Treasure Hunting

Over the weekend, I read about Letterboxing on a friend's blog. I guess I was interrupted and left that page open on my computer because later that day, the Tumbleweed pulled me over the computer and asked what her friend was doing (the little girl was in the photos on the blog). We checked out a few links and talked a little about Letterboxing, and of course she wanted to go "right now!"

There was a little preparation necessary, so a few days later we went in search of our first letterbox in Grafton. The kids were really excited to use their new stamps and I was pretty excited to see the stamps we would find (for now we are using store bought stamps, but many hidden letterboxes have hand carved stamps). We chose a pretty easy one for our first one (ie - once I drove us there & parked there were only a couple of clues to follow). The Tumbleweed found it quickly. After we had stamped everything and rehidden, we climbed back in the car and the Tumbleweed said, "let's do another, and another, and another" (this is a frequent quote of hers - once she likes something she just wants to keep doing it!).

So off we went in search of another one that was nearby. It was a little tougher, in that there was a little more of a hike (with a few muddy spots) and a few more clues to follow. But the kids followed the instructions and found the hiding spot (the Dandelion was mostly following his big sister, but he was interested). Midway through the stamping process he did start to wander a bit, so I need to work a little more on speeding up the stamping and/or keeping him busier.


All in all, it was a good afternoon. The kids are talking about going again (the Tumbleweed also really wants to hide some "for my friends to find"), and I have checked into more places to find letterboxes. I have found that they are all over the place, and often in the same parks that the Eagle's triathlons take place in. Perhaps we will be able to do some letterboxing when he is out racing.