Juicy surprise at home

My husband Fino and I must have shared some cosmic waves today. We both had strawberries on the brain. When I arrived home tonight from the office, he and the girls were checking out our strawberry plants in the garden. It turns out we have a bunch of strawberries in our own yard!

So much for having to go to the u-pick farm after all. We've never had more than a few handfuls of berries from our garden before; of course the addition of the fence to keep the chickens out of the patch probably helped. And the fact that the plants are three years old and have sprawled. But there aren't many plants and we didn't even pick them clean yet.

So maybe we'll hit the beach tomorrow instead of our original u-pick farm trip. The girls are interested in finding sea glass, a new idea that's captured their interest...

Strawberry picking season almost over

The kids love the u-pick farms during the summer. They run wild through the fields, usually eat more fruit than they should and hardly ever fill their buckets with berries. I end up picking most of the fruit that we take home to eat, cook and freeze. Not that I mind much though, I eat my fair share too.

One of our favorite u-pick farms is Dole's Orchard in Limington. Their prices are cheap and their berries are really sweet. If you're interested, check out Get Real, Get Maine for a searchable listing of u-pick farms in Maine.

Strawberry picking season is almost over however. It's unlike us to not be out on the first day of picking. But we've been a little distracted "treasure hunting" and managing our summer activity schedule that we haven't made time for collecting one of our favorite fruits. We're hoping to hit the fields tomorrow, as long as the thunderstorms stay at bay.

So old clothes, beach buckets and kids will be loaded in the car tomorrow to hit the fields for some tasty outdoor fun.

Fairy Houses on Mackworth Island

It's all about fairy houses at our house.

Read more about our adventure on Mackworth Island building fairy houses.

Update 8/16/07

Fairy Village on Mackworth Island

Travel Bug humor

We picked up the Deerwood Loon travel bug earlier this week in Cumberland while geocaching. We're working on getting him closer to N.H. this weekend. He's in a race with another TB to get to Squam Lake in NH by August. He's pretty close to winning; the other TB is in New York at the moment. And the Loon is doing really well given the fact that he's from Florida and has only been traveling since January.

The kids liked the whole race idea but were disappointed with the lack of photos in this TB's gallery (there's only one). So we just added one. We thought Loon would like to spend time with some new feathered friends.

Almeida humor continues....

Where's Bunny?

A photo was published in the Central Maine newspapers this morning about a pool in Waterville. My co-worker thought the picture should have included bunny. I agreed.

And Colleen, another co-worker blogged about it too.

A little white lie

We met up with some friends yesterday afternoon at Old Orchard Beach. The day was sunny but temperatures were a little cool for swimming. That didn't stop the kids from getting into their bathing suits and jumping in the water. Clearly the kids are products of their Maine upbringing when frolicking in 55 degree water is fun.

As with all our beach trips, the kids collect shells. L. always seems to have a fairy house construction project going in our backyard and needs shells. Old Orchard had plenty of shells as well as a couple of other random items. The large, very human-like bone G. found was creepy. That didn't make it into the bag - I buried that in the sand when the kids weren't looking. But the broken pocketbook handle was re-found and brought home. What they plan to do with that I have no idea.

After examining the finds on the kitchen table last night, G. noticed the bone was missing. Oops, I said, it must have fallen out.

We all need our little white lies.....

Oops, we're in trouble

Yesterday I was closely monitoring my GPS to find a geocache at Twin Brooks Trail in Cumberland. And what is usually the case when it comes to my beloved gadget, I was not paying attention to the world around me.

We were off the trail, about 200 feet, when out of the corner of my eye I saw a bunch of green pointy leaves. There were alarm bells going off in the far corners of my mind (and I mean far corners) that I should take a closer look at those plants. But just as a thought was forming, the "arriving at destination" flashed on my GPS screen.

After the kids spotted the cache's hiding place I suddenly realized what those 3-point, green leafy plants were - poison ivy. I had a moment of panic and then decided to let the kids grab the cache anyway. We were already in the thick of things so we just went for it. And it was the quickest cache swap - done in under 2 minutes - that we've ever done. It went something like this:

Quick, pick out a swap, I half-yelled.

Got them mom, said G.

Here's our swaps. Get them in.

Got it, said L.

Sign the log. OK, let's GO!

Run mom!

And off we went - running - back to the car for a baby wipe wash down. I've read that if you wash your skin with soap and water within 15 minutes of exposure to poison ivy, you'll avoid the itchy rash. And now I know that information to be accurate. None of the kids broke out in a rash today (it usually takes 24 hours for the full rash to develop in most people).

