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He was my first exchange and I quickly did some others with some other new faces, including the polite and fun-loving Bulldog51. Nice signature stamped carved by Grandma51...it would have made that OTHER Bulldawg quite proud!

This makes me mighty proud! Bulldog51 (and Grandma51), Wrestler Man, Soccer Star 7, gymnasticsgirl6, Cheerleading Queen and happy feet246 are all students of mine, either from my classroom or the reading team I coach. I've been trying to teach them all the boxing etiquette I know (so why they were GOOD and POLITE, I have NO idea! :-) ) They started boxing with me doing my Science Olympics virtuals at schools, then I hid M & M (my traveler) in another teacher's classroom for them to find after solving the 8 coded sentences (had to solve a ninth one to find the right room!). I showed anyone who did all that how to use AQ in school with more virtuals and how to log their finds. Once they started finding virtuals, they started MAKING them and THEN noticing all the traditional boxes. So, I showed them my log book and explained all about the "real" boxes that you could find all over the world. Since this bunch had started giving up recess time to work on boxes, I let them either find or draw a pic and I carved their stamps for them (Bulldog51 drew one first, then found the pic for the one he's got now).

That was on a Friday.

By next week, 4 of these kids had already gotten their first find (before me on one box!). Wrestler Man and Bulldog51 actually went BEFORE SCHOOL one day to do a stamp a few streets over! Last week during spring break, they and Grandma51 all came out and helped me do maintenance on the Thankful at Royalton Ravine series (where we were all ankle deep in icy MUD!), then the boys and Soccer Star 7 ended up at all the weekend events with us. In fact, I think my favorite moment of the whole event was watching the Highlander going off with Bulldog51 and Wrestler Man trotting next to him to search for a box under the bridge at the park...was like an updated Rockwell painting! :-)

I just started a boxing club for them today called The BBB...I'm going to have to make a stamp for them all to get for their major dedication to boxing. If any of you met them, feel free to send them a message. We read our AQ mail at school, so I KNOW they'd love to hear that you thought they were good kids! :-)

The S & H

Hi jackbear,

We were at the event as well but I don't remember meeting you. Perhaps we were boxing or trying to hide Joust. Or did we meet and I was so overcome with grief seeing Marty so mistreated that I just forgot? I'm sooo traumatized by the whole affair!

I noticed that you received mail about a box I placed in the Adirondacks last Saturday. I hope you find it - it's fairly easy as you don't have to get off of RT 3 and it's near Saranac Lake. It's in honor of the Legend of Sara the Snowy Owl. I have a picture of her hiding place but have not uploaded it yet. If you are planning a trip perhaps you will include a little time to check her for me and make sure she's OK. She's my first real hand-carved (although nothing "spectacular" it is cute) and first out-of-the-area so I'm a little worried about her.

Hope to see you on the trail again someday. Happy boxing!

Adventure Di
Northwoods Adventure Team
North Tonawanda, NY

Hey, Northwoods Adventure Team...good to see you guys back in the game! We totally missed you at AMA, too, but glad you made it!

The S & H