Practice makes perfect

I love being able to spend time figuring out my camera.

Geocaching

Jason knew about this activity called geocaching where people take objects and hide them for other people to find using a GPS and the clues provided to find a hidden treasure. These treasures can be anywhere and everywhere. After looking on Wikipedia I found it interesting that over 100 countries have this activity. Makes me want to do some traveling.

Their are three different sizes people use to hide things most of which are water proof. You have small where a role of paper might fit inside, medium, and large. Various things such as Tupperware, ammo cans, film containers, cans and other types of containers are used to find fun trinkets and toys for you to give a trinket while taking one. Their is also a log book for you to sign to say you where there.

The crazy thing is people truly hide them where you least expect them. We found them under trees, in camouflage boxes under leaves, in an ammo container even inside the hollowed out trunk of a tree. We even found one hanging off the edge of a little hill. That one took us a lot longer than we would have liked to find.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching

We decided to do our first geocaching adventure the day after it rained. The temps were significantly lower than expected making it brrrr cold!!! We were all freezing. It felt good to actually get out and move. Once we started hiking everything was better as long as we didn't stop.

Jason found a geocaching app on his phone. You could see the difficulty level in regards to the land so you knew if the journey to the point was for beginners, intermediates, or experts. This also referred to the difficulty of the terrain. The app. also had a gps for you to use and the distance to the point. You knew if the number started going back up you made a wrong turn.

It never failed we would climb up and then go down when we should have gone up even more. We got a lot of exercise on first try at this.

After going down we realized we needed to go back up so we made an executive decision to go straight up without finding a trail. This one wasn't the easiest to get up.

The boys went ahead, turned around and saw the container. It was pretty much next to where we were right before we started climbing again. Kaylie was super excited to find our first treasure and said she was the one who found it even though it was daddy and she just happened to be in his arms. This particular geocache had been found a few days before. It was fun being able to see how many people had been there and when they had been there. I feel as if we left behind a little bit of us when we signed the log. Once you find it, exchange a trinket for a trinket, you put it back exactly where you found it so it will be there for future finds. You can leave a note on the app for others to see so they know it was still there and they will be able to find it if they go looking. We spent several days doing this and found many of the locations through out the park. It makes for a great bonding moment for the family. Highly recommend trying it. If you get on the site you will see their may be a hidden treasure a few blocks away from you. Good luck!

Making the most of it

Our last full day was absolutely beautiful. The weather started out cool and by mid morning jackets were off and shorts were on. After the cold weather and ridiculously crazy wind we had the day before we were grateful and ready to make the most out of our last day here. We had a jam packed but relaxing day all in one. We started with a fishing trip, a picnic lunch with play time at the park followed by some more geocaching, exploring the different scenic points of the park with one final fishing trip just in case we actually caught something. After we fished we went back to the "cabinet" as Kaylie called it, barbecued dinner and finished with smores. Their is definitely a reason we enjoy going there and I am pretty sure we will go back soon. Their aren't too many places we can go and just relax. When we leave we don't feel as if we need a vacation from our vacation. Hmmm...can we go back now?!?

Using her spotting scope. She loves binoculars.

Our first geocache of the day was to a cow that was made by a guy for a VBS. One of the cows was sold and the other was set out in his yard for people to find. When we got there the guy was in his yard but I made the executive decision not to let that stop us considering he had it out for every one. This particular container was actually hard to find. It ended up being a small container that was disguised as the ringer part of the bell. Once we opened it we were able to write on it. Pretty cool.

The middle part of the bell was the geocache container. They were tricky. Like I said in my previous post, you never know where they will hide something.

I was overly excited when I saw the bell. I knew it had been used for VBS but I didn't think it was used for the VBS my church had done the previous summer. With all three kids having participated in it as well they joined in with me when I started singing some of the songs. I love memories!

