Creative way to warm up

Yesterday was a long day for the kids and I. We had a lot to do but I won't bore you with the mundane details. The highlight of the day for me was the geocaching event at Mt. Agamenticus. I really enjoyed putting some faces to screen names I've chatted with from both the geocaching.com and geocachingmaine.org sites.

The kids didn't want to hang around at the geocaching event; they were a bit on the grouchy side due to lack of sleep. But a side trip to the beach at Cape Neddick perked them up.

We haven't been to the beach since last fall so the novelty of jumping around in freezing cold water was fun for them. Just for curiosity's sake, this morning I looked up how cold the Gulf of Maine waters are right now.

45 degrees

After 15 minutes of running through the water and getting nearly every part of themselves wet, L. came running over to me (yes, I chose the dry sand to enjoy instead). She then started burying her feet with some urgency. I asked her what she was doing.

"I have to get my feet inside the sand. It's so toasty warm and my feet are so cold!"

"Did it work? Are your feet warm?"

"Yup."

Good to know...

Gearing up for rollerblading

The kids and I decided to learn to rollerblade this year. With all the ice skating we did this past winter and the fact that G. really wanted to do it, we decided to get ourselves some rollerblades and give it a try.

We found G. a brand name pair at Goodwill for $5 but L. and I didn't have any luck finding our sizes there. L. found a nice used pair at Play It Again Sports in Portland for $20 and I bought a new pair there (I couldn't find any used in my size). As for safety gear, we had knee pads and helmets from our various other sports activities so we only had to buy wrist guards to complete our shopping. And with the addition of this new gear, our basement has truly been taken over with sports equipment.

After getting all our gear together, I realized that finding paved trails was harder than I had thought it would be. There really aren't any in the Sebago Lake area where we live. So we decided that our first day in our new gear would be at Deering Oaks Park in Portland.

I liked the park's trails because when I had trouble stopping, I just ditched myself in the grass; it was much softer. And yes I admit to throwing myself on the ground to stop when I can't gain control of my speed, regardless of the sport. It's what I did when I learned to snowboard and since pavement is a lot harder than snow, the grass was a more appealing option. The only complaint we had about Deering Oaks were all the rocks, twigs and sand on the trail. But it was manageable. And the barely-there "hill" in the park was just enough to pick up speed but not feel out-of-control. The kids liked that a lot.

The next day G. insisted we go rollerblading again so we headed to Bug Light in South Portland. That trail was great; it was flat and rock- and twig-less. Although we did dodge some lettuce, tomatoes and olives, much to the amusement of L.

We're going to try out the Eastern Prom over the weekend but we're still on the hunt for other paved trails in southern Maine. If you have a suggestion, post a comment.

Gear for cheering

We had plenty of gear to cheer on the Pirates at last night's playoff game.

We made a sign...
 

I blew up the 'Bam Bams' we were given at the game's entrance gate and figured out how to maximize the noise factor (you have to hit them together when they are parallel to each other). And as if you couldn't have guessed, there wasn't a kid in the place who wasn't hitting each other in the head with them, mine included.

But even with the crowd's enthusiam during a really exciting game, the Pirates lost in OT. The kids thought since they left grandpa at home, the team would win.

"We have to go to the next game to cheer for the team!" said L. "And next time we're making a sign for Kenny Smith too." said G (she brought along her card to the game).

And I was yet again amazed at the kids' observation skills. It's why I think they're so good at geocaching. After two minutes of sitting in our seats they spotted a lobster on the ceiling.

Jumping for joy

The day after we went to the hockey game when the Pirates' player Kenny Smith got hurt, the girls made a get-well card and mailed it off to him in care of the team. As I had mentioned, we were all a little horrified by all his blood on the ice and hoped he was OK.

I didn't think they would get a letter back from Smith; I told them he was probably a little busy in the playoffs.

But today the kids received autographed cards from him thanking them for their letter. They were thrilled.

"I TOLD you he'd write us back mom! He said our card made him feel better. I'm really happy he liked our card." said G.

"Mom, take a picture of us jumping because we're sooo happy Kenny Smith sent us a card!" said L.

And they'll be bringing their cards along to root for their new favorite player - and the team - at tomorrow night's playoff game at the Civic Center.

They are true-blue hockey fans now.

Geocaching events all over the world

We've been spending a lot of time lately geocaching - from finding caches on vacation in New York and Massachusetts, to tracking our travel bugs online.

The hike to the geocache in New York we found with my cousins was easy. So tame in fact that if I had owned a pair, I could have done in heels. And the cache in Massachusetts we found was also easy and our first with a baby carriage in tow (we brought my friend and her three young kids along). And in case you're wondering, we are sticking with the easy finds for a while since we had plenty of excitement on the cache we found last month.

