Beth's Perspective On ........Teaching The Young'un

Saturday my daughter had to be out of her house due to decorating for a baby shower. Why do they call it a shower,? Nobody took one yesterday. Oh well, back on track here. We decided to go caching so she could learn how to use her new GPS that her grandmother got for her. I had Pippa load seven caches that we had already found in the Giles area that would not endanger a eight-n-half month pregnant woman. We took off and went to the hardest one first, " Come On In Yall", but because of the very tall weeds and grass I did give a small hint. She searched about twenty min. and found it. The expression was priceless, "that's it?"

We went to two others close by and in no time she had found them. I was a little jealous because it took us longer. I can see a slight problem for her though, she doesn't like spider webs. She has a good sense for clues and direction, ha ha, as she followed the little feet on the screen. I think she was even trying to take very little steps to match those on the screen.

OK now she had five under her belt all her own, back in to town for the last two. "This is fun!" she exclaimed, it didn't take long to find those at all. I think that was a jab since I had already told her how long it took us to find them. She had a satisfied smile on her face as we went to the next location. Even though I knew where we were going, I still made her use the system. OK what was the clue here? My response was "look it up, I am not here." That drew a strange look from her and she went back to the truck to get Ms. Garmin. No problem here either, so off to the next. Oh no! road construction, detours, Ms. Garmin was going nuts. The last cache was the one we had set out, "Bidding U Happy Caching." Here we ran into lots of muggles. She stood there at the truck and watched as they walked and drove by, quickly going for it, she grabs and comes back to sign in. "Why would you put it where there are so many muggles", she asked. My response: "that makes it all the more fun, trying to get the cache and not be seen."

Watch Marie's Very Own Music Video (she's gonna kick Pip's kester for this)

All in all she had a full day of caching and a good time, and I got to spend some time with my oldest child. Oh, the shower was fun too. Happy Caching Y'all.

~Ox

We're Pirates!

As I've said before, Geocaching is a great activity for families. A couple of days ago, we took Beth's daughter and grandson on their first caching outing. We told little 4 year old Richard that we were all going on a treasure hunt and that we were Pirates. This would come back to bite us later in the day.

The night before I preloaded Ms. Garmin with what I thought would be some fairly easy finds with easy terrains. After all, I didn't want to be delivering little baby Allen, as that is way out of my scope of practice as a chiropractor.

Marie showed early, so we knew she was excited to see what this crazy hobby was all about. I donned Richard with one of my fishing hats and we piled into Beth's Dad's truck for the adventure. Weather was perfect!

First stop was a cache called "Hey Mom, Look What I did!". Its a nice kid friendly cache, very colorful and wide open for running and playing. It was a mini cache and we finally learned what a "nano" is....so the next time we pass through New Castle, VA, we'll score the one that previously got away.

After this cache, it was off to the next, located in a local cemetery up on Bunker Hill in Pearisburg.

The hint given by the owner of the cache was "Two woods not the same".

Richard and I were on this one! We just left Nana and Mommy on the southwest side and we just started walking the wall...low and behold, there it was!

But we let mommy and Nana log the cache. Note: When taking someone caching for the first time, inform them about proper footwear.

Ok! Now we're two for two. This is looking like a good cache day. Pirates always find their treasures, right? Well not exactly........

Next we headed to King Johnson. We totally struck out here, but Richard really loved the playground, and that's what it is about, having fun.

We also struck out at alwa artma of earisburgpa . Yes, this listing was really in pig Latin. So time for a drink. Water for the two middle aged ladies, DP for the youngster. A short break...back on the road.

The next cache was at The Inn at RiverBend, an upscale B&B in Pearisburg, overlooking the New River...oh what a view! This was a really great hide. We were only the second people to find, but that doesn't really count for anything. The cache blended nicely into the landscape. We may have tainted the experience for some other cachers behind us, as Richard had pocketed the Travel Coin we wanted to place in this cache. When the others drove up, he informed them in his cute little Richard way that we were pirates looking for treasure! So now they knew why we were there and exactly where the cache was hidden. Took away the thrill of the hunt for them I'm sure.

Last stop. The Pearis Cemetery. We were all getting a little tired and cranky.

Ok, I was getting tired and cranky.

All I could think about was what George Pearis, the founder of Pearisburg, would think about these strange folks tramping around his burial site. Think about it...an eight month pregnant woman in flip flops, a middle aged woman with a pirate bandanna and broken bifocals, a wild bangie 4 year old pulling up grave site stakes, and me.. an overweight chiropractor/auctioneer/yogi gal in a Pride T....what would this dude from the 1800's think?

I found it amusing. What I didn't find amusing was the fact that Ms. Garmin had us going off into some insect infested, poisonous plant laden area....but I sacrificed myself for the good of the game and I scored! Our clue: Not firewood. Hmmm...could this be it?

It was. I am the Dragon Slayer! No, I'm the slayer of the Dragon Slayer! No, I am the Dragon! Whatever...I totally disliked Coach on Survivor....and I hate the fact that he's sucking perfectly good air...but I digress.

So all in all, it was an awesome day. And to top it all off, I got this totally sweet picture of my little buddy, Richard.

Ok, don't you think its time to get out there? You keep reading this blog...go..go already!