Geocache Awesome

This summer the boys and I started a whole new hobby: geocaching.  Basically, geocaching is looking for treasure using a GPS.  Now that phones are so smart, the geocaching app can be downloaded to your phone and the GPS on your phone can be used to help you locate geocaches.  This hobby is perfect for my kids, because we love to be outside, we love all things pirate - including treasure and it is just challenging enough if we pick the right caches.  I set a goal for myself to create a geocache every time that we found 25 caches ourselves - you gotta share the love, right?

This geocache is our very first and it had to be good.  First, I had my husband built a "birdhouse" - it has a lid with a clasp that can be opened and eye screws (or whatever those things are called so that it can essentially be operated on a pulley system.  I even had him place a little perch on the house and the boys came up with the idea of affixing (we used superglue) the small dragon rather than a bird.  We made the house using scrap wood around our house and my husband even went so far as to spray paint it for us.

Our cache box was super unique, so it seemed like the "prizes" should be too.  Most caches are pretty simple and the prizes are pretty generic.  I wanted to make this box about something bigger than silly trinkets, so I came up with the idea to hide Random Acts of Kindness inside of eggs (it is a birdhouse) that people could take and complete.  I also left some blank sheets of paper so that rather than leaving swag, people could replace the eggs with their own ideas for ways to treat others/the environment/animals/etc. kindly.  I created this explanation for the "prizes" in our box.

I wanted the R.A.K. to be really good.  At first I tried to just come up with my own ideas, but then I found this after searching online for a while: http://www.randomactsofkindness.org/kindness-ideas.  I printed out some of my favorites and tried to make certain there were ones that would apply to all different age groups.  We folded them up and placed them inside some old Easter eggs.

I wanted to do something a tad different and in keeping with the cache theme for the First to Find prize - for you "muggles" - or non-cachers - this is a prize for whoever finds your cache first after it has been listed.  We got a gift card and encouraged the finder (in the spirit of RAK) to pass it forward.

 We placed all of our supplies - eggs, log, extra sheets of paper, pen, etc. -  in an airtight plastic container.

 I made and laminated a sign explaining to people to lower down the birdhouse and look inside once they reached the cache coordinates.

 Here are some pictures of what our cache looks like hiding in the woods.  The boys and I had a lot of fun finding the perfect spot for this and so far it has received a lot of geocaching love from everyone who has found it.

Do you want to find this cache?  If you are new to geocaching, check out www.geocaching.com to sign up and start playing.  This cache is called Welcome to the Jungle and here is the geocaching number: GC59YDP.