Letterboxing

We were recently turned on to Letterboxing by some friends. If you've never heard of Letterboxing I'll give you the basic run down... Letterboxing is like geocaching only with rubber stamps. You have your own stamp and notebook. You look up locations on letterboxing.org and go find said letterbox where you will usually find a rubber stamp and notebook. You put your stamp (name and date optional) in their notebook and their stamp in your notebook. The locations can be hard to find with a code to decipher or easy to find with number of paces to step or easily understood clues within a clever story.

This is the beginning of our letterbox diary...

Our first Letterboxing adventure was fun. It was a story about a turtle that went to find

a spot to sun himself and at the spot where the story ends was supposed to be a stamp.

The story was fun, the hunt was a great break from the car but try as we might we could not find the stamp.

This one was in Spokane Valley, Washington.

So we hoped for a better find on the next hunt which ended up being on our way home on the last day of the trip.

In Missoula, Montana, there is a Smokejumper's Training Base and Visitor's Center.

Our clues led us to

the corner of a replica of a look-out tower.

What will we find?

We put this stamp in our books....

(The one we found here was a hand carved stamp of the parachute and wings. Very cool!)

... and put our stamps in this book with a note that said, "Grandson of a 25 year vet of a Wildland Firefighter."

More letterboxing stories to come!

World Famous Cooking

I haven't posted here in WAY too long. I have pictures to post and stories to write but this is something I have to get down before I forget.

Right now we are living with my parents in Marysville Washington and while we are here we are helping out around the house. I help with... something, I promise. Logan helps with dishes and cooking and each night when we sit down to dinner the boys tell my mom and dad, "This is Dad's World Famous (fill-in-the-blank)." It doesn't matter if it is pork chops, chicken or french toast; it is both world renowned and delicious to them.

They think very highly of their dad. Not only is his cooking fantastic but he is the rock of our family, they know it and they love him.

So do I.

Zip Line Tours

Tonight Kevin and Nolan made a zip-line in their room. First I should say that we took Kevin's bed down and put it on the floor (just for something different - which they love). So their beds are parallel now, which makes for longer giggle sessions at night. But tonight they took a rope that they play with often and tied it from the foot of Kevin's bed to the foot of Nolan's bed. Then we heard them sending their "buddies" (stuffed animals) down the zip-line and having a blast.

After a firm warning about the dangers of hurting the family jewels on the zip-line, I returned to see Kevin upside down on his shoulders with his knees over the top of the rope.

I walked away thankful for Aflac. I know I say that a lot, but if you have kids that often get hurt and Aflac, you know why I am thankful.

Little adventures like this make me think a lot about what they will be like as teenagers and men. I wonder whether Kevin will be as daring as he is now or whether Nolan will ever take a chance. We joke that Nolan will be an engineer that builds a rocket and Kevin will be the pilot, but if their personalities remain the same, that's not much of an exaggeration.

In this case, the adult version would be that Nolan would design a zip-line to install somewhere on our lodge property and Kevin would give the tours.

I can just see it now.

On the way to church on Sunday we were talking in the car. Kevin asked, "Dad, could I eat an ant?" to which Logan replied, "...Well, I guess you could, buddy, but there are other things that would be better.... and so the conversation went...

Kevin: Yeah... crickets... I heard you could eat crickets. 

Logan: You can eat crickets. There are other bugs you can eat too.

Kevin: Like what?

Logan: Like grubs...

Kevin making a face: Only with ranch.

*snort* Logan: Yeah, buddy, I guess you could eat anything with ranch.

Kevin: even rocks.

This morning at the breakfast table we had a conversation about who would win in a fight between a buffalo and a gorilla. According to Kevin the buffalo would win because he has "those spiky things", he is bigger and he can run faster.

Glad that's settled.

Nolan and I had a picnic today. After finishing lunch he laid down beside me and nestled into me. He was so content and peaceful. And after a long moment he asked,

"Mommy, when do we get to live with God?"

I cherish moments like that. 

Kevin's Bed Time Quiz

As we were saying goodnight this evening Kevin decided to quiz me...

"Mom"

"Yeah, buddy."

"What is the scariest part of a monster:

A: The Teeth

B: The Arms or 

C: The Feet?"

"Uuuu... the teeth?"

"Yep. You get a medal."