a silent auction to help raise money. Sean happened to bid on a package for this quaint little inn called Lady MacDonald Country Inn, and consequently he won the bid! Yay!

It was chilly and so we spent most of our time relaxing in front of the fireplace, reading, drinking Starbucks drinks and eating homemade fudge from the local sweet shop!

 Breakfast was included in our package and it was so delightful! We were seated in the cozy dining room close to the fireplace. First, there was a buffet to start things off, with a variety of breads, cereals, fruit and yogurt. Next came the Inn's signature breakfast dish, a puff pancake. It was a cross between a pancake and a souffle, I'd say, and filled with fruit and maple syrup! On the side was fried back bacon and an assortment of exotic fruit. We toasted with our orange juice and read the morning paper! It really was lovely.

Before leaving home, Sean had downloaded a few geocaches for us to search out, should the weather cooperate. As it turned out, there was one afternoon where we took a chance, and ventured out. For some time now, I have needed some good hiking shoes, so before setting out on our little adventure, we visited Patagonia and I found these awesome purple (my favorite color) shoes! They were so comfortable, cozy and warm...they passed the test, and I didn't even need to break them in first! This particular geocache was hidden in the hollow of this tree...and I found it! Geocaching for us is not really about the 'treasure' that we'll find, but rather it is a chance to get outside, get some exercise and spend time together. The side bonuses are practicing our orienteering skills, discovering various wildlife and the beauty of nature...and of course the odd pair of new shoes!

 

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Sean's Dad! 

He is 74 years old today. Can you see the resemblance?

So, I haven't quite finished my mini-book as the weekend kept me busy! Did you play along though?

Today we drove out to Cochrane to meet Sean's parents for lunch and celebrate his dad's birthday. What a nice day. We took our girls out early in order to go geocaching. And wouldn't you know it, we didn't find this one either! This time we were hot on the trail, but simply ran out of time before we had to leave to meet up for lunch! It's laughable, really! This is almost becoming a comedy of errors. How many more times will there be some uncontrollable reason that we cannot find the hidden treasure? However, we are not discouraged and we will try this cache again - soon!

The day was beautiful, so there were no complaints in that respect. The scenery was breath-taking and the walk was...slow! Yes, against doctors orders, I did tag along, albeit slowly. The girls ran ahead and skipped through the trees and fields and I hobbled along to bring up the rear. Anyway, I was glad to get out of the house too! 

Here's what my leg looked like when leaving the house!

This is where the geocache started...

Can you see the girls racing each other up different sides of the hill to get to the statue?

And then Jess and I had a little photo shoot while Sean and Ashley ran ahead!

Be Blessed!

Craft Room Changes Pt2

So, I took more pics of my craft room today (as promised) when the lighting was good.

The new position of the futon guest bed.

The awesome built-in shelving that my dad made for me...and I overloaded!!

My work space.

Another view of the desk that started all these changes!

I love how the sun streams in!

Along with that, I am going to post about our last geocaching episode! I am calling it an 'episode' because it was not successful. This is two in a row now! Anyway, we ventured out last weekend even though the weather was not great! Actually it was a chance for me to wear the cute green boots that I got 2 springs ago from Winners (where else? - that actually is their logo, great isn't it!) We had downloaded the coordinates and set out. Finding the general location of the area wasn't the hard part. We drove right to it! Sean is getting better at reading the map feature on our GPS (read more here). We then spent the next hour and a bit searching for the cache! According to the GPS we were standing right on top of it, but we could not see it! We searched in the trees, on the ground, in the dirt, we even opened up one of those green boxes that the city has to access the watering system! Finally, after surviving rain, sleet, snow, wind and a little sunshine, we gave up and head to Starbucks for a warm drink! Back at home, we looked up that geocache again and discovered that the last three people that tried to find it were unsuccessful too. That made us feel a little better. Apparently there are 'muggles' who are ordinary people not aware of geocaching who sometimes stumble upon the hidden items and take them, or they are sometimes moved by weather, animals, city guys mowing the grass or trimming the trees. Whatever the case, we did not find another cache that day. However, I must admit, that if it weren't for geocaching, you would not have found me out in that weather! I guess that's a good thing?

