11 on the 11th

We must admit that we both felt it very odd that we didn't have a weekend excursion planned for Veteran's Day--the last three years we've filled 3 day weekends with mini-trips across Europe, but now it seems we're still recovering from move-mode.  So, instead we decided to check out the local geocaches.  Imagine our surprise when we found out that there was one right across the street in the park where we take Nickleby to play!!!  So,  Monday morning we headed across the street in search of our first cache.

We immediately decided that we needed to improve our clothing if we were going to continue on a geocache adventure--Veteran's Day was windy, gray and cold.  Eventually it even rained, but not before we were able to track down 10 more caches...

Clifford the Suburban proved a great adventuremobile

We found a series named for the 12 days of Christmas and hidden at local churches--3 of which were very near our house, so we searched for them next.
(by the way, look for the flags in the pictures.  We tried really hard to find a flag nearby every cache to include in our pictures.  Only the last two caches were we unable to locate some sort of American pride in the background)

That makes a total of 4 finds now...

We also found one in a nondescript wooded are across from some local businesses.

What you can't see is the crazy woods we bush-whacked thru for this one (note the tiny flag between the girls) 

5 Caches found.

The kids loved finding the three in a cemetery not far from our house.

Cache hidden in a fake bird in a tree - loved it!  The flags around the gravestones gave us a good way to talk with the kids about what it means to be a Veteran.

That makes 6, 7 and 8!

And a quick grab after lunch at Chipotle at another fast food restaurant--Fazoli's (We have yet to darken that restaurant's door.  Afraid we might weep.).

If you have eagle eyes you can see a flag in the car license.

This was our ninth.  Then it was a quick find in an undeveloped area across from a hospital--no pictures of this one because I decided to stay warm in the truck!  But it was number 10, nonetheless.

But the big, exciting cache was the 11th, in the same area as number 10, but way more exciting...I'll let Ted tell the story.

As mentioned earlier, we had not really mapped out the day.  While eating lunch we noted three cache's were within an easy few minutes of our location and one of them included a tree climb.  The kids are always up for adventure so that helped me to decide to push on to that cache as part of our "11."  Number 10 was very tame and an easy walk from the car.  Number 11 (the tree) required us to adventure some on foot.  While walking a paved path a man drove up to us and asked if we were geocaching.  We smiled and said yes.  He quickly asked a follow up question wanting to know if we had the one in the tree.  I mentioned we were looking for it but had not found the proper location to enter the forest.  (An earlier cache in the day involved lots of unnecessary bush-whacking so we were waiting for a better entry into the dense undergrowth).  The guy seems annoyed that I'm not really answering his questions about the tree.  Then he says, "I'm 65 years old, and I climbed up there (points to me)...so you have no excuse not to go."  I'm not sure what to think but I just say OK.  And we move on.

We eventually find the best entry into the forest.  Our tree is just 50 feet in from the edge.  The kids all scramble in wanting to the lucky one to climb.  Mary and Cory arrive first, and Mary is quickly in the tree.  She climbs up 6 feet or so and cannot find the cache.  I tell her keep looking because it has to be close.  Then I suggest she go up one more level and look around.  No luck spying the cache.  We double check the coordinates and we are right on it.  This must be the tree.      

So we all double our efforts to look in and around the tree. I crane my neck and look up up up.  There it is, many levels above where Mary has climbed.  Oh My gravy it is up there.  But I remember the dude in the truck throwing down the challenge, so I can't give up so quickly.  I suggest to Mary that she get down (because she says she can't keep going - she can't reach the next level up).  I climb up to about the 8-10 feet level and I'm not even close.  It's really far up there.  I say - well let me just get up to the next branch and then the next and soon I'm 20+ feet up and still not there.  Kristi mentions the Emergency Room is just across the street - so no need to worry.  I keep pressing on - mostly out of wanting to keep my Man-Card.  Kristi has the kids climb up a few branches for a quick photo while I'm still going up. 

I finally make it to the cache.  I wedge my feet in as best I can, loop my arm around for dear life, and retrieve the cache.  Yowza it was high.  The pic below gives you some perspective.  The pink is Mary...and she is in the tree easily 5-7 feet off the ground.  I think the cache is over 30 feet up.  The wind was blowing me in the tree and I was happy to get down as quickly as I could.  It was a great cache to end on and claim victory for our Veteran's Day geocache adventure.

Halloween

How do I get so far behind?????????  Here are the kids in their cosutmes before trick or treating on a windy and somewhat wet Halloween night...

