Letter Boxing Again!

OK, so this very cute train picture has nothing to do with this blog, but I couldn't resist passing this along to friends and family. I had to write today about our latest and greatest letter boxing experience. We are truly loving this activity. Today, we ventured into the near by Moss Creek Reserve. Finding this box was quite challenging. We had to cross rock bridges, master walking out number of "feet", as well as heading north and south without the use of a compass. (the north and south wasn't too difficult since I've done some climbing/bouldering in this area and know my where abouts well enough.) The challenge was getting Kendal comfortable being deep in a wooded area on very narrow pathways. We had to tackle every moth, butterfly, nanometer size ant to the very large fire ants. I didn't even mention to her the possibility of the close snake holes or the noises of larger critters wondering about us. I then discussed roots and rocks and how to avoid stepping on the roots b/c they were parts of trees, which was a very big mistake on my part. This medium size hike became quite long as Kendal determined what was a root, a tree skeleton (or as we know it a stick), or a mystery of the unknown. We then had to crawl over or under a very large pipe, wonder off the trail into a wooded area to find this one dead tree. Under a particle section of the dead tree, which was hard to locate, was the letter box which had to be dug out using my freshly painted fingernails. Anyway, we did find the box, make our mark and read all the messages people from all over the southeast had left in this mystery location. On the way back, we mastered the crossing of creeks learning how to read the rocks making sure it would be a sound rock to avoid falling into the deep unknown depths of algae waiting below. She was quite proud of herself.

On the ride home, I thought I heard myself seated in her booster chair . "Oh look at that poor puppy. Can we go back and get him and take him home. He looks like he doesn't have anywhere to go." Watch me end up with 25 dogs, the neighbors call Six on Your Side, or they just form a posee and shoot me. No, we didn't take him home, probably b/c I couldn't find the pup when I turned the car around to track him/her down.

Well I wouldn't call Kendal a picture in the Patagonia Magazine displaying their latest hiking gear (yet), but glad that she is enjoying one of my favorite pass times.

Hope every had a great day as we did today.

Happy Memorial Day! Kendal and her friend Casey are having a tea party in a tent we found hidden away. Popcorn and water was the menu for the day.

Updates on Park Avenue

I wanted to send updated pictures to the changes I've made to the house. I pulled up the Juniper and added the Hawthorne that you see under the windows. I think it looks much cleaner and orderly, just like I like it.

I don't know if you remember the flower bed that was in the front corner of the house. There were several dead trees and some very over grown weeds. Well, we udpated it by planting 3 new trees, some small ferns, as well as some Rosemary.

I think it is going to look wonderful after the trees fill in a bit. It already has had the neighbors stop and tell me how much better things are looking.

Letter Boxing 2008

Good morning to all and Happy Mother's Day!

Kendal and I started a new venture - called LetterBoxing. (http://letterboxing.org/). This is a style of "treasure hunting" for all ages and all locations. From what I'm learning, this is for young and older populations and is internationally recognized. Check out the website in your area. How it works, you go online and find a treasure map that leads you to a box that has a stamp - usually custom made, a note book, and lots of fun discovering it. This picture is one location that Kendal and I found about a week ago. Well, I should say Kendal found the box, I was looking under the bridge that you will see in one of the lower pictures, while Kendal looked instantly in the correct location. Here we have taken out neighbors out to discover the mystery box as well.
Once you find the correct site, you stamp your book with the stamp that was left in the metal box at the "X" spot and leave your mark in the book that is in this metal box. This allows the map creator to keep up with how many people uncover his/her treasure map. It's fun to find, fun to see the others that have discovered the hidden container, as well as see how creative others stamps can be. Most are self designed.

For me, this is getting Kendal comfortable with the outdoors. She hasn't instantly picked up on both Hal and my love for the outdoors, but this is getting Kendal going on trails that she wasn't interested in discovering until we were directed to this website.
In these pictures, Kendal wanted to wear her soccer shoes, telling Ryan (seen here) she was the #1 soccer player on her team. Probably b/c he hit a home run the day before and she loves competing. (I guess she has picked up on a trait or two). Lastly, is the picture of the bridge where I thought I had to dredge inorder to find this metal treasure box. Thank goodness Kendal said, "Mom that looks a bridge and that looks like a shelf under the bridge". I wasn't looking forward in scaling along this wall to find the hidden box of goodies.

Hope all had a great Mom's Day!!