Day 18 - April fools

The day started pretty early...actually really early when I work up at 4:30 and heard footsteps downstairs. I listened for a few minutes and once I was confident I woke up Brandon. He got up to investigate. It was kids working on April fools Day pranks. Fake dog poop, pictured below. Apparently there were others planned as well but their plans were foiled. Any guesses when they devised this great plan...yep while picking up rocks! The mystery of why they came in so happy - they were plotting against us! We put them back to bed and said see you in a few hours. I was awoken with a cup of coffee and an apology. It was hard to stay mad for very long. Rumor has it there might be a fake bug in my coffee in the future - so I am a little skeptical of complimentary coffee!

School is in session at the kitchen counter

Elizabeth presented on New York and did a great job. Maybe someday we will get to take her there, but it's going to be awhile!

Remember those cookies I baked yesterday so I could decorate them...the kids got in on the action :)

The afternoon was quite eventful. After lunch and reading time the kids had asked to go Geo-caching. We needed to find a place close by that offered plenty of space from people and of course they wanted Auggie to come too. We found a new local park that we had never been too and it sounded perfect. Because it is called a park the kids had on their new tennis shoes - not hiking boots. 

We had just gotten out of the car when a random large dog appeared on the scene. It was walking slowly towards us and seemed friendly enough, but no owner in sight. I had the kids take Auggie a ways away and I walked towards the dog. It had a collar and tags and seemed OK, so this dog did not need saving, but I was uncertain how it would mingle with Auggie so we just quickly starting walking on the trail. Walking right by the posted trail map - not even taking a glance. We had a first geo-cache pulled up and we were on the hunt! First obstacle - huge muddy spot on the trail. So went ventured off into the brush just a little jog around and came back to the trail successfully avoiding the mud. We then continued back and fourth on this section searching for this cache. The kids typically take turns with my phone trying to follow the map. It was not going well so I intervened and investigated further until realizing this cache hadn't been found in two years. Which means we weren't going to find it either. Along the way we stumbled upon a "spirit tree" and a crockpot against a tree with index card bible verses posted above it...ok a little strange. But there was another geo-cache listed in this same park so we just set that location and started looking for the next one. We had already veered off course a little but the trail was not well defined and before I knew it I was carrying Auggie over a creek. At one point I laid a limb across our path to be able to find our way back. Interestingly enough we turned back and I totally missed this marker that I had left. Grant says "yeah mom we walked by that already!" I don't know why but we just kept going deeper into the woods. We have now crossed the creek again, and it curved and we crossed it again...by the 4th time I stopped carrying the dog and decided she would be getting a bath. We are at the bottom of the ravine. There is a make shift tee-pee that I am little worried someone might be in and the GPS is still telling us we are 100 meters away and we need to now traverse the side of the ravine, uphill. The kids take the steeper side, I find a slightly less steep side for Auggie and I to go up. I meet them at the top and think we are never getting back to the original trail because I am completely lost. But I can see a clearing and there is a different trail ahead. Ok so we obviously missed that there were multiple trail entrances from the park in our rush to avoid the dog. We must have just walked in a loop. We get on the main trail, we are 20 meters away and I lead us to the geo-cache. Eureka we found it! Awesome, but we have no ideas where we are. We will just follow this main trail and STAY ON the trail. We follow the trail and I can see an open space ahead - has to be the park....nope...it is the dog park - not the park where we parked. At this point I do know where we are, but the only way to get back to the car is to basically walk a U shape to the main road and it would probably take an hour. Did I mention we didn't bring water or snacks? So I call Brandon. He doesn't answer which means he is in a meeting. So I send the following text:

Lost? No. Feeling like we are up a creek without a paddle? Kind of. I know we couldn't backtrack. Remember that map at the beginning of this long story that we didn't look at? I googled it and found it. Ok, we just need trail C. We look around and find a "C" trail marker. Great, let's just follow that. We waked in a circle around the dog park. At this point we are all muddy, feeling defeated and I make the decision we just need to head for the main road and take the long way because no one is coming to rescue us. This is the thing about social distancing - Brandon is the only one that can come for us. Luckily we didn't decide to wait for him because his meeting ended up lasting until 5. As we start walking I notice another trail marker and sure enough it says "C" but in the other direction and this makes more sense. So back into the woods we go. We crossed the ravine again but we were on somewhat of a path. We found our way and in Grant's words (when we saw the car) "Praise the good Lord!"

We got home and hosed off Auggie and our shoes. I mowed the backyard. Scrubbed pavers and just enjoyed the peace of the outdoors in my own backyard where I couldn't get lost. I made a new recipe for dinner...SW Mac 'n Cheese. We had Wednesday night lenten service and ended the evening trying out the new light up basketball net and ball. That was a lot of activity for one day.

And happy anniversary Mom and Dad!