Geocaching

Rob gets on kicks, and then we spend a lot of time doing the thing that he is currently enamored with. This year he has loved board games namely Ticket to Ride, Dominion and Carcassonne. Unfortunately these are not kid games, which means lots of late nights spent around the kitchen table, muttering at each other. I like Dominion the best, because I can figure out my strategy early on, and win. However, things can turn ugly, but that is only on my side. I learned at a young age (I think I was around 8--I learned that I can't play certain games without losing my cool. Unfortunately so did my babysitter, who was sitting on the porch locked out of the house when my parents got home --I still don't play Monopoly and I don't like Risk either for similar reasons and lapses in temper.) So these games kind of walk that line--but so far no major moments of no longer speaking to my husband.

That was a long tangent to say Rob is currently in love with geocaching. We tried it a bit last year when Rob first got his iPad. And while I still look back at that day as extremely frustrating, when we couldn't find three cache's and two of our three kids ended up with ticks (something I live in mortal fear of--it's not rational, I know), I kind of hoped then his interest would die quietly. But no it didn't.

Rob is a geocaching king right now. For family home evening we went geocaching at a nearby park, found two caches in the dark and let the kids run around on the playground. Last weekend in Hickory Rob went out two separate times hunting for geocaches, because that is what he does when he's on a kick. So no surprise when we ended up geocaching yesterday.

It started out simple enough, we hit three geocaches in less than three hours, easy to find track, and the kids were happy. Then we had just two left. I personally was ready to go home. But I agreed to do the last two and then go home. We parked at a local school, and then went around the grounds trying to figure out where it was. Not on the grounds, which meant walking out of the parking lot, along a road to the forest surrounding it.

At first I didn't think it was that big of a deal. We could traipse a few feet into the woods and not be in any danger. But then we kept going, and going and going. The further in we got the more brambles were growing--I'd hate to be hiking in there in the summer. It'd be a mess. There were no trespassing signs, but we kept going. It was eerily still in the woods, though a busy road was just about 100 feet away. I kept seeing old liquor bottles and smashed up beer cans, and other evidence that people sometimes visited these woods. In fact I've never been somewhere where I was so sure I'd turn and suddenly see a dead body on the ground--Rob even agreed with me. And then came the point where we had to jump a fence.

I turned to Rob and told him I didn't think I was up for that. He agreed with me, but then was just going to leave me there. So Rob helped the kids jump the fence, and then he did, and then I did, but not without getting some serious bruises. We did find the cache, but I'm not going back in those woods again. It's so not my thing.

Caleb, Beth and Jacob are doing really well. I'm wracking my brain trying to come up with the funny things they've said the last few weeks, and drawing a total blank. They've been fun, and funny the whole time.

Beth went with me to a book signing on Friday night. It was awesome five amazing authors spoke about writing, and I took Beth since one of the writer's had her name, and so I wasn't a total geek all by myself. I think next time I'll go by myself because Beth was bored. But she did really well sitting quietly and begging to play with my phone. Then she talked to the writer's and everyone thought she was cute. It was a nice time to spend one on one with her.

Jacob's sweet tooth is getting worse every day. He'll climb up the cupboards to get at the sugar, and begs me to buy him sweets like fruit roll ups or brownies. But he is drinking more milk, which is a good thing. He had a teddy bear picnic on Friday, and had a hard time deciding which one of his favorite animals to choose. He also took a bath with his friend on a play date here without asking. I was mortified, but fortunately, his friend's mom was here too and very understanding.

Caleb seems to be quite happy. He's doing well in school, and is my early riser. Up and at 'em before anyone else in the family. His energy is boundless.And his enthusiasm very loud. Today he spotted two ghosts in the house before church started, while Beth slept as late as possible, and Jacob followed his game screaming at unearthly hours.

Have a good week!

Science Fair Projects and Egg Drops

This week was the science fair at school. Both Beth and Caleb had decided to enter early this year. And we had gone to the library over a month ago to get books, and do the reports. Neither of them wanted to do an experiment. They both wanted to do a model. Beth on hurricanes and flooding, and Caleb on Volcanoes. The fact that we had gone to the library early didn't mean that everything was done when this week rolled around. So we had two late nights on Monday and Tuesday as the kids wrote reports, typed them up and created display boards. Beth interviewed people and so did Caleb. (Thanks if you helped---Gail, Bob, and Renee). Beth got a red ribbon (2nd place) and Caleb got a blue ribbon (first place). We were super proud of both of them.

There was also an egg drop at Math and Science night, and everyone competed. Beth put her egg in jello and basically just dropped it down. And it worked. Caleb had a balloon contraption with a parachute and it worked. And jacob dropped it with a parachute in a Halloween pumpkin. It didn't work. But they all had fun, and then we went and explored the many hands on interactive science experiments throughout the school. It's our favorite event that Washington puts on each year. It's awesome!

We celebrated Valentines a bit early this year with a trip to Chipotle's. Yum. And today is twelve year's from the day that Rob officially proposed. So wow! I'm so glad that we got married and and have been able to spend this time together. he gets me in a way that no one else does. I've been teasing him the last few days to see if he remembers the day he proposed, and he can't. So I laugh at him. But he does remember the important parts of the day itself. So that's what's really important.

Have a great week!