Boxing with my kids

Yep, another letterboxing post. This time with pictures - no spoilers, though. The day was lovely, sunny but cool. Perfect fall, crunchy leaves. We had a good time looking for a series of 6 boxes that was hidden in a nearby forest preserve.

These two had a nice time exploring off the trail.

Ace stamping in.

Three and Ace sharing a log.

Deuce was more interested in building fairy houses and finding Osage oranges and interesting fungi, but she had fun despite herself.

It's amazing what a mood lifter going out into the woods for a couple of hours is. When we began, it was pick, pick, pick, but by the end of it, even Deuce and Jack O'Hearts were getting along (and that's saying something!)

During the hike, in addition to the Osage oranges, we found black walnuts, acorns of several varieties and hickory nuts. They are all rolling around the back of my car right now.

Boxy boxy

It was a boxy boxy weekend!

First, my lovely little sister came down from Minneapolis to take some CEC over at O'Hare. She crashed on the futon. Sadly, we didn't get to do as much damage together as we would have liked, but we still managed to have fun and eat an entire cheesecake.

Second, my friend Mo and I went up to Waukesha, WI for Boxacon 2009. We had a fantabulistic time exchanging stamps with our letterboxing friends, asking (and answering) tricky questions for more stamping fun, and then to top it all off, tromping around in the woods for four hours to find a whole bunch more stamps. It was truly paradise!!

Then today my sister and I decided we would find yet more boxes, and travelled north to get about 5 more. Plus it was a nice day for a good walk. I'm hoping the tromping around in the woods is an adequate substitute for a work-out. It is a lot more fun, that's for sure.

Tomorrow it is back to school stuff as usual. Ace is still working on that novel, and will hopefully finish off her chapter in the math book. Deuce has had violin practice challenges. So much so that I have threatened her with missing our friends' halloween mini-golf party if she doesn't get her music down. Ug. I hate having to do that. Three is reading like a champ. She just needs to keep moving along with her stuff. I have more material about Spain that we haven't done yet, but it is time to move on to learn about France. I guess they will just have to play a little catsup.

The King of Hearts is out in Vermont this week. It is going to get pretty lonely around here with out him. I hope he gets some good pictures of leaves.