GilmourFamily – GilmourFamily Geocaching Blog

Goodbye 2019 Hello 2020

January 1, 2020Posted in Geocaching AdventuresTagged 2019, 2020, back in the game, blogging, Cache, caches, caching, East Yorkshire, family, Family day out, Family fun, fun, Geocache, Geocachers, Geocaching, Geocaching HQ, GilmourFamily, Jennifer Gilmour, life, New Year, New Year’s Day, New Year’s Eve, Riley, Robyn, sophie, souvenirs, The Gilmours, walk, walking, YorkshireLeave a comment

When we found out there were souvenirs to be claimed on the last day of 2019 and the first day of 2020; we couldn’t avoid the urge.

Souvenirs in the Geocaching world are like digital badges on your profile and throughout your Geocaching adventures, sometimes there will be a challenge set to achieve them and sometimes it will because you found a cache in a different country.

To claim the individual souvenirs we had to find one cache on each day and I am glad to say that we DIT IT! We actually did it in 2018 as well but in 2017 we only managed to claim one as we were away.

New Year’s Eve and we managed to find a Geocache very local to us, we like to keep a few for emergency caching. Thankfully we can find micro’s nice and easy now. Our last cache of 2019 was Priory Road Cache and Dash (GC676GF).

Our caching year totals so far:

2017- 191

2018- 134

2019- 102

Despite the decline in finds we absolutely love Geocaching and 2020 we are going to aim to increase our finds. Things are a little different as we are now a family that works from home full time. We are looking forward to 2020.

2020 arrived and Rob is going to remind us all of this moment, the first find of the new year. A quick magnetic find and not that far from us, we were near Riplingham. 100 yards (GC6RKAD).

We didn’t stop there, we went on to find three more and had a lovely fresh New Years Day walk. We would have done more but it was a bitter cold despite the sun shining bright on us.

You can see they were all excited to be back out caching again but it can get competitive. Your dog will like this one (GC6RK9R).

Two new badges and an exciting caching year ahead planned.

The Gilmours

Pottery Painting

October 19, 2019Posted in Geocaching AdventuresTagged activity, Ariel, blogging, family, family activity, Family fun, fun, GilmourFamily, gnome, Hull, Kingston Upon Hull, life, paint, painting, pottery, pottery painting, Rob, Robyn, Tea & Bisque-it, tea light holder, toddler, Willerby, YorskshireLeave a comment

We have been to paint some pottery and it’s not something I have done since I was a child myself. Our eldest (Sophie) had been as part of a party and so we decided we should take Robyn and Riley on separate dates and enjoy some time. We usually do things together as a family and sometimes we forget to have that quality time together.

We went along to Tea & Bisque-it which is in Willerby and not that far from us.

Robyn was very excited at the thought and had no trouble in picking what she wanted to paint, Ariel. I chose a tealight holder and Rob chose a small gnome. Robyn was the first to get stuck in with her painting.

We enjoyed some light lunch whilst we were there and had a pleasant time. The food was delicious and we can recommend trying their desserts, especially the bonoffee cookie chessecake.

We were worried at thinking Robyn may not understand that we have to leave her Ariel to be finished but she absolutely fine and couldn’t wait to see what it would look like.

A week later and we went to pick up our pottery, it was actually ready way before then but we didn’t have the time to collect.

Here were the results:

We were so pleased with the outcome and will certainly be going back again. We found the pottery painting relaxing and it was in a nice environment with good food and friendly staff.

The Gilmours.

Egg Rolling Geocaching Event

May 5, 2019Posted in Geocaching AdventuresTagged blog, blogging, Decorate, Easter, Easter Egg Rolling, Easter fun, egg rolling, events, family, Family fun, Free, fun, Geocaching, GilmourFamily, kids, life, Pokemon, Riley, Robyn, sophie, The Gilmours, travel, weekend, Wonder Woman, youtube, youtubersLeave a comment

So we mentioned the Egg Rolling Geocaching event in a recent previous blog post and we thought we better share what we got up to with you all.

We went along on Easter Sunday and it was our second year to visit this much loved event. It’s so much fun and the kids were looking forward to it. We decided to get rubber eggs this year, a tad naughty, we just wanted to have some extra fun. Each of us decorated our eggs as you can see, they are placed in age order as well.

Both sides were decorated, above are the reverse of the eggs. I think you will agree that we all put some great effort into them.

