Geocaching at Campbell Valley Park

This summer we went Geocaching quite a few times. Geocaching is an GPS based treasure hunt. People hide cache's all over the world and post the location to a web site. Participants then get to track them down, sign the log book and move on to the next one. We've found 70 so far and have one of our own at the little free library in our front  yard. Some are just simple film canisters with a log book but others can be more elaborate and include small toys or books. The best part of geocaching is that it gets us to go to places we wouldn't ordinarily go. Most cache's are placed near something unique that you wouldn't ordinarily stop to look at.

The kids had been to Campbell Valley Park with Kerry already but Kerry wanted to go back to find a few they had missed and to take her parents with us. On one of the board walks, someone had left handfuls of bird seed. We don't usually feed the birds but since they food was already there I took advantage and showed the kids how to get the birds to land in their hand. The birds had obviously done this before and as long as you stayed still and kept your hand out they would eventually land. Callie, Reg and I all got one. Carter got one too but he immediately ran away from it. He didn't like the claws on his hands. The chipmunks were friendly as well though they never got close enough to actually eat out of your hand.

Carter's Birthday Party

This year Carter decided that his birthday party was going to be pirate themed. He toyed with a few other ideas including Spiderman and Transformers but we encouraged him down the pirate them route since we had so much gear already from our Disney Cruise and from a pirate night at Kerry's school. With his birthday happening before school even started it resulted in a rather eclectic mix of attendees because he hadn't built new friendships with any kids at school yet. There were two cousins, one of Callie's class mates, the daughter of a family friend, one kid from school and Uncle Ronnie.

It's fun that the kids still enjoy having their birthday at our house versus something like bowling or swimming because it means we get to work on the family activities as a family. They included;

1) Pirate Ring Toss - A game we made out of a sheet of plywood and some captain hook hooks screwed to a board.

2) A Pirate Treasure hunt that ended with a treasure chest I had built.

3) Walk the Plank

The cake was pirate ship shaped though when it was all decorated it just looked like a deserted island. We also got some great treasure box shaped cupcakes from Kerry's friend Kathy. They were complete with little coins and skull and cross bones. She always makes amazing goodies for the kids goodie bags. Lot's of gifts of course with one of the hits being some 3lb weights from Uncle Corey. Carter is trying to build up his muscles. 

First Day of School

First day of school was a bit later than usual this year. The teacher's strike that had started at the end of the previous year carried forward into the new school year and it wasn't until September 22nd that they finally got to return. By this time even the kids were eager to get back to see their friends. Three months of playing in the back yard and watching reruns on the Disney channel was enough.

I ordinarily schedule the first week of September off so I can help with the transition and I did exactly that except of course that turned out to be the wrong week. We have a tradition where the kids and I go to Rickey's for breakfast but since I couldn't be around on the first Monday we had to do that on the Sunday before. Barb and Reg had come down for Carter's Birthday so they got to handle first day of school duties. A few quick pictures and they were out the door for another year.

A Chocolate Slip & Slide?

We've thought about it for the past few years and this year we finally did it. We went on a family camping trip. Both Kerry and I did some camping as kids. My family had a tent trailer and would spend time at our lake property and Kerry's family had a trailer and toured Vancouver Island a lot. We have neither of those things and for now can't justify the expense. We've also decided that we're not tent campers so that left us with one real option. Renting a cabin and luckily the KOA network in the US offers just such a thing.

Our destination was the Concrete/Grandy Creek KOA campground about 30 minutes EAST of Burlington in Washington. It's an excellent family camp ground at the base of Mount Baker and they have these nice little cabins that sleep 6 people with a double bed and two sets of bunk beds. It was good that there were two sets of bunk beds because it meant both kids got their own top bunk. They even came with electricity and a space heater. This is luxury camping.

I mentioned that this was a great family camp ground. The reason for that was all the activities that were available for kids. There was a jump pillow which is like a giant trampoline, mini-golf, a pool and hot tub. Did I mention that this was luxury camping? Most of the site was well maintained and my only real complaint was that the cabins were on the edge of a very open field. At first I thought this would mean no privacy but it turns out you're so far from people on the other side that you don't feel exposed at all.

