Geocaching

My boys now have a new obsession: geocaching. I've had a lot of people ask me what this is, so instead of explaining it several different times I thought I would do it once on here, complete with pictures.

Geocaching is a treasure hunt, but you are not hunting for treasures that you get to keep. It's all about finding containers, called geocaches, that someone else has hidden and putting your name on it to let others know that you found it. Some geocaches are tiny, holding nothing but a little piece of paper that you can sign, and some are large tupperware containers that have lot of different things. There are geocaches hidden all over the world, so where ever you are right now, there is probably some around you. It is a great activity to do with your kids. The 'treasures' are located by using a GPS tracking system that tells you where to go, gives you hints on where to look, and it will tell you how many feet you are from it. Yes, there is an app for that. And that's what we use.

Robbie and I took the boys around Texarkana Saturday night, and we found 4 out of the 5 we were looking for. Here are some pictures I took from our hunt.

Who knew a treasure could be in an old jar?

This was Austin's favorite one because it had funny glasses he could try on.

This one had a paper explaining goecaching, and other things people left.

This is the smallest one we found. It was stuck down in a fence pole.

This was hidden in some bushes at a local park.

This one was in a cemetery.

If you decide to give this a try, make sure you have a pen with you, especially for the little ones that do not have room for a pen. You may also want to bring something else to leave in the bigger ones. We found things like small toys, ticket stubs, business cards, etc. I believe the rule is that if you want to take something from a box, you have to leave something of yours.

 I know a lot of you are looking for free, fun things to do with your kids this summer, and I think this is a good one.  It's neat to know that there are little hidden 'treasures' all over the place and if you're not looking, you don't have a clue that they are there!