What a Way to Start!

It was a long, long week at work. One of our paid holidays is Good Friday and we were all in vacation frame of mind all week and as a result it just dragged by. But Thursday afternoon finally arrived and I made a beeline for Downingtown. I needed to pick Milkmonster up at his daycare because his daddy now had the stomach virus that Milkmonster had the weekend before. I have so many happy times with my grandson but I have to admit that one of the most rewarding experiences is the look of joy on his little face when he recognizes me. He usually comes running with open arms which he flings around my legs and hugs as tight as he can. Then the routine is that I pick him up and he gives me kisses and more hugs. He can brighten any day with just his wonderful warm welcome. But, he is a little boy and soon squirms to get out of my arms. I had brought his Easter gifts along with me and had attached two helium balloons to the gift bag which, of course, he spotted as soon as we got in the car. I wouldn't have needed to get him anything else, the balloons were enough to keep him happy and occupied for hours!

We went to pick up his mommy and then enjoyed a wonderful dinner out. Afterwards we visited the local Toys R Us store so that Out of Sight could get some Easter presents for Milkmonster. While we were there, I spotted a huge stuffed Elmo, you know, the big red character on Sesame Street, and Nicholas' most favorite TV personality in the whole wide world, and I just had to get it for my little guy. He was so funny sitting in the shopping cart seat with an Elmo who is bigger than him sitting right next to him. Out of Sight says that he has been wrestling with Elmo all weekend, sometimes Elmo ends up on top and sometimes Milkmonster wins.

Friday morning, before daylight, I started out to begin my letterboxing weekend by heading towards Tyler Park. Every time that I think I have most of the boxes there, a whole new batch of them get planted and I can spend an entire day without ever leaving the park. By the time that I left this day, I only have three more to get so I will have to wait for another planting spree before making another visit there. But before I got there, I did stop to pick up the first of my two covered bridge box finds - the Van Sant Covered Bridge and also found another teensy tinsy Cyclonic box, The Yardley Yeti . While I was searching for these boxes, I had a preview of what the weather for the day would be like. It was cold and windy. And that is not an understatement. It was frigid cold and windy. Bitter cold and windy. But fortunately, I had brought along a huge assortment of clothing so I felt that I would be able to face almost anything.

I got to the park, and not surprisingly, I was almost alone there most of the day. There were a few groups of people running the trails but I appeared to be the only one who was out to just enjoy a day at the park. As I pulled into the first parking lot, I was greeted by these two little birds who obligingly remained still long enough for me to snap a couple of fuzzy pictures. Don't have a clue what kind of birds they are but I am sure that my birdwatching friends will tell me soon enough! After seeing them, I began to collect my boxes. My finds included a WOM box, two as yet unlisted boxes (I have to admit to being very startled to find that these boxes had been found accidentally and the finders were very upset that there were no first finder prizes in them since I wasn't aware that FTF prizes were now mandatory, especially for accidental finds!), two more of Dogs with Wings Miyazaki collections - No Face which was in an absolutely perfect hiding spot and Tree Sprites , Sewsowbizzy's Tippecanoe and Tyler 2.1 , Hikers 'n Hounds Battle of the Bands - Mystery Artist , MizScarlet's BOB - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For , the 4 Little Piggies little lost Teddy in the Woods and one more of Crazy Dogs covered bridge boxes, The Schofield Ford Bridge . I was also able to do some maintenance on one of my Battle of the Band boxes, Hound Dog . I almost was not able to find this box because it definitely was not in the spot where I had placed it, in fact, it was almost 6 feet away from that spot.

By this time, I was pretty tired and cold and decided that it was time to head for home. Dogs with Wings and I had agreed to meet at 4 the next morning to pay State College a visit and it was time to prepare for that and savor the finds for this day.