My New Addiction... LETTERBOXING!

Letterboxing! Yes, I am officially addicted to letterboxing... ask me what I want to do... and this would be it! On Labor Day, I dragged my family with another family to 3 letterboxes! "We" gave one of Sweet Pea's friend a letterboxing kit for her 8 year old birthday... and surprise... her whole family went with us letterboxing! (Did I have an ulterior motive with my gift? Well, maybe they will forgive me since we are friends...) I think I got another family addicted....

Do my kids like it? Well, sometimes... sort of... well, maybe when it is not 90+ degrees when we go letterboxing in the heat of summer. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating a bit...

Letterboxing is a game where you follow clues to a hidden box. Inside the box is a notepad and a stamp, and maybe a stamp pad. You find the box, and stamp their pad with your stamp... then you take their stamp and stamp your pad. It is fun to follow the directions or story to a location, and find a hand-carved stamp. My favorite find so far is a hermit crab stamp, and we saw hermit crabs while looking for the stamp!

You will need:
1) Your own notepad (or one for each family member)
2) Your stamp (you can hand carve one or buy one - we bought ours).
3) A stamp pad (or two)
4) bug spray (some are hidden in mosquito places or really wet, woody places)
5) non-scented baby wipes (to clean off your stamps with)
6) Directions to the letterbox

On our Anniversary Trip to Charleston, we started this new passion... We found officially 4 boxes... and one location (where the box must have been taken - sad!)... and another we did not find... but as Pumpkin said, "it's a clue" about every 5 steps... We even dragged my parents along... they did not stamp anything... but they had fun!

Does my husband like it? Well, you will have to ask him... but he is smart enough to figure out that once I start a hunt... I don't give up easily... and since he calls me "anti-directional" - he has figured out it is better to help me find it than spend all day "looking"....

What did the Prince and I do on our last date night? Well, we had a baby sitter and we went out to a new restaurant... THEN WE WENT LETTERBOXING! Yes, we did! We went to a local cemetery and found a box!!! So, fun... and we looked for another... and could not find it! Sad! Was it fun? I thought so... Did he have fun? You'll have to ask him....

So - what is LETTERBOXING? Well, check out the letterboxing 101 at
www.letterboxing.org - click on the Getting Started tab - to learn more.
www.atlasquest.com - my favorite place to search for letterboxes.

Let me know when you want to go with us!
p.s. These pictures were taken in Downtown Charleston where some boxes were hidden in some people's lawns in the historical district (with their permission)!