Bringing friends into the fold

Yesterday shaped up to be a great little family day.  We took the little adventurer out to use our www.KidsBowlFree.com membership since we all had the day off and since it was already over 90 degrees at 10:00 in the morning.  In the course of our first game, our friend Mike called and he and his son came to join in.  The kids had a great time bowling and during our time there, the subject of geocaching came up.  

They were intrigued.  It just so happened that I had a list in the car of about a half dozen caches in the downtown area that I had already planned on hitting on our way home.  Now we had virgin partners.  Yeah!

This rocked the Casbah!  First, it was a blast introducing geocaching to friends, especially another child.  Second, it was a daily personal best for us, as we hit 5 in one day.  Third, Mike and Duncan both loved it and I think want to continue on with it.  Frankly, I can't imagine anyone not wanting to play once they learn about it.  

Mama Plover; see 4 well camo'd eggs beneath her!

So, we introduced them to a cool hide on Washington Street, then on to Tunnelvision, then the Secret Garden, the corner of Assembly and Pendleton and lastly right across from the Thirsty Fellow...then of course it was ridiculously convenient to pop in for a snack and a beer.  The coolest thing was an accidental discovery.  As we crossed a now vacant lot, covered in gravel, we came across a mama bird who was clearly trying to distract us.  Neil identified her as a "plover."  And, as we were instructing the kids to move away because she was trying to protect something, we spotted 4 eggs in a "nest" right there on the ground.  The eggs looked exactly like the stones in this lot.  If the mama hadn't been there, someone would have never noticed them or could have even stepped on them.  She's pretty smart to have laid her eggs in such a well camo'd spot. It was truly fascinating to see.  Of course, we continued on our way, and she settled down and sat back on top of her little nest.  It was a cool moment for all of us.

The Washington Street hide turned out to be (literally) right outside the office of a friend of mine.  This morning I texted her that I was outside. Come outta there...she's been accusing me of being obsessed with geocaching, you see.  So, I showed her how my iPhone app works and she discovered the cache.  I think she was impressed to learn that that little container has been hiding there since 2009, right under her nose!  We may have two more caching buddies (K and daughter A) soon!

Girls' Day Off

I posted on Facebook the other day how I'd love to just win the Powerball so I could do fun Mommy stuff all the time.  It's weird because I've never felt like I'd ever be the kind of person who could be happy, or even tolerate not working.  But, as Vivian gets older, I find my mind wandering into the land of What If.  So, maybe this is a sign that I need to get my Powerball tickets with regularity...

I decided that on Tuesday, Vivi and I would take the day off.  I wanted to surprise her, especially since lately I get this question a lot in the  mornings and have to tell her, "no, it's a school day, gotta go."  It was so fun to spring it on her as she was waking up...we're taking a Girls' Day Off! Just us girls.


I'm going to take the liberty of assuming that by reading this, you're interested in what we did.  Therefore, I'm gonna tell you about it. If this isn't what you had in mind, click over to Gastronomy (by a Wanna-Be Chef) now.  It's a great blog, I hear :-)

So, first we went by Edventure to register for the afterschool program.  I still can't believe that come mid-August, my child will be in Kindergarten!  Then, I took her with me to donate some of her old clothes to Hannah House.  She's heard me talk about the place and she's gotten really good about understanding the need for donating to less fortunate people.  So, she helped me carry in the bags of her clothes and shoes that she's outgrown.  I think it helped her understand even more.  

Then, we headed to Irmo to meet my mom at Anchor Lanes and tried out our new family pass for Kids Bowl Free.  It was great!  I can't remember the last time I went bowling, but I do know that while I never really think about going bowling, once I'm there, it's always fun.  Thanks to Kids Bowl Free, she can play all summer.  I went ahead and purchased the family pass, so that we grown-ups can play for free too.  I'm excited about this family-friendly activity, especially since it's a nice air-conditioned hobby for our 100+ degree SC summers!  Funny thing is that Vivian won...she smoked us!  And she had lots of fun, so totally worth it!

Next, we took her to lunch then to Toys R Us with mom.  It's dangerous enough entering a toy store with a 5-year old, but add the Grandmother and the bucks are gonna fly!  But, my sweet girl was told she could pick out 2 toys and guess what she told me on the way to the store?  "I know Grandma said I could get two toys, but I think I'll just get one."  Wow!  Where did that come from?


So, from there, we headed over to Dutch Square in search of a cache.  I had scouted it out previously so I could be sure Vivi could find it.  This trip was for Viv to "teach" Grandma how to cache.  She was doing a fine job as coach and then I heard the telltale excited gasp and she found the tube hidden in a tree.  This one has been placed there since 2009, per the log inside.  Isn't that cool that for two years that little camoflagued tube has hidden there for people like us to seek and find?  

So, we retreated into the A/C of Grandma's house and chilled with a movie before heading home and playing in the slip & slide.  Our backyard is lumpy and inhabited by a dog, so the front yard is preferable for this type of thing, as redneck as it is having a little pool in the front yard. But that water felt awesome and seeing my little one splash around and run through sprinklers is so priceless that I can deal with looking a little red around the collar!