Hiking, biking and geocaching

I'm trying to get caught up so I'm having to combine a few things into one post. We've had a pretty busy summer and have been able to fit some fun things in as a family.  Sam and I have talked a lot about what we can do to teach our children to be active and love spending time outside. We've decided that the best way is for us to get out and do these things as a family. Following are some pictures and I will try to explain as we go.

Ruth Lake

Sam had July 5th off so we decided to head out to the Mirror Lake Highway and hike into a lake that someone had told us about as a good family hike. It was beautiful and we took along our fishing gear. Sarah really likes fishing with her Disney Princess fishing pole and will cast and reel back in for hours. She hasn't caught anything yet but that doesn't seem to diminish the experience for her.

Sam and I have an interest in cycling. Sam of course has participated in some races but it had been years since I was on my bike. For our anniversary this year, Sam arranged for the girls to stay at my brother Adam's house and we had almost 24 hours of time to spend together. We went and saw a movie about cycling and then went to dinner. The next morning we had Bountiful Baskets but after we were done we were seeing all these people out on their bikes. Sam suggested we go for a ride and I jumped at the chance. It took a little while to get my bike ready to ride after five years sitting in the garage. I was a little nervous because it had been quite awhile but it was great. I don't have any pictures (you don't want to see me in my cycling shorts anyway) but it was a fun thing that we did this summer.

A couple of days before that we had the opportunity to see a stage finish for the Tour of Utah. The finish line was right outside of the building Sam works in. I drove down with the girls and we all went down to watch the riders come in. I didn't realize just how fast they would be flying by, especially during the sprint. It was also fun to try my hand at getting some action shots with my camera.

Sprinting to the finish

This is George Hincapie. We have been watching him race with Lance Armstrong for years at the Tour de France. He is an amazing cyclist and it was so much fun to see him ride in person. I didn't even know that I had gotten this shot until I looked at the pictures later.

The cyclist in the middle in the black and yellow of the Trek Livestrong team is Chase Pinkham. Sam worked with his dad at Perfect Practice MD and at Mediconnect. Chase is 18 years old and is a professional cyclist. He spent the summer riding all over Europe. He is an amazing kid and we are looking forward to watching him develop and hopefully be very successful.

Waiting for the racers to come in.

Sarah thought the whole thing was pretty fun especially since they were giving out free ice cream samples, but Lily didn't have a very good time.

Sarah loves to ride her scooter and really likes going down hill. She makes me nervous sometimes but at least she wears her helmet.

We have also done some geocaching this summer. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's like a high tech treasure hunt. You go onto a website and download the GPS coordinates of a place where someone has hidden a box or "cache".  Caches come in different sizes, anything from boxes to micro caches that are little tiny tubes.  Inside the cache there is usually a log book to sign and date and in larger caches there sometimes are little items to be traded. You take what is there and leave something equal or better. There are geocache sites all over the world.  It's a fun way to get out and see things and places that you wouldn't even know about otherwise. We have been doing ones close to home so far. There are many just here in Kaysville. 

You are supposed to be careful and not let anyone see you find the cache. Unfortunately people are not very considerate and will steal or vandalize a cache. You make up a code name to use on the website and to sign the log books. Our family has one but it's a secret! The bandanas in the pictures have something to do with our code name.

Finding the cache

This is a micro cache

Heading off to find the next one.

This friendly horse got a little too close for Lily's comfort.

We have had so much fun this summer and we hope that as we stay active our kids will want to go out and run, hike, bike, geocache and stay active all of their lives.