Geocaching: Road to 600

So in case you didn't read all my other posts, Jared and I are big geocachers! Many of our trips camping or otherwise include geocaching. We find it enhances our trips and makes things fun. We not only see beautiful views but we learn a ton historically and educationally.

I've been trying to complete my "Finds in on a day" calendar. Basically, find a geocache for every date of the year, including Leap Year. Here's how I stand to date.

Only 163 more to go!

Naturally, trying to achieve this makes my geocaching find rate go up from 0.3425 caches/day in 2015 to 1.0849 caches/day. You then quickly rack up the numbers. So while it seemed like only yesterday we were celebrating 500 geocaches, 600 was coming up really soon.

Thing was, we had also started a Lord of the Rings themed series while this was all going on. We had found about half of the needed geocaches over subsequent trips. So when Jared came around and asked me if we wanted to not only grab all the rest of them, but to make the Puzzle final my 600th, I was game. There was only one catch...I needed 16 more caches and we only had 10 left in the LOTR series. So we had to make up the extra as we went along. 

But why read about it when you can watch the adventure! Check out the video below to see what the fuss was all about! (Keep in mind, it took us much longer to find the final geocache than 4 minutes, but I clipped most of the stuff out so you won't have to watch 22 minutes of dark screen haha). 

Happy Birthday Prince Charming!

Today is an exciting day. It's Jared's birthday!

It's this hunk's birthday!

Today also marks the four month period where I get to make fun of him by calling him old. :p

But if you would allow me, I'd like to brag on him for a bit. 

1) He is seriously handsome. He's tall dark and handsome and I can seriously not get over the incredible color of his eyes.

2) He is seriously talented. Not only can he fly a plane, but he can build stuff out of nowhere. He can paint, play several instruments, hunt, cook and is a fantastic athlete. He's a renaissance man for the modern day.

3) He's funny. We can be stuck in an airport and he makes it fun. Those are the kind of people you need in your life. Instead of complaining about a situation, you make the situation an adventure.

4) Speaking of adventures, he loves them. I love getting to travel with him and see so many amazing things. He's so good at mixing the right amount of plan with the right amount of spontaneity. He loves history just as much as I do and yes, he has gone on the adventure of Disney with me.

5) He doesn't take himself too seriously. While I'm listening to Disney music he will sing along with me. We go to weddings and he dances with me (even though he thinks he's bad). While I take myself too seriously sometimes, he manages to bring my inner child out and we just have fun together.

6) He listens. Sometimes he can't figure out how to put what I say into action, but he does listen. Knowing that I have his ear and he trusts me allows me to be open about myself in a way I've never thought possible. 

7) He's encouraging. When I'm having a hard day, he notices and tries to encourage me. Even when I am extra stubborn, he doesn't quit on me. That, speaks volumes to me in love. 

I won't do one for every year he's been alive, but he is certainly my Prince Charming. He's a real man who leads well. I never thought I wanted to get married because I loved my independence so much. But being married to Jared has been so much better than going on my own. Thank you for all your love Jared. I'm so glad today we get to celebrate you!

Love,

Your Princess

A New Era

Hello everyone! It's good to be back! Jared and I took a week off of running so that our bodies could recover. We also celebrated Jared's birthday and got massages and we got him a new RC airplane!

It's funny how absence makes the heart grow fonder! I needed to rest to let an injury in my hip flexor heal but man was I actually sick of laying around the house and not exercising!

Now that we are not newbie runners and we have maybe graduated to novices, we are going to start to go faster and stronger now. We have our Turkey Trot 5K in Houston on Thanksgiving morning. My goal is to get under 30 minutes. To do that we are interval training and running faster. Like running...not jogging! Then every Thursday we will run a 5K straight and see how fast we can go!

Today we went 2.48 miles in 30 minutes and boy was it tough! I was having a hard time keeping up with Jared but I know I will be better off for it! Pray for us!

Love always,
Maddie