New Family Hobby: Geocaching

We are very excited about our newest family hobby: Geocaching.

Has this really been around for SEVEN years and we are just now finding out about it? I feel so out of the loop. Nana said, "see? if you watched the news, you'd already know about it." Hmmm. Yeah, that plus my head would be filled with thousands of images I'd wish I hadn't seen.

But I digress.

In case you are not aware, Geocaching is a term that refers to a worldwide treasure/scavenger type hunt. People who have GPS gadgets "hide" stuff (cache) all over the place, and then post about it on a central website, so that other people who have GPS gadgets can find it.

Our friends Bill and Lisa told us about it, and we thought it sounded cool. Especially since we already have a GPS, and there seem to be so few interesting hobbies that don't require us to buy anything new!

We got started on Saturday, and Sally had a blast with it. We picked up a container and some camoflauge duct tape (with a nod to Uncle Harry) and created our first cache. Andy was very excited, because he got to "broadcast" a message that we had a brand new cache. I was excited, because I got to pick a theme (OnTheRoadAgain) and find stuff to go wtih that theme. Sally was excited because, well, because Sally is always excited. Sydney just wanted to eat eveyrthing we bought (nevermind that none of it was technically edible).

Andy hid the cache last night, it was immediately approved by the local admin person, and the first person found it at 8:30AM !

Since we had chosen a travel theme, we put a new wrapped toothbrush, some foreign coins (I think Bahamas, Australia, and Euros), a travel kit, a log book and pencil (these 2 are standard cache items), a luggage tag, some business cards for Andy's business, pocket floss, and some other stuff I can't remember. Oooh, I should find a compass and put that in too.

Sevearl people found it today, and one left coins from Malaysia!

This is seriously fun stuff. I didn't think I would be as 'into' it as Andy, but I am admittedly having a blast with it.

Andy has already looked up locations for our next several stops (Cozumel, Cancun, New Orleans, Maui, all before Christmas) and we are planning to go geocaching during our upcoming camping trip in the mountains. (We're thinking Estes Park, for Andy's b-day weekend).

More to come....

Chow Time!

Well, Sydney is NOT being slowed down by the fact that she has no teeth yet. That kid can eat just about anything, I swear. I'm tempted to give her a peanut and see what she does with it (only kidding).

Really, though, Sydney can easily eat small chunks of watermelon, peaches, bread, crackers, goldfish crackers (cheddar bunnies, actually -- the healthier version of pepperidge farm goldfish), banana, avocado, cookies, freeze dried strawberries and corn, french fry pieces, hash brown pieces, toddler finger foods (she is quite dextrous with the pincer grip) and more. Anything she sees us eat, she wants to try. She's also holding her own bottle, which tells me it's time to introduce the sippy cup. I'm sick of washing bottles, anyway!

Sally had a big day at school on Monday. It was her turn to bring snack, which means Sally got special privileges that day. She got to go up into the loft and bring a friend (Grayson), she got to hold the flag during the Pledge of Allegiance (which she knows by heart now -- at 3 1/2, that is impressive to me!), and she got to present show and tell.

We were also asked to bring a loaf of uncut bread, which the children get to practice cutting in even slices. (Nana was quite disturbed by this news, as she thought it sounded quite dangerous. I assured her that I was pretty sure they were supervised, and that there was no electric knife involved. In response, she did the Marge Simpson groan and changed the subject.)

The websites have been updated, so there are new photos of Sally (on her site) and Sydney (on her site). We still have some scenic pix of Australia to post, and I'm not quite sure where those will go, since we don't have a generic Grant Family site at the moment.

We are finally getting back to normal after Australia, only to find out that we're headed to Italy in April. Magnifico!

Arrivaderci!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

There are some things you just never expect to hear uttered from your children.

And then, when you actually do hear it, it's dang near impossible NOT to laugh.

Today was just that kind of day.

We were rushing to get out of the house (as usual, with 2 kids and an ADD husband) and Andy kind of snapped at Sally.

To which she responded by running to me and shouting:

"Daddy cranky pissy'd me!"

Now honestly, tell me you could have kept a straight face if it was YOUR kid that said that.

Meanwhile, I have to go now beause Sydney is in full crawl mode (Grammy called her the "Crawligator" while she was visiting) and she is getting into all sorts of mischeif. Man, she is FAST !

uh oh!