Letterbox Find #2

Another hot July morning, make that late morning as we are not known to be early risers, especially on the heels of a fireworks night, and we are off to find our next letterbox.
This one is at yet another park, close to the library we frequent. We come with gifts for the geese. A flock with only one gosling has been in attendance since the young one's hatching. Upon arriving, we find that all of the flock has left, but this small family. The gosling has grown and is hardly distinguishable from the parents.

The gosling and parents

Tossing crumbs

Into the water

The fish are liking it, too

a nearby tree that caught my eye

Looks like a cypress

We move on, in search of our box.

Goodbye to the trio of geese

I wonder if they will be here next time

 Another successful find! This one was called Retirement is Great! There was a picnic table not too far away where we took our find to do the stamping.

stamping the log

We remembered to take something to write with this time, so we could put the date and our trail name - TeamRose in the log book.

I think they like gardening, golf, rubberstamping, and flying

Josiah blows the shofar (stick)

Josiah wielding his sword (stick)

Josiah took this picture of a bee fly he found

 Now we're ready to head to the library to cool off and check out some books.

Happy Trails! Until next time.

July 4th, Plain and Simple

This was a very laid back 4th of July for us. About the only creative thing I did was the above dessert. Very simply, CarbSmart icecream with blueberries from our backyard and raspberries that were on sale. It was pretty yummy, though. We watched fireworks from a shopping center parking lot. From our vantage point, we could see booms and splarkles from three different directions all around us. We also saw flashes of lightening, so we were very cautious. The kids said God was doing his own fireworks. : )

Our First Letterbox Find

Could this be the beginning of a new hobby?
I've been curious about this for some time and after checking the Atlas Quest wesite and finding some hidden boxes close to us, I thought we might give it a try.
Who wouldn't want to go in search of hidden "treasure"? Well it's not really a treasure, it's just a rubber stamp that you stamp your book with to record that you found it. The stamps are usually unique and hand-made.
We went out last night as TeamRose to our first "easy" find. Upon further checking, this one has not been found since September of last year and the bushes and weeds have taken over. We abandoned our search and went home to regroup.
Today, we set out again. This time with the new-found knowledge that you only go in search of boxes that have recent finds logged. This one was at a local park, too, where they probably don't let the weed get so overgrown.
This one was called The Girl Scout Law Series - Part 1 and had five boxes to find.
Our first box was a bit tricky to find and at first we thought it was missing, but then . . . AHA! We found it. But there was a problem. Park employees were preparing for a 4th of July celebration and kept coming nearby. One thing about letterboxing is that you just can't go pulling boxes out of hidden places with people watching. That would look kind of suspicious. So we went to our next box, so this will be a little out of order.
Number 2 was found by Hannah and she excitedly pulled out the contents and began stamping away.

#2 Friendly and Helpful

Hannah stamping our "clip book"

Putting her stamps away after stamping the logbook

We place the box back in it's spot. Now the coast is clear to go back to number 1. So we return and quickly remove the box before someone sees us.

Nimble fingers

#1 Honest and Fair (upside down)

After replacing that one, ( By the way that's very important to remember. You want the next person to be able to find it like you did.) we move on to box number 3.

Hannah looking at logbook #3

#3 Considerate and Caring

We are starting to really feel the heat of this July 1st day, but we only have two more stamps to find. We move on down the Greenway Trail and find number 4 and 5. We saw some walkers, runners, and bikers go by. I wonder if they ever saw anyone else stop on the edge of the trail to do rubber stamping.
Yeah, it's a nice break from your walk.

stamping along the trail

Josiah looking exhausted

Hannah looking exhausted

Josiah looking for something

Josiah being a bit crazy

#4 Courageous and Strong, #5 Responsible For What I Do and Say

A word of warning. To find the hidden boxes, you do have to leave the paved trail sometimes. Look out for poison ivy and other various dangers. I only encountered the one I mention and I hope I don't break out from my brief brush with the itch of death.
I'll be washing with Octogon soap for the next few days.

Enter for a Chance to Win

Home Educating Family is having a give-away.
You could win a free subscription to the magazine, A Journey Home DVD, a Well Planned Day Planner, and Beside Still Waters.
www.wellplannedday.com/contest01.php

I don't usually post about give-aways, but this is one I wanted to share. I wouldn't mind winning myself. I got an additional entry just for sharing. I guess you could say I have an alterior motive. Please forgive me. Someone is really going to be blessed by this, though, even if it's not me.

Fun Friday at Rock Ranch

I guess this Smilebox tells most of the story. What started out as an overcast day, got pretty hot before we left. The good thing is that it was not at all crowded.
It may take a while to download, because there are alot of pictures on this one.

Free digital slideshow customized with Smilebox

Our Day at Six Flags

The kids took part in Six Flags Over Georgia's Read to Succeed program this year in order to earn free tickets to the park. It was their first time going and quite fun for mom and dad to share this experience with them. Our first time as a family!
The day started out hot, but then we had a heavy rain and thunder storm that stopped the rides for a while. After the rain when they started back up, there was no wait for most rides and some you could ride multiple times because no one else was waiting to get on.
The favorite of our family seemed to be Thunder River, which was closed the first part of the day, but opened up after the storm. Theron, Hannah, and Josiah rode it through three consecutive times without getting off. Hannah also loved the Dahlonega Mine Train and Gotham City Crime Wave (a big swing). Wile E. Coyote's Canyon Blaster was also a blast with Hannah.
We had a fun, full day and left the park wet and tired and talking about next year.

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A Mystery

The mystery begins when the father walks in the door after a hard days work. Illuminated above his head is this message, "HAPPY Father's day" and it is three days before the actual day. Hmm, he thinks. But he is happy nontheless, because before him is also his smiling family.
One small lad hands him a piece of paper.

He reads it. It's a clue. Off he goes to see what he will find.

He searchs and finds one more note and then another.

Some of the clues are quite perplexing.

Then finally he discovers something.

Sherlock Holmes in Washington

A reward for his hard work. But he must press on. He must inspect this bag hanging in a most peculiar place.

He opens it to find . . . another CLUE! This can only mean one thing.
More searching.

And messages to decipher. It took some more hard work and determination, but using his powerful deductive skills he was able to work it out.
KEYWORD
Which led him to his next clue and finally to

Sherlock Holmes Faces Death

a second reward!
Now all good detectives must eat, so he sat down to a most charming meal with his beaming brood and chewed on his thoughts.
 At the end of the meal, he turned to his wife and said, "Would you like for us to go visit your dad on Sunday?"
To which she replied, "Excellent deduction, my dear. How did you know?"
"Well," he returned, "I see that you have gone to all this trouble to make sure that I did not feel slighted on Father's Day and have created this special celebration for me three days before Father's Day, so that we would be freed up on Sunday."
"Remarkable," was all she could say.