Have you ever heard of geocaching? Most people have heard of it but haven’t tried it. My first exposure to geocaching was reading a course description on my city’s parks board months ago. From that moment I was hooked.  If you are looking for ways to keep children entertained wouldn’t the following description be enticing? “A worldwide game of hiding and seeking treasure using technology.” Treasure hunting at any age ~ what’s not to like?

Unable to register my boys for the course – the wonderful geocaching duo behind Geocaching101 were introduced to me and spoiled myself and my boys to a personal introduction to Geocaching this afternoon. I wanted to share the experience immediately because it was so beneficial and rewarding. Literally, I’ve done nothing else but look up caches in my area since coming home from the outing. I can understand why there’s a warning on most geocaching sites about possible addictions. =)  I think I’ve caught the bug and it’s great this new activity will be relatively inexpensive and so healthy for my children and family. For anyone struggling with keeping older kids entertained and away from TV, computers, and video games this summer – learning how to geocache may just be your ticket to enjoying the next few months outdoors.

Before I start on my rant about boys and electronics I’ll remember I’ve already written about this. It’s a daily battle with all my kids to keep them focused on nature and activities rather than jumping onto the computer or firing up the Wii. With geocaching it’s two wonderful worlds colliding for children – electronic GPS system (or iphone app) and treasure hunting in nature. Really, what isn’t to like?  Only…in a child’s mind it gets better….they are hunting treasures. And this isn’t the point of geocaching and shouldn’t be an important part of your geocaching experience, but let’s just think like children for a moment ~ and once they are told they’ll be discovering treasure – they are very exited! Once you have loaded the coordinates into your GPS or iphone and located the cache – usually there is a log book so they can sign their name and swap trinkets. Yes, the trinkets are normally plastic because they need to be permeable to wet weather, but the children are simply thrilled by this aspect of geocaching. The thrill for many children and adults is the adrenaline rush of the ‘find’.  Getting close to the cache, resisting the need to check the clue, then searching around for that perfectly hidden cache is the true thrill of geocaching. And it’s so exciting to find the cache…but knowing there are treasures inside was exciting for my boys today and we even found a cache located at a park 2 blocks from our house after we got home…without the asssitance of a GPS. Just putting our postal code into the ‘hide and seek’ section of the www.geocaching.com site we found a cache very easily and will try this route because we don’t have a GPS system or iphone. My boys left hockey cards and even my girls were excited by the treasures.

If this information feels overwhelming, just post a comment to this article and we’ll help you out. I slightly begged Anthony and Gwen to further develop private geocaching tours because I’d love to take my boys and their buddies (and parents) on a geocaching expedition. If you ask around your friend base, hopefully you’ll be lucky enough to find someone that can show you the geocaching ropes. Once you discover the magic – it’s hard to go back to being a Muggle. Umm yes, the activity of geocaching even has reference to ‘Muggles’ which as we know from Harry Potter refers to people that are non-wizards or in this case, non-geocachers. In the log notes that are left after discovering a cache, nearby people that aren’t aware of geocaching, are referred to as Muggles and in our house right now, there isn’t a more cool topic that anything referencing Harry Potter and wizards.

I will be writing more over the next few months on geocaching. I strongly urge any mom looking for an activity for children to register for free at the geocaching site: www.geocaching.com. First you create a free account, then you click on the ‘hide & seek a cache’ tab and submit your postal code.  You’ll be surprised how close a cache may be to your home. Check it out by downloading to a GPS or using the iphone application or just try finding it on your own using Google Maps or the directions located within the cache. Here are some pictures and highlights of the fun we experienced this afternoon!

Locating our first cache. We were so lucky it was an official, large cache box – it had awesome clues and coordinates and funny enough – it was hidden near a spot my boys have played next to for years!

Another cache we found was hidden in the bottom of a 10 foot high tree stump and covered with a piece of bark. This type of coverage is referred to as geocaching bark – I’ll never look at carefully placed bark again without assuming there are treasures beneath it.

When I first read about geocaching I really assumed it was for older children. But after spending the day with Anthony & Gwen Floyd and @seanfunk’s family – I know that like anything…really fun activies that are discovered with an entire family are the best. We had toddlers on our geocaching tour today and they were incredibly well-behaved and excited by this activity. Read more about geocaching with toddlers here. The below picture is of Anthony with his little guy in the backpack  - both were happy as could be!

Our 2nd to last cache found was a magnet stuck under a park bench. The two muggles that were sitting on the bench as over 10 people excitedly approached was pretty funny. They had no idea what we were doing – but Angelo was super excited to find a very small cache stuck underneath the bench.

