Lockdown – GilmourFamily Geocaching Blog

Geocaching in Edwinstowe

August 29, 2020Posted in Geocaching AdventuresTagged 2020, Church, covid19, Edwinstowe, Geocache, Geocachers, Geocaching, holiday, Lockdown, Maid Marian, Mansfield, Mini Break, Nottinghamshire, Robin Hood, Sherwood, Sherwood Forest, St Marys, statue, The GilmoursLeave a comment

Just over a week ago we had a mini-break in Nottinghamshire, we felt we needed to have some time away with the lockdown ease. We did everything on a very low budget but knew we needed this time for our family’s mental health, we needed to feel like we weren’t trapped and needed that different scenery.

Nottinghamshire is only an hour and a half away from us, it was just enough of a distance for us. We decided to go here because Rob is called Robin and our youngest is called Robyn, Robyn’s gamer tag includes RobynHood. Obviously, Sherwood Forest was going to be a focus, I hadn’t been for years and I remember going as a child with school. Rob doesn’t remember ever visiting and the three kids hadn’t visited either. Everyone was excited and once we looked at the Geocaching map to see what was around, we knew we were going to have a great time.

Our first find was near what we remember as a historical irrigation system and it had some of its original fixtures in place. Weir is it (GC42KVJ) You may be able to see the cache on the cog if you look closely. A nice easy find for our first find on our break away and we have to say the village had a historical trail with signposting for knowledge. We did stop to read some of the information.

It was a dull day with a mist that got us wet, but we weren’t going to let it dampen our spirits. We walked to the next cache which was a church micro and we loved how the sign point had a voice-controlled by turning the wheel. St Mary’s is said to be where Robin Hood and Maid Marian got married. Church Micro 1526… Edwinstowe (GC495FC) took us a while to find but with Daddy’s undefeated attitude he put his hand within the frame of the sign which was amongst spiders and other creepy crawlies and found the cache.

One reason we stopped in Edwinstowe was that we wanted to find the Robin Hood and Maid Marian statue but it wasn’t there, apparently, a car had collided with it and so it had been removed for repair. It means we will have to visit again in the future. We couldn’t find all the Geocaches in the area either, so we have some to return for.

We also found Going East (GC4J4PX) which felt like a bit farther from the others with the three kids and next to the main road, but we did find it. Edwinstowe is lovely to walk around and worth a visit for the historical reasons and also some light Geocaching.

We will be sharing our finds and adventures of Sherwood Forest soon. Make sure you follow our blog so you don’t miss it.

Jen, Rob & The Gilmour Kids.

Creative Writing Camp by Sophie

August 1, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged 2020, author, Book writing, children's author, covid19, creative writing, fun, group, kidsclub, learn, lessons, Lexi Rees, Lockdown, resource, skills, Sophie Gilmour, Sophies book, spoiler alert, story, story in a week, writing, writing camp, zoom1 Comment

I joined in Lexi Rees’ Creative Writing Camp in July, it was amazing.

Lexi guided us from day 1 to day 5 through the amount of writing we all needed and planing ideas. The aim was to write a book in a week, we joined in on Zoom sessions each day

I had so much fun writing it with help from Lexi and my mum who gave great ideas of describing how the room would look like or who the characters were. The best part was the writing because it was endless of describing the characters and the place they were in.

On day 1 everyone made this planning roller coaster with our ideas of how we wanted the story to go once we did we started to write our first to paragraphs.

SPOILER ALERT!!

I managed to make a good-sized story thankfully, I haven’t written the whole story here because you need to find out in the future!!

My story was about a princess and king who are about to eat their garlic cheese bread. Nuria starts to choke and they hear a noise. The figure finally appears and takes the kings priceless crown. Nuria finds a map, they go to the X marks the spot at the spooky cave. I will stop there because I want to publish the book itself.

I rate the group 5/5 for giving me ideas and helping develop writing skills.

Also great group Lexi, it was so much fun and something to do during lockdown and without my brother and sister annoying me; it relaxed and focused me so thank you for letting me do it.

This course was gifted in the exchange for a review and feedback but I loved it so much that I have joined the How to be a Journalist starting on the 10th August. Find out more about it here.

Sophie

This course was perfect for Sophie, it helped her imagination but also gave her the stages you need to write a book. I really enjoyed how the story began with printable activities. As a parent in lockdown, this was an affordable course that kept giving, Sophie made a friend within the week and it gave us a little break as well. The fact that Lexi is an author herself makes it even more of a worthy investment. We are a part of her Kids Club and this is a fun and educational resource.