Our travel bugs have also had a busy month. Two of our four bugs have been to geocaching parties this spring.

Lilo the Swimmer was the first to attend a geocaching event in Nova Scotia in March. At one point I logged onto the Nova Scotia Spring Kick-off page and saw they had over 100 travel bugs. I didn't realize they were collected for these events.

Then Annika The Hiker was the next to get an invite. She went to the Massive Easter Egg Hunt event in New Zealand. What caught my eye about this event was the organizer's warning about wearing bug spray. Every hemisphere has its bug woes.

What was also pretty cool was that the person who had Annika for that event dropped her off and picked up Hiking Doggie. It's fun to make connections like that on the website.

Ronny didn't get invited to a party this year but his current host is taking him to dinner at McDonalds in the lowest zip code in America (01001 in Agawam, MA).

So with our travel bugs having so much fun, we want to attend a geocaching event ourselves. It turns out that there's one coming up in southern Maine.

Geocachingmaine.org is hosting an event on Mt. Agamenticus on Saturday (April 29) from 12-3 p.m. at the summit. We're hoping we can re-work our schedule that day to attend -- and maybe we'll bring a new travel bug to join the party so its owner can attend a party vicariously like we have this spring.

OT: Our trip to New York City

Fino and I, along with our kids and my cousins' two daughters, ate our way through New York City one afternoon last weekend.

It started with Deli Manjoo, dubbed "Chinese Twinkees" by the kids, in Chinatown. We bought a box of 24 treats and had to buy a second box because the kids devoured the first. The cakes were warm, sweet and creamy in the middle and were ooh so delicious.

We watched the labor-intensive process of making the deli manjoo, a 

corn-shaped cake that tastes nothing like corn.

We then walked around Chinatown to work off the 'Twinkees' before finding a place to have dim sum, one of our favorite meals in the city. The kids enjoy dim sum because they like watching the carts of food rolling around the dining room and making their own choices. Zongzi (a rice dumpling wrapped in banana leaves) is a favorite and one we can't seem to replicate at home.

We were more than full after lunch but that didn't stop us from walking over to Little Italy for some gelati.

While at Ferrara's Cafe for the frozen treat, I had to get a block of soft Torrone (an Italian nougat candy made with almonds and honey) to take home. I simply couldn't resist my childhood favorite.

We wanted to make some other stops in the city but the kids were tired so we headed back my cousin's house just outside the city.

On our way through Grand Central Station, G. had to check out the ceiling again to see her favorite Pegasus constellation.

And after today's story about childhood obesity, I feel it necessary to say that the kids spent the rest of the weekend being their typically active selves. They jumped on a trampoline for hours, went hiking and just generally ran around everywhere with their cousins. I think they easily exercised their way through all the food they ate in NYC.

I on the other hand need to spend some extra time at the gym this weekend...

New York hiking footwear

During our trip to New York, we went to Muscoot Farm in Katonah to see some animals, have a picnic and find a geocache.

Our cousins have just started geocaching so we had some fun sharing our geocaching stories with them. And during the short hike on the trail (about 1/2 mile), Fino and I learned something new. New Yorkers make interesting choices with hiking footwear.

Chickenland troubles, or not

I'm just getting back to work after our holiday vacation and sifting through our photos so more on that later.

During Easter dinner, the story of the night before we left Maine for our trip provided lots of entertainment value for family members.

Fino woke up around midnight hearing a rooster crowing. He thought a predator was trying to get into 'Chickenland' (L.'s nickname for our chicken coop) so he jumped out of bed, grabbed his gun and ran outside while unlocking the trigger lock (I don't like guns but Fino's an ex-Army guy so I cut him some slack because he really does know how to use them). He checked around Chickenland and couldn't find anything amiss.

The girls had woken up (I slept through the whole thing) and asked him what was going on when he came back into the house. He told them everything was fine and to go back to bed.

Then the rooster crowing started again.

It turned out that Fino had inadvertently set the alarm clock on his cell phone and the crowing was the alarm sound.

I really wish I had been awake when he figured that out.

Fun on Mackworth

Yesterday it was such a nice day that we decided we had to go hiking. We chose Mackworth Island because it had a short trail and we didn't have a lot of daylight left.

While on the trail, we discovered a couple of new things that we hadn't noticed during our hikes there last summer.

The kids enjoyed the crushed stone maze.

 The swinging bench was fun too.

