Kamping with Kids

If you have ever gone camping, you know there are moments of bliss usually followed by moments of torment. I say this because Matt and I have gone camping before we had children and now that we have children, the theory still holds true in a whole new light! Needless to say, we took our first camping adventure to Wells, ME this past week. We only stayed for one night because we really wanted to discover how well prepared we were for camping with two kids; we also wanted to make sure that we started small to work toward success. We hope to gradually increase our length of stay as we become more confident that all will be well.

This blog entry will perhaps we a bit different than the earlier ones. I fear that I have portrayed all our adventures in a very idealistic fashion; it certainly has not been my intention to paint our family or our adventures as a family as perfect. Our days, nights, and certainly our adventures are filled with frustration, screaming and crying, and overwhelm. SO, for this entry I have decided to include all the parts of our camping trip that I guess we would have liked to omit or edit if we were making a film! However, I will include some pictures that capture the moments of bliss for us all!

Outtake #1: We packed enough food for all meals except dinner. Although we were planning on making a trip to the grocery store to get some provisions to make dinner on our camp stove, we gave up. We decided to go to a restaurant. First, we had to wait 20 minutes for a table. Colin only wanted to play in the waterfall, and Ella and I spent most of our time waiting in the bathroom. Ella stood in one of the stalls while I dried her underwear and pants out with the hand dryer (accident). We finally did get a table. While Ella took only two bites of pasta, Colin inhaled a hot dog and some fries while Matt and I had a cocktail and a salad. Things quickly went downhill when Ella started crying to go home, and then Colin started crying at the top of his lungs. We quickly requested to have our meals packed up and exited the restaurant before people started throwing rotten tomatoes at us.

Outtake #2: Colin and Ella refused to take their shoes off each time they entered the tent (our sleeping bags were right by the door). Finally, Matt told the kids to just run around the campsite with socks on. Of course, Ella and Colin did not pick up on the sarcasm in Matt's voice, so they pushed their shoes aside and enjoyed turning white socks into black socks.

Outtake #3: I put pajamas on Ella and Colin before toasting marshmallows - big mistake. Colin was so exhausted he couldn't walk so he tripped in the dirt. Ella fell and then wiped her hands on her pajamas. Oh well . . .

Outtake #4: Ella woke up at 3 AM proclaiming she had to go to the bathroom. Ella and I got our shoes on, headed to the woods, only to discover she really didn't have to go after all.

Outtake #5: No matter how hard one tries, ocean sand never really ever comes clean from little hands. Even if hands do come clean, the sand is so tempting to touch. We were eating lunch when Colin decided to grab some sand and then grab a cucumber out of the container of vegetables. Blowing on the vegetables and even shaking the vegetables off did not recover them. We were crunching sand with our subsequent bites of the vegetables for the rest of the trip.

Ella and Colin couldn't wait to get into the tent.

One of the highlights of the trip for Ella was toasting marshmallows. She couldn't wait to get into her sleeping bag. In fact, she asked to go to bed! When will that ever happen again?

Matt made us pancake and sausages for breakfast - good!

On a very bright side, we had amazing weather both days. We enjoyed the beach both days that we were in Maine, and Ella and Colin were able to run around on the sand and chase seagulls. Overall, Matt and I decided that we would certainly return for another camping trip. We did make a list of things we needed to add to our camping supplies, and we brainstormed plenty of dinner ideas to avoid any more restaurant catastrophes! The highlight for the both of us was when Ella was toasting marshmallows Tuesday night and turned to say, "I love camping, and this is so much fun." She then came over and kissed and hugged us both. The hours of packing and organizing were all worth it with that one sentence!

Where OH Where Has Our Summer Gone?

I am in denial about August only having two weeks left; brochures for school supplies have already flooded the newspapers, the Lebanon pool closes this Saturday for the summer, Dairy Twirl closes in two weeks, and I have to turn lights on by 8:30 PM. Where has the summer gone? Despite my complaining, we have had a really fantastic summer. We have really accomplished all that we wanted to accomplish. Since the last posting about our trip in the Prouty Bike Event, we have completed some more tasks around the house (sanding and painting the porch and tearing down the disgusting, eye sore of a retaining wall and landscaping that). Ella and Colin have gotten so much more comfortable swimming; Ella can really swim and keep herself afloat for a bit now, and Colin just jumps up and down in the water until he falls under the water. He easily recovers by starting the who ordeal again.

My Dad and Karen came for a visit a few weeks ago for the purpose of celebrating his belated birthday. Although we don't have any pictures of the event, we headed to the Harpoon Brewery for the BBQ Festival. My Dad also brought some of my grandmother's jewelry for Ella, but I think Colin has enjoyed it even more, despite the looks I have gotten from Matt.




On August 9 I participated in an off road triathlon. My friend and I had been training for the last 12 weeks for this race. We were fortunate enough to have wonderful weather on the day of the race, and we had a wonderful cheering squad at each of the transition points. Here we are before the race displaying our numbers on our arms. We felt really proud and didn't want the numbers to wear off even after the race ended!



AND, this past weekend Matt and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary by traveling to East Burke, VT for some amazing mountain biking at Kingdom Trails. Grandma and Grandpa Maher were gracious enough to offer to stay at the funny farm while we went away. This was the first time that I had been away from both kids , so I was a bit nervous about missing them too much. Although I did miss them, the time away was so refreshing for us, and I knew they were in good hands. I have a feeling they were probably spoiled a bit! We left Friday night to have dinner at Stella's Restaurant in Lyme, NH. We then headed to St. Johnsbury, VT to a B+B. We were the only guests at the house, so we felt like royalty the following morning sitting in the elegant dining area eating our breakfast. Our host was also a very sincere woman who had many interesting stories to share with us. Our real adventure began when we hit the Kingdom Trails around 11 AM. We had great weather up until 2:30 when we got caught in a rain and hail storm. Luckily, we were close to cover and had a massage appointment waiting for us so that we were able to quickly recover! We had another delicious meal Saturday evening before heading to another B+B. Our trip ended with some more riding Sunday morning before heading back home.

Matt and I were grateful for the help from his parents; they provided us with the opportunity to enjoy a weekend away together. Matt and I finished up our travels by talking about all that has changed since August 18, 2001 - new house, new jobs, two kids - in reality, not much at all! I wonder what changes will occur in another seven years?? Kinda makes you go hmmm!