The Northern clan went camping last weekend. We had fun. End of story.
What?-you're still here?! I guess we should post up some photos and tell our little story...
This was Levi's first time camping (well, he's only one), and he was really eager to experience everything there was to this camping thing. As you can see below, he assisted Northern Dad with setting up the tent. It was really funny to see him so excited to help with the poles - he just thought it was another one of the weird things Daddy does - but when the poles were in place and the tent went up, he went ape! Running in and out (and back in and out) of the tent and around the outside and checking it ALL out!
Here we have a snapshot of the mighty hunters relaxing by a blazing fire after a successful kill.
Here we have a snapshot of the mighty hunters relaxing by a blazing fire after a successful kill. Not really - we're just waiting on our friends to arrive (and the camp fire is dying...) ---But we look happy, right?!
Northern Mommy and NB/T (northern baby/toddler - don't you remember from the last post? What?! You didn't read the last post?! Out! Out of my blog!) get ready for a hike to the bottom of the Quechee Gorge. Once at the bottom, the group searched for an intersecting trail to lead us back to the campsite - we found it, it was the interpretive nature trail, but we ran it backward (from #10 to #1) which led us UP A BIG HILL. Not much fun, but really not fun for Northern Mommy and our friend Kevin who each had 25lbs or more of toddler on their backs! (Walking unencumbered allowed Northern Daddy and our friend Becky to pass the time by guessing what each stop on the nature trail was meant to teach us...(oh, look! - marker #7 - what do you suppose this is? Another tree?!) .....getting to the beginning/our end of the trail and reading the trail guide was quite enlightening (#9 was beavers? Did you see any beavers? Or even a pond?)
Another activity on our camping trip was a visit to Marsh-Billings Farm (as a side note - I've spent more time at and visited more farms in the few years since we moved to Vermont than I'd ever even seen in my previous thirty-plus years. What is it about hanging out at farms? Why do we feel compelled to visit farms? How many cows do we need to see? (Well, Northern Mommy? How. Many. Cows.????) Oh, sorry - back on topic - we visited this farm with ties to conservationists Marsh and Billings and also ties to the Rockefeller family. Levi sees another sheep. And some horses. And...wait for it....more cows.
Just cute.
If you look closely, you might see the one clean spot left on NB/T - this was just before he found it and ran off to cover it in pine tar. I'm not sure NB/T has ever been as dirty as he was while camping - he never stopped moving and checking things out and digging and climbing and getting dirty!
Marhmallow roasting!
You'll notice (maybe-if you're not dozing off) that we're roasting marshmallows in broad daylight. The plan was to make some gloriously gooey s'mores on Saturday night, but the storm that rolled in Saturday evening modified our plans. We sought refuge in the cars as the skies let loose. After the heaviest rain had passed, we jumped into the tents for the night. Northern clan's tent was fairly dry (only one leak - right onto Northern Daddy's pillow...the sacrifices we make...), but the Southern clan's (hey - they're from Boston - that's southern!) tent was a little wet. (Hey Kevin, air mattresses double as life rafts in case of a water landing....!)
On the way home, we stopped at an antique mall (aka: tourist trap) because Northern Mommy was really wanting to ride the train. (see photo below) Fun train, for a third-scale railroad powered by a gasoline four-cylinder....it has a really loud whistle - NB/T about filled his diaper when the engineer sounded it the first time....
Stay tuned for the next adventure...
Northern Mommy and NB/T (northern baby/toddler - don't you remember from the last post? What?! You didn't read the last post?! Out! Out of my blog!) get ready for a hike to the bottom of the Quechee Gorge. Once at the bottom, the group searched for an intersecting trail to lead us back to the campsite - we found it, it was the interpretive nature trail, but we ran it backward (from #10 to #1) which led us UP A BIG HILL. Not much fun, but really not fun for Northern Mommy and our friend Kevin who each had 25lbs or more of toddler on their backs! (Walking unencumbered allowed Northern Daddy and our friend Becky to pass the time by guessing what each stop on the nature trail was meant to teach us...(oh, look! - marker #7 - what do you suppose this is? Another tree?!) .....getting to the beginning/our end of the trail and reading the trail guide was quite enlightening (#9 was beavers? Did you see any beavers? Or even a pond?)
Another activity on our camping trip was a visit to Marsh-Billings Farm (as a side note - I've spent more time at and visited more farms in the few years since we moved to Vermont than I'd ever even seen in my previous thirty-plus years. What is it about hanging out at farms? Why do we feel compelled to visit farms? How many cows do we need to see? (Well, Northern Mommy? How. Many. Cows.????) Oh, sorry - back on topic - we visited this farm with ties to conservationists Marsh and Billings and also ties to the Rockefeller family. Levi sees another sheep. And some horses. And...wait for it....more cows.
Just cute.
If you look closely, you might see the one clean spot left on NB/T - this was just before he found it and ran off to cover it in pine tar. I'm not sure NB/T has ever been as dirty as he was while camping - he never stopped moving and checking things out and digging and climbing and getting dirty!
Marhmallow roasting!
You'll notice (maybe-if you're not dozing off) that we're roasting marshmallows in broad daylight. The plan was to make some gloriously gooey s'mores on Saturday night, but the storm that rolled in Saturday evening modified our plans. We sought refuge in the cars as the skies let loose. After the heaviest rain had passed, we jumped into the tents for the night. Northern clan's tent was fairly dry (only one leak - right onto Northern Daddy's pillow...the sacrifices we make...), but the Southern clan's (hey - they're from Boston - that's southern!) tent was a little wet. (Hey Kevin, air mattresses double as life rafts in case of a water landing....!)On the way home, we stopped at an antique mall (aka: tourist trap) because Northern Mommy was really wanting to ride the train. (see photo below) Fun train, for a third-scale railroad powered by a gasoline four-cylinder....it has a really loud whistle - NB/T about filled his diaper when the engineer sounded it the first time....
Stay tuned for the next adventure...
After finishing the fan, I had to find something else to do. I don't normally have so much time to do things - Northern Baby/Toddler usually occupies my time. Can you believe that I was actually bored for a little bit on Saturday?! It was raining and windy, so I didn't want to take the motorcycle out - so I weeded the vegetable garden, rearranged the bedroom furniture, took apart an old lawnmower (just for fun), and moved all of the gardening tools out to the barn. That took a little time, because if I had moved everything out to the barn without cleaning the barn first, I would've ended up in really hot water! So, I cleaned all the junk out and swept the spiders away (just so Cari knows, the giant mutant garter snake is still in there somewhere...), and hung all the tools up nicely on the wall. If you'll look closely at the picture, you'll see a big empty spot on the floor below the shovel - that's for the rototiller. If anyone feels the need to buy a rototiller, I will volunteer that space to store it for you......!
Hopefully, after the other two-thirds of the Northern clan return to the North and we're done with camping, we can get Levi a helmet and take this puppy for a spin!