Egg Rolling is basically to roll an egg down the hill and to see which one gets the farthest. We wanted to share the fun with you so have put together a short video for you all…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7xoKHpu9wQ&w=560&h=315]

Unfortunately I had an influx of work and had to do some traveling but now I am back I am able to update you on our happenings. I have a few draft blog posts ready to go and so you should hear from us again soon.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Jennifer

Snowday Funday

February 10, 2019Posted in Family AdventuresTagged blogging, daughter, East Yorkshire, family, Frozen, fun, GilmourFamily, hubby, Hull, Jennifer Gilmour, kids, life, love, montage, Riley, Robyn, sledge, sledging, snow, snowball fight, snowballs, snowday, snowing, snowman, sophie, The Gilmours, weather, weekend, youtubeLeave a comment

Last weekend we had so much fun in the little snow that came to us in Hull, East Yorkshire. Grabbing the sledges out of the shed that we had bought on offer last year it was time to finally use them… and what fun we had!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utL3dvYAue0&w=560&h=315]

The Gilmour’s

Geocaching Appreciation Week 2019 – #IHeartGCHQ

January 27, 2019Posted in Geocaching AdventuresTagged Cache, caches, daughter, East Yorkshire, family, family cachers, fun, Geocache, Geocachers, Geocaching, Geocaching Appreciation Week, Geocaching HQ, GilmourFamily, healthy, hobby, Jennifer Gilmour, kids, life, love, Riley, Robyn, sophie, The Gilmours, therapy, trail, travel, walking, weekend, youtube2 Comments

This blog was prompted by The Geocaching Vlogger, his video on declaration of an appreciation week for Geocaching HQ. We wanted to join in somehow and so the least we can do is write a blog post. In fact it’s the first one of 2019, we need to get back in on it. The Gilmour’s have done plenty of New Year Caching after all.

I’m going to try and not be so sentimental but I think it’s unavoidable. Here’s my message to Geocaching HQ…

Thank you doesn’t cut it for us because Geocaching has brought a lot to our lives. We have been caching for almost 2 years, in fact as soon as we discovered it we went out to cache. At first we enjoyed it, we couldn’t believe this was across the world and around us and then after time went by we realised what a difference it’s made to us. The time we went out caching was a way of escaping the reality of our lives at times, a way to get healthy and a way to spent time working as a team in our family unit. I used to laugh at those shirts that said ‘Geocaching is my therapy’ and then I came to realise that we could even relate to this. Escapism from my reality was important and still is at times, still recovering from an abusive relationship from some years ago. I do love nature and used to go walking a lot but it became difficult as it ended up thinking over situations etc all the time. Geocaching gives you a focus. Not many people know about my connection with Geocaching like this, so it’s quite personal. Thank you again HQ.

Our three children growing up with caching, this photo was from a couple of weeks ago.

This was a first family photo on our first Geocaching trail back in 2017.

Find out more about the Geocaching Appreciation week from Joshua himself…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQhzVhEfefg&w=560&h=315]

We have some blog posts ready to share so watch out for those coming out soon. Subscribe if you haven’t already so you don’t miss them.

Jen and the rest of the Gilmour’s

Urban Legends: Northern Lights

December 1, 2018Posted in Family AdventuresTagged Absolutely Cultured, art, family, Free, Gilmour, GilmourFamily, Hull, Hull 2017, Hull City Centre, Jennifer Gilmour, kids, Northern Lights, Urban LegendsLeave a comment

Friday 30th and the Gilmour’s set out into Hull City Centre for the Urban Legends: Northern Lights. It’s only on until the 2nd December and so we thought going on a Friday may be quieter, especially with three children to walk around and get good views.

A FREE event to enjoy on an autumn evening.

We started at the Hull Minster which was indoors and a mesh like screen which made the display look 3D, I have shared some of the footage in the video if you keep scrolling down. It was fascinating but our three year old found it scary and we didn’t stay long, there is also a one way system which you don’t realise until you try and get out. It wasn’t a good start to our evening but we persevered and it was worth it.

An interactive walkway proved popular for our three children and it was rather impressive as you walked almost the whole length of Parliament Street. Rob and I rather enjoyed it as well, the sound effects and change in the walkway, it was a beautiful and colourful display.

A teepee in the Queens Gardens with a projection from the inside out and I was delighted to see a signer for the hearing impaired.