I feel so lucky to be introduced to so many fun activities in a quest to keep my kids engaged in nature. Thank you to Gwen, Anthony, and @seanfunk - it was a great day and launching pad for discovering caches with my kids.

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Ultimate Eco Activity For Your Family

We’ve been back at home for a full week and I’m still enjoying the relaxation my spirit and body desperately needed and received from our Parksville vacation.  We kept very busy with the kids for the first half of our trip, but thanks to the family friendly amenities offered from the Tigh-Na-Mara resort, we spent most of the second half of our trip relaxing and spending time with our kids. 

Saving the best for last, Ray and I enjoyed an evening of pampering from the Grotto Spato celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary on July 17th. Thanks to the babysitting services offered from the Tigh-Na-Mara, we skipped away to enjoy 4 hours of heavenly relaxation at the Grotto Spa and Treetop Tapas & Grill. We were supplied with 2 babysitters that our children were already comfortable with because of getting to know them earlier in the week during activities like “kids club” & “dinner and a movie”.  It was just so lovely to leave our bungalow without any kids upset because they were already engaged by Kelly and Leah. As a mom – getting to enjoy my massage and time alone with Ray, knowing our kids were happy, content and well taken care of was wonderful. I was so incredibly relaxed after my massage, I couldn’t even remember I was a mother of 4 <grin>.  We had no idea Grotto Spa was one of the top spa facilities in Western Canada when we booked our vacation.  It was an absolutely wonderful and magical discovery once we walked through the doors.

We were delighted with the 5 star level of pampering we received at Grotto Spaand like the rest of the Tigh-Na-Mara resort, the customer service was simply amazing.  My hour long massage flew by because I was chatting with my Spa angel who was an Island local. It was so good to chat with someone who has lived their whole life on Vancouver Island. The business model of sourcing and supporting everything local is well demonstrated throughout the Tigh-Na-Mara and Spa. The Grotto Spa features an amazing organic seaweed skin line made by an Island local.  The Tigh-Na-Mara gift shop is also loaded with local artisans, soaps and bath balms made by a local Sydney company, and candles from Granville Island. Even the art work on display throughout the Spa is locally crafted wood burl art and it’s a special detail that I noticed right away.

Back to our spa escape…. I enjoyed my 60 minute massage, then met Ray in the mineral pool where we spent the next 45 minutes de-toxing in the 2,500 square foot mineral pool, having fun moving between the ‘cool splash cascading waterfall’  and whirlpool in between mineral pool treatments. From there, still in our bath robes, we took the elevator up to the 3rd floor and enjoyed a bottle of wine and endless tapas at the Treetop Tapas & Grill. Our server Richard, was extremely friendly, efficient and knowledgeable about the 20+ different plates of tapas that were brought to our table (our favorites being the cod with shitakee mushroom and the prawn and scallop dish).  We managed to work our way through the entire menu…plus some, finished our bottle of wine, toasted our 10 years together, and mused about the old days as we held hands across the table. We couldn’t have asked for a better way to celebrate our anniversary, just the two of us…thank you “Grotto Spa”…we’ll be back.

When we got back to the bungalow, we were greeted with hugs and kisses and heard about the great time our kids had thanks to Leah and Kelly. The kids couldn’t wait to tell us about their evening. They ate pizza, read books, went on a nature walk and had fun at the playground…sounds like they had almost as much fun as we did. What a way to spend our final day in paradise. It couldn’t have gone better.

I also wanted to mention how Eco-minded the resort is. I can’t help but notice this aspect of a company and the Tigh-Na-Mara is leading the way in all regards. I’ve mentioned their local footprint, but they also offer guests recycling amenities, have greened up their off-site events ~ when dishes cannot be used they use earth-friendly tableware, they don’t use paper towels in the Spa or restaurant bathrooms (cloth towels are washed and reused) and green cleaning supplies for each cabin are on-route to the resort. There are also ‘protected’ arbutus trees that bend and reach into the beautiful Island skies ~ the resort is very respectful of even pruning these beautiful protected trees. End-to-end this resort has it all with family, child, and earth friendly services and attention to details that brought on the WOW factor to guests looking for a resort dedicated to keeping their guests happy and returning year after year.

Ray and I would like to thank all the great staff at the Tigh-Na-Mara resort for making our stay an extremely memorable and enjoyable one. We would especially like to thank Kelly, the marketing coordinator for all her special attention and commitment to ensuring that our stay was top notch. Mission accomplished Kelly.  We can’t wait to return next year – all 4 kids are already asking when are we going back!

Family rating - Parksville and Tigh-Na-Mara get a unanimous 12 thumbs up. 

