Camping in the Adirondacks

Since camping went so well last weekend, we decided to do it again this weekend.  After all, there are not many summer weekends left!  We went to Limekiln lake in the Adirondacks this time, a 3.5 hour drive into uncharted territory.  Traffic delays added to the long drive time, and by the time we got there, we had to hurry to make camp and cook dinner. 

We remembered the stove this time!  And I got all fancy and made real food: shrimp and veggie shish-kebabs, corn on the cob, and noodles.  Then it was time to go explore the giant rock in the campsite!

The kids ate almost nothing but still had the energy to bounce around the tent at bedtime like it was a bounce house. I guess sitting in the car is not all that tiring! We resolved to wear them out the next day.

Brian got an early start on that plan.  He’s our early riser.  “The birds are telling us it’s time to get up,”  he says.  We got dressed and snuck out to let the other two sleep a bit longer; Eli is not so good at tent sleeping.  He has a tendency to end up on the ground with no pillow or covers.  Anyway, I managed to make a small fire to warm up with, and then Brian and I went for a walk before breakfast.  It was beautiful to see the mist on the lake!  After breakfast, Brian enthusiastically helped with the dishes.  Eli wandered off, and we realized that without the crocs, he is pretty well camouflaged! 

The campground had a canoe rental place, so we went to rent a canoe for the day.  The kids were not happy to find that they had to sit on the floor; they wanted to sit on the seats.  Eli was so unhappy about it, in fact, that he started sobbing hysterically a short way out.  We decided to return to land and he played happily on the shore with Calvin while Brian and I went out.  It was a picture-perfect day on the lake and on the beach!

After lunch, I stayed with Eli to take a “nap” while Calvin and Brian went on a hike.  They found raspberries, saw a family of deer, and went wading in the lake.  I lay down in a tent while Eli hit me on the head and said “Wake up, mama!”  Hmmm.  I got the short end of that stick. 

So I put Eli in the car, went off to find the others and we all drove into Inlet, the nearby town.  Eli passed out (of course), and Calvin stayed with him while Brian and I had gelato and went exploring.  We found a lovely beach that had, of all things, a pirate ship!  Brian had the best time playing on the ship.  We also found a playground on the way back to see how the others were doing.  It was a great little town!

Back at the car, we grabbed the swimsuits and the rest of the family, and headed back to the beach.  Calvin and Brian are in the middle of this picture.  I forgot my swimsuit (D’OH!), so I got to stay on dry land. 

Brian about to jump off the little dock.  Apparently he didn’t like it much.  But they had fun out in the lake, while Eli and I played on the pirate ship and in the sand. 

Eli was saying hi to the people below deck, quite literally. Of course he wandered off when I tried to video it, but I re-focused him.

Just some shots of Eli in the ship, playing with the sand, Brian and Calvin out on the pier, building a sand castle, more sand fun, and a tiny shot of the town of Inlet.  We had a great afternoon there!

Fancy dinner number 2: salmon, rice-in-a-bag, potato salad, and some pizza we got the kids that they didn’t eat.  Unfortunately, Brian was much too busy playing with the bear locker to bother with dinner.  After dinner, Brian and I went out for another paddle around the lake.  Then, we made smores and the kids loved it (of course).  Needless to say, they went down without a fight that day!  We enjoyed a nice, quiet fire. 

Sunday morning we decided to try all going out on the lake again, since we had the canoe till 9am.  The plan of attack: I paddled while Calvin sat with Eli.  Brian had to sit on the floor in this plan, so this time around he sulked the whole way.  Darkening skies and the rumble of thunder sent us back to the shore quickly, and we packed up the site in a hurry.  Brian really wanted to go back to the playground, so even though it was wet, we headed over there to play for a while and have lunch. 

Goodbye, Adirondacks, our trip was too short!

Camping on Lake Ontario

This past weekend, we decided it was high time to try a family camping trip.  Calvin had camped out in the backyard with the boys and they had done well, and were excited about sleeping in the tent again.  So we headed up to Hamlin Beach State Park, which is not too far away, right on Lake Ontario.  We arrived around dinnertime, only to realize that our stove had not made the trip with us.  We evaluated our options and decided to try cooking on a fire.  Calvin took the firewood to the site to start a fire and I took the kids to check out the playground near the store. 

Our home away from home, with dinner cooking on the fire. 

Hey, your carrot stick looks better than my carrot stick!

Family portrait:

Roasting marshmallows; Brian LOVED this!

The next morning we went to the lake for some playing in the sand, and of course, fishing (not that there were any fish to be had).  We took a lot of pictures. 

Aaaaaaaaaand…

…throw!

I have a lot of pictures of Brian like this throughout his life. 

Playing together. 

Yay!

 

Brian out on the fishing pier:

Then it was time to visit another playground; check out the static hair!

Followed by a nature hike on the least well-interpreted nature trail ever.  Hikes, of course, end like this:

Tired little legs being hauled by parent power.  Eli and I rested in the tent, while Brian and Calvin shared an ice pop that he is still talking about.  (“Mom, I want a white blue red.”  Took me a while to figure out what on earth he was talking about.)

A lot of reading took place that afternoon as we tried to decide what to do next. 

And a tired Brian lay down in my lap.  He’s not tired, he insists, he just wants to look at the “bea-YOU-tee-ful” sky. 

