Geocaching in Key West

Wow! Key West, Florida. In December. Amazing!

What else is a family with four very active kids who have been traveling for two days to do but get out and exercise! We decided on a walk from Duval Street to Fort Zachary Taylor Park, the best beach in the Keys, according to the locals. An added bonus is that there were two geocaches we could find along our mile long walk!

"Discover Me!"
The first geocache was near the Florida Eco-Discovery Marine park and had the following hint:  
There once was a fish who was yellow, who swam away from most of his fellows.  Now it's absurd that he's named for a bird, but the art he adorns is "que bello."  Well the kids were pretty quick to figure this one out.

   

Cousin Sasha, Claire, Emma, Owen and Brendan

(it was like having twins AND triplets for an afternoon, as Sasha is a 4th grader like Brendan!)

 

And here they are by the "parrotfish!" 

Funny thing is a couple had discovered the same geocache not long before us!  They came out of the Marine Park and were shocked to see that someone else had found the geocache so quickly after them.  How fun!

Next we headed to Fort Zachary Taylor Park where we learned a little history and took a trek around the Fort and through the woods, to "Pirates of Fort Zachary." This was a tricky one, as there wasn't a clever clue left by the originator of the geocache.  However, after looking at a few posts from others who found the geocache recently we got a clue of finding a dead bird close!  Haha!  The kids could not be deterred by the dead bird, and we were finally successful in finding our second geocache of the day!

 

Well, I can't help but add some pictures of the "best beach in Key West !"  It was beautiful and even though the water was VERY chilly, the kids waded in as far as they could without getting their clothes wet.  They could have stayed all day!  It was absolutely gorgeous and we are already making plans to head back with their suits on.

Geocaching 101

We are a pretty outdoor-oriented family.  We often go on walks and hikes around town and recently discovered something called "Geocaching."  Geocaching is like a big treasure hunt played by thousands of people across the world.  Basically people hide "treasures," usually boxes with trinkets and a log book, in various locations and you seek out the treasures using a GPS device.  Now we can go on walks and hikes for fresh air, exercise, and a bit of adventure!  Who knew?

For our first adventure, we found a geocache along one of our favorite routes, just along old Hwy 40 near our house, called "What's Left #2."  We go on this walk all the time and never would have suspected there was a hidden treasure along the way!  Armed with our GPS device (aka iPhone) we plotted our coordinates and set off on our adventure.  Here is a pic from our first successful mission...

Darran and I had so much fun that we went geocaching just us!  We went while the kids were at school one day out to Rock Bridge State Park, another favorite hiking spot of ours.  We know we are total geeks, but who cares??  We love it!  The kids were very envious of us!  This geocache mission was called Devils Icebox 2, and we went for lunch and then a hike on a perfect autumn day.  Doesn't get better than that!

Want to be as cool as us and check it out?  Just go to www.geocaching.com to start your adventure!

First Day of School

Ok, so I am still getting caught up on blogging. I could just skip to the present time and make my life a little easier, but I can't not tell chronicle the first day of school, or their birthdays!! So here we go;)

Last year I was working for the kids' first day of school, but not this year!! This year I took the official pictures, at home an at school, so there is no complaining that I didn't get enough. It was actually the first time I've ever taken the kids to school on the first day, and that includes when it was just Brendan! So naturally I felt a bit choked up. How is it that time flies so fast! I have a fourth grader! And the triplets are in first grade!! Wow!

Anyway, pics are what you want to see, so here they are!





Then ice cream to celebrate!





We are looking forward to a great year!!

Team Papa B, est. 1950

Blaine, Darran's dad, had a BIG birthday in August. What better way to celebrate than a "surprise" family trip to good ole Kansas City, MO?!?

Oh, make it a surprise?? Yep!

Surprise him by bringing in Patrick, all the way from NYC? Yep!

Make t-shirts commemorating the event? Yep!

Wear said t-shirts as a second surprise "Happy Birthday!" to breakfast? Yep!

Top off the event with 60 mini surprise cupcakes? Yep!

Ok, so the KC part of the surprise, as well as bringing Patrick in as a surprise, didn't really go according to plan...but the rest did!

We Alberty's sure know how to throw a party!

Most memorable lines...
...wish we had matching shirts like the Flowers' family!
...Owen get away from the railing!
...anyone got a fire extinguisher?
...Screw it! Let's take the stairs.
...Greg is never allowed to go shopping at Jack Henry with my dad again!
...Why is this water so salty?
..."Shark week!"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLAINE, aka "Dad," aka "Papa B"!!!!!

Table Rock Lake 2010, also known as the year Claire finally went tubing and jumped in from the dock;)

This summer we spent a long weekend at the lake. It was so perfect!! The kids did a lot of tubing, a little skiing (Brendan and Emma). We went hiking, played games, and grilled corn on the cob. Sounds pretty great, right?!? It's amazing how much easier it is to take them all down there now. We don't require any baby gear (yippee!), they can actually cart their own stuff down to the boat instead of us carting them AND their stuff down, and they can help clean and pack up the cabin on the last day allowing us to stay a little longer on Sundays.

Yeah, maybe this getting older thing isn't so bad after all;)



And one of us....

This one is for the girls

The girls have been slighted a bit over the last few posts...because they were off with "Nanny and Papa B" to San Diego, California for their week long bi-annual trip.

The biggest highlight of the trip was the famous San Diego Zoo. Now, my girls LOVE animals. They never have gotten into dolls or Barbies or such as much as they have stuffed animals. Claire's favorite animal is the polar bear and, since the StL Zoo has none right now, she couldn't have been more excited to see their exhibit there. She wasn't disappointed. In fact, she has decided to be a polar bear for Halloween! Stay tuned for pics on that! Emma was also excited about the panda bear exhibit. We have never seen live pandas before so this was quite exciting. And, yep, Emma is going to be a panda for Halloween! Too cute!

The girls also did some playing in the sandy beach of the bay, watched some surfers surf some waves, took a boat cruise in the bay and lots more. We are still waiting to see pictures but sounded like they had a blast!

We sure were glad to have them home though!

Mighty Max Youth Triathlon

Last year, Brendan competed in his first Triathlon.  He inspired Owen to also compete this year (the girls were on vacation with Ann and Blaine, otherwise I think they would have competed too!).  So, we had two boys participating in this year's kids' triathlon, with only one momma to try and watch them both and take pictures, as Darran was working that day.  I think I was almost as tired as they were--ok, not really but it sure was hard work running back and forth trying to see them both!  :-)

Brendan competed in the 9-10yr old group, which mean he swam 100 meters, biked for 3 miles, and ended with a 0.5 mile run.  After working hard in swim lessons this winter, his swim time practically stayed the same as last year and he doubled his distance!  Last year was 4:23 for a 50 meter swim and this year it was 4:39 for the 100m.  He biked the 3 miles in 15:37 and ran the 0.5 mile in 13:56, for a total race time of 37:21.

  

Owen competed in the 6 and under group, which means he swam 25 meters, biked for 0.5 mile, and ended with a 0.25 mile run.  His total race time was 13:32.  Swim was 1:43, bike was 4:09, and run was 4:56.

  

  

We are so proud of them both!!  They did this with basically no training prior to the event, which is amazing.  We did do swim lessons over the winter, which was a big help to them both.  I am always amazed at the stamina and energy that these two boys have!  Both received medals for a job well done!  We decided next year, maybe we will do a little training, mainly on the transition times as that is what took them the longest:-)  It is hard to coordinate getting your swim stuff off and getting your tennis shoes on wet feet!  Great job Brendan and Owen!