A colourful pattern display in King Edwards Square was again lovely to watch but our favourite has got to be…

Oh the night!

We were very excited to see a fox feature in the story and the older children were able to follow the wording of the story. An amazing choir that brought it to life even more and lasting around 15 minutes. Check out the video below.

We didn’t however take advantage of the 3 shop windows on Whitefriargate due to having the pram for our youngest and not wanting to fight the crowd. If you get a chance to go and you have children, try and get there earlier in the day and check out Whitefriargate first, considering to not take a pram may be the best option for viewing on this area.

Enjoy…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba5F_BDfY6A&w=560&h=315]

The Gilmour’s.

YouTubers we watch…

November 2, 2018Posted in Geocaching AdventuresTagged blippi, channels, family, Geocaching, GilmourFamily, mickey mouse, miranda sings, streaming, the geocaching vlogger, the redmen tv, the tim tracker, youtube, youtubersLeave a comment

OK. So we thought we would share some of the YouTubers we watch because over the last year we have some YouTubers that we watch weekly (and even daily). Some are as a family and some individually.

Click on the pictures to be taken to their channel.

We probably have to mention the Geocaching HQ YouTube channel because of our love for Geocaching and with this been an official channel.

As a family we watch the following YouTube channels:

The Geocaching Vlogger (in fact we are also Patreons of his). Watch Joshua as he caches all over the place, going to some of the most favourited and unusual caches. Joshua usually posts weekly, I think our favourite video to date is the Unicorn Farts video.

2. The Tim Tracker. We discovered this channel when watching some Disney videos in preparation for our trip to Florida and of course Disney World. They got us excited and we enjoyed watching them on the build up, we still try to keep up to date but it does tease us a little 😉 They usually post daily and have done Q&A’s over live streaming, a couple who have got the perfect balance on their updates.

I recently completed the two series of ‘Haters Back Off’ on Netflix, it follows Miranda Sings who is trying to become famous initially with her talent of singing. Miranda starts her own YouTube channel, when I went looking up for a series three I came across an actual channel for the fictitious character (genius).

Rob is a football fan and watches this channel which is for the team he has supported for many years, Liverpool FC. They show news, previews, interviews and more on The Redmen TV.

Sophie and Riley love watching the new Mickey Mouse cartoon episodes.

Robyn absolutely loves Blippi which we came across randomly one day, now he is a known channel in our house. Blippi will go around play areas, childrens museums and points of interest and incorporates childrens learning in his episodes. He has catchy songs and introduction.

What YouTubers do you watch? Do you wait for their next upload?

We also have a channel but just for fun and we don’t have a schedule, you will see some of our blog posts linked to a video.

Enjoy tuning into these channels and we hope you enjoy them as much as us.

Jennifer, Rob, Sophie, Riley & Robyn.

Our new Geocaching tool…

June 30, 2018Posted in Geocaching AdventuresTagged Cache, caches, family, fun, Geocaching, GilmourFamily, hubby, life, love, NE Geocaching Supplies, Riley, Robyn, sophie, stamp, tool, trail, walkingLeave a comment

A couple of weekends ago we were super excited to try out our new tool for Geocaching. We had ordered it back in May and it had arrived in all of its glory a week or so ago and we have been itching to give it a go!

Our very own stamp with our Geocaching username in place. It’s actually for a letterbox hybrid Geocache.

Geocaches have different types as follows:

You can find out more about the different types of Geocaches here.

We didn’t go and find a letterbox hybrid this weekend though but that didn’t stop us from using it. We went on a small section of a larger trail and decided to log our finds with it.

This is the loop we did without the multi as it wasn’t part of the trail. Multi’s we have to plan when we have the children especially if there are a lot of stages to go and find clues so we will have to come back for that one.

We had a lovely time and the kids enjoyed it. The stamp came out to play and it is going to be well used in the future. Thank you to NE Geocaching Supplies.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otVUqZfv3-w&w=560&h=315]

The walk we did we had to take it in turns to use the stamp and I think the excitement was over our family name all over it.

One of the Geocaches we found Sophie wanted to be filmed finding and opening it. We couldn’t refuse of course. So here’s the video…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy35RJCTY6M&w=560&h=315]

Our aluminium coins are always complimented on and we leave our calling card in all Geocaches that they fit into. You can buy them here ETSY.

Right we need to get ready for our next adventure and will update you soon!

From us all