Finally, we went to the lake to go swimming.  I took each of the boys in twice, and Calvin stayed with the other one on the shore.  There was lots of playing in very wet sand, and lots of splashing in the water. 

After cleaning off the slime of Lake Ontario, we drove in to Hamlin for a yummy pizza dinner.  This was much better than the plan of noodles with old pesto sauce and leftover beet salad, so in the end, not having the stove was a good thing.  We stuck to cooking the fun stuff, like more marshmallows:

And Calvin snapped some very flattering pictures.  I am exhausted just writing this, BUT WAIT!  There’s more!  We went back to the beach AGAIN, to enjoy the twilight and try to get in some more fishing.  I put the kids on a lifeguard stand to get a cute picture, because how could I not?  Look!

Then we set off to find Calvin and enjoy the sunset. 

Finally, it was bedtime.  Whew!

The kids, of course, were early risers.  It was a struggle to keep them quiet till 7am when quiet hours ended.  Breakfast at the campsite; granola and yogurt, the only thing missing was a cup of hot coffee!

The, since we lucked out and it wasn’t raining (as had been predicted), we set off to the beach one last time.  And by the beach, I mean, of course, the playground at the beach.  Can you believe we had the whole thing to ourselves at 7 in the morning?  Where was everyone?

 

It took Eli a while but he really warmed up to the tunnels. 

The photographer at work:

When it was time to leave, Eli cried and cried and cried.  Finally, it was Brian holding his hand that calmed him down.  “Don’t worry, Eli”, he said.  “We’ll go camping again soon.”

(That might not be what he is saying in this picture though, because it looks like he is talking about something tiny.)  Great time in the great outdoors, we may be trying it again very soon before the summer ends!

SeaBreeze 2011

Last weekend was the annual picnic at SeaBreeze, we went on the kiddie rides first. Here they are on the boats. Not too exciting for Eli, at least. Brian on the other hand liked all of the rides.

Brian was pretty excited about the cars, here he is waving to Eli in the yellow car. Eli wasn't too excited to be in the car either.

Finally, the turtle-coaster was the hit for both of them. Eli loved it! Miles of smiles...

Mom and Brian on the teacup ride - Brian loved them all. We spent the afternoon in the waterpark. It started pouring rain soon after we got in the water so we all got drenched - in our swimsuits! The lines were short during the rain, so Brian got a lot of good waterslide runs in. No lost keys, no meltdowns, so all in all, a success!

The things they say, age 4

Today in the car Brian was telling me all the rules for Disneyland.  As best as I remember:

“Rule number one: No food and drinks, because then you get crumbs everywhere.

Rule number two: No pushing or hitting people.

Rule three: No bombs [?!?!?]

Rule four: No dumping dirty water on people’s heads.

And that’s all the rules.”

This is Brian with his flower.  He is always picking flowers (clover) for me, so one time I picked him this red clover while we were out walking.  He was riding his trike and carried this carefully back the whole way, riding with one hand, and as soon as we got home, he ran inside, filled this container (an empty ricotta container) with water, and gave his flower some water.  It was so sweet!

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(In the car) Eli: “Brudder?  Cool car?”

Brian: “Yep, Eli, there’s lots of cool cars in this town.  And some not cool ones.  Like old cars.  And crashed cars.”

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Brian (out of the blue): “I hope I’m not allergic to Eli.”

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And a bonus Eli moment:

Eli woke up, got Brian’s teddy and announced “Teddy breakfast.”  He brought him to the high chair and put on a bib.  I asked him, “What does teddy want for breakfast?”  “Chicken” he replies.  Good choice for a bear’s breakfast, I guess!  So I gave him a bowl and spoon so he could feed the bear.  So cute!  Brian wanted in on the action too, so he is giving puppy a bowl of water.  Monkey see, monkey do is the rule around here and it goes both ways!

Happy Birthday, Brian!

Today you are 4 years old.  Old enough to know your age, as well as how old you were, and how old you will be.  Given free reign of the breakfast menu, you chose waffles.  You were going to help make them, but wandered off to play, then wondered why you hadn’t gotten to help make them.  While we were eating, you wondered why Daddy wasn’t up yet… you are getting used to having him around on weekends, which is a bit of a novelty!  We went to a playgroup and had a blast with new friends and old friends too.  You were even surprised with little cupcakes!

You had so much fun this morning that you passed out (along with Eli) on the way home. 

It was incredibly adorable. 

I said you could have whatever you wanted for dinner, too.  “Anything at all, like…” I was going to finish with “pizza” but you were clearly thinking faster than I was and shouted “parsnips!”  I think this was more a think-of-the-weirdest-food-you-can-name thing, and not something you actually wanted.  Later you told me you wanted “China food”, so we got takeout.  You got the best fortune: To the world, you may be one person, but to one person, you may be the world.

We took a family picture:

It reminded me of this.

Then we went out for ice cream, yay!

The sign was generically perfect; you announced, “Yup, they know I’m the birthday boy!”  So we forced you to take a picture.  Sorry, but it was too cute to pass up. 

We spent the rest of the evening eating raspberries right off the bushes until it was time for bed.  Happy Birthday to our bright, funny, sweet little boy!  You are the world to us!