Found 12 boxes today!!

We woke up, packed a picnic, loaded Smeagol and the kids in the car and drove to Tatum! When we arrived at Martin Creek State Park it was POURING down rain and thundering/lightening. It was also FREEZING! It was hilarious! We were sitting outside at a picnic table eating our lunch in this weather. WE'RE CRAZY!! LOL I tried taking pictures but my battery was dead in the camera! I was so bummed. So I don't have any pictures to share tonight.

After lunch the rain let up so we began our hunt for boxes. I have never seen so much poison ivy in all my life! It will be a miracle if none of us got any on us. So far no one is showing any signs of it even though we read it could be 48 hours before we notice any. At one point though we had to walk through a field of it! LOL

There was a Spring Flower series of 7 boxes along the trail. It was really nice. The only problem is b/c of the rain a couple of the boxes were real damp. Then there was one that was DRENCHED!! The whole logbook was ruined! :(

We found another box there that wasn't part of the series, then tried to find a third but was unable to locate it.

After 4 hours of being there at the state park we left and headed to a cemetary nearby. We found 1 box there.

Then it was over to the park the kids and I had gone too a couple days before trying to find 2 boxes there. Of course Scott was able to find those right away. I was so far off it wasn't even funny. LOL

Then we ended our boxing time with a stop at a rest area between Tatum and Marshall. There was a truck parked there. I couldn't tell if anyone was in it or not b/c it had real dark tented windows. Someone was probably in there watching me get the box and hide it again. He probably wondered what on earth I was up to. I wouldn't be surprised if he went and got the box after I stamped in to see what I was messing with. Hopefully he's a nice person though and if he did check out the box then he'll just put it back.

We got home at 5:00. Scott and I freshened up then the two of us went to dinner at Outback. Yep, we did it! We actually went out on a date and left Kimberly to babysit! I wasn't nervous at all! She did a great job! Everyone was happy and doing great when we got home an hour and a half later. It was the perfect way to end a perfect day. :)

First Finders!!

We were the first finders of a box in Tatum yesterday!! I took the kids to Tatum which is about 45 minutes from Harleton.(Scott couldn't go b/c he had a meeting.) There was a letterbox that was just placed there that had a first finders prize in it. It was hidden INSIDE the library there. We were able to get there in time to be the first finders. This box was kind of a weird situaion though. The library was soooooooooooooooooooo small!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not kidding, it looked like a used book store the size of half of our house! It was so awkward b/c we walked in and were the only one's there with the exception of the library worker. She could see everything I was doing b/c the room we were in was so small! There was no way to be descreet! I don't think she was watching me though b/c she kept her eyes on the kids the entire time. I'm mean she was GLARING at them with her arms crossed! They had this stuffed animal that looked like Clifford on one of the shelves. Kyrie went to grab it and she jumped all over her saying that wasn't to play with. Then Christopher tried the same thing and she got on him. What did she expect the kids to do?! You can't put a stuffed animal in the kids section and not ask them to touch it! It was crazy! Anyway, I was glad to get out of there, probably as much as she was glad we were gone. Our prize was a $1. LOL The thing I liked is the placer had a first finders page in her logbook. It was kind of neat getting to put my stamp there. I felt special. LOL

Then we went to a park that was supposed to have 2 there. We couldn't find either one. They are doing a BUNCH of construction so the clues didn't match what she was saying anymore. For example things like it said to walk towards the woods. Well, all the trees had been cut down! So it was hard to follow. Someone just found the boxes 5 days ago though so they should still be there. We're going to try again on Saturday when Scott is there. He's good at finding boxes when I can't.

Then the last one we went to was at an old train depot. That one was neat and easy to find. So we stopped at 29. We still didn't make it to 30. :( ARGH! Oh well, tomorrow will be a big day b/c we are going back to Tatum to their State Park. They have 9 hidden there! Plus we're going to get one at a cemetary and one at a rest area and try the park again. So we have a chance of getting 13 tomorrow!! :) I told the kids we could bring Smeagol this time so we'll see how it will go. Hopefully Chris will be better than he was at Daingerfield.

I couldn't find my camera so unfortunetly I don't have any pictures to share from yesterday. :(

Pam

Today's letterboxing adventure

Today we got in the car and headed for Daingerfield State Park to find 9 boxes. This turned out to be the most stressful day we've ever had boxing! First of all, we get there only to find a HUGE crowd of people and kids!! Turns out they were having an Easter egg hunt there. I was so mad! However then I felt silly for getting so mad. It wasn't like there wasn't enough room for all of us there at this big park. LOL Also the hunt only lasted about 5 minutes then most of the people left.

