For one of my graduate school courses, I need to use technology that I’ve never used before in my personal
life.
That begs the question I have a personal life. If I do anything personal, it involves my three children. What technology do the four of us need? We don't need I pads. We don't need a Wii. We have mastered Skyping my mother. They know how to change the sounds on my phone so I don't answer it when it rings, but I keep looking for a cricket to let out of the house. We need technology that will get us outside.
Once my son thought that if he plugged the directions to the
ice cream store into the GPS, I’d just drive there instead of going home. I almost did it but I don’t like him to think
he has me…
Something new....Outside....a GPS.....
I have it!
Let’s Geocache!
Never heard of it?
Watch this video. What a great idea. We can go on a hike and look for a box. It's using a map! It's nature! It's technology! It's building a family memory!
Ok…. We can do this.
First things, first. Download the
app on my iphone:
Hard to believe that
seven years ago I had a flip phone and only my then husband called it. (Yes, I wrote CALLED!)
After you download the app (less than ten dollars- cheap for
four people), you can register your team, and start looking for treasure!
We looked around for geocaches near us.
There are so many of them!
We decided on one very close to our house- right near the fairgrounds. If I were going to mess this up, better let it happen when I can still get back by walking with the three of them versus the middle of nowhere when it might take a couple of days before someone worries we aren't home.
We ran into a friend who was able to take our picture:
My son took
the phone and ran off, you would have thought it was a real treasure. "This way mom! This
way! This way! Run! Sprint!!!!"
We went back and forth between the map and the compass:
The tricky part is when you get right on it and still can't find it. You move ten feet...nine feet...you get down to zero and you still can't find it.
Bushwacking? What
does that mean?
It means that your three kids will point while you move the
plants out of the way to get to the box.
After roaming around near our house for more than an hour finally:
Hurray! We found it! Yes! It really is there and not some trick to get you in the middle of the woods. We signed the notebook, left a trinket, and had so much fun we did it again!
And then…
Mommy got poison ivy.
Did the kids get it?
No....
Did some other perfect mom with her act together get it?
No.....
Me? I'm covered in Poison IVY in the name of technology.
Hey Boys! Do we need a compass to find the pharmacy?
No mom, you’re good at going there….