GeoCaching: The Quest(s) Begins

It's hard to believe that I became the Super-Mom that I am five years ago.  In so many ways, the time has flown, as people warn you that it will.  But in other ways, being a parent means waiting.  Waiting. And sometimes even more waiting.  For instance, about 4 1/2 or 5 years ago, I became aware of Geocaching.  I was instantly excited about it and eager to try it out.  But, alas, I realized...you can't take a baby geocaching.  

Well, let me back up.  I recognize that there are plenty of folks out there, probably even right this minute who are strapping on the Chacos, stuffing the baby in the sling and loading up the backpack to venture out on a geocache excursion.  I'm just not one of those people.  I was never afraid to take Vivi out on adventures, road trips, picnics, and what have you...I just didn't always WANT to.  I mean, come on...having a 10, 15, 20 pounder bound to your chest and hiking around in the woods gets:

1. heavy
2. sweaty
3. irritating
4. heavier
5. fun-buzz-killy

So, given the above, I opted to WAIT.  Wait until my sweet baby was old enough to walk on her own (effectively, you know like hiking) and old enough to actually understand what we were doing and enjoy it.

It dawned on me Friday that the wait was finally over.  She's five now.  We can do it!  So, I got us registered on www.Geocaching.com and immediately started researching caches near us.  It's evolved a lot since I intially learned about this sport (is that the right term, I wonder?)  I decided we'd start very small and simple to get the hang of it. After all, she is a kid.  She may not dig it at all.  I picked out a couple that are right around the corner from our house and made the plan for Saturday morning.

First, we chose a green space park about 2 blocks away.  I downloaded the Geocaching app on my iPhone and was literally figuring out all the features on the walk down there.  I know that we were right on top of the site of the cache, but couldn't find it to save our lives.  I suspect it's somewhere in this bed that is maintained by the city and thus thick with mulch.  And a plethera of holly bushes...that's right, holly and they are in full thorn.  We gave up on this one and headed to the next neighborhood park.  As we walked, I figured out even more about using my new app, so by the time we arrived, I was much more saavy.

This one we found!  After a few minutes, my partners (the mister and baby cacher) wandered off acting a little bored, but then I located it.  I called Vivi over and told her I knew it was either right next to me or right in front of me, but I needed her help.  She got down on the ground with me, looked inside a hollow, ivy-covered stump and there it was. A tiny film canister covered in camo duct tape.  Squeals of delight!  We opened it up and guess what we found?  Coordinates leading us back to the holly bush patch we just came from.  As you've probably already surmised, we just reveled in the fact that we found the cache, opted not to return to sticker bush-o-rama and headed home for breakfast.  And the coolest part?  Vivi immediately said, "Can we go find another one?"  I think she's diggin' it!  This has the potential to evolve into the family adventure activity I've been waiting these five years for!