So we started off with a picnic lunch then headed on the trails. Christopher was in a TERRIBLE mood!! He cried and whined almost the whole time. If he wasn't in front of everyone then he wasn't happy. After walking for about 15 minutes we realized we had started down the wrong trail! So we had to turn around and go back. Once we were on the right trail we began finding the boxes which was a series of 8. Everytime we came to one though it was hard b/c people kept walking by, so it took a long time to stamp in and rehide without anyone noticing.

After about 3 hours on the trail a man came up to us and asked if we drove a mini van and if we had parked it in front of the restrooms. We said yes. He then proceeded to tell us that a HUGE pine tree had fallen and was stopped by another tree right above our van. However the other tree was cracking and wouldn't be able to hold it much longer. The park ranger was there trying to call in some help. This stranger offered Scott a ride back to our car. So off they went running to the end of the trail which was probably about another 10 minutes long. Then they had to drive to where our car was which was probably about 2 miles away. I was left alone with all 5 kids on a bridge by some water. It was incredibly stressful trying to make sure the littles didn't fall in. I couldn't go on though b/c we were having trouble finding the box that was supposed to be right there so I had to wait for Scott to get back. During our wait Chris got a monster sized splinter and was screaming, then he threw a plastic water bottle into the lake. Kyrie starts whining saying she doens't want to letterbox anymore, etc. It was awful. FINALLY Scott came back. He was able to get there just in time. He said had it not been for that other tree that stopped the pine tree our van would have been smashed in two!!!

So it was back to boxing. We had 3 more to find. (Scott was able to find the one we had been trying to find right away. LOL) The very last box in the series was missing. We're pretty sure we were in the right spot, but it wasn't there. So that was frustrating to not be able to get the whole series. By this time we had been there for 4 hours. Kyrie had fallen asleep in my arms and Chris was still crying. We decided not to even attempt to find the other box that was hidden near the swimming area. We'll have to go back some time and get it. We would actually like to go camping there. It was a beautiful place!

Even though it was pretty stressful today, I still LOVE letterboxing and can't wait to go again. We made alot of memories today. :)

Here are a few pictures of our adventures:

Painting the playhouse

Yesterday Scott and the kids painted the playhouse Scott has been working on. A friend of ours gave us some huge crates that he had been using as deer stands when hunting. After weeks of cutting, shaping, and connecting them it was time to paint. They had a great time and it turned out pretty nice. :)

Decorating Eggs

Today we decorated our Easter eggs for Sunday. We made such a mess, but the kids had fun. :)

Then this evening we went to eat Whataburger and to do some shopping. Scott bought paint for the playhouse he's been building for the kids. Tomorrow is going to be a big painting day. The kids are so excited about it.

We FINALLY got to see I am Legend. We had been wanting to see it ever since it was in the theatres but something always came up. They were out at Blockbuster so we went ahead and bought it since we wanted to see it so bad. It was ok, but it's not one I will watch over and over again that's for sure. LOL We also bought the girls Enchanted and rented the Bee movie. So probably tomorrow after all the painting gets done we'll watch the Bee movie.

I can't believe Spring Break is already almost over. It FLEW by! :(

Fun day!

Yesterday we had a great family day. Scott and I took the kids to see Horton Hears a Who. It was a cute movie. Christopher was really good too. I only had to get up with him once and it was for just like the last 10 minutes of the movie. We just hung out at the side in the corridor to the doors so I didn't miss any of the movie. That was pretty cool. :)

Afterwards we took them to Baskin Robbins for ice cream.

Then we drove to Kilgore to do some letterboxing. We found 2 at a park there. It was extremely windy though. At one point it kicked up a bunch of dirt from a construction site and it was like we were standing in a huge dust storm. It was actually pretty funny. When we got home we were all filthy. I was so mad b/c I forgot my camera. :( So I don't have any pictures to share.

It's supposed to rain all day today. So today will be a day full of virtual letterboxing. Those are letterboxes where you have to find the answer to the clues by surfing the web. Some you can figure out without doing a search, but others are kind of hard. We've found 50 of those so far and are now in the 50 Hall of Fame. We planted our first virtual box too. :)

We're also going to decorate Easter eggs today. I'll post pictures tonight for that.

