letterboxing ... old school geocaching

i thought this would be a wonderful way to explore the city together with your children. i had heard of geocaching before but letterboxing appears to be an older form of this kind of "treasure hunting." however, unlike geocaching, you don't take and leave a trinket once you find the location. instead, you stamp your letterboxing notebook with a personal stamp.

there are websites that list clues to find letterboxes in your area. i think this is the quaint part of letterboxing; geocachers use a gps and geographic coordinates to find their treasures, but letterboxing relies on clues written by the person who hid the letterbox. some people go all out and write their clues in cute poem form.

you can read more and find clues at letterboxing north america and atlas quest. this is also a unique way to explore other cities you may be visiting. the nice thing is that there are letterboxes all over the world.

kids off the couch

i read about this website in the la times a couple weeks back. two moms started kids off the couch to get their kids out of the house. what better way to introduce them to cultural attractions and life lessons than through movies? each week they introduce a movie and a related outing. some of the movies (like this week's paper moon) are not appropriate for younger children but in their archives they introduce a wide variety of movies and outings that would be appropriate for children of many age groups. one warning: most kids wouldn't be able to handle both the movie and the outing on the same day; plan for a weekend viewing and excursion.

they currently offer outings in the los angeles area, but they're expanding to nyc and the rest of the us soon. once it's up and running this would be a great resource if you're planning a vacation to other us cities.