Brotherly Love

DAY NINETY FIVE

My boys are like any two brothers; they fight constantly. They like different things and have never agreed on anything. Until today.

Nikolas told his brother about our geocache outing and Harrison wanted to do it, too. Harrison doesn't really like hiking. Sports are more of his thing, however, the idea of searching for hidden treasure is kind of a sport, so he was intrigued.

We started at the top of the La Quinta Cove and got our coordinates.

Off we go on our hunt for treasure. We head right toward the cove oasis but don't stop. Our goal lies beyond.

One thing I learned as a camp counselor is that to keep boys interested while hiking, it is important to throw some rocks. Pick a target and let it fly. Nikolas is armed and ready.

We head out across the open desert following the coordinates on our GPS. I show Harrison what to look for and he becomes our navigator.

We find this treasure but the boys don't want to keep it. We set it up on a rock near a well used mountain bike trail and figure someone will be back for it.

Our treasure is somewhere down in this wash area.

After a little hunting around, we have found it!

Let's have a look inside.

Whoa! This one has cold hard cash. Nikolas decides he wants the One Billion Dollars!

And in return, we leave a flash drive. I think it is only about 64MB. But I'm sure it's a treasure someone can use.

Nikolas asks his brother if he wants to go and check out the geocache we went to a few days ago and surprisingly Harrison says yes. We cruise over there and discover no one has been there since our last visit so if you need an iPod cable, you'd better hurry.

Read about that trip here.

Since we're out longer than we figured we'd be, it is starting to get dark but no worries. We've got the moon to bring us back.

On the way to the car, we find a Bandana Bush. Like the water bottle, the boys don't want to take it with them. I'm glad my kids have a respect for nature.

For the first time in their lives, my boys did not fight for well over an hour. There was no bickering, name calling, taunting or ridicule. At one point I had to check to see if they were still breathing. It seems like a dream.

It looks like we've found a new hobby. I probably won't go out and do it by myself but if I can get these guys to live in peace AND go hiking with me, I'll be the happiest dad on the planet. The boys loved our little adventure and I was witness to the greatest treasure any man can find: brotherly love.