I am still unsure of the format I am going to use for scrapbooking our geocaching. So, I am going to post the pics from this adventure, but there is not a fancy page to go along with it. I just told the story above, so you get to imagine the layout on your own for this one!

Blessings!

Mission Recovered

So, a few days after our first geocaching experience, we decided to go out again. This time we were not as successful. Thankfully we made the best of it and enjoyed the day anyway. Here is the journaling on my layout:

Everyone was excited to set out on our second geocaching mission. We felt like we were almost pro now. With the warm sun shining on us, we jumped in the durango and set out for Bragg Creek. Now, because we have a Mac, the software that came with our GPS is not compatible. This is the software that allows you to upload the coordinates of a cache to your GPS. In order to get around this little inconvenience, we figured that we would just enter the coordinates ourselves. I mean, how hard could it be, right? Well, only having the GPS for a few days, we were not quite sure how to log in the coordinates by hand! It should be simple, but it wasn't. Needless to say, we could not find the cache! Not only that, but the coordinates were to lead us to a 'parking lot' where we would then see a sign, the letters of which we were to translate into the coordinates for the geocache we wanted to find. The website had a picture of the sign so a person could verify what to look for. Well, Sean did not look at the picture, so we had no clue as to the sign we had to find either! But, not to waste a beautiful day, we turned it into a hike by the river. Ashley found a Swiss Army jackknife. Daddy had a competition to see who could reach the tree branch without lifting their feet - only he and Ashley could do it! We skipped rocks and crossed a cool bridge. We got some pics that we will treasure always. As the afternoon ticked by, I was happy for this experience even though we had to abandon the cache-finding.

Once again, the quality of the layout is not great, so here are some of the pics featured.

Skipping rocks.

Swiss Army knife found!

Sean throwing rocks at me because he doesn't want his picture taken! How rude!

My grown-up girls.

The reaching contest.

Watching some men in canoes coming down the river.

Loveliness.

Heart-warming relationships.

Momma is soon to be the littlest!

Can't wait to do it again!

As Promised!

So, I finally found the 20 minutes that I needed to complete the revised version of my 'Geocaching Discovered ' layout! 

Once again, I apologize for the poor quality. I am still investigating a new scanner!

To be honest, I am not sure if I am going to stick with this format for my Geocaching book either! I like the idea, but want to simplify the format to include elements that will be on each layout, like the date, the name and location of the cache and it's coordinates. I have been thinking about creating a template in PS3 that I can use each time and not have to remember to add them to the layout after the fact.

Thursdays, my girls have piano lessons very close to Julie's house and so I go visit her while the girls are in lessons. Today we walked to pick up Drew from Kindergarten because it was beautiful outside. Here are a few delicious pics from our day...

Don't you just love spring?

Geocaching Discovered

First of all, I have to let you know something. Every time I sit down to blog, the first word that comes to mind is, "So..." Now, being a teacher, I know that this is not grammatically correct, that this is not the proper way to start a sentence, but I cannot help but hearing that word as I begin typing. So, I am just letting you know that I am no longer going to push that inner voice away. Starting today, I am going to use that little word as my opener from now on. I apologize ahead of time if you are one of those who are bothered by a sentence that starts with "so". Who knows, perhaps this could become my trademark in the blogging world! Call me crazy, but I just can't stop myself, so here I go...

So, our family has begun geocaching! I first discovered this treasure-hunting while reading a blog called PeaceLiving. When I mentioned it to Sean, he claimed that he had talked to me about it a while ago and I showed no interest! Anyway, we decided that this little adventure activity would be a great family bonding time, where we can get out and enjoy the outdoors, get some exercise and continue to build a relationship with our teenaged girls! Last week, while I was out, Sean took Jessica and they searched around for just the right GPS device. When I got home we headed off to some outdoor sports store (had it been a clothing store, I would remember it's name!) to make a hefty purchase! Now, I don't know if it's the same in your home, but why is it when a 'hefty purchase' is my idea, we have to talk about it at length and I have to have a full justification planned out before I even mention it, but when it is Sean's idea, we hop right on it? Regardless, we all wanted to buy a GPS and we all could hardly wait to go geocaching! That very night we set out on our first adventure. 

This particular cache simply had a logbook to sign, but some caches contain small treasures that you take and then leave in it's place another treasure of equal or greater value. I think we will look for one of those next...after a trip to the Dollar Store!!