Boxing at Angel Mounds

Today the kids and I letterboxed at Angel Mounds.  All together there are about 6 boxes here.  We had searched for one before and could not find it.  We looked again today because we were right there and still did not see it.  When we got home we saw that the box had been retired.

My kids and part of BPWigand & Family

Then we looked for a box listed on LbNA.  It was planted in June of 2008.  It was found twice in 2008 and when looking online it has not been attempted since.  We found it!  The box was full of water and so were the baggies.  The log was damp but still stampable.  We replaced the bags and plan to go back and replace the box.

Trail head west of Angel Mounds

Just west of the mounds are miles of trails.  There are supposed to be 4 boxes here.  One had been missing for a long time and the planter just "retired" the other 2 in the series.  This person hadn't letterboxed in a while so I doubt that she actually went out and got the other 2.  We had tried looking for these before with no luck.  There are so many trails there we get lost really easily.  This time I even printed off a map and we still wandered around for hours and found nothing.

While we were out we were looking for good and *easy to find* hiding spot for a box.  I recently carved a stamp for the LTC tracker, "Childhood Plans: When I grow up I wanna be..."  For a while I wanted to be Indiana Jones.  Since Indy was an archaeologist I decided to hide the stamp at our local archaeological site (Angel Mounds).  It should be ready for finders soon.

PS- Today was a disappointing mail day.  We are waiting on a Postal and I thought it would come today, it did not.  I got my LTCs back from Marjorie's Potpourri and we already had 3 of the 5 cards :(

County Fair Time

This week is our county fair and my niece is active in 4H.  We went out the other night and she has baked goods, a scrapbook, a collection, and several animals.  She shows goats, sheep, and pigs.  The pigs are her favorite.  So when a LTC tracker all about pigs came up I had to make a card for my niece.  And I made a HH too. 

Back to Garden of the Gods

Camel Rock at Garden of the Gods, Ill. 

A few days ago we went back to the Garden of the Gods in southern Ill.  This time my husband was able to go and we took my dad and niece (part of BPWigand and Family).  It was hot but a beautiful day to be out hiking, boxing, and swimming.

At the end of last summer my kids and I came over and letterboxed here.  We  found 4 of the 6 boxes that we looked for.  This time we looked for all of them again so BPWigand and Family could get them.  And this time we were able to find one of the boxes that we couldn't find last time.  We came at it from a different angle and had no problems finding it.  But one of the boxes that we had found before is now missing.

The kids loved climbing on the rocks.  Since it was supposed to be so hot we took our swim suits with us so we could cool off when we were done hiking.  It is free to swim at the lake at Pounds Hollow which is just a few miles from the Garden of the Gods.

After our long day of hiking and swimming we headed back home.  We stopped for supper and an ice cream on the way back.  I'm glad that everyone had fun and it was a safe trip :)

Our crew handing out at Garden of the Gods. 

3 of my 4 making a sand castle.  

Mother's Day 2013

We go camping every year for Mother's Day.  I went on my first camping trip when I was a month old because I was born in April and we camping in May for Mother's Day.

 This year we were at Spring Mill State Park in Mitchell, Ind.  We planted a box there last June and checked on it and we planted a box there this weekend.  It was a beautiful weekend to be camping.  It rained just a little on Saturday but we had fun in the village, hiking, and the kids loved playing in the creek at the campground.

Spillway on trail 5.

There were lots of wildflowers blooming this weekend.

The mill in the pioneer village.

This water flows from a cave and is very cold!  

View of the mill from the garden.

Cemetery in the park.

Camping & Carving

Kids carving

We camp a lot with my parents and my nieces.  When we are all together we letterbox together.  My parents work a lot a don't have time to letterbox on their own but they all went with us in the fall to our event, Peace Love & Harmonie at Harmonie State Park.  There was a raffle and my niece got some carving tools.  We kind of forgot about them until she recently starting asking me to teach her how to carve.  I told her that we were all going camping soon and we should do it then.  We were camping at Harmonie and we already have all of the boxes planted there.

Our new tent :)

The weather was beautiful so we hiked some and carved some.  My family just got a new tent because the zipper doors broke on our old tent the last time we used it.  It was six years old and we wore it out!  The kids also rode bikes, played on the playground, and hung out at the Nature Center.  We tired to fly kites but it was not windy enough.  We always stop and get an ice cream on our way back to Evansville.  It was a very nice weekend. 

Christmas Carols

We just started making LTCs earlier this year and it seems that we made a ton of Christmas ones.  Maybe it is because our last name is Christmas.  

These cards were all made for the Christmas Carols tracker.

This card is "You're a Mean One, Mr Grinch".  I carved the stamp for Daddy's Favorite Princess and she painted it with watercolors.  She loves to make cards.  

 I made this card for my mom, BPWigand & Family.  It goes with the song Christmas Cookies by George Strait.  She loves that song and making sugar cookies with the grandkids at Christmas.  There are actually three different versions of this card.  I also sent the stamps of to an event where they wanted cookies for Santa.  

Finally this is the card that I made for myself, "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas".  At our zoo here in Evansville we had the worlds oldest hippo and she died a few months ago just before her 61st birthday.  I made a stamp and planted it in the park next to the zoo in her honor.  The box got a blue diamond and I liked the stamp so much that I decided to use it for this LTC swap.
I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas YouTube video

Peace Love and Harmonie SUCCESS!

Our letterboxing event was Saturday at Harmonie State Park.  We had a great time!  We had 38 people sign up from 3 states!  When I first thought about having an event I imagined a picnic with a dozen people from Evansville.  I never guessed people would come from all around.  The other hosts are already talking about a weekend event in the spring.
The only complaint/suggestion that we got about the event was that people didn't have enough time to get all the boxes.  I was really surprised at how many table top boxes were sent in.  It will probably take me a few hours to log all the event boxes, exchanges, PTs, table tops, trail boxes, night boxes, cooties, fleas, etc.
My family camped at the state park before and after the event.  One of the things I liked best about the weekend was exchanging at the campground.  It was more laid back than the event.  That is probably what I will look forward to the most if we do a camp out next time.

Stamping at the shelter house 9/22/12

My boys stamping.  Lego Clone Trooper (in blue) had a great time.  He got more exchanges and table tops than I did.  He is already looking forward to another event.

The Princess and my nieces stamping table tops. 

This is the cemetery that we planted several boxes at.

BPWigand and Family, R2-D2, and Daddy's Favorite Princess stamping a pirate series.