Caching In

I'm not a huge fan of bike riding. I don't hate it or anything, it's just not usually on top of my list of things I feel like doing.

But let's face it, what does tend to top that list is things like having a glass of wine and reading silly vampire romance novels.

Ben's more of a biker than I am. In fact, just twelve hours ago he was preparing for a midnight bike ride in downtown Indy with three thousand other fanatical bike riders.

This evening, we decided to drag out the bikes and assorted equipment, and go for a geo-caching adventure at a local park. I was kind of tired after a long day, but heck, if Ben's up for it after getting barely any sleep and biking twenty miles in the middle of the night then surely I can play along.

So, Ben loaded up our geo-cache destination into his GPS, and we got the kids ready.

Noah and Sophie LOVE the trailer. Love it. Even more than last year.

Ben was busy doing .....uh...something, so I asked Travis to take my picture. He told me the sun was in his eyes, but he'd try.

This is me snapping a picture mid-cycle, at the entrance to Clay Park.

My regular view. Ben, way ahead of me, and getting farther away.

Once in the park, we veered off onto a trail. I tried to get a picture behind me while I was making my way through the trail. I love this one -- the look on Noah's face is priceless.

Ummmm....mom?? Do you know what you're doing??

I tried a second time. I have no idea what happened.

One more time. Okay, this is a stupid idea. I give up.

When I finally caught up with Ben he and Travis were dismounted. They'd reached an impasse.

Time to unload. This ain't bike territory, kids.

Noah was devastated.

I want to stay in the trailer, mom!!

But got over it when he realized we now got to hike.

We hiked through the woods. Noah and Travis led the way, with the GPS on Ben's phone pointing us in the right direction.

Finally, we made it to our destination. An old campground fire-circle.

Wait, what's this?? A loose brick!

There's something inside!

We found it!!

Inside was a piece of paper to sign, and a little prize that you can take as long as you leave something in its place. Well, we forgot to bring something to leave behind -- so we didn't get to take the prize. That's okay though, the kids barely even noticed.

(The prize was a little pin that said, "I went caching and all I got was this lousy pin." I totally love it and we might have to go back and get that one, when we're smart enough to remember to bring an exchange.)

Anyway, after the caching adventure, we hiked and biked out of the woods and let the kids play at the park for a bit.

On the way back, I cursed Ben and told him I am no good at this biking thing, and Noah and Sophie combined are way heavier than they were last year, and my thighs are burning and I am just plain miserable.

But, I survived.

Now, I've got me that glass of wine. Just need that ridiculous vampire novel.