G. likes to stop at the pet cemetery so she can read the stone markers there. She's our animal-lover so we took a few minutes to make the stop.

Then we arrived at the fairy village and walked around to admire all the houses before we set out to make our own. And I warned L. that we would not be planning any elaborate houses since she's notorious for getting carried away with her construction plans.

We all really liked this one.

After about 20 minutes in the village, I told the girls it was time to head home. And true to form, L. balked. She said she wasn't "quite done" with her second fairy house. But since we didn't have any time to spare, I told her we'd come back again soon.

We're headed to NYC for the holiday weekend and I'm sure it will be an interesting urban adventure for us. I'll be back online next week.

An almost podcast at the hockey game

We went to the Pirates hockey game yesterday and the team ended their regular season with another win.

I brought my mp3 player with me to record the kids thoughts about the game and about hockey in general. I had some technical difficulties so the quality of the recording isn't great. We're going to try another time to make a podcast but in the meantime, you can listen to an audio clip I put together this morning.

Listen to two little girls' perspective on
Pirates hockey games
(2:49 minutes, 3.2MB mp3 format)

An interest in the stars

The extent of my knowledge about astronomy begins - and ends - with the Big Dipper, Orion's Belt and Cassiopeia. But it seems lately that everyone in the family is fascinated by the night sky. L. is always pointing out the shape of the moon and G. has been trying very hard to identify constellations and stars. I often print the sky chart to help us out but sometimes things aren't always so clear.

G. has a favorite book, "Once Upon a Starry Night" published by National Geographic. It's a children's book about constellations. So it was no surprise to me that G. chose that title for her entry at the Portland Public Library's Edible Book Festival last week. (BTW, next year you should check out this indoor event - a lot of the entries were incredibly clever.)

She mapped out the Pegasus constellation herself with Tic Tacs, even though she has never been able to actually find it in the night sky.
After making the cake, G. decided it was time for her to take a class about astronomy so she can "find that Pegasus." I agreed and we put it on our list of things to do together this summer. Between the Southworth Planetarium at USM's Portland campus and the Astronomical Society of Northern New England, we have plenty of opportunities to learn more about the night sky in southern Maine.

And if you're wondering what L.'s edible book entry was, she decided on her book about hand shadows. She has been building up her repertoire lately.

She made hand shadows on the wall and had me trace them. She then traced each image onto a toasted egg roll wrapper with food coloring.

Where's Bunny #15

Do you know where Bunny is?

Game Rule Reminder: The first person to POST A COMMENT (it doesn't count if you email me) about Bunny's location (or answer the question posed) in the photo, wins a new MaineToday.com frisbee. Anyone can win so if you know the answer, post it -- and don't forget to include your email address.

Where's Bunny #14

It's been a while since I posted a Where's Bunny photo so here's a new one.

Do you know what kind of road sign Bunny is on?

Game Rule Reminder: The first person to POST A COMMENT (it doesn't count if you email me) about Bunny's location (or answer the question posed) in the photo, wins a new MaineToday.com frisbee. Anyone can win so if you know the answer, post it -- and don't forget to include your email address.

April showers. No wait - snow

A view of our yard this morning...

Pink Panther is a visiting Flat Stanley that G. posed for the photo. There was enough snow that G. could stand it up on its own.
After hiking in t-shirts and capris last week, the kids were not pleased with this development. But, the snow is already melting and we're optimistic spring isn't going to try to make up for the winter in snowfall.

Catching up

On Sunday afternoon we went to another Portland Pirates hockey game. The kids were pretty excited to sit next to Salty Pete for a while. He usually doesn't make his way to the cheap seats, at least not during the last few games we've attended.

The Pirates won which always makes the kids very happy. Screaming and clapping at the game are definitely part of the appeal for them when we go.

But I was feeling a little queasy near the end of the game. Initially I thought it was the geyser of blood that spurted out of the head of one of the players on the ice. The girls and I were kinda horrified but it turned out the player just needed a bunch of stitches.

Sunday's victory was marred by an injury to defenseman Kenny Smith, who suffered a severe face laceration when he was cut by a skate blade after a collision just outside his blue line with less than 3 minutes left in the game, leaving a large pool of blood on the ice. Less than an hour after the game, Smith was in the Portland locker room, "He took a lot of stitches," Dineen said, "but it's not life-threatening or career-threatening."

And although watching the blood getting scraped off the ice was unpleasant - and a real education for us as new fans this season - my queasy feelings turned out to be the stomache flu.

This afternoon I'm feeling a little better and trying to get caught up some things. As I checked out the forecast, I suffered a bit of a shock.

wcsh6 weather graphic

I thought we'd moved on...