But I wasn't quite so lucky. I apparently didn't wash my sandals well enough after the trip because this afternoon I have some seriously itchy ankles.

So I guess I have to admit there is a downside to geocaching; it isn't all fun and games. Well, it might be for the multi-talented who can read a GPS and watch where they're walking.....

Cache action

As you probably remember, my family hid our first ever geocache at the Lowell Preserve in Windham a few weeks ago for my column about geocaching. Within 24 hours of posting the cache to the web, someone had found it. But after that, the cache hadn't seen much action, at least not on the web. So on Thursday I decided to to take the kids, and a couple of their friends, to visit the cache again and check the log for entries. It turned out that the cache had several visitors (about 10) so far; they just hadn't logged their visit online.

But last night there was a flurry of activity and logged visits on the cache's page. Check it out. Seems there were lots of people hiking the trail yesterday.

And I have to say that the visitors to our geocache have left some pretty cool trades. Everyone in my crew left the cache with happy faces.

Chickens galore

Sometimes we don't have to leave our backyard to have an "outdoor adventure." We have chickens. And that means that our family is never at a loss for a story about some random -- usually bizarre and funny -- incident involving our chickens.

For instance, there was the time a rooster jumped on my head and tried to peck through my skull. It felt like a scene from "The Birds" (and I couldn't wash my hair for a couple of days because of all the lacerations on my scalp). According to my husband though, I must have somehow "provoked" the rooster. But that theory was buried, along with the rooster, a week later when it tried to do the same to him.

Then there was this time that my husband put a baby monitor in the chicken coop to listen for the raccoon that was somehow getting into the coop and trying to eat the flock. Have you ever heard a rooster crow at 4 a.m. through an amplified baby monitor? Oh yeah, lots of fodder about chickens at our house.

Yesterday my husband and the kids have ensured the chicken lore will continue with the arrival of another dozen new chicks.

The chicken population at the Almeida homestead is now over 30 with plans for acquiring another couple of ducks in July. My city upbringing and sensibilities are being stretched to their limits..... and the chicken stories continue.

Geocache bugs are on the loose

We released our first ever travel bugs in geocaches in the Standish/Steep Falls area.

Lilo the Swimmer," who likes to swim in all kinds of water, is hanging out in the "Steep Falls" cache near the Saco River.

Ronny" the Ronald McDonald doll that wants to visit new McDonald's and eat cheeseburgers is hanging out in "The Rips" geocache on another part of the Saco River.

The "Ice Cream Eater" is still in process but we're working on getting that one released next week.

Happy caching!

River geocache "tragedy"

Scenario:

Crossing 30 feet of moving river to get to the island where the geocache was. Not crazy-fast but enough that footing was a little tricky jumping from rock-to-rock.

Agreeing to let G., my 9-year-old, wear flip flops.

Loosing a flip flop while crossing the river.

Crying, lots of crying, about how wonderful those 99 cent flip flops were.

Spending almost an hour looking around the island and the opposite river shore looking for said flip flop.

Meeting some interesting people, none of which had seen said flip flop.

Finding well-stocked geocache then enjoying our swim in the calm area of the river and forgetting about the flip flop.

Getting into the car then realizing we're leaving without said flip flop.

More crying.

Wishing I'd made G. wear the strap on sandals I asked her to originally.

Lesson to self: Don't wear flip flops in the river. Or better yet, ban flip flops in Almeida household.

Travel bugs galore

As I mentioned in my column this month, the kids love finding travel bugs in geocaches. These travelers go from cache to cache in search of a particular adventure. "Dora the Diner" is still with us after a month (we're getting her into a new cache this weekend) so we took her to another diner; this time Friendly's. Taking pictures of bugs doing silly things is a favorite activity of the kids.

A couple of days ago the travel bug tags I ordered for the kids arrived in the mail. So last night we set out to decide on our traveler's missions.

Here are the ideas (all created by the kids) that made the final cut (and all the figures were found at Goodwill for less than a dime a piece):

Ice Cream Eater. The figure the bug is attached to is a bunny riding on a bike pushing an ice cream stand. The bunny wants to go to ice cream stands across the country.

The Swimmer. The figure is "Lilo" from the Disney movie and she wants to swim in lakes, rivers, streams and oceans everywhere.

Ronny. This is a small plastic Ronald McDonald doll that wants to visits McDonalds and eat french fries across the country.

We'll be hiding our bugs in the next week or so in caches in the greater Portland area. I'll keep you updated on where they are if you want to grab one to host.

Scheduling woes

It always seems the really interesting activities all happen on the same day. And it's usually on a day I already have a commitment I can't change.

Take for instance Saturday, June 18.