Camping extras

So this weekend of camping was sort of a first for us.  We had been camping years and years and years ago, but we had not taken the kids camping--and they've been begging us to for quite a while.  When friends mentioned that they were planning a final camping trip of the year, we asked if we could crash their family party.  It ended up being a win-win--we took the kids camping PLUS, all the kids were happy to have friends to play with for the weekend.  Likewise, the adults had a nice time hanging out (our version of playing), as well.

The numbers post from yesterday was inspired by the fact that during the weekend we celebrated Riley's 14th birthday.  But of course, there were a ton more pictures, so here's a follow up post with some photos of more of the fun we had.

So, in no particular order and with brief commentary following each, here's our weekend in pictures:

The two little girls loving on the dog--it's a shame he's never petted or loved on

We hardly saw these two--they really only emerged for food.  We had a small tent for them to play in, and they pretty much did just that.  There was a stack of papers at the end of the weekend of all their hard "work"

When the boys weren't chopping wood or ripsticking, they were often shaving off ends of sticks into swords and knives

Cory caught three fish on Sunday--look at that happy smile. 

Ted got each of the boys a flint and steel tool--they LOVED making sparks and starting our fires for us.

We had a perfect view of this beautiful tree decked in gold

Waiting for Daddy to bait the hook

Ahhhhh--a camp chair without a soccer game.  Now that's pleasant

Our friends had all the supplies we needed for cooking good eats.  And we did just that--we had chili, fajitas and black bean soup for dinners--not to mention the desserts of cobbler, nutella and jam pies, and roasted marshmallows

Did I mention the fajitas?  Here's the steak going on the grate

The cobbler I found on the internet was fantastically good, cooked over and under coals in the dutch oven

Unfortunately, the weekend was not without tears--poor kid burned her tongue on hot apple cider.  On her birthday no less.  So sad--yet Smiley Riley even smiles while she cries.

Nighttime fires are one of the best parts of camping, no?

The girl and her dog

Another girl and her dog--we are always catching Lucy snuggling and taking care of the dog.  We are so glad she loves him, because she really wants a cat.

This picture is especially for Pa G--who loves watching squirrels.  Nickleby was dying to chase the squirrels, by the way.

The state park we were at had a lake with a sandy beach to play on--guess where we were a lot?

Bent down digging in the sand, I'm sure

Wading in the water--they said it wasn't too cold "once you got used to it." 

Baths were required after this--and I think those white leggings are now permanently brown.

I kept hearing things like "Come to our spa!" from these two...Umm, no.  Thanks, but no thanks.

Here's our humble tent (with two towels drying).  It will sleep up to 8 and arrived the day before we left--thank you Amazon Prime

Look who's hoping for some goodies--he was caught table surfing a couple of times.  Notice the stack of snack bins--those are rice krispie treats, puppy chow and ranger cookies.  I told you we had good food.

The weekend wasn't all relaxation--we did have to wash dishes for 11 people after every meal.  But with so many people, we were able to spread the work out a bit.

Here's the whole group for you.

When we suggested a silly picture, one kid steped out--guess someone's not so silly.

As with most trips, there's usually one story that will not soon be forgotten.  For us it was the exploding egg.  After breakfast we had left a single egg in the middle of some coals--partly because it had cracked a bit, and since we didn't know how long it had been cracked, we weren't planning to cook and eat it.  After about an hour on the coals (and us pretty much forgetting about it), it had cooked so much that it exploded under the pressure.  It sounded like a gun.  The egg exploding was not big deal really--it just fell into the grass, and Nickleby loved eating it.  However, it also sent several pieces of coal shooting into the campsite.  And they left multiple holes in camp chairs, in tablecloths, and in the tarp that we were using as a shelter over the picnic tables.  Surprisingly, and thankfully, no tents or people were burned, even though some were sitting in the chairs and under the shelter.

Camp by Numbers

We spent a perfect weekend camping at beautiful Indian Lake State Park with some friends.  Here's our trip in numbers.

1 handsome guy who didn't have to shave for 4 days!  This is day 2

2 axes for the wood--the young boys had fun chopping wood for our fire

3 rip-sticks for kids to ride (or row) up and down the street

4 egg shells lined up in a row after frying a few for breakfast

5 shells found on the lake's beach

6 cans of Pringles--one for each member in our family so no one had to share

7 crazy kids--some obviously crazier than others!

8 bags of groceries

9 sticks for roasting marshmallows

10 marshmallows on one stick!

11 camp chairs around the fire

12 blankets to keep us warm as the nights dipped into the 40's

13 rods for catching fish.

14 years we've been blessed with this beautiful child

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RILEY!