Summah Fun

We returned from Maine with more fun things on our summer of fun agenda.  I'd been wanting to hike Stowe Pinnacle, so we enlisted our hiking buddies, Ollie, Maggie and Lindsay and hit the trail.  It was a great hike and we were able to stay pretty cool while on the trail, but the summit was hot (and crowded).  The kids did great!

We spent a day at Maple Street Park and Pool with our friend Savitt:

We went to the Tar Box swimming hole:

And we attended the Festival of Fools on Church Street:

Turns out, Hazey made $30 by volunteering to be in a few performances.  This guy below was a dancer and he did flips over H and then had him jump for his pay:

Both kids were asked to participate in this Strong Woman performance: 

We went to a Circus Celebration at the library:

Finally, we got to spend a glorious few evenings at "Farm Party" a gathering up at High Meadow with dozens of wonderful people.  Uncle Scott's sister organizes this gathering every summer and it's been years since we were all able to attend.  Friends from near and far gather at the camp.  After some heavy rains, a few rainbows appeared and then this view came into sight as Hazey played lacrosse with a willing participant.

Bates Burning Man

John's friends from college are so good about planning an annual gathering.  This year, it was decided that we'd meet at a campground on the border of New Hampshire and Maine in the White Mountains.  Joc and his family travel east from California and we always love seeing John's Bates buddies.  Fortunately, Alex and MJ, members of the tribe of friends, are teachers and flexible like me in the summer.  They were going to be out on Chebeague Island for a few days before the gathering and invited us to their amazing place which has been in the family for generations. 

The only way to get to the island is to take a ferry from Portland or Cousins Island in Yarmouth.  Fortunately, Alex and MJ have a boat, so they were able to pick us up and transport us directly to their house. 

kayaking right from the house

a view from the dining room table

 The kids LOVE that they get to ride in a jeep and even on a scooter when they visit this sleepy island.  I love that I can go for runs and experience that kind of relaxation that only comes when you are on an island.

 John was hankering for some lobster, but there are really no lobster pounds on the island.  We made a few calls, but no one had any available on the island.  Alex had no problem with that, he proclaimed that we'd go find lobsters....... So we set out on a blustery afternoon to find dinner.

After hours of seeing nary a lobster boat, we found these guys and chased them down.  Low and behold, they did have lobster and sold four to us for $40. John was thrilled to have his favorite dinner as fresh as fresh could be. The kids each ate their small ones in their entirety.

lobster tamers

 On Friday, we headed over to Basin Pond campground in NH.  It wasn't very far away and in an absolutely gorgeous part of the white mountains.  This year there were seven Batesies in attendance.  The number of kids and spouses have dwindled over the years, but it still such a treat to see these old friends catch up.

We hiked up to Bluebery Mountain on Saturday.  It was a short hike to the mother lode of wild blueberries.  We ate like bears and even gathered enough to bring some home in our water bottles. 

The Crew (without Rachel and Keith-- who arrived just after)

We ended our hike with a visit to Rattlesnake Pool-- an amazing aquamarine swimming hole with a waterfall.

No gathering would be complete without costumes!  So upon our return, we dressed up "crazy", made ice cream, and gathered around the fire.

It was hard to leave on Sunday.  Basin pond did not disappoint.  What a trip!

July in Jericho

The morning after we got back from Peru (at 1:30am), Hazen and Cally were fired up to go to soccer camp.  It's a great camp run by the teacher who will be Cally's 3rd grade teacher.  The kids haven't been around to do the camp in several years, so they were thrilled to get to do it this year.  

The fun part about the camp is that it's just a a half day, so we got to go on some fun adventures in the afternoon and Mom got to settle back into life by having some time to unpack and exercise while the kids were running around on the field. 

One day we were lucky enough to get invited on our friends boat and play on the lake. 

Another day we hunted for frogs up at High Meadow:

We hiked up to a hut to visit two of my colleagues who were through hiking the entire long trail:

MMU Teachers

Teachers and their kids

We went to Shelburne farms to see music and visit the animals:

The next week, each of the kids signed up for a camp of their choice.  Hazey was fired up to go to Catamount Mountain Bike Camp and Cally chose to go to Forest Camp in Richmond again.  It was a little chaotic because one was in Williston, the other in Richmond and Hazey's camp was a half day and Cally's camp was a full day.  And...... Hazey's camp was a parent coop, so one of us had to attend two of the days. 

Hazey loved his camp and ended up getting the Billy Goat award because he led his instructors to believe that he loved climbing hills.  He later told me that he doesn't really love it, but that he's "just good at it".

Cal, too, loved her camp.  She spent five days in the forest, role playing, cooking by an open fire and exploring.  Somehow I managed to get zero pictures of her experience.

I had a little mishap involving a mountain bike and a face plant in the mud the following weekend.  John and I were out on a bike date with our friends Matt and Adam.  The trails were wet and I managed to crash while going fast downhill.  This was the first real crash that I've had in over a decade.  It hurt!  My shoulder, face, and neck took the brunt of the impact.  But the biggest injury was emotional, my mojo bank got entirely depleted.

Fortunately, flesh wounds heal pretty quickly:

I managed to get back on the saddle and bike the Stowe Bike Path on Sunday (on my upright cruiser).  And, we ran into cousin Jameson.

The following week we had a few agenda items to take care of:

1. Visit the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory and purchase a bear for each kid.   In a moment of weakness, I might have offered these two courageous hikers a stuffed bear of their choice if they made it to the top of Punta Union.  I'm not really a fan of materialistic rewards for working hard, but I made the offer 500 feet below the pass and it worked to get them over it.  So, we went to one of Vermont's great tourist attractions.  I went with low expectations, but was very impressed.  These bears are guaranteed for life (even if a lawn mower or dog attacks it), they are filled with recycled material, and they are made right here in Vermont.  We are now proud owners of Maple and Snow:

2.  We hiked Sterling Pond with Ollie and Maggie (and Lindsay).  This is a great hike and the kids got to play in some caves before they did the hike.