The MaineGames Orienteering event at Pineland Farms, one of only a handful of competitive orienteering events in Maine, is coming up. When? June 18.

Then there's a geocachers "get together" in Litchfield to do some chatting about finding caches and having some fun with other people who enjoy the sport. When? June 18.

But we've got a dance recital marathon that weekend (Friday dress rehearsal and then two nights of shows - Saturday, June 18 and Sunday). And then there's G.'s violin recital. When you ask? June 18!

So busy families everywhere - I feel your scheduling pain, especially during the month of June!

Kid Tracks Column: Geocaching: A high-tech treasure hunt for kids of all ages

"I want to find another hidden treasure!" my 7-year-old announces to the family at breakfast.

"Yeah, let's go again mommy. It was so much fuuuuun!" my 9-year-old adds.

"OK," I say, "we'll go again soon."

"Today? Pleeeeeease!?!"

And so continues my family's newest and "most exciting," according to the girls, outdoor hobby to date: Geocaching. We found our first geocache through sheer luck on Rattlesnake Mountain last month and since then, the girls had been itching to find more.

Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunt using a GPS (global positioning system). The "treasure," called a geocache, is usually hidden behind a rock or next to a tree and typically covered with dead branches or bark. The caches are filled with small toys and a notebook log and are not buried as you might suspect, so there's no digging or tools (other than your GPS unit) required.

The coordinates of caches that people have hidden (there are thousands all over the world, and tons in Maine) are logged on geocaching.com. A person interested in finding a cache logs on to get a cache's coordinates to input into their GPS unit, then sets out to find it.

That part is easy. Purchasing a GPS unit, in my opinion, is the tricky part. I'm a gadget freak but even I was intimidated by the hundreds of options. I questioned several people about what features they liked on their GPS units and what they felt was necessary to geocache. That narrowed the field to less expensive handheld units. I settled on a $170 Garmin eTrex with additional memory and a USB connection to download area maps (sold separately). I've yet to use the map feature; we've found several geocaches without them (we've relied on our Maine Atlas to get us to the various trailheads, however). As it turns out, the $100 unit, without the map storage memory, would have worked for us.

With our gadgets in order, my family set out on a rare, partly sunny afternoon to find geocaches. I added the coordinates of a couple of geocaches that were close to each other to my GPS, figuring that if we had time, we'd look for more than one. The first coordinates took us to a trail along the Presumpscot River in North Windham. The river was overflowing, fast-moving (an impressive sight from the trail) and had washed out the trail in several areas, but we found the well-stocked geocache less than a mile from the trailhead without a problem.

We headed to the Highland Lake public boat launch in Falmouth next to find a geocache without coordinates. The cache owner had decided to give people without a GPS a chance to learn about the sport. The "additional hints" section for this cache, along with a photo of the actual hiding place were necessary, so I had printed out the page. We found the small, round thermos-type geocache without much trouble. The cache in Windham was larger and held more stuff, but this cache was clever in how the log and treasures were stored.

A couple of days later the kids wanted to find another cache (beware, this sport is addictive!). I found coordinates to a cache in Deering Oaks Park described as a "mini-micro cache." My 9-year-old spotted it once we reached the coordinates — impressive since it was the size of a film canister. It took me more than a minute to spot it, even after she pointed it out. After a couple of attempts by the kids to get to the cache, I had to do it. It was the find that will go down in the Almeida family folklore. The kids continue to share — and be thoroughly entertained by — the story of me grabbing the cache. Without giving away the hiding spot of this cache, let's just say I had to do some fancy maneuvering to get my hands on the container so we could sign the log. Putting it back wasn't as easy as retrieving it. You'll have to read the "logged visits" of this cache's log page to learn more about the antics involved in getting to this cache.

The decision of where to find the next geocache fell to my 7-year-old. She wanted to see a waterfall, and after a search of the geocaching web site, we found one in Portland on the Fore River Sanctuary Trail. The kids really liked this trail, with its boardwalks, birds and variety of landscapes (from marsh to woods). That was a good thing, because it was a long hike (more than three miles round trip) to Jewell Falls, where the cache was hidden. We found a nice spot for a snack break at the falls and then my 9-year-old found the cache.

In all of the geocaches we've found (six as of this publishing), I've yet to be the first family member to actually spot it. The kids have found five of the caches we've logged (my husband spotted the first one). Why, you ask, do I not spot them first? Maybe because I'm so caught up with all of the features on my GPS unit that I forget to look for environmental clues that indicate the cache location (i.e., dead tree, stacked branches, etc.). So gadget geeks beware: You have to look around once you've reached the cache's coordinates to actually find it!