The campground had an 'Everything Chocolate' theme for the weekend. This meant chocolate ice cream, chocolate themed craft time, a sucker hunt in the dark, a night time showing of Charlie and the Chocolate factory as well as a pie throwing event where the kids threw chocolate pies into their parents face. (I unfortunately couldn't attend because I had to look after Wilson at the cabin. Too bad.) The highlight for the kids though was the chocolate slip and slide. Luckily they added as much soap as chocolate.

We went with family friends Melissa and Kathy and their families and it sounds like we may make it an annual event. Great fun!

My First Attempt at Canning

This year I decided to try canning. Canning is definitely a dying art. With the cost of canned goods being so cheap in the stores most people don't see the need to do home canning anymore. To some extent I agree but it is a skill that I'd like to have. I've also found that you can get most fruits canned in the store and they taste pretty much the same. One exception however is cherries. Most canned cherries tend to either be the very heavy syrup or the candied ones. I wanted just regular cherries in a light syrup.

I started with a 20 pound box that we picked up on our way home from Oliver and I picked up the canning supplies for about $50 dollars at Canadian tire. For the 14 cans I got I think it ended up costing about $100. The good thing though is that about $75 of that were one time costs. So although it was about $7 a jar this time, the cost will drop dramatically as I do more. So far they've turned out nicely. Every one sealed properly and show no signs of any kind of discolouration or mould. Callie and I both agree that they taste delicious.

Callie's Birthday Party

Although Kerry continues to try to convince Callie to do her birthday at bowling or swimming, Callie continues to insist that we have her party in the backyard. This of course means a lot more planning but for Callie I think that's the fun part. This year she decided to have a 'Frozen' them which if you haven't heard is the biggest Disney animated film ever. The planning started almost at the beginning of the summer and much effort went into the goodie bags including knitted bracelets and custom made goodie bags.

As per usual Kerry's friend Kathy contributed some of her amazing sugar cookie creations. This year they were individually wrapped and placed on a stick and included snowflakes and Olafs. There was also a nice one that said Happy Birthday and they were all delivered as part of a bouquet of flowers. Kathy definitely knows how to class up a party.

Other events included craft time where they made their own Olaf finger puppets, pin the nose on Olaf and a treasure hunt where each team had to search the yard for Olaf parts to build their own snowman. (Again, if you've watched the movie you know all about 'Do you want to build a snowman?')

Kerry made the cake which was a white cake with blue jello. My contribution was placing the editable decal and making the chocolate snowflakes. Callie thoroughly enjoyed her frozen summer party.

Summer Vacation - The Rest of the Story

I decided I would blog Silverwood as an entry on it's own and fill in around it with a separate entry. We left for Oliver on Saturday morning. We had planned on leaving at 6:00a but when Kerry was up watering she discovered we had yet another pre-trip flat tire. I probably picked it up driving through the construction zone on Highway 1 the night before. From now on, no more last minute trips just before vacation. Our first destination was in Oliver where we had to drop off Wilson. We didn't want to leave him in our Hotel room all day while we were out.

We were only in Oliver for about 18 hours. We would have stayed longer but we had already set the day for Callie's birthday party so we had to work around the August 7th date. Kerry might go up again with the kids later in the summer. It was long enough however for some more knitting lessons from Gub. Callie is making some items for her party and is getting quite proficient.

On our way to Silverwood the day before we had seen a very nice looking mini-golf location that we wanted to check out. It was the perfect morning event before we started the drive to Omak. It was a very nice course though even at 11:00a it was already very hot. I now know why the guy asked if we wanted to do the indoor course. It's the opposite problem from the winter and I think more people do that course during the hot days. Callie ended up spending much of the time in the shade. (If anyone is keeping track, I won by five strokes.)

After mini-golf we started the drive back to Oliver. We decided to spend the night in Omak in a hotel with a pool and do a bit of shopping in Spokane. This time it was shopping for me. They happen to have a Woodcraft store that I've always wanted to go to. I've decided I like Lee Valley better. Kerry also stopped off at the Fred Meyer to pick up some cheaper alchohol. After tonight we head back to Oliver to pick up Wilson and then home to get ready for Callie's party. A quick trip but lot's of fun.