I am sure it sounds like we are obsessed with geocaching as a lot of our outings revolve around it. But it is such fun for us on so many different levels. It is perfect for us all as a family, since we all like being outside and many family friendly caches include playground, bridges to cross in the woods or other fun things like that. There is almost always at least a small caching adventure to tack on to Date Night (who doesn't like when you can get that started a little earlier???). And, the woods or a kayakable body of water is just what Josh needs as a little escape from the busyness of life, so it is a wonderful solo activity for him too. As we've become more experienced and gotten to know more cachers in the area, we've gotten linked up with a couple of organizations that hold activities! This weekend, we happened to have TWO!
Our favorite event is a picnic at a pavilion attached to a local fire house, and this one was Saturday! The entire area is fenced in. There is a basketball court, big swings, a pretty great playground, and a completely covered picnic area complete with beautiful built-in grills. The fire chief's wife is a big cacher, so he provides the space and does the grilling. This is also where we got our private tour of the fire house last year!!! There are also fun statues around like the ones in the picture above.
Sliding down the fire pole at the firehouse playground!
Graham was brave and slid down the pole all by himself! You can guess how many times he did this... We always have fun at this event, but it is pretty much always interrupted by a soccer game, so we only get to stay long enough for a quick early lunch and a bit of playing.
Yesterday, we went to the NOVAGO Fall event (Northern Virginia Geocaching Organization). This was SUCH fun! We all recognized/knew more people since we've been to a couple more events and several of the people from the Summer picnic and camping event were here.
We met at a picnic pavilion with a playground right next to it. The playground was pretty spectacular and kept the boys entertained for a long time!
There was also a costume contest, so several people were in costume! Graham LOVED Emmett!
For the kid that is usually terrified of the Chickfila cow, this was great!
I brought the boys' costumes to change into when they were ready. Vampire R2-D2 promptly tried out the monkey bars in his cape!
It looked pretty cool!
Cupcake time!
There were other kids, so there was some time for kid games. They were picking out ducks and winning prizes based on the numbers on the bottom.
During our picnic, a group of people came over to this bench that was originally roped off, and apparently had a dedication scheduled! They hung out there for a bit and did their thing, and then they took the caution tape down and left! It was the perfect place to watch the Ammo Can Toss! There was a big ammo can with extra weight added, and people took turns launching it to see who could throw it farthest. There was also a game of who could unpack a cache container, sign the log, and repack the container faster! Lots of fun geocaching-based games... I wish I was hosting Jackson's party AFTER this event!
The boys had a GREAT time, we all enjoyed the beautiful day together, there was tons of yummy food to eat, and it was great to get to know some other cachers and their families! Needless to say, there were baths and showers full of sweat and dirt and early bedtimes all around!