The whole geocaching story...

... from our adventurous day a couple of weeks ago in my monthly column, complete with the kids' review audio clips.

Kid Tracks Column: On the hunt for geocaches

Most of the time we set off to find geocaches and aren't quite sure what to expect. The GPS coordinates leading to the hidden treasures (as my kids like to call it) require a little bushwhacking on occasion. That's part of the game so it is not unexpected. But for the first time in our 25 geocache finds, we put ourselves in a difficult situation.

"This is the worst hike ever mom! I have scratches everywhere and I twisted my ankle 5 times!" said my 10-year-old.

We did end up finding the well-hidden - and well-stocked - geocache but we were definitely a little worse for the wear from the hike to get there.

What happened?

We followed the GPS navigating pointer rather than our common sense. Interpretating the trail and terrain with our own eyes should have been as important as the high-tech unit we were using. When we found ourselves in the middle of some very difficult terrain, we finally realized that we got so carried away with the GPS and the hunt to find the cache, that we stopped paying attention to where we were actually going. I can honestly say that I never thought I could be so, well - dumb.
 
But let me back-up and start from the beginning.

The day started off with a decision to broaden our geocaching horizons with a challenge. We wanted to see how many geocaches we could find in one afternoon. Each family member posed their guesses which ranged from three to six.

After some searching on www.geocaching.com, I found a cluster of geocaches in the Brunswick area. I chose a bunch with ratings in the 1-3 star range (1=easy, 5=most difficult) in both difficulty and terrain. This strategy has kept our treasure hunts fun for all of us.

After downloading the coordinates and printing out their respective information pages that included "hints," we set out to Brunswick to find the geocaches.

The first geocache was on Pleasant Hill Road just over the Brunswick border. We thought we had found the parking area (listed as "vague") indicated on the cache's information page because we saw a trail leading into the woods and our GPS showed the cache within 1/2 mile of our location.

We followed the trail for a few minutes but then our GPS unit started pointing us through the woods. We were pretty close, about three-tenths of a mile, so we left the trail and traipsed through the brush.

The trees and brush got progressively thicker while the GPS navigation pointer led us up a hill. At this point, we should have put our thinking caps on. Unfortunately, we didn't.

We climbed up that hill. We slid down another hill.

We ducked under tree limbs. We jumped over fallen trees.

We jumped over the winding stream; leapt over wider parts of another stream. And when we were lucky, walked on fallen logs over other wet areas.

Of course we could have given up the search but by the time we realized that trying to find this cache was a mistake, we were already in the thick of the woods and closer to the cache based on our GPS reading than we were to the car.

We finally picked up a narrow trail and found the geocache.

We took a short water break and with a unanimous vote, decided we would NOT go back the way we came.

We followed a small trail with sink holes and erosion (which we still thought better than the way we had come but hardly ideal) from the geocache to an open field and hiked along the edge of the woods. We eventually picked up another trail that lead us back to the car.

After a snack at the car, we decided that we would not be discouraged and continued with our initial plan to find more geocaches.

We chose our second cache based on the level of detail about the trail and the "Additional Hints" on the print-out I had made. The hints are clues that usually offer more details about the landmarks where the cache is hidden.

This geocache was further down Pleasant Hill Road at Crystal Springs Farm and we found it easily after a short hike. And there was a fun bonus in the cache -- silly big nose glasses and a fun photo album of people wearing them. Of course we had to take some of our own photos and even had Bunny try the glasses on.

On the hike back to the car my 8-year-old decided to make hand shadows. We all had some fun guessing what animals she was making and I was glad that everyone was feeling re-energized with this easy and fun geocache.

We ended our day finding only one other geocache near Bowdoin College. It was another easy one but by that time, we were all tired. The kids had found a fallen tree that looked like a boat so they climbed aboard and pretended to be sailors. They had quite a story going so we hung out for a while before heading home.

We all felt the day was a success. And although my husband and I were irritated initially with the first geocache, we realized that had we read the "Logged Visits" (they're basically reviews submitted by other geocachers) for that one, we would have realized that the name, "Dragons Be Here" contained a clue as to where to park (apparently dragons is the Brunswick high school mascot). Other geocachers who figured that out found a much closer place to park that made getting to that geocache much easier.

As with many of our outdoor adventures, we came away with some new learnings and a better perspective on our GPS unit. Just because you have coordinates to a location, it doesn't mean your electronic gadget is going to get you there as easily as you expect. But as I was reminded by a fellow geocacher recently, it would not be so much fun, nor the adventures as colorful, if the game were so simple.

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
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 hid last year 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 April 2006