Finally...Our Veggie Tales Arrive!

A couple years ago a client told me about a hobby she'd heard about called Letterboxing. Since then, I've gotten several members of our family involved and we've had a great time doing it.

What is Letterboxing?

Letterboxing is an intriguing mix of treasure hunting, art, navigation, and exploring interesting, scenic, and sometimes remote places. It takes the ancient custom of placing a rock on a cairn upon reaching the summit of a mountain to an artform. It started when a gentleman simply left his calling card in a bottle by a remote pool on the moors of Dartmoor, in England.

Here's the basic idea: Someone hides a waterproof box somewhere (in a beautiful, interesting, or remote location) containing at least a logbook and a carved rubber stamp, and perhaps other goodies. The hider then usually writes directions to the box (called "clues" or "the map"), which can be straightforward, cryptic, or any degree in between. Often the clues involve map coordinates or compass bearings from landmarks, but they don't have to. Selecting a location and writing the clues is one aspect of the art.

Once the clues are written, hunters in possession of the clues attempt to find the box. When the hunter successfully deciphers the clue and finds the box, he stamps the logbook in the box with his personal stamp, and stamps his personal logbook with the box's stamp. The box's logbook keeps a record of all its visitors, and the hunters keep a record of all the boxes they have found, in their personal logbooks. (For more info, check out http://www.atlasquest.com/ or http://www.letterboxing.org/)

Throughout the year, many "Letterboxers" participate in Postal Rings, which is where a group of people sign up for a "theme" ring, then they each make a stamp and logbook. These items are then mailed to each person on the list. PJ and I signed up for a Veggie Tales ring and after MANY months (of course, there were several participants for this one), we finally got the last stamps we were waiting for. Here PJ is coloring a stamp we received so that he can stamp it into his logbook. Ask him to see his logbook some time, he has LOTS of stamps.

Bird's Eye View

As you can see, with the weather “slightly” cooperating, the new playroom addition is coming along. PJ again gets to go up & help Mr. David during construction.

He even gets to go up on the roof.

The Circus Comes To Town

The last time the Circus came to town, PJ was just an infant and I went with Tara and my two grandsons, Austin & Bryce. This time it was PJ’s turn. Before the official "show" started, they had a period of time where kids could come down to the main floor and check out different aspects of the circus. They got to see some of the costumes, jump rope, try to juggle and so on.Of course, you HAVE to pay for the expensive circus toy item that your child cannot live without - it wouldn't be a kids show if you didn't.

I'm not sure what part PJ liked the most, the little dogs doing tricks, the elephants, the tigers, or what. I think one of my favorites was the main Clown that came out in between every act - he was a riot. I was bummed to see that most of my pictures didn't turn out very well from the show.

After the circus we headed out to dinner at Olive Garden. We had a great time just hanging out for the afternoon – quality family time!