Camping on the Pleasant River

This summer has been lots of camping. I love to camp, but I don't love getting ready to camp and cleaning up from camping all. summer. long. That being said, this last trip was a lot of fun.

We headed up to the north woods on Friday morning after spending a night and morning with Gram. She's only about 45 minutes or so from where we were going, so it was a great leaping off point. Plus, of course, we love to visit Grammy! My kids always look forward to it when I tell them we're heading to her place.

We were camping with a couple other families from the island. One had gotten up there Thursday and spent the night already. Our campsite was beautiful--secluded from others, with a small pavilion, and right on the Pleasant River. We walked along a narrow, partly over-grown road (used to reach another camp site further on) and then down a deer path to get to a small pebbly beach upstream from us. The kids swam, took rides in our friends' canoe, and tossed sticks for Elvis. It was shallow enough that even the youngest (well, not the YOUNGEST, but youngest walking child) was able to ford it almost the whole way across.

Finn's a rock thrower.

The kids loved exploring in the canoe. It was great having everywhere to ourselves. You can even see A. got all the way across to explore the other side of the river.

I was offered a ride back downstream in the canoe.

I declined.

Back at camp, we made dinner, played cards, and did our best to stay dry during what turned out to be a nearly-12-hour downpour.

Deep dish anyone? 

Baby P. was corralled to the tent, which was comparatively dry.

Madie learned to play War and Go Fish with face cards. She had learned Go Fish a year ago with a dinosaur deck, but apparently she's forgotten.

This is the beginning of the rain. See the streams of water on either side of the pavilion? See the sagging tarp? (We had 3 of them, by the way.) See how wet Finn is? See the ripples of rain on the water? Yeah, this was before it really started.

The night was rough. It was cold and damp. Madie rolled off her dry mat into the soaked corner of the tent, and when Mike and I moved her back on, we felt she was also soaked through to the skin, so we stripped her down and put her in bed with us. Finn stayed dry, thank heavens, but he did have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night (which is why we were awake to check on Madie). I was running back and forth between the pavilion, tent, and car to get kids ready for bed. Every time I climbed in the nice, warm, dry van I thought, That's it. I'm just going to sleep in here. But no. I couldn't do that to Mike.

The rain stopped around 4 in the morning. I got up to an already started fire--bless Justin--and enjoyed blueberries, graham crackers, and then pancakes packed with berries, compliments of our friends. Then the adults broke down camp while the kids dressed in their last dry things and, again, tossed sticks for Elvis.

When we were all set, we drove to the AT pick up to Gulf Hagas. When we got there, we walked the little bit to the Pleasant River crossing. There is a woman there whose job it is to cross the river and bring walking sticks back and forth across the river. She told us if we'd gotten there just the day before, the water would have been maybe up to my knees. Instead, it came up the bottom part of my hip. I hoisted my backpack, lifted Madie onto my shoulders and started across. Mike had Petya in a pack and held Finn in one arm while he crossed, pulling Elvis into the water behind him. Elvis did his best to swim, but he's pretty dense and not a strong swimmer, and with the current moving so quickly, he got stuck just treading at one spot, right behind my legs. I grabbed ahold of his collar and pulled him hard past me, then grabbed ahold of a helpful hiker's arm (there were hoards crossing at the same time that morning, mostly 20-somethings with no kids, or dogs) and got over an enormous boulder under the water. After that it started to get shallower. 

You can see the guy ahead of me and this girl with the pack trying to save his pants. Yeah, that was pointless.

We hiked up to Screw Auger Falls, about a mile and a half from the parking lot. We had a quick snack, and then turned back. There was a ton of mud on the trail, but it was still a lot of fun. 

