We are official GEOCACHERS!

So, in case you don't know what this phenom is, it is actually the coolest thing! About a year ago, Regan bought a GPS for his motobike. I spent many days after rolling my eyes at what I still think was just another gaget for him to add to his "toy" collection. But since it wasn't ANOTHER motorbike, I was relatively happy. Anyway, he said back then that people go on scavenger hunts with these things. I nodded and mmhmmm-ed to him as good wives do, but really could have cared a less at the time. Anyway, today we went to Kananaskis to go hiking and little did I know it was all about the Geocaching. And I have to say now, that I am the biggest fan! Here's how it works. You must have a GPS to do it, first of all, and then you go to the Geocaching website. Now, ordinary people like you and me, take a little tupperware type container and put a little dollar store trinket inside, along with a little wee pad of paper to log each visitor. They then hide it somewhere and then get the coordinates reading from their GPS. They then go to the website and log in that there is a cache to be found at these coordinates and anyone with a GPS is able to go and look for it! At first we weren't sure how this all worked, but as we were driving out there we got very excited. Regan said that each person that finds the cache, puts something small in and then they are able to take one of the items already in it, out. Get it? Like trading. And then you record the item you left, the item you took, the date you found it and then you put it back. So in our case we drove over an hour out of the city to a hike called "The Canadian Everest Trail". The GPS told us that it was at the look out at the top. Once we got there we searched the whole look out area but were not having any luck. Then we decided we had to resort to using a decrypted hint that was included in this cache. There was the Decryption Key there that you use to break the code. Now imagine how fun this was for a seven year old! Never mind her parents! We were stoked! The code said that it wasnt' far (don't want to give it away!). Ellie and Regan searched the area, and I stayed up with the dog. They were not having any luck so I tied up the dog and searched as well. I saw the yellow smiley faced lid and yelled, "It's here!!" And Ellie took the honors of pulling it out and we opened it. Was it ever neat! There were all sorts of things in there! A necklace, a little kids stamp thingy, a pin from some organization, a hacky sack, and a cool deck of cards, and the little log book. So we wrote in the log and then tried to find something to put in, since we had no idea we were supposed to do that! Regan happened to have a brand new scarf in his bag (a hanky, you know that people wear on their heads?) and so we folded it up and put it in, and Ellie picked the deck of cards so each time we played with them we would remember this day. We then put it back exactly how we found it! On the computer it showed that someone had just found it the day before, so we were pretty sure it was still there. I am telling you... so FUN! And what a fun family thing to do! I said that we should get my entire family to do one! You can have a picnic (which is what we did), go on a hike, (which is what we were doing anyway) and then find this cool little treasure box! You should check it out, really neat stuff.

Right now.. I hope it works out... Regan is at the school yard with Ellie trying to teach her how to ride her bike. I know she is almost 8, but you have no idea what a huge deal this is. She has been pretty much on strike about the whole ordeal for the last year or so. So we offered her a very serious bribe that is really motivating her. I know it sounds terrible, but the small stuff wasnt' cutting it for bribes, even a webkinz! It's really important to Regan, he wants to take her riding, and this summer when we were camping she got left behind when her new little friends all went for a ride. She said at the time that she learned her lesson, and she would learn how to ride. But when it would come time to do it she would completely panic and become terror stricken. She has been like this about a few things in her life, and eventually we convince her to face her fears and she does it and feels on top of the world. When we were in Germany, I wish I could have practiced what I preached and climbed the stupid Cathedral tower, but claustrophobia is just that ... a phobia... and not like a regular fear. I hope she understood it after I explained it. I had to remind her that even though I am afraid of heights, it is not a phobia, and that was how I was able to stand on the clear glass floor of the Calgary tower. A person with an actual phobia could not have gone up the tower never mind anywhere near the thing.

Tomorro she starts a little introductory Competitive Swimming class for 4 days. I know she will love it, and she is a very very fast swimmer.

We are going to getting busier and busier as all of her little activities are due to start this week and next. I love it!
Have a great night!