This article is starting the old fashioned way (pen to paper) - while I look across miles of sandy beach and crystal clear waters.  As I sit in a beach chair on a beautiful sunny day and write this article I am watching my children exploring tidal pools teaming with an abundance of magical sea life, running from one tidal pool to another, splashing and having the time of their lives.  I can’t help but think how lucky we are to be here.  Where are we, you ask? No we’re not in Mexico or Hawaii…we are in beautiful Parksville, British Columbia on Vancouver Island, such a magical place and just a short drive and ferry ride from our home.  In this day and age, with the economy and the environment being what it is, vacationing locally just makes sense.  Especially since we live near one of the most beautiful islands on the globe.

Recently voted 10th on a list of top 10 Islands in the world (wow!!) by Travel and Leisure, its’ easy to see why… Vancouver Island is spectacular. A great local, easy get-away for West Coasters and Pacific Northwesters and well worth the travel for families further away.   As for accommodations, we couldn’t have picked a better place for our family.  The Parksville resort Tigh-Na-Mara nestled between the forest and the ocean front in Parksville has elevated what will become an annual vacation for our family.   I’m proud to support a local vacation destination and love the pampering we’ve received.  How awesome to get the entire experience of a sea-side vacation and not have to worry about passports or boarding a plane.  The combination of the Tigh-Na-Mara’s family friendly activities, rustic cabins and award winning dining and spa services seems to have every aspect covered for families that want the combination of family time and adult pampering.

Since arriving here on Saturday, we have gone to a local farm where our children got to ride ponies, milked and then bottle fed that milk to baby goats. We have played mini-golf and gotten soaked on bumper boats equipped with water guns.   We spent an afternoon at the unique Coombs market and had a great lunch on an outdoor patio while goats walk around on the roof eating grass right above us.  The best part is that all this was within 15 minutes of the hotel!

While at the resort, parents are able to relax and watch kids play unscripted in nature with shovels, buckets and imagination in-hand. The perfect environment for families of all ages, but for our family, wonderful because of how safe you feel with young children.  Tigh-Na-Mara is located right at Rathtrevor Beach, where you can walk out into the ocean for a kilometer and still only be ankle deep, which makes it the perfect beach for families with young children.   When the tide goes out it leaves hundreds of tidal pools perfect for toddlers to splash in and big kids to boogie board.

I’ve always thought the concept of ’kid’s clubs’ and babysitting services were only available on cruise lines or all inclusive resorts, but that is not the case.  Tigh-Na-Mara offers a wide variety of family and kid friendly activities during the summer including, swimming and tennis lessons, build your own bear workshops, Campfire stories, cave tours, dinner and movie for kids, qualified baby sitting services and the very impressive ”Tigh-Na-Mara Kids Club” which offers a variety of games, arts and crafts and activities such as treasure hunts and beach tours.  The kids club is safe and supervised by several of the resort’s knowledgable and friendly staff who ensure that all the kids have a great time.  It runs all day and parents can drop off and pick up thier kids at thier convenience.  And did I mention that it is complimentary for hotel guests. Wow…that blew me away.

While the Tigh-Na-Mara keeps your children happy and engaged, high end adult amenities are on-site like the Cedar Dining Room, Copper Lounge, and Grotto Spa.  We have a spa package booked including the Grotto Mineral Pool, infused with natural minerals and elements to detoxify our weary bones <grin>.   Funny, the last time we treated ourselves to this sort of luxury was on our honeymoon in Antigua 10 years ago.  It’s been a busy couple of years creating our wonderful large family…so we are so looking forwards to the spa.  It’s so great to know that childcare is readily available so we can enjoy this time together.

When on vacation, the whole idea is family bonding, spending time concentrating on each other without outside distractions and we have definitely been able to do that. However, it is also important to give the kids some independence and make new friendships while taking some time to enjoy some time alone as a couple.   Ray and I will be celebrating our 10 year anniversary during our stay here and have already booked our spa time followed by a scrumptious meal at the “Treetop Tapas and Grill” which is exclusive to spa guests and where we will be dining in our bath robes.  Needless to say, we don’t do that type of stuff everyday.  The options offered at the Tigh-Na-Mara are truly the best of both worlds. 

We are just half way through our vacation and have three glorious days left.  I may just have to write another post when we get back home.

A sneak peek of the spa.  .  .  I’ve been in love since I saw this picture on the Tigh-Na-Mara’s web site.  This is the kind of natural beauty everyone needs to pamper themselves with occasionally. 