When we forded the river on the way back, I told Madie to keep still--she kept leaning back to avoid tree branches and things when we went across the first time. I told her if she saw a branch coming, she should lean down low over my head, not back or to the side. Then, right before I put her up, an older woman who was hiking this section of the AT with her husband lost her footing and slipped. The current was swift enough to keep her from regaining her footing, but, of course, this is a fairly safe section of the river, so her husband grabbed hold of her pack and held her there while too large, younger hikers barreled into the water to right her. One of them stayed with her and helped her across the water. After that, I lifted Madie and we started off. Almost immediately she started leaning to the left. "Madie! Stay in the center!" I shouted while I leaned heavily onto my stick. "Yes, sorry. I'm sorry. I get it. I do get it." She was sincere and worked really hard to stay still and centered after that. It was all humility and ease with her for the last bit of the hike.

Aaahhhhhhhhhhhhh. I wish she could see old women fall into the water more often.

Madie's Birthday Party

Madie turned six the other day. Six! In our family we do birthday parties with friends every other year, and this was Madie's first since starting school, so she had a whole big group of friends to invite. She was so excited. Especially since she's been attending friends' parties for a year. When we started talking about it, she knew exactly what she wanted. That's what I like--it was the easiest birthday party I've ever planned, and since I have thrown every single birthday party she's ever had at a playground, that's really saying something. 

Filling the piñata.

Madie is loving butterflies right now, and wanted a butterfly piñata and cake. Of course, the only butterfly piñatas I could find were on Etsy for $30+ and I just hate spending that much on something they're just beating apart anyway. I don't mind making piñatas but I had only ever done round ones--you know, you cover a balloon with papier mache, then pop it and fill it with candy and paint it? Honestly though, this one was pretty easy; the hardest thing about it was figuring out how to do it. Once I had determined it, it's just a matter of stapling things together and papier mache-ing it all. And it was fun to do with the kids. I'm not really an art-project mum. I mean, I love when my kids are artistic--Madie is, especially--but I don't like going through the hassle of getting out paints, and glue, and paper, etc. It was nice though to work on this together. 

One kid informed me, "ha! That does not look like a butterfly." I smiled and said, "Well, the important thing is it's full of candy." The other important thing is that Madie loved it. She loves monarchs above all, because she can recognize them generally. I would have gotten a picture of it hanging, but I was busy handing out goodie bags before it busted.

The cake was a cinch. Seriously, easiest cake I've ever made. And I loved that Madie knew exactly what she wanted. It was to be a lemon cake with strawberry and raspberry meringue frosting and filling in the shape of a butterfly. 

Did you know if you cut a round cake in half and cute a wedge out of each straight edge, you can get a butterfly? Well, now you do. 

Did you know berry meringue is the absolute easiest frosting to make? And did you know it makes enough frosting to fill and frost roughly 100 cakes? And because it is so fluffy it is ultra forgiving on the decorating job? Aaaaand did you know it is lightly sweet and the raspberry is especially tasty? 

Great choice, Madie.

Madie waiting for guests to arrive. The day was bright.

Pizza, cake, ice cream, and lemonade. Birthday fare.

Cutting the cake.

For her actual birthday, we took her to Lazy Lobster, where she had been begging to go after having a spoonful of my lobster bisque there a few weeks before.

The past year with Madie has really been a delight for me. She is back to her sweet, fun-loving self. She's starting to try new foods again, which takes a lot of the pain out of meals--it also helps I've just learned how to deal with that better I guess. She tasted some beef for the first time a couple weeks ago and asked, "What is this again?" "Beef," I said. Her shoulders sagged forward and she rolled her eyes up and said reluctantly, "Okay, I like beef." Add to that list chicken, turkey, raspberries, lobster bisque, tomatoes, carrots, and almond butter. Hmmm... how can it be that almost everything she tries she actually ends up liking? It's like a miracle. 

Other tastes of Miss Madie:

She often tells people who she first meets to call her Madeleine now.

She loves rainbows, butterflies, climbing things, and playing piano. She has even started rotating with two other girls in primary (our church's children's organization) to play the prelude music. This was her second week!

She has started singing more. I love this. She used to sing all the time then went through a period of only singing if she thought no one was listening. This has changed this summer. 

