Vacation Hike #3: Ethan Pond

Went up to Ethan Pond in Crawford Notch on day three. I've never been up there before, and thought it was worth checking out. It was pretty nice, in fact. I like all the bog bridges they have up there, where the trail starts to get wet. They just look cool to me, for some reason. I also flushed some kind of good-sized bird, but I'm not sure what it is. I'll have to poke around online and try to find a picture to compare to. Filing this hike away in my "do-again" file - the Ethan Pond campsite might be worth an overnight trip sometime.

Storyland, 2010

Here's a set of cute photos from this year's visit to Storyland. This year was even better than last year, as both the kids were tall enough for every ride, and on top of that they were older, and were better (but I won't say great) about waiting in lines. A brief note about the middle shot in the top row - the kids are karate chopping the mist in that hut. Not sure what gave them that idea, but I thought it was a hoot.


So Cute

Here's a photo of Carter doing something that happens on occasion - she falls asleep while eating. Her eyes are closed, but she keep putting food in her mouth and chewing it, just super-slowly.

UberBlast

While we were up north, we checked out a place called "UberBlast" with the kiddos. It's got bouncy-house inflatables, an arcade, and games of the tickets-for-crap variety. We had a pretty good time, but the kids didn't jump nearly as long as I thought they would before they got bored of it. And considering it was $8 per kid, that irked me a little. But they both were enjoying the games so much that I got over it. Sean really loved that motorcycle game, even thought he could barely reach the handlebars. You had to lean to steer, and he thought that was awesome. I included the photo of them jumping, even though it came out terrible, just because I love the position Sean is in. He was trying to do a flip - as you can guess, it was not a success. :) And I especially like the photo of Carter and I playing air hockey. She's so tiny compared to me, but I love the adoration on her face when she looks at me. Love you too, sweetie!

Vacation Hike #2: Black Cap

Went up Black Cap on day two - much better weather, as you can see. Black Cap is such a short hike, you barely get warmed up by the time you reach the summit. The photo on the left cracks me up - the reflector and the brightly painted sign that says 'TRAIL'. Don't know what I would have done without it!

Vacation Hike #1: Mt. Willard

Mt. Willard was my first morning hike of our vacation. What a way to start, too. It was pouring on me the whole way up, plus it was right at dawn, so I was worried about running into a bear, too. Once I got to the top the rain stopped, but the whole of Crawford Notch was socked in with fog anyway. You could barely make out the ridge that is across the notch from Willard. Still, I had a great time anyway. Hiking in the rain never really bothers me that much. It's just a matter of accepting the fact that you are going to get soaked - once you do that, it can be kind of fun.

I Am Your Father!

When I first bought this mask, in Texas, Sean was only a year old and he was scared to death of it. Just last week, as I was puttering around in the attic looking for hiking gear, I found it again. Now, Sean absolutely loves it. He and Carter both have been wearing it all the time, and talking in their deep Darth Vader voices. I think Carter looks hilarious in it, as it's adult sized, and she's got such a little body.

Mower Driver

Sean's been asking me to let him drive the mower for a long time. I always told him it just wasn't safe. It wasn't until I was mowing the lawn right before our vacation that I realized that I didn't have to engage the blade. D'oh! He had an awesome time tooling around the yard, even though he almost crashed us into just about everything in sight.

Lots of Pics Incoming!

Sorry I've been neglecting the blog - I've been super-busy at home and work, and we were getting ready for our vacation. So now that we're back, there should be a whole bunch of posts showing up here over the next few days.