It's A Letterboxing Weekend!

Friday evening, I decided to look for possible letterboxing locations for the children and I to do next week. Imagine the surprise when I realized that 3 letterboxes were a short distance from our home! After asking who wanted to go letterboxing, Joe and I headed off in search of boxes. We located all three boxes (one was found after dark and in the rain) and returned home to show off our new stamps. The party-poopers, I mean non-letterboxing children, were surprised to learn how close we live to the new boxes. They all wanted to return to the locations so that THEY could collect the stamps. Due to darkness, cold, and rain, I wouldn't let them, so we will do them again one day next week.

Saturday morning, everyone loaded up into the van and headed off to a nearby town to locate some more letterboxes. Our first stop was a covered bridge. The letterbox directions made me uncomfortable about getting these off the bridge. Fortunately, my nerves were unnecessary. The collection went well and we received three certificates for being the "first finders" of these boxes.

We continued on our way into the town and located 6 other boxes. Kate and Steve were a little bored and refused to leave the car for most of the finds. They did get out at one park and enjoyed viewing the scenery and stretching their legs. By 2:00 pm, the children wanted to head home and play with their friends. So I graciously allowed our letterboxing to end for the day.

As I was logging in our finds, I received a message from one of the letterbox planters. The same two ladies planted all the boxes that we found this weekend. She mentioned that she had been off planting 5 more boxes. Guess what we did today? We returned to the nearby small town and collected 5 more boxes. One box was in a cemetery and contained a scream box, which made Paige and Allie laugh. Another letterbox was located in a small park that adjoins a lake. The park contains a small beach, picnic pavilion, wooden docks and a small playground. I plan to return to this little gem of a park once school starts. We can do some of our school at the pavilion, while the younger two girls play.

Mike called me after he completed work and offered to take me letterboxing this evening. I let him off the hook, but made a date to do some searching on Tuesday, after we complete our school work.

Letterboxing has been a great way for us to get to know our area better!

A Lazy Day

Instead of continuing to clean out the school cupboards and organize all the books cases in preparation for the upcoming school year, we played hookie today and went letter boxing with some good friends.

Our trip wasn't hugely successful. We only managed to locate 1 out of three boxes. Even with our less than stellar finds, the day was a lot of fun. We went to yet another park in a large city to our north and enjoyed walking in the woods.

The kids climbed up logs and 1/2 fallen trees.

They observed a deer from a short distance.

The kids also jumped on stones in a creek. Some of the children fell into the water. (I wasn't surprised.)

More importantly, everyone had fun hanging out with people whose company we enjoy. The older children were kind to the younger girls. Boys and girls all hung out together. What a nice break for all of us.

Shipshewana

Melinda and I went to Shipshewana Indiana on Tuesday. Shipshewana is an Amish community that is a tourist stop that is filled with wonderful stores and restaurants. (I did manage to stay on my diet during our visit!) We had a wonderful time letter boxing throughout the various stores. This was Melinda's first day of letter boxing and I had to explain to her that not all boxes are located inside businesses and frequently the box may turn up missing. She wasn't deterred by my information and we're going to try to do some letter boxing in her area when the mosquitoes are gone this fall.

We went to one fabric shop and I had a hard time not purchasing a ton of fabric. In our town there is only 1 small fabric shop and a tiny amount of fabric available at the local Walmart store. The prices were higher ($10/yard) than what I pay locally, but I'll probably drive down there frequently to get more material when needed.

There were tons of different fabrics in Shipshewana! The batiks selection was huge. I picked up 8 different fabrics that I plan to make into handbags and totes. Even though I'm making a quilt out of batik fabrics, I limited my selections to what I needed for my planned projects. It could get really expensive to purchase all the fabrics that I wanted.

Letter Boxing with Friends

Today was our second day of letter boxing this week! Steve, Joe, Madelyn, Paige, Allie and I met up with friends to search for letter boxes. Our friends are seasoned letter boxers, having found hundreds of letter boxes. They graciously offered to go letter boxing with us and help decipher clues. We located three boxes and enjoyed playing at three different locations. Kim (the mom) showed me some pointers. My favorite one was that she brings M & M's for the kids to celebrate finding each box! Why couldn't I have thought of something like that to inspire my brood?

One of our favorite stops today was in an undiscovered park.

The park encourages visitors to use their 5 senses throughout the park. The kids touched lambs ear plants, mosses, ornamental grasses.

They ate blueberries, green beans, and banana peppers that they picked off the plants.
They saw a profusion of colors in various fragrant flowers and plants.


One of our favorite activities was when the kids stood in the middle of a brick circle that amplified their voices.

The park is an undiscovered gem.