Pemigewasette Backpack Trip

I had my dream weekend!  For the first time in five years, I didn't run half of the Vermont City Marathon and that allowed us to actually go away for Memorial Day weekend.  Hazey has been talking about going to the Adirondacks, but we decided to go to the White Mountains because of a fun, accessible route that John came up with. The kids were so fired up to use their backpacks and try out their shoes before heading to Peru. 

We decided to bike in the first 2.5 miles of the trail.  We loaded the kids backpacks into our old Chariot that we borrowed back from the Popkins and we were off.  

John definitely had the most challenging job as the Chariot wasn't exactly balanced that well.

Once we got to the bridge to the Wilderness, we hiked in about three more miles until we found a perfect camp spot on the river. It was perfect in every way, except that we forgot the pump to our stove. 

river hopping

our "stove"

 Because we don't have a four person backpacking tent, the kids slept in one tent with Zephy and the parents got their own tent.

But we all got together in the morning to snuggle:

The rivers were much higher than we imagined they would be.  This made for a much more challenging hike than anticipated. But, we managed to do a five mile hike along the river on Sunday.

At one point we thought about hiking to the top of Owl's Head Peak, but when the kids asked if we could go back to the campsite and just "play", we had to say "absolutely"!

making river art

The bugs were pretty bad, but that didn't stop us.

We hiked out on on Monday morning.  We didn't want to make another fire and we didn't have any coffee.  We ran into a brother and sister who were in their late 20's.  They met up to hike together even though they now live far apart.  They said that they hike with their family as a kid and even though their parents weren't up for it anymore, they made an effort to continue the tradition.  I told the kids that nothing would make me happier than knowing that they might hike together when they are all grown up. 

As we got close to the car, Hazen said, "this was the best weekend ever" and then he thanked us for taking him backpacking.  Bugs, lack of stove, and big water didn't bring any of us down.  It really was an amazing weekend.  It made me realize that some of life's best things are free.

Seeing these kids have such unbridled fun was a dream come true!

Mother's Day Weekend

Mother's Day was on the same weekend as my own Mom's birthday.  Hazey and John had a baseball game (and John's the head coach), so Cal and I made the trip down on our own.  We left mid-day on Friday and made it to CT by dinner.  

We took Grandma/Mom out to dinner at her favorite restaurant in New Canaan.  But first, the birthday girl had to open her presents.

For whatever reason, Cally and her grandmother always seem to match when they dress up.  It's pretty cute!  Nif and Will came down for a quick visit, too.

The weather was gorgeous and we had fun playing outside:

We even got to go for a fun walk around Noroton Bay before hitting the road:

What a treat to spend Mother's day with my mom, my sister, and one of my kids.  I feel so lucky to have so many great role models out there-- showing my how to stay calm and enjoy the wonders of being a mom.

Spring Break-- NC or bust

This year, we were even more fired up than ever to head down to North Carolina.  We'd be meeting up with four other families and the anticipation for all that fun was high!  Plus, we got to drive our minivan and that made the trip that much more comfortable.

First stop was dinner and a sleepover with Nana and Grandpa:

New sweater from Nana

Playing ukulele for Nana

dancing for Nana and Grandpa

Family photo

 Next stop was an overnight with Hester, Hudnell, Ollie, and Foof in Middlebury, VA:

Ollie told us this is the most flattering angle

Beautiful light on a fence in Middleburg

We arrived in NC to a rainy day, so we decided to stay a night in Asheville for a change.  Asheville is a super cool town, full of breweries and art galleries and very cool shops.

We hadn't realized that my Aunt Sherry and Uncle George had planned to meet us in Brevard that night (perhaps because they hadn't responded to an inquiry?).  We decided to spend the following rainy day at the Biltmore Estate.

We set up camp in a wet campground, but avoided anymore rain.  Sherry and George joined us for a great dinner and campfire.

The rain stopped and the kids settled into unabridged FUN at the campground:

We went out on some kids rides:

We visited the Oskar Blues Brewery:

John and I got out for some riding together:

We had some great family time, too:

We ate out at a great Mexican restaurant:

And we had a really, really great fun with these zany kids and their parents:

I love that we are modeling great friendship with fun families for our kids. 

These two amazing friends have been coming here for at least 5 years, since they were 14 months old:

Next stop was Merlefest.  And this year, the Kelsey's and Thompson/Davis families joined us:

 

Last stop was a hot, hot visit to see Will, Nif and Rob: