Geocaching for Cheap Summer Fun

2012-06-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

In an effort to fill the chasm of time that we euphemistically call "summer break" and otherwise reduce the number of times I have to sop up bodily fluids or insert my body between my up-and-coming boxers (see Mozart post), I have taken on a new hobby: geocaching.

Geocaching is basically a loosely-organized scavenger hunt using GPS-enabled do-dads to find hidden stores of useless crap and "logs." The point is to find as many as you can and scribble one's moniker on a tiny notebook or piece of paper hidden inside, and to log the "find" online. In our case, it's basically me dragging Kid 1 & 2 from pillar to post and back again, in search of fun, the ever-illusive picture of them both looking in the same direction with halfway-decent expressions, and the aforesaid crap and logbook/paper log. It's fun, a bit addicting, and - most importantly - free! Oh, and we can trade those useless little toys taking up space at the bottom of their toy boxes, for - you guessed it - entirely new useless crap they'll treasure for the rest of their lives (or at least the next 5 minutes)... for FREE! Bada-bing, bada-bang, bada-boom!

You can hide and seek the caches any time of day, and - other than gardening - it's the highlight of our day! There are a ton of caches, and you can even start your own cache once you've gotten the hang of the game. I recommend downloading the Geocaching and OpenCaching apps or sign up on Geocaching.com if you want to give it a try.

Hopefully, we'll be free of useless crap and expert geocachers by the end of summer! :)

Mozart Beats Boxing

2012-06-22T13:11:00.004-07:00

Summer started with a bang... and then lots of crying... followed by lots of blood gushing from Kid1's nose... in the middle of a local store... LITERALLY ONLY ONE HOUR INTO SUMMER BREAK! This was, of course, a cosmic warning sent to remind me to (a) carry something useful for sopping up blood in my purse at all times (which is basically synonymous with saying I'm the mother of two preschool aged boys), and (b) figure out a way to reduce the number of daily rounds of boxing between Kid 1 & 2 -- PRONTO!

To make matters worse, current societal norms, as well as my DH, have basically outlawed everything I did during my summers to fill the time between meals and sleep. So, no walking unaccompanied to far-off cesspools to collect tadpoles, circling our neighborhood hundreds of times without supervision, sitting for hours on end in front of the TV, or other such time-honored pastimes for these future boxing champs!

To put it nicely, the first week of summer, the boys went 16 rounds a day, while I listened to "happy music" with earphones, and busied myself with housework to keep from locking myself in the bathroom to get away from them. All the while, a singular thought played endlessly on my mind: "We have a virtual eternity until school starts again! Deep breaths... deep breaths... it doesn't help to panic!"

The next week, I happened upon my secret weapon. I was sick of having my earphones abruptly ripped out every few minutes, after catching them on cabinet pulls and door handles and such. And I am one of these people who NEED music to clean. In desperation, I turned to my handy dandy TV for help. Since we don't have cable or satellite services, I'm limited to free content and Netflix through our Apple TV box. And that's where I found the Mozart Symphony Radio Station from Abacus FM (this is the link to the web station page - you can get to it on Apple TV via the "Radio" app).

This little gem occupies the TVs (so I don't have to explain for the hundredth time why they can't watch TV), and the white noise somehow inspires them to play quietly with their toys. Voila! Boxing matches reduced to less than 2 per day!* Just like that! While entertaining me too! And helping me get stuff done - and in a good mood!* As with any good drug, the subject builds up resistance, which in our case resulted in repeated whines of "Mom, why must we listen to this music ALL SUMMER?!?" from Kid 1. However, I'm hopeful that Kid 1 & Kid 2 will continue to respond appropriately to treatment at least until the beginning of the school year.

That, or I'm going to have to bust out the whistle and invest in some padded gloves!

*Warning: These effects are temporary, and in our experience the subject's normal behavior returns within one/tenth of a nanosecond after the music is turned off.

Family Maven

Geocaching for Cheap Summer Fun

Mozart Beats Boxing