My kids think the ultimate treasure to find in a geocache is a Travel Bug. The "bug" is a tag attached to a particular item that is tracked online (at groundspeak.com, which is part of the geocaching web site). The two we've found were attached to small action figures. Usually, but not always, travel bugs have a "mission." The "Homer" bug we found on Rattlesnake Mountain's mission was to visit a city or town called Springfield in every state in the United States. We weren't planning any major trips when we found Homer so we put him in a cache at Wells Reserve and hoped someone else would pick him up to bring him to his desired destination. The bug we found in Windham, "Dora the Diner," wanted to eat at diners across the country. She was a huge hit with the kids. We took her to the Maine Diner in Wells and had so much fun we attracted the attention of several other diners. I very much enjoyed the kids' explanation of geocaching and travel bugs to the over-70 crowd.

Geocaching is a great activity for kids because it offers a chance to enjoy a local hiking trail, get some exercise, learn practical map skills — and have fun with the family. And the stories my children have shared about our adventures finding hidden treasures have been priceless.

If you don't have a GPS unit but your family is interested in giving geocaching a try, I'm going to make it easy for you. The kids and I have hidden a cache at the Lowell Preserve Trail in Windham. The coordinates are logged on the geocaching.com website but I've also provided a treasure map that you can use to find my family's cache without a GPS.

Happy treasure hunting!

Trip: Geocaching
Find Caches: To find coordinates to caches, go to www.geocaching.com
Learn More: Get answers to frequently asked questions about geocaching at www.geocaching.com/faq
Maine Geocaching: To chat about caches or find out more about geocaching in Maine, go to geocachingmaine.org

A few "rules" about finding the Lowell Preserve cache:
1. Please do not move or vandalize the container. And make sure you return the container to its original hiding place. Do not move it to another location because others will not be able to find it.
2. If you want, you can take something. But please also leave something of your own for others to find. And be sure to write your name in the logbook so we can see how many people have visited our cache.
3. And it would be great if you took a photo of yourself and/or family with the cache and uploaded it to our Geocaching photo gallery.

Still not sure about introducing your family to geocaching? Here's a few things my family has really enjoyed about the sport:
1. Discovering a new cache. Every cache we've found has been different in both size and content so we never know exactly what we'll find.
2. Hiking on new trails. There are some really interesting trails in the greater Portland area and the incentive of finding a cache has motivated the kids to want to do more hiking than we have in previous years (even in the rain!).
3. Talking about our finds. The kids have been telling everyone they know (OK, so have I) about geocaching and how much fun it is. It's fun to listen to them explain how to geocache to their friends, and their friends' parents.
4. Developing map reading skills. Geocaching is a really fun way to introduce children to maps. They have a lot of motivation to learn how to read the trail map and GPS unit to find the hidden treasure.

No GPS? No problem. If you don't have a GPS but want to find a geocache, follow this geocache map to find the cache my family has hidden at the Lowell Preserve Trail in Windham. Directions to the trailhead are at the bottom of the map. Don't forget to bring a swap for the cache and HAVE FUN! 

Originally published in the Maine Sunday Telegram, June 5, 2005

Sharing our stories

One of the reasons I decided to start a blog about my family's outdoor adventures is that more often than not, something funny or unusual happens. We seem a typical family with two elementary school-aged daughters who have a variety of interests, including a real love of nature and animals. But my friends are often entertained with the antics and stories of our family life so it seemed fitting to give this blog a go.

My kids are 4-Hers and one of the projects they are working on this summer is a community mapping project. They are gathering GIS data (global information systems). It sounds a bit ominous but it's pretty simple. The kids have made a list of their favorite places in Maine and now they're in the process of collecting the necessary information to post online so others can learn about each place.

We use our GPS to mark the coordinates of each favorite place and take a photo of it. Then we get the street address and write a few paragraphs about why it's a favorite.

The list the kids have developed is an eclectic mix of hiking trails, beaches, ice cream stores and commercial businesses.

A couple of weeks ago we started the project with stops at Scarborough Marsh, Mackworth Island and Old Orchard Beach (of course we had to get some pier fries and ice cream at the beach; and build a new fairy house at Mackworth).

The other day we headed to Gorham to gather coordinates on Baxter Library and Goodwill. Yeah, Goodwill. The kids love it there - they can buy a lot of stuff for only a couple of dollars (which is all they ever have anyway). While gathering coordinates my 7-year-old spotted Darth Vader on the roof of Burger King. This brought on speculation about the SpongeBob theft and the hopes that Vader didn't suffer the same fate. So she decided she wanted a picture with Vader for posterity "in case he got stolen."

This is very typical Almeida children humor.