On Monday, we had the day off. So, we decided to go hiking and geocaching. If you don't know what geocaching is, it is what I like to call "hide and seek for big kids." You have to have a GPS unit to do it. You go online, find coordinates for different "caches" to find, and then use your GPS unit to find them. Sometimes they are hidden around cities in very obvious places, but you wouldn't know they were there unless you were looking for them. They often are like little treasure boxes with prizes for the kids to trade out in them. You take something to leave in the box, and then you get to pick something out of it and sign the log book in the cache that you found it. Kaylee is really good at finding the caches. It is fun and we have done it all around the country. We did several caches on our trip last summer. Anyway, Nathan had heard of a cache that was not too far from us on a trail owned by the Army Corp of Engineers. It is called Sam Bass lookout. It is up high on a hill where the bank robber Sam Bass used to hide out because you could see so much of the area. It was about a 3 mile hike round trip, but the kids enjoyed seeing all of the fun things. It is also a free family outing! We packed a picnic and ate our lunch at the top of the hiking trail before heading back down. It was a nice little workout and a fun family outing!!
Nathan and Kaylee at the beginning of the hike.
Here we go! Nolan alternated between walking and being held. He kept getting distracted and wanted to play with the sticks and dirt (such a boy!), so we would have to pick him up and carry him for awhile. I really want to invest in a backpack carrier for these little outings. I think he would like that. He is only 23 pounds and most of them work for children up to 50 pounds. I think we could still get a lot of use out of a used one!
Nolan stopped to throw some dirt. Kaylee had to check out something, too!
Big sister was good at dragging him along at times.
Family picnic at the top of the hill.
Yummy! Almond butter sandwiches, carrots, grape tomatoes, trail mix, and water! And, Nolan had his trail mix, carrots, and allergen free granola bar.
We found it!
After eating, Kaylee and Daddy searched for the cache. We were actually sitting about 10 feet from it! It was hidden under a big rock ledge. Of course, Daddy had to poke around it with a stick first before sticking his under there to make sure there were no snakes or creepy crawlies!
Kaylee took a little yellow plastic dolphin and Nolan took a Hot Wheels car (go figure)! What a fun day!!
