Elizabeth+the+Explorer

On a glorious Monday afternoon, when the breeze was quietly whispering refreshment into the air, I ventured to pick up Lee and John Duncan from school at Buies Creek Elementary. At exactly 3:15 pm, the boys came darting out of school like fugitives excited to be free! The first words out of Dunc’s mouth were, “Miss Elizabeth I want to play with the DS first!” “No! Me first!” Lee retorted. “No one is playing video games this afternoon, boys!” I remarked excitedly. “We are going geocaching!” The boys looked at me confused and bewildered. “What’s a deo-dash?” Duncan inquired. “Oooooo I’ve heard of that!” Lee exclaimed. “It’s like a treasure hunt!” “Exactly!” I clapped my hands with glee. I had their attention now.



//Dunc and Lee showing me their "We're ready to geocache!" faces //

Dunc was the first to navigate the geocache app on my phone. He led us to the cache in Saylor Park. Oddly enough, this one was tough for the boys to find. Only when I gave them the clue EGGE42 did John Duncan rip the box right off the light pole!    “I GOT IT!” He exclaimed. “I found the treasure!!!”

We opened up the cache to find four cents, a coupon for a restaurant we had never heard of, a business card, and a hair-bow. As I predicted, the boys wanted to take //all// four cents. “We can use it for our trip to Africa!” Lee’s eyes lit up with anticipation. “When are you going to Africa?” I asked, puzzled. <span style="color: #12c7eb; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">“Whenever we save enough money” Lee replied as if the answer was obvious. <span style="color: #12c7eb; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">“Or we could use it for toys!” John Duncan exclaimed proudly; his idea was clearly better (or so he thought). <span style="color: #12c7eb; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">I explained to the boys that, in order to take the four cents, we had to leave something in return. <span style="color: #12c7eb; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">“So if we take four cents then we have to leave four cents? That doesn’t make sense.” Lee accused. I could see his brain wheels turning, trying to decipher this twisted logic. <span style="color: #12c7eb; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">I explained the rules of geocaching to the boys in more detail. Unwilling to depart with any of their beloved belongings, we left the cache untouched other than signing our names. <span style="color: #12c7eb; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">Next, Lee took control of the compass and led us to the Kivett cache. As Lee followed the compass, John Duncan continually asked, “How much farther?” The bottom left-hand corner of the screen indicated how many more feet or miles the cache was away. <span style="color: #12c7eb; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"> <span style="color: #12c7eb; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">When Lee confidently stated, “.2 miles," John Duncan gasped: <span style="color: #12c7eb; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">“TWO MILES?! Is there not one closer?!” <span style="color: #12c7eb; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"> <span style="color: #12c7eb; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">Lee and I chuckled, knowing that it wasn't worth explaining Dunc's misconception. <span style="color: #12c7eb; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">When we arrived at Kivett--John Duncan feeling the effect of the nearly two mile walk-- I gave the boys a clue before they began looking since the last find was proven difficult. I told the boys to look in the trees. Lee and Dunc searched the trees high and low.

<span style="color: #12c7eb; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">“The hole can’t be facing downward because of gravity. If the hole faced downward, the cache would fall out.” Lee reasoned aloud. <span style="color: #12c7eb; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">I never noticed how many trees surrounded Kivett. <span style="color: #12c7eb; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">Finally, we ended up in the right tree and it was John Duncan who discovered the cache once again!

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<span style="color: #12c7eb; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">Lastly, we headed to the fighting camel. I was nervous that this cache would be the hardest after reading the reviews. I noted that the comments said the clue wasn't on the camel and it was magnetic. I suggested that we look on the benches and rails once we arrived at the convocation center. Once again, the boys dispersed and began frantically searching for the final cache of our adventure. <span style="color: #12c7eb; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">Lee was so desperate to beat John Duncan that he proclaimed, “This clue will be worth three times as many points!” <span style="color: #12c7eb; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">I too began searching for this clue, and just as I found it, I heard a panicked cry: <span style="color: #12c7eb; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">“Miss Elizabeth! I’m stuck!” Lee wailed. <span style="color: #12c7eb; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">I ran to the ramp where I saw little Lee sitting on the rail, his leg stuck between the rail and the brick wall. He looked so helpless, like a cat up a tree. Also similar to a cat, he had knowingly gotten himself into this predicament. <span style="color: #12c7eb; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">I tried to pull him out, but he wouldn't budge. Instead, we had to scoot him down the railing until the gap became wide enough to pull him out.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;"> //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14px;">Lee's competitive dedication got the best of him. //

<span style="color: #12c7eb; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">Once he was free, I helped Lee and John Duncan continue searching for the cache. We played the hot-cold game until Lee finally stumbled up the third and final cache! <span style="color: #12c7eb; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">Victoriously he held up the cache, proclaiming himself as the winner.



//<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14px;">Lee demonstrating how microscopic the cache was. // <span style="color: #12c7eb; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">Upon opening the log for this cache, Lee noticed the names “Lewis and Clark” scribbled on the paper. <span style="color: #12c7eb; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">“Wow! This really is a historical treasure hunt!” Lee declared, assuming that it was the real Lewis and Clark who embarked on this expedition. I couldn't bear to crush his imagination.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;"> //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14px;">"Geocahing Champioins" poses. Notice John Duncan's shirt labels him appropriately: "The Dude." Lee was still amazed at the tiny size of the final cache! // <span style="color: #12c7eb; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px;">As we made our way back to their mom’s office in the business school from the fighting camel statue, the boys chattered about their discoveries. John Duncan talked about how far he had walked today and demanded we take the elevator his mom’s office.

//<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14px;">Proof of how tired Dunc was after our exhausting hunt. Look at that face! // <span style="color: #12c7eb; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px;">Lee mused at how hungry the hunt had made him. Nevertheless, they both admitted that our outing had been pretty cool and that they would like to do it again. Exploring with Elizabeth may just win me the best nanny award of the year. No more video games for these explorers!

//<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 14px;">John Duncan already mapping out our next hunt! //