The Joys Of Caching With Children

[+Team Benhamtroll]

Okay, we went out today with the plan of hitting about 5 caches. Spent the morning getting the house clean, and then organizing all of our cache materials. Evrybody was rarin' to go, so we hop in the Cache-Mobile and zip out. We find our first cache with no problem, a nice & easy roadside with an interesting geological formation. We head on the 25 miles to the next one, with was a nice hike, about 3 miles round trip with an awesome view.

 

About halfway there, our daughter starts complaining that her stomach hurts and that she has to go potty. Being the intrepid outdoors-people that we are, we take her off into the bushes with a paper towel we happened to have in our back pack, and she takes care of her business. No problem, we thought perhaps it was the ENORMOUS sandwich they made for her at Subway . . .

 

A bit further on she begins complaining in the whining voice that only a six-year old can muster that her tummy hurts. At this point going on and taking the loop back is just as quick as turning back, and we're thinking she's just complaining as children her age are wont to. Ha.

 

We find the cache, which is a nice one with a great view. I had promised her I'd carry her on my shoulders on the way back, so that's what we do. We start back down, and get off on an alternate trail, fairly steep, with some snow in places still. I just get past one long steep snowy stretch when I hear above me: "I feel like I have to throw up . . ." Well, daddy can move quick when he needs to, and I get her off my shoulders JUST in time. So, we now know she just wasn't complaining over the fairly long hike . . .

 

She ends up BACK on my shoulders for the next mile or so, some of which, due to the wrong trail decision I mentioned earlier, is bushwhacking through sage and swamp.

 

Oh, and did I mention that from the time we left the vehicle the temperature dropped 15 degrees and a storm rolled in. And THEN, as soon as we get back in the truck, she starts complaining that she'd hungry. We go ahead and explain that a girl who just puked all over the side of the mountain does not get food in a car with leather seats . . .

 

Don't worry, she's fine. We did feel bad after all was said and done. Oh, well. We won't forget this one. . .

 

So. What have YOUR children done while out on the hunt?

[+PeachyPA]

Wow, I can't top that one for a caching story. I was just going to add that my ten y.o. son can find caches faster than I can. I don't know if it is the fact that he is shorter (read lower to the ground) or his eyes are sharper (I wear bifocals). LOL!

[+BassKlan]

This is our first month of geocaching. We've found 66 and hid 7. I have 5 kids - ages 12, 12, 9, 6, and 4. Naturally, there's always SOME story! No one has puked, thus far. Thank God! : )

 

I have to tell you this one though, it was kinda funny and kinda sad in a way. The kids and I were out looking for a "treasure" after school one day - the sky was a bit cloudy. We had to take a step off a jogging trail into a wooded area. Because of all the hurricanes here in FL, there are a lot of downed trees. My 4 year old is an extremely All American rambunctious boy whose already been on a Football team and TBall team. Anyway, it's about to rain, and I keep hearing my son start kinda crying - I'm asking the usual "Are you hurt"/"What's wrong" questions - while still trying to locate the "treasure." We find the treasure - at the same time the rain pelts us! My 4 yo starts screaming like he's on fire and starts running the 1/2 mile back to the truck. While one of my 12 yo's chases after him, the 9yo is trying to do a "treasure swap," the 6 yo is whining cause she's getting wet and wants to swap something, while I'm trying to take our "Must Have" family pix with the cache and my other 12 yo is trying to put it back where she found it.

 

Finally, we all go running back to the car, and my 4 yo tells me through tears "The trees are going to fall on us and hurt us!" Then it hits me that he thinks that when it rains - it's like the hurricanes that hit us. We had a Huge Oak that fell onto our house during Frances and Jeanne.

 

I now know not to go when it looks like rain! Chasing 5 kids in the rain is like trying to herd a group of cats - there everywhere! : )