Cowboy Austin on the move...

Austin started a Travelbug in a nearby cache. A travelbug is part of geocaching that is a trackable dog tag that you attache to an item and give them a mission. Cowboy Austin's mission is to travel anywhere someone wants to take him. The Geocacher picks him up out of a cache and moves him to the next. Well, something happened that is unheard of. A couple picked him up and took him on a trip to Europe. It is so great for Austin to learn geography this way.

Here are a few pictures from his journey:

Cowboy Austin above the Aegerisee in Switzerland:


Cowboy Austin checks out the mill in Interlaken Switzerland:


Next stop, Cowboy Austin decides which way to go in Andermatt Switzerland:


Wow, look at that the lake in Zurich, Switzerland (a little close to the edge, don't you think?):


Hiking the Wanderweg near Triberg Germany:


and Cowboy Austin checks out the highest waterfalls in Germany:


Austin is very excited to see where Cowboy Austin ends up next.

(if you click on the pictures, see if you can find Cowboy in each picture.

Swimming

The kids have enjoyed going swimming as much as they can at the pool. Austin took swimming lessons at our local high school and did great. He's able to swim a 50 yard lap freestyle without stopping. Ryleigh is very comfortable in the water and likes her arm floaties....

Lost a Tooth

Austin lost his first tooth on the 24th. He received a book "The Moose's loose tooth" and two gold dollar coins. He was very excited!

Stuck

Geo whating????

Today we went Geocaching again. As a small reminder, this is a "sport" where you use your GPS to find hidden treasure. Fact: there are over 350,000 "things" hidden all over the world. Today we found two. Both were in Point Lobos. The other day we found a couple, and we also "hid" our own cache (pronouced cash). Usually it is a box, or a tupperware with a log in it to write your name, and then some little items like coins, or marbles or whatever to trade. So you take "swag" with you and trade.

There are also trackable items that have tracking numbers on them called Travel bugs. We started a couple and one of ours: Cowboy Austin is already on the move....Here he is, ready for travel:

The people that picked him up logged that they are going to be taking him on a 757 airplane and will drop him in a cache wherever they are going. We (especialy Austin) can't wait to see where he goes.

There is a website that does all the tracking of your finds and your travelbugs travels. We are thorougly addicted. We are also happy because it is getting us outside as a family with a purpose, seeing beautiful areas just in our backyard.

Austin is receiving his own GPS in the mail probably tomorrow....we figured that he would have more fun carrying his own, so we got him a used Garmin Etrex Legend for $80 on Ebay.

Today my mom even came along for the adventure.

The seals below on the beach....momma's and babies.

Checking out the cache...what no log????

Moss telling us which way to go....

Oh, and remember this day, way back in 2005, wowwee....it seems like forever ago, but today was the first day we used the "Potty on the Go" and it worked out perfectly. Ryleigh gives it a two thumbs up!