Happy Independence Day, with some geocaching!

We had a wonderful 4th of July this year! We started out by participating in the "Freedom Walk", which had been initiated by the Betteridge families a few years ago. We walked from their homes to the church building where a tri-ward pancake breakfast was being held.




On the way there, Craig and Bonnie were talking about going to find a few University Place geocaches. I, of course, jumped right in and said that I would love to join them. So after eating we slipped away from the church and headed back to our cars.

(Just in case other geocachers visit my site, I will not mention exact locations. Although, you UP-ers will probably guess just by the pictures. :))

The first one we hit took us about 15 seconds to find. We were hoping this would be the beginning of our lucky streak.


The next one took us about 25 minutes to find, it was so well hidden. But eventually, I found it.


The next one was a bit tricky, but Craig eventually deciphered the clue and found it.


The next location wasn't too hard to find, but the cache itself took quite a few minutes of looking. We had almost given up when I found it, quite accidentally. Hurray!


After dropping my kids off at Gramma Mason's, we headed back out to find a few more. This first one was a really easy find. And it had some geocoins in it.



The next one was also pretty easy. . . for Sophia! :) I had looked in the spot but didn't notice the "hidden" cache. Sophia noticed it because of the clue. Good thinking, Sophia!



The last one of the day we didn't find. :( It was our first "not found", and we were a little sad we couldn't find it, but we think it may not have actually been there. Oh well. I had super fun anyway!

Now, back to the 4th of July celebrations! After picking up Brooklyn, I headed to Jen Blessing's parent's house for a BBQ and some swimming! Jen is a friend from my high school days, and after running into each other a few years ago, we've tried to keep in touch by hanging together whenever I'm in Tacoma.



It was great spending time with her and her family, but we still had plenty of things to do today, so off we went to Kara's. Once they had finished their dinner, we all headed down to the Dooley's cul de sac to hang out with friends and set off fireworks!





Fun was had by all, and it was a great ending to a fantastic day.

Happy Independence Day everyone!