Unexpected Surpise

We are so lucky that we got to place a geocache for Washington State Centennial Park Geotour to celebrate the Centennial. Our cache is placed at Peace Arch State Park.

What I didn't expect when I placed our cache, was the great stories that people wrote upon finding our cache.  It reminds me why I like geocaching so much.  I thought I would share a few.


Boys pointing to cache

Our First Finder
FTF! Had in hand in just a few moments. TFTH.
Lola & The Gnome

The hint for our Geocache is -"Where Giants Get Their Rhubarb" and here are some of the interesting responses to that hint.

Me in the Rhubarb

Took some time looking for it. Found it before the giant came to harvest his garden. Fun hide. #5 SP stamp for me! This is one of the first state parks that I cached in when I first stared geocaching. I stopped and visited a friend since I was in town. Thank!
las3dogs

We have some of this growing in the Naturescape area of Discovery Gardens in Mt. Vernon. Also called dinosaur food. Giants and dinosaurs must have very good digestive systems. TFTH  (Moink)

Humungous! Tftc (GrammaJoi)

Holy giant rhubarb, Batman! This place was busy today, thanks in part to good weather (and it being a weekend) but also thanks in part to an art festival that was going on. Fortunately, nobody else was really in the area of the cache so we were able to grab it and slip out without being noticed. What a beautiful park - it has been years since I was last here so I enjoyed the opportunity to return. TFTC! (Sembei)

Why don't/didn't my gunnera look like that?
TFTC!!! (Dougsea)

 There was some Wrong Turns as Well. That is always fun on an International Border
 Thanks for the easy cache :)
Once we parked it was EASY. But we missed the turn into the park and ended up going through the border into Canada - my shortest ever visit to Canada! (ConwaySuz)

Thank god I have an Enhanced Driver's License in lieu of a passport. This is what I get for following my Nav on my phone (you would think I would have learned my lesson already after it routed me down the wrong way of a one-way street before). It had me routed to go around into Canada and back into the US for parking. I was in line to cross the border before I realized I should have turned earlier.

A quick talk to the border agent about what I was doing, and he let me turn around.

Now I am in a 10 minute line to get back into the US. I talk to the border agent, and explain that I followed my Nav instead of my common sense. He laughed, asked if I was carrying any weapons, and anything illegal. I said no, and explained I was in the area to find the cache. He said it wasn't his first time hearing about geocaching, and that he was going to have to look it up, and try it himself someday.
  

Finally, I arrive to the right parking spot. Quick find. Love the area of the hide!!! Found about 2 minutes before the sun set. TFTH (Geo-LMP)

One of my favorite stories as involves another geocacher helping out a newbie

Came here before attempting to cross the border. Wow the line was long!!! Got near GZ to find a couple with child combing the area for the cache. I could tell they were caching. So I said "What are you doing in those bushes?!"! They looked a little startled. hee hee I told them I was there for the same reason. I found the cache in a couple minutes....and asked them if they'd want me to tell them where it was or wait until they found it. They got so excited and said they wanted to see it. They're pretty new to caching.....and I really enjoyed seeing their excitement!!! We all signed the log....and I snagged a TB from the cache and one that they were carrying (one currently held by cacher Nathaly_ec....so that's probably their caching name).

We put everything back and then I told them about the nearby virtual cache. They didn't know what a virtual cache was/is so I explained it to them. I met them there a short time later to make sure they knew what to do for the virtual logging requirements!

Many thanks for the nice sized container on the border. Loved this area! tftc #12479 (Geokashers)

Project Life Tuesday - Week 26

I am linking up with The Mom Creative Project Life Tuesday on an actual TUESDAY (sorry to shout!)

Week 26th found us finding more State Park Caches to fill in our State Park GeoTour Passport.  All of these parks were in highly urban areas.  IT was neat to find rather large state parks here. We now have 17 stamps. We ended the week by tearing down our playground.  It has been a little of 9 years.  We hope to build a smaller swing set as our boys are older. Right now it is a mess but it is going to be great. We also managed to fit in another geocache find on Saturday after our demolition of the playground at the local community college.

Materials Used
I ran out of my favorite Design G Page Protectors so I am trying out a We R page protector.  It is just so-so for me. I am going back to my favorite Design G.

The circle on the slide photo was a freebie from the Queen of Quirk from the way back.

Just Some Summer Linky Love

Hot Tub Snorkeling
Hey, everyone should snorkel in their hot tub!
 

The Milestones That Matter - This was a really great article.  It really makes you think about our culture norms about milestones for kids

I have a child who needs to practice some math this summer.  I was at the library and they had some calendars for this program called Bedtime Math.  The goal is to make Math at Bedtime as common as the Bedtime story.  We have been doing these story problems basically with a short introductory paragraph on something of interest.  There are 3 or 4 levels of problems presented.  I know this isn't enough but it a good way to keep the practice going. I think it is really well done.

Love this Make a Wish Geocaching Story  AND the Oldest Unfound Geocache found after 12 years.

Fireworks

 

We had a great 4th of July.  I don't know what it is but boys and fireworks. We had fun trying to write with the sparklers.  We also had our annual tank off which Charlie won. We love to light the tank fireworks and see whose tank will go the farthest. I got an excellent picture of Cody shooting off a roman candle.

 

We spent of the evening just watching the sky as everyone shot off fireworks around us.

Project Life Tuesday - Week 25

I am a bit behind.  I am once again linking up with Project Life Tuesday with The Mom Creative on a Wednesday. I got project life block but I pushed through. Here is the result

8 x 10 insert with a Father's Day Caching  Page

On the back side of the 8 x 10 insert

 

Week 25 found us starting with Father's Day and ending school and going on a State Park Adventure with 92 year old Pappy.

I even taught my children to whittle.  We are totally living on the edge.

Bike Riding - Summer Bucket List

Went for a bike ride on Sunday morning before it heated up. It still quite warm when we started.  It was a request on our Bucket List.  We rode the cascade trail.  We parked in Sedro Woolley and started the trail. We ran into quite a few people walking their dogs and a few bike riders.

We think we road about 12 miles round trip.  Kevin liked it because it combined geocaching and bike riding.  I liked it because it was nice and level.  We saw lots of different things - horses, pig and piglets, turkey, lots of cows, and even an EAGLE.

 

The Cascade Trail follows the Skagit River along an old rail bed of the Burlington Northern line, between Sedro-Woolley and Concrete. The trail parallels State Route 20 through cultivated fields, open space, scattered woodlands and river bottoms. The nearby river provides for some great fishing and nice river views, as well as scenic vistas of Sauk Mountain and other Cascade Range peaks. - Trail Link

Playground Deconstruction

Playground empty

The time has come to par down our playground set.  The kids are getting older.  We aren't in need of a full play set.  We plan on just having on having swings.  Our Aspie loves to swing.  It is very calming to him.  So we plan on making a play set with just swings and making a smaller footprint for our play yard.

Our set in California
 

Our swing set just set up in Washington

This playground set has been a hub for our neighborhood as it can be seen from the street.  I love that all the kids loved to come over and play on it.  Nonna bought it for us when we lived in California and we moved it to Washington.  It has been part of our lives for least 10 years.

a favorite addition to our set
was the ever popular banana swing
Cody with a Mohawk

Amazing A on the swing

Big E riding the banana swing

Last Slide before it was dismantled