This was our next one to find. The fun thing about finding these treasures is anyone that is with you might stumble over it. It just depends on your keen eye and ability to look in places you would least expect them. This one had camouflaged tape on it and was tucked under some rocks with leaves over it. We looked for awhile for this one when Christine happened to see a corner sticking out. It is crazy how many times you may walk by it before finding it. It makes the actual finding of the container that much more fun.

As you can see this one had a bunch of goodies to pick from.  At times having too many options isn't always a good thing when it comes to a three year old making a decision in a timely manner.

 I absolutely love this picture!

I spotted this one.

Kaylie was upset she hadn't helped us "find" another one since the Peter Pan container so we let her think she found this one for us.

Barbie girl

As I mentioned in my previous post Kaylie was so incredibly excited to fish with actual bait in an actual stream with real fish. Not knowing exactly what to expect we set off to find a spot that didn't have raging rapids just in case she ended up in the water and mommy or daddy...probably daddy...had to go in after her. Beavers Bend is known for their amazing trout fishing. They actually dump thousands of trout in at the bottom of the river several times a year. Many people come out fully decked in their waders, hats, fishing jackets and fly poles. Our family...we came out with a Barbie pole, Sponge Bob pole, and daddy's real pole. The ironic part was daddy's "real" pole stunk. He ended up fishing with Kaylie's Barbie pole. Their is no shame in fishing with a Barbie pole!!!

All said and done our first experience was good. We were wondering how Kaylie would handle catching her first fish but that problem was solved when we didn't catch anything. I am pretty sure the fish were fat full and happy because very few people were catching anything so it didn't make us feel too bad we were happy to get the experience under our belts.

When we finished we had three official snafus. First, she caught another child the first time she tried to cast by herself, she caught my hair once, and the straw that ended her fishing for the day was when she caught her hair and understandably freaked out. Thankfully no one else was hurt. After that we taught her how to drop it in the water without throwing it and just letting it float down the water. That is the beauty of fishing for trout you want the bait to stay closer to the surface so it can mimic a fly. Floating down the stream works well.

We decided to go again the day before we left. This time we sat on top of a hill and dropped the line straight down and let it float. Again...I think I only saw one fish caught the entire time. Good thing is the experience was a positive one for her and she continues to ask to go fishing even after we got home.

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Super daddy spent time the night before getting every one's fishing poles ready. He was happy!!!

I am always in awe over his interactions with her. He is so patient when teaching her things. For me I just want to get it done and struggle to slow down to teach. I know that sounds weird coming from a teacher but their are times I just want to get it done. He lets her chose things, talks to her, and shows her with true patience what to do. If he needs her to do something she listens. I love that!!!

So proud of herself. It was definitely different casting with actual bait and not a plastic fish. We took that for granted when she tried casting herself and that is where our first mishap occurred. The other two were with parents and the we just got in the way.

We love that she loves everything outdoors. She takes it all in and gets so excited to try these things...ok...sometimes it takes a few tries and a little persuading but afterwards she can't wait to do it again.

Switching sides...the first spot we picked had a lot of people so we decided to go ahead and move to the other side to give ourselves a little space. As you can see both Kaylie and daddy are quit happy. She is definitely a girly girl tomboy. In my opinion that is a great person to be. Enjoy being cute and love to get dirty. The dirty part is new and a relief for us. We aren't forced to wipe her down anytime she lands in the dirt and that happens often.

Let mommy have some time with her. She and I actually got a lot of bonding time in while daddy spent some time in a quieter setting. I wanted to make sure he got some time to himself as well. I enjoyed being with her.

BIG pole...tiny girl. Kind of funny looking. It just doesn't look right. Glad a fish didn't take advantage of this photo op. Otherwise I would have had a photo op that wouldn't have been very funny at the time but hilarious a few weeks later.

No shame in fishing with Barbie especially if it catches you a fish.

Done fishing now it is time to play in the dirt. Good thing it is the end of winter because the outfits we took with us were pretty much ruined. To me...that is a sign she had a good time. We got plenty of wear out of them so do what you want with them.