I love watching her confidence in her abilities and her self esteem grow. She a mentally and physically strong little girl. It's hard to believe she's only been with us 6 years. 

Camp Week

Two weeks ago we rented our house out and went camping for the week on the quiet side of the island. The campground, I must say, was ideal for long-term camping with kids. There was a pool and (very) small playground and paddle boat you could take around a small pond that forms in the quarry, you could walk to the sound in about 8 minutes, and the bathrooms (including hot showers--5 minutes/$1) were clean. When I said how nice the campground was, Mike said, "Really? You think so?" I smiled, thinking he was joking. When I realized he wasn't I said, "Hello! We're going to be here with three kids and a dog for a week!" He said he felt like he was a country club (which just goes to show, we have never been to a country club) but at the end of the week he said he agreed--it was perfect for long-term family camping.

We enjoyed s'mores almost every night.

Elvis wasn't allowed to run around with the kids--he had to be on leash. So he hung out with me and Petya in the door of the tent. You can almost feel they're wistfulness.

The weather was alternately humid and damp for the first half of the week. We would start out unable to breath in our sleeping bags--or even just being on top of them--and part way through the night we'd be shivering from the damp air.  The first half of the week was also full of, ahem, setbacks. We got there Monday afternoon, and Monday night Finn wet his sleeping bag--twice. So Tuesday, I went to my amazing, generous friend Trish on what turned out to be her busiest day of possibly the entire summer and used her laundry to wash Finn's bag, pajamas, underwear, and SECOND set of pajamas and the extra blanket we brought. 

Here I am making beef stew on cast iron in the drizzle. Not to worry; the cast iron was promptly treated and, more importantly, the stew was excellent.

On Tuesday afternoon, our rear brakes, which we knew needed replacing, started to grind. We had taken the van in the week previous for new brakes (which we bought, but couldn't get on because of a rusted bolt) and--wait for it--a new rear-door handle. Yes! Our rear door handle broke, just broke, and they ended up ordering a part and we ended up not having any practical way to load the back of the van for a week-long camping trip. It was so fun getting stuff in and out of the back of that van. The quote for the brakes and door handle seemed really high, especially since we already had the brakes, so we decided to wait until after our trip and just do it all together after the renters left. The great news was that when the brakes started grinding and we really had to get them done, we decided to go to the closest place, which was in Southwest. They were wide open ("When can you fit us in earliest?" "Well, huh, how 'bout whenever?"), so we got in the next morning, and they charged us about $450 less than we were quoted at the other place. New mechanic: check. 

This is the campsite Sunrise at the campground we were at. It's right on the sound. We're already on a call-list for next year, only next time we're taking kayaks out every morning.

At the sound with Dad.

Tuesday night I told Madie my goal for that day was to be more cheerful in the face of adversity. I was given the opportunity to practice on Wednesday morning when an almost-full bottle of vegetable oil spilled in tent all over canvas bags, my wallet, bags of food, clothes, lava lavas--. How pleasant to clean up an oil spill with diaper wipes while your kids complain that we aren't doing anything fun and, "We thought we were going to the beach with the Vs!" 

The good news was we did fit in time for the beach, and the rest of the day went pretty smoothly. And I found wicked cheap firewood!

Elvis and Madie happily shared sleeping pads. We told Madie she would probably prefer sleeping on her pad instead of Elvis' stinky, hairy towel, but she insisted on snuggling up with him, so we suggested she invite him onto her pad. He was happy to oblige.

The kids walking along by the sound.

The view from the sound in morning.

Friday was wholly uneventful. It was glorious. I walked with the kids down to the sound once more, then I took the kids on a hike up Flying Mountain. Then we headed out to D's camp with Anne. When Greg and then Mike got out there, we loaded up the boat and left camp for the beach on the far side of the pond where we went tent camping.

Mike wants a camp on this pond so badly.

Petya loathed that preserver, which, yes, I realize we have on backwards. It was a fight to get it on at all, so that's how it stayed.

The beach half of the campsite.

Our set-up.

