200 years in Indiana event

Shelter House

My event was Saturday, September 24th at Lincoln State Park.  It was a little warmer than I had hoped but over all it was a good day.   We had 50 people from all over the country- CA, IA, MO, IL, IN, OH, KY, TN & MI.

Friday evening we set up camp.  We were camping with my parents, sister & husband, and my two nieces.  They went to Holiday World on Saturday and didn't attend my event.  It was nice to not have to worry about the kids while doing event stuff.

Boxers Stamping

On Friday night, I had to climb to the fire tower to hide the box that I couldn't find the last time I was out planting.  All of the kids wanted to go.   A little after 8 we left the campground.  We hiked to the fire tower, planted the box, and finished the loop back to the campground.  We got back around 9:30.  It was cool to walk the trail and go in the fire tower at night.

The shelter was really close to the campground and our site.  Saturday morning we loaded up a wagon and took items to the event.  My kids helped with table cloths and setting out table top boxes before they left for Holiday World.  One of my kids wanted to stay but I told him he would enjoy Holiday World more.

Food & Stamps

It was nice to get to meet so many local folks.  When we hosted our event like this in 2012 we were looking forward to meeting local boxers.  Then most of the people who came were from out of town.  But this time many of the locals came.  It is nice to put a face with the names and stamps you find :)

 People came and went from the shelter all day.  I knew that I would be camped out there all day but I didn't know how many people would hang around.  For about an hour in the late afternoon it was just me & my husband.  We cleaned up a little bit and talked about taking a nap.  Are you a bad host if you nap while all your participants are out on the trail? ;)

Our Site 

I totally forgot about the group photo!  I had planed on doing one after lunch when a lot of people were at the shelter.  But I had also said that we would play BINGO after lunch.  Some of the young ladies were asking about BINGO and I got focused on that and forgot the picture.  Oh well, I think everyone had a good time.

Sunday morning my crew wanted to walk a trail so we walked the penny trail.  On our way out of the park we planted the event stamp.  I would like to go out in November and check all the boxes, make sure they are in their spots, and covered up.  I also have one stamp that I need to return to its owner.

Hosting an event like this is a lot of work.  I am control freak and like to do everything myself.  But I think if I am going to do an event like this again, I will need help :)

Event Planting Finished

Pizza Revolution 

They were calling for rain on Saturday but it ended very early.  I had 4 Etsy orders late last week so I spent the morning carving stamps for that.

My husband took the big boys to complete a project and I had the little two.  We were supposed to have BLT's for supper so we stopped at the Farmer's Market on our way out of town to get some tomatoes.

Lincoln Bicentennial Plaza

The rain sacred many people and vendors away.  There are always a few food trucks there and one is a double decker pizza bus.  We have talked about trying it before but we usually go to the Farmer's Market first thing and it is too early for lunch.  But it was a little after 11 and we gave it a try.  The kids got a 4 meat pizza called The Big Bad Wolf and I had the Fun Guy.  It was really good.

After the Farmer's Market we stopped at a gas station and headed to the park.  We paid to get in and parked at the Lincoln Bicentennial Plaza.  We used the restroom and checked out the plaza before hiking our trail.

Fungus

We  planted 36 boxes for our Famous Hoosiers series.  There were many cool fungus on the path.  We saw another large yellow one but that pic turned out fuzzy.  The kids were pretty grouchy again while hiking.  At one point Lil Ewok had a melt down and said, "Why do I have to carry everything!"  He was carrying his shoes and a walking stick.  I told him that if he wanted to take his shoes off he had to carry them.  I didn't realize that 3 things were everything.

Kids writing their name on the trail

Once again I worried about planting the boxes too close together or too far apart.  I think I plant them closer at the start of the trail and farther as we go along.  This path had many fallen trees, stumps, and cut logs to use as hiding places.  We came across some Cub Scouts while we were out.  We let them pass so we could keep planting.  

I made a small box in a mini Altoids tin that I wanted to plant at the fire tower but the kids lost it.  I am going to search the car again and if I can't find it I will make it again.  That means I will have to drive to the park and hike again!  I may wait and plant it Friday night after we set up camp.

Planting selfie

I need to get stuff together for the meal and make my signs.  I think I am almost ready :)

Event Planting Part 2

I have been planning for months to go out to the park on Saturday and plant more of my event boxes but they are calling for rain.  So I decided I would go out today with Lil Ewok.  There was an issue with my kids school, Turtle Boxer & Daddy's Favorite Princess were off today, and I had extra "help".

There is a big road construction project less than a block from the school.  They turned off the water and when they turned it back on again something at the school broke.  They tried to fix it during the night but were not able to get the job done.  They had to have the water off to work on it.  That meant no sink, toilets, or school.

We headed out to the park to plant another 28 boxes.  The kids about drove me crazy.  (Short trip, I know.)  They wanted to just put the box in the hiding spot and run off to find another spot.  I had to explain to them that I had to make notes, write down landmarks, tree names, get left/right correct, etc.  After a while they did settle down.

It sprinkled on us for just a few minutes but being in the woods we didn't really get wet.  We mainly heard it hitting the leaves of the trees.  I only took one picture on the trip.  Lil Ewok played games on my phone the whole way over and ran my battery down.  My phone died and I don't know how many steps I walked!!

I just have 38 more boxes to plant.  I will watch the weather on Saturday and if the rain holds up I will have to go out on Tuesday.  The event is just over a week away :D

Event Planting Part I

Planting selfie 

I went out on Saturday and started planting boxes for my event.  The weather was perfect.

I started off looking for an old box in the park because I wanted to plant on the same trail.  As soon as I got to the hiding spot and big group of people came up.  They were geocaching and asked if I was too.  I told them that I was letterboxing and we discussed the differences.  I showed the kids our new signature stamps and signed in the cache with them.

Snake skin between branches

Once they were gone I started looking for the box again.  The finder notes said that the log had decomposed but the box was there under some bark and leaves.  I  looked all over but couldn't find it and I planted my letterboxes on the path.  I will probably look for the old box again before my event.  It was last found in February of this year.

Then I planted my Life is Good in Indiana series that has 20 boxes.   (Don't let me forget that I have to return one of them when the event is over.)  I have never planted a series this big before and it is tough.  You don't want the boxes to close together and you don't want them to far apart.  I was worried about but I think it worked out pretty well.  Part of this trail is around a small lake and there was a nice breeze.

After that I planted my 6 pennies.  They are on a loop trail around a church/ cemetery/historical area in the park.  I am still temped to carve those last two pennies.  The park has an amphitheater and there was a live show that evening.  They were practicing that afternoon and as I was planting the pennies, I could hear the music floating through the forest.  It was beautiful :)

I am waiting on 3 more stamps.  I had some stamps sent to me that I wasn't expecting and had to order more Lock n Locks.  They should arrive today and I will be back out planting soon.

Rainbow!!! LTC

Rainbow!!!: Rainbow Milkshake

Daddy's Favorite Princess loves to carve stamps and make LTCs.  She is participating in the "Rainbow!!!" swap, hosted by GreaseLightning.

Not sure why but she picked a rainbow milkshake.  She picked the image and carved the stamp herself.

She really enjoyed making the background.  I have used this technique a few times myself and it is fun to play around with.  You take a cookie sheet and cover it with shaving cream.  Put a few drops of food coloring on and swirl it around.  Lay a piece of card stock on top and push down all over the paper.  Any place where the paper doesn't touch the shaving cream will be white.  Then you scrape the shaving cream off with an old gift card.

I cut the cards to size and helped her stamp them.  I stamped and she glued them to the red background.  Some of the cards turned out better that others but she is pretty proud of them :)