-Sophie’s mum (Jen)

20 years of Geocaching

May 11, 2020Posted in Geocaching AdventuresTagged 2020, Blue Switch Day 2020, Cache, caching, corona, coronavirus, countryside, Geocache, Geocachers, Geocaching, Lockdown, lockdown activity, lockdown fun, mental health, The Gilmours, walkLeave a comment

On Saturday we went out for the first time in seven weeks as a family and most importantly doing what we love the most… Geocaching. We needed to see something other than the four walls of our home, inside our car or the shops.

We didn’t realise there was a souvenir to grab in aid of Blue Switch Day 2020 which is to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Geocaching. It made it even more special for our time out of the house during lockdown.

The kids have only been out twice since lockdown commenced, of course there’s the backgarden. Rob and I only go out once a week and are both careful as explained I have two auto-immune diseases and other health problems, I am not on the vulnerable list but am susceptible to getting things so we have made sure to be extra safe.

We loved to see the green in the trees and the grass growing as well as spotting the wild flowers, bugs and birds. My eyes felt refreshed and pleased, such an odd feeling.

We found five caches and only came across a handful of people, we used hand sanitiser after every cache was handled just to be safe. On our first cache we gained the souvenir badge and we were all delighted especially as we miss Geocaching so much.

I have to be honest with you and say that for me personally it helps my mental health, I can get away from the reality of life and get soaked into the game whilst walking and discovering new areas around us.

We all want to send you our best wishes and hope you are keeping safe during the coronavirus outbreak.

Jen & co.

Drive around scavenger hunt- FREE printable

April 21, 2020Posted in Family AdventuresTagged 2020, activity, coronavirus, Covid-19, downloadable, drive around scavenger hunt, driving, family activity, Hull, Jennifer Gilmour, Kingston Upon Hull, Lockdown, lockdown activity, lockdown fun, Riley, Robyn, scavenger hunt, sophie, The Gilmours, tick boxLeave a comment

Yesterday we took the kids out the front door for the first time in a few weeks because of lockdown. As a family, we have tried to be as safe as we can in lockdown by Rob and I going out once a week. I have two auto-immune diseases and a few other health conditions, I am susceptible to picking things up and last year had ten rounds of antibiotics. The kids have been in the back garden a lot and we have done lots of activities but we felt it was time to take a drive out.

Anyway, we miss Geocaching and so I thought we could do a drive around scavenger hunt whilst we did some errands. I made it so that Robyn could understand it with the little pictures next to it, all you have to do is tick the box when you find it. Robyn wasn’t in the mood to join in but did right at the end of our journey when Sophie and Riley had completed theirs.

GilmourAdventures Scavenger Hunt Printable

It’s not the best printable in the world because its what I drew myself but I hope it comes in use. The kids loved it and we had a special extra at the end which was put onto a sticker, it was “family member”. We drove by my dads and he came to see them from a safe distance to wave, it made their day and mine.

I don’t think the kids have ever been so excited to go on a little car trip. We did see an awesome 911copcar on our journey as well. We are going to share our adventure on TikTok later today.

Remember to stay safe.

Jen, The Gilmours

We’re on TikTok

April 12, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged 2020, coronavirus, Covid-19, dance, just for fun, Lockdown, media, platform, Riley, Robyn, social, sophie, The Gilmours, TikTok1 Comment

That’s right, we are on TikTok.

To be honest we joined last year but had only used it a few times. Lockdown meant we have had more time to scroll and more time to be creative. The kids have had “dance” lessons and I am sure more to come. It’s just a bit of fun.

You can find us at @GilmourFamily

Hope to see you over there.

The Gilmours

Bringing graffiti indoors

April 5, 2020April 5, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged 2020, activity, colouring, coronavirus, Covid-19, fun, graffiti, Graffiti Artist, Instagram, Legal Graffiti, local, Lockdown, No Hone, Riley, Robyn, sharpie, sharpies, sophie, The Gilmours2 Comments

Local graffiti artist No Hone came up with a fab idea to bring graffiti indoors whilst we are in lockdown. No Hone is takings children’s names and making them into graffiti-style colour sheets.

Sophie, Riley and Robyn had so much creative fun in colouring them in. I even let them have the sharpies and the finished by laminating them and putting them on their bedroom doors.

And here’s the result…

If you would like your childs name made into a graffiti outline simply get in touch with No Hone, see the details below:

Hope you are coping ok with lockdown.

The Gilmours