The kids loved it. This was a much-needed break from our accident-prone Monday night, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

Teaching Greg how to cook corn over a fire.

Wrapped in a lava lava, playing with the dog.

That night we enjoyed ribs, corn on the cob, chowder, fruit salad, and excellent blue berry cobbler. I'm not a fan of peach cobbler in the dutch oven--I know, it's like a camper's heresy. The only way I've ever had it is with cake mix on top and canned peaches, so maybe if I'd had it a different way? But I've had it probably four or five times by different people and it's always mostly tasteless with a mushy top. This though, holy cow. The berries were thick and sweet, and the topping was perfect. Great job, Anne.

Donnell in the morning.

In the morning we ate breakfast, followed by s'mores and one of the loveliest little hikes I've ever been on. The trails around there are less-frequented, so it reminded me a lot of walking through the woods around my house as a kid. I love hiking Acadia, but the trails are packed in the summer and you can feel it. This was leisurely. 

Lounging on the beach.

Me and my girls. 

Of course the kids found a rock to climb.

Heading back across the pond. Finn kept saying, "Dad! You're Smee and I'm Capt. Hook!"

Donnell was the perfect ending. Despite all the craziness of the other days, I did enjoy them over all, but Donnell was just great. Of course, it's hard to beat time spent with Anne and Greg. Seriously, Greg, I think, is my happy place. He is so happy all the time. And you'll never meet anyone as generous adventurous as Anne. The two of them are just fabulous to be with. I recommend everyone get themselves a pair.

Penobscot Mountain

Less than 24 hours of getting home from out west, we were back on a trail in Acadia. This time, up to Penobscot Mountain. This was a really fun hike. The kids always enjoy the more difficult ones. Not so much for their length, but more for being technical. They love scrambling rocks and boulders. This trail, and summit for that matter, featured a lot of granite. Our reward at the end of the hike was ice cream. It's tough to beat a reward like that after a nice hike. 

When we got to the top of the mountain, Madie and Finn started bouldering this chunk of granite, and were doing exceptionally well. I got videos of them too, which has been fun to show them. I think it's well-documented that Madie likes to climb things (she climbs any birch or maple she can wrap her hands around). She has really taken to climbing lately, and seems to enjoy the challenge and problem-solving that are required to climb. I think this girl needs some challenges like this in her life, they are good character-building experiences. So, I decided to build a bouldering wall on the side of our garage. Climb on!

Heading up.

Overlooking Jordan Pond.

Bagged another summit for the books.

Finn watched Madie, and then just followed suit. He did a very good job.

Madie seriously owned this!

A few days later, I took them down to Hell Wall.

This is the start of our wall. Hopefully, it will be littered with hand-holds in the next couple of years.

Wrapping things up in Utah

 We were happy to be able to visit our Utah family. We stayed at Grandma Clarks home, and mostly went back and forth between Orem and Salt Lake to visit both Mal's and my family. We were able to go to the Hogle Zoo, get some malt shakes and Iceburg (why doesn't anyone else serve malts?? I feel like I only see them in Utah), and hung out with lots of family. It was great to catch up with everyone, and visit some familiar places like the Alpine Loop, and the Watkins Cabin. We feel blessed to have done all that we did on our trip out west.

Baby Nel with Grandma. She was such a great host for us.

Four generations!

We walked around Temple Square on Sunday. In our trips between Orem and Salt Lake, we did a lot of temple spotting from the freeway. The kids kept getting them confused with the thousands of meetinghouses. It was great to show them so many temples. A rare feat in northern New England.

Whenever I drive up the Prove canyon, I love to roll down the windows and take in that fresh mountain air. It's just a unique smell that makes me feel very nostalgic.

Back side of Timpanogos, from the American Fork canyon.

Riding the merry-go-round at the Hogle Zoo.

Finn and cousin Kilian.

They had a whole Jurrasic Park exhibit for the new movie.

On the way home, Nel found a happy place in the airplane. The kids traveled very well.

Me and the Finnman keeping busy for the plane ride home.