Pam

Community Egg Hunt

This morning started off with Kyrie and Christopher going to the preschool egg hunt at our Church park. They had a good time finding eggs. Immediatly after that we went to the community egg hunt put on by our Church. They had big inflatable obstacle courses for the kids, a cake walk, and a duck pond game. After the games we went to the football field where we sang a couple of songs, had door prize giveaways, then Scott gave the gospel presentation. After that they split the kids up into groups where they all went and hunted for eggs. Kyrie and Katherine both found prize eggs. Katherine won a big ball, and Kyrie won a stuffed duck. :)

It was a beautiful day out. Not hot at all, but we all got sunburns.

Here are a few pics of the day.

I'm so tired

I didn't sleep well at all last night. Then I had to get up at 6:00am to get ready to take Kimberly to her orthodontist appt. Everything is going well with her braces. Just about another year and a half to go. LOL

After the appt we went grocery shopping. Then came home in time to eat lunch and watch Y&R. Afterwards we did school. I am sooooooo ready for Spring Break!

Well, it's 10:46pm and I'm starting to see double b/c I'm so tired.

Good night.

Pam

Great day of letterboxing!

This morning Kirsten and Katherine went to Kids Station with the Sparks as a reward for a contest they had in AWANAS. When they got back we went to Jefferson to go letterboxing. It was a really nice day for it.

The first box was at a park. Unfortunetly it wasn't there. :( We definetly were in the right spot so somebody must of moved it or taken it.

So then we found a box next to the boat docks. Kimberly, Kirsten and Katherine found that one. We were all trying to be all secretive and not attract attention to ourselves. Well, we were inside the car doing the stamping. Katherine asked if she could do one of the stamps so we said ok. She pushed the stamp right on top of our car horn so all of a sudden our horn just blarred! It was so funny.

Next came one that was in a little area with a couple of benches. We let Kyrie do that one. In the picture at the end of this you'll see me and her sitting on the bench trying to act inconspicuous.

The next one was the Haunted House. Supposedly it's the most Haunted House in Jefferson. I'll tell you what, for a haunted house it sure was pretty. LOL As we were walking back to the car after that one Kyrie had an accident. I had to carry her almost the whole way back b/c she was starting to get a rash by walking in her wet britches. Thankfully I had a change of clothes for her in the car so we could continue on our hunt. :)

The next stop was at a cemetary. This one was so cool. The first thing they had us do was stop at a confederate soldiers grave to pay our respects. Then we went to a lady's grave who had actually been murdered. The man they arrested for her murder was like the trial of the decade way back when in the 1800's. We then saw some big tombstones with 2 little one's in between them. Turns out, the small one's belonged to their dogs that they had buried right next to them!

It was really neat seeing all the old tombstones. The way this box was done made me not have a problem at all with doing searches for boxes in cemetarys.

So we then went to the last stop of the day which was another cemetary that we had tried to get on our first time out. Before there was workers working on the trees right where the box was so we weren't able to get it. This time though it was very quiet and peaceful. The box was actually at the end of a bridge over a pond kind of behind the cemetary. It was really nice. Scott let me do this one by myself. :)

We are now at 18 finds and 2 attempts! Two more boxes and we'll get our #2 bow on AQ! For one of my early birthday presents Scott let me become a premium member of AQ so I could count the unlisted boxes. Another thing I've asked for my birthday is a new letterboxing backpack, a stamp carving kit, a bunch of different color ink pads. I LOVE this new hobby of mine. I was so sad when our day ended today. I could have gone on forever!

Here are some pictures from our day.

Crazy Weather!!

When I woke up this morning I was upset b/c there was no snow on the ground. The weather bug said we were supposed to get about an inch overnight. Well, it wasn't long after I got up when the snow finally arrived. It started coming down HARD!! I haven't seen snow like that since I was a kid growing up in Wichita Falls! We all had so much fun playing in it. The only problem though is we really didn't have the right clothes to wear. We had no gloves so we were having to put socks on our hands. That didn't work very well. We would only be able to stay outside for a short time before we'd have to come back in to defrost, then we'd go back out.

Katherine and Kyrie made snow angels and we all made Tom the snowman!

The craziest part about today though, was when the snow stopped and began to melt. By 4:30pm it was beautiful outside! You would have never thought that we had as much snow as we did just a few hours earlier. The kids were outside playing with their friends in short sleeved shirts. The only evidence of our fun filled snow day was Tom the snowman hanging on in our front yard.

Thank you God for the blessing of the fun weather we had today!

Here are a bunch of pictures that I took today. Enjoy!