Geocaching with the grandsons

It's Wednesday. No nanny. Sarah could do with some help. We picked the darlings up from acac tennis camp at 1:30 pm. They had their lunch at the camp so no worries about that. Owen wanted to go straight home. It took some persuation to stop on the way at the Robious Landing Park we pass anyway. He still wanted to go straight home. Only when I mentioned that it was really a shame that we don't get to stop for an ice cream before going home he quickly changed his mind (ha-ha). 

James had received a little bag with peanuts with shell from a friend the evening before. So we thought it might be nice to eat those at the river. It was quite nice there especially under the trees.

Colin then asked whether we could go to the creek where they like looking for crawfish. That whiled away some time too.

While Papa and I were standing there I suddenly thought of checking whether there might be a geocache close by. And yes, there was. Auntie Helen had introduced them to it when she and William visited in January.

When I asked whether they would like to try to find it they were all excited. Caleb wanted to hold my phone to find the way. I had to explain that the line was 'how the birds fly' when we came to forks in the trail. 

When we were very close one of them found a turtle. Owen always loves picking anything living up ... bugs, frogs, you name it ... but we convinced him not to. 

Three steps further another of my observant grandsons saw this creature. They knew it was a harmless garter snake but it too was not being handled. It would have been too fast anyway I think.

The third boy (Caleb) found the cache. Owen looked into it. There was a nice book into which we put the date and each boy his name with age in ( ). We put everything nicely back again.

Yes, snake and turtle were still there but the snake suddenly moved and Colin was sure it had caught something. Late lunch for it.

Back to the car. Hand sanitizer in the car. And off to Sweet Frog. The boys were happy. Needless to say that the afternoon was a full success.

And what did I get out of the afternoon?

          5 mosquito bites (or whatever insect it was).

James has some too. They itched so badly that I asked James to go to the pharmacy to get something 'compare with Zyrtec'. Amazing how it helped.

News from Nashville (thank you, Helen). She took a membership at YMCA. William had to take a test to be allowed in certain areas without an adult close-bye. She even sent me a photo of the rules and it is a serious test. William passed with flying colors at first try. So proud of him. So, while he had fun going to the slide Helen swam 1 mile. Not sure how many laps that is but I am sure that time there was good for both.

When they went to a different YMCA a few days later he had to take the test again. Funny. No problem though.

James and I are still enjoying playing Five Crowns. It just never gets boring. After James had a streak of bad luck with the cards, I suddenly had a streak of bad luck. And suddenly ... something we had never had in all this time: not a single bad point!

I should go and buy a lotterie ticket for that Multi Billion Power Point Pot.

Christmas with Visitors

Oh yes, we were looking forward to it. 

Helen and William drove the 600+ miles on Tuesday December 21. James and I were very happy that the weather was favorable which makes that long drive a little easier. They arrived in the evening in good time. 

Wednesday - Plenty to talk about, see and do. The weather was again very nice. I asked William whether he wanted to earn some pocket money. Ms Julie wanted to hire him to tidy up her garden. Well, yes. So the two of us got busy to cut all the old daisy flower stems etc etc. I really need to buy some better clippers. He kept telling us that he wants to donate the money to charity. He is concerned that the ocean needs cleaning up. Ms Julie was happy.

Of course the first thing when he arrived was the question "when do I see my cousins?"

Sarah had to work so we contacted the Nanny and arranged to pick up "the cousins" after lunch and went to Bryan Park. James and I had just recently visited there and had decided that the boys would love it. I had written about it in THIS BLOG.

Next to the parking was this heep of dirt and the youngsters were on it before you knew it.

Helen and I both took photos and we shared with each other. At this point I don't even know which one is from whom. We quickly discovered though it is not easy to get 4 to cooperate at the same time. So we took many and deleted most later.

Throwing little stones from the above bridge was fun but this wall a few yards further was even more fun.

Ha-ha, a VIDEO of that activity!      (0:40 min.)

A big rock is always a challenge of 'who will be on it first'. Helen and I took photos from different directions.

Oh oh, Helen was caught by the cousins looking at her phone 'whether there might be a geocache in this park'. William of course knows about it but Caleb really wanted to know. What is a geocache? We went on the search. We had to!

We found the place and all sorts of things like a chain imbedded in a tree and a pumpkin but with all the clues no cache. But ... Auntie found info about another one close by.

(This was so pretty. Had to take the picture!)

Especially Owen was so excited because the clue was 'it is in a gnome hiding place'. Yeah! Found it!

But what is better when Santa serves you hot chocolate or hot mulled cider? (we were lucky the Farmer's Market happened to be there)

When it was time to bring the cousins home Helen also had an early Christmas present for them. Wow, that was a success. They were constructing and changing and creating and just having a good time.

And ... William had been invited to stay the night. Happy boys all around. Sarah had to work the next day but Wade was off and volunteered. He is a fun-uncle.