Parents are always looking for creative ways to keep kids happy in the car or when cabin fever strikes on a rainy day.   A great solution is to turn up the music and dance it out with Bobs & Lolo.  Your kids will love the fun songs and won’t realize how much they are learning from the wonderful messages within the lyrics.  Lucky local families can check out this talented duo live at the 3rd annual Family Fair this Sunday (more details below).  Parents from afar might not have heard of these talented gals from BC’s West Coast ~ they are the very special Bobs and Lolo.  They have recently become more accessible with their debut on Treehouse (a national TV network) back in January.  But you don’t need to live on the West Coast to purchase their CDs as their wonderful, inspirational music is widely available online.  Looking for fresh, wholesome, non-commercial, educational, and FUN songs for kids?  Bobs & Lolo sing lyrics with creatively crafted messages about recycling, health, caring about the earth, bugs, science…do I need to say more? Click here for a listing of online stores and retail shops that carry their amazing CDs or DVDs. Click here to listen to a sampling of their award-winning songs. A few titles in this listing include: Friends, Snappy Snacks, Muscles, I Love Bugs, Recycle With Me, and more…..simply adorable.

Lucky families in the Tri-City, Greater Vancouver area, because as parents we know our luck when we hear about a local Bobs and Lolo performance because it’s always a great time for our kids!!  This Sunday while your kids are happy and dancing to Bobs & Lolo, parents can check out the awesome companies showcasing their products and services geared with families in mind.  The event is called the ‘Family Fair’ and it’s happening this Sunday, March 1st, at the North Road Executive Plaza Hotel in Coquitlam. This is the 3rd year for this successful event and during the fair times of 9:30 – 4:00, Bobs & Lolo will be performing 3 times!  Along with the live entertainment, there will be family friendly activities, a Discovery Toy corner, a magician and many tables from exciting local businesses.  How do I have the inside scoop on this?  Green Planet Parties will proudly be displaying our eco-friendly party supplies and gifts ~ a great chance to check us out!  This fair will be a fabulous opportunity for parents to view the unique product lines of estore businesses that have tables at the fair. 

Thanks to Oodles Family Clubhouse we’ve all got a great way to spend this Sunday March 1st!  Children under 12 are free and adults are only $3!  Tables range from the RCMP offering free Child ID Kits to finding more eco-friendly diapers with the folks at G Diapers, to finding a peanut free cake to go along with those beautiful green party decorations & tableware <wink>.  There are also fantastic prizes. See you there ~ and please come by the Green Planet Parties table and say hi.

I’ve just come to the realization that my clan isn’t heading to Disneyland this Fall.  That was the plan, but it won’t happen this year.  Knowing this makes me so thankful for a magical vacation we had late this summer that was so fun and utilized a very local footprint.  We took the advice of many friends and tried Parksville this summer.  It was our first vacation with the entire clan since the girls arrived and it was wonderful.  And if you were to ask my boys, very Disneylandish.  My boys requested the hotel pool every waking hour of every day.  It was the highlight and best part of their trip.  There was also an incredible mini-golf and bumper boat kid’s paradise just down the road… it was awesome.  The boys were happily tucked away with all these fun activities and the girls loved the Parksville beach.  It was the most beautiful sight out our hotel window each morning.  The water went out for miles and left magical tidal pools behind.  Within these pools you would find hundreds of fish, sand dollars, hermit crabs, and rock crabs, by the handfuls.  Every tidal pool had something special to find and I think we found the perfect pet for our family – does a Sand dollar count as a pet?  If so – sign us up!  Very low maintenance which is what we need.

We stayed at a hotel called the The Beach Club.   I’ve been to some pretty nice countries and had beautiful accommodations, but these were the most impressive by far!  They have combined modern design with high functionality for families.  It was unbelievable how nice the rooms were.  A beautiful decorating touch that I really appreciated was instead of artwork, the hotel framed natural, ocean inspired photography of the Parksville beach.  There were pictures of sand dollars, seaweed, rippling of sand, simply amazing pictures that reflected the beautiful balance of the outside, back in from the amazing adventures we had on the beach.  Our room came complete with 2 soaker tubs; amazing beds with fluffy, soft bedding and the kids all begged us to stay extra days.  They were completely at ease there and must have been well exercised because they have never slept so well.

My family practiced a local footprint with our summer vacation this year, and it couldn’t have turned out better!  We barely used any gas to get to Parksville and once we exited the Nanaimo ferry, our drive was only 20 mins to reach the hotel.  Really, does it get any better?  It was such an easy vacation for Ray and I, I’m okay with the fact Disneyland is waiting another year.  We managed to have our Disneyland vacation and not stray too far from home.  Really, with Fall activities, Halloween, and the pumpkin patch waiting for us over the next few weeks – my family is living the Disneyland experience.  Come October 1st, our house will start resembling the ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ and Disney magic will run with abundance.

The girls celebrating their wide open space to run together!