1 post tagged “camping”

This week Laurie and I took the kids up to New Hampshire for some rustic living on the shore of Lake Ossipee with the Harveys and the Newburgs.  All three families have a toddler and a baby, so there was a lot of harmony with our chaos.  The weather was nearly perfect (only one late rainy evening) and the cabins were clean and cozy and they did not leak.

I'll admit that I was the skeptical one in our family.  Having to watch toddlers in the privacy of your own home can be challenging enough.  Watching toddlers in the great outdoors amongst the bugs and the bears and the snapping turtles and the coyotes and the overly aggressive ducks sounded like a headache to me.  But, with the exception of some fierce ducks, I was proven wrong.  I ended up really enjoying myself, even when we did have our hands full with wild toddlers and crying babies.

I'll break the trip down into the highlights and lowlights as I recall them.

Highlights:

• Hanging with the 'people', as Jay called our collective group, was great.
• The first night's parents-only time around the fire (thanks for making me a s'more, Day!).
  
• Swimming with all the 'people' on the little beach on the first afternooon.
• The BLTs, waffles, steak tips, chicken, burgers, key lime pie and banana bread.  Oh, and the candy bars!
• Playing ball with the kids at the toddler pool.
• Lounging in the lake while Jay made sand castles on the second day.
• Watching the most impressive lightning storm I can remember with my honey on the porch swing
• WiFi
  

Lowlights:

• Laurie gets stung by a hornet, Jason and Carson bonk heads with a sound like two coconuts clapped together, and Jason falls off the picnic table, all within the first hour of our arrival.
• Jay climbs out of his bed 48 separate times to knock on the cabin door when I'm trying to get over to parents-only campfire time.
• Laurie slices her finger on the pool slide.
  
• Isabelle chokes on a marshmallow.  That was scary, but Rich and Ann saved the day.
• Owen bonks Camden over the head with a tiny skillet.  Actually, this one might belong on the first list.
• Ann tells everyone at the parents-only campfire the grossest thing that ever happened to her.  Gross, Ann!
• Sox get swept by the Yankees
  

The Harvey family (in charge of dinner):
The Newburg family (in charge of lunch and snacks)
Don't feed these ducks unless you want them to share your cabin:
Ann plays house:
Jay swims on the ultra calm lake:
Laurie has far superior photos she took with the Casio, and I think she's going to post them on WashAveX Classic with her own commentary on the trip.  But I thought I'd share my thoughts here and a few of the half decent photos taken with iPhone.  I had a great time and I hope everyone else did too.