I popped into town today to shop and called to look at the craft section in Lakeland. I found a spinning plastic storage doodah that would be good for my tools etc. It was in the bargain section but no box or price so the lady went to find a code for it. She came back and said it was for a patio table with the middle bit for a parasol to go through (there is a bowl that can be removed), it was £19.99, reduced to £9.99 then £4.99 but because it was the last one and there was no box I could have it for £2.99!! It's on a turntable and measures 15" across so not small but I can fit everything into it and it takes up far less room than all the mess that was there before!
After reading Kirsty Wiseman's blog about Geocaching I looked it up on the internet and spoke to Alex and Georgie to see of they were interested. We bought a small GPS unit yesterday for £100, it sounds expensive but if we went for a day out to a theme park or to London it would cost that by the time we paid for travel, sightseeing tickets, shopping and food. We all love being outdoors anyway so we thought it was a better investment for our half term holiday funds.
It was dusk by the time we got home and worked out how to enter the co-ordinates so we decided to look for a simple cache nearby. We went off to a nearby village and walked through orchards to find the hidden 'treasure', I can't believe how excited we were to find a blue plastic tupperware box full of bits & pieces hidden in the branches of a bush. The idea is that you take a piece of 'treasure', leave something else and then log your visit in a notebook kept in the container. Georgina took a badge, Alex took a US quarter and we left two enbroidered patches and a sheet of stickers. I forgot my camera in the rush to get there before dark but we are going hunting this afternoon for two more near the village so I will make sure I get some photos then. We also filled our own cache box so that we can hide one for others to find, it is so much more fun than I thought it woudl be and definitely an incentive to get out and walk in the fresh air.
I came to see your blog in hope you had found something. It is SO exciting when you find a decent sized cache with all sorts of weird and wonderful objects to collect. I get such a thrill if there is something in there that will delight Ellie. I hate the mini caches (in small container, like an old film canister) and I hate the ones you cant even find (or has been muggled!).
The best part for me is taking photos of places new to me, mark loves the adventure and Ellie loves the fresh air and that we get to chat about nature and animals.
We haven't done our own cache yet, but when we do I want it to be an old army ammo box filled with fab treats for kids, little craft packages for the girls and keyrings , golf tees, stickers etc for the boys.
I hope you have as much fun out of it as we do. And remember when you go back up north, you can hike out more adventures together - even abroad (we did some in Barcelona).
Posted by: Kirsty Wiseman | October 24, 2007 at 11:08 AM
Now that's my kind of purchase, LOL! Way to go!
Posted by: Maggie | October 26, 2007 at 02:08 AM
kirsty is the reason we started geocaching, we started in april and we are 6 away from our 100 find. we really enjoy getting out and about and going to places we would not find anyother way.
hope you all enjoy it as much as us!
pigglet + family
Posted by: christine | October 26, 2007 at 06:59 PM
Wow I'd never even heard of this. Wish I'd found out about it before tne end of half term!! The kids would have loved it. Definitely keep it in mind next time to keep the kids entertained.
BTW I love your Momiji lo in SI!!
Posted by: Yasmin | October 27, 2007 at 07:40 AM