Today was Daddy Day and with Megan out of town for the weekend at an AMC (her job) event, I wanted to do something unique and fun with Caleb. A few days ago I started tossing around ideas and settled on taking him to a farm to go apple picking and check out the equipment and whatever else we could find.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned as we woke up to a fairly even downpour. Picking apples in the rain, I guessed, would not be nearly as much fun as in the sunshine. For better or worse, however, Caleb and I decided to go through with it anyway. What’s a little rain and wet clothes — certainly not enough to stop us from having a good time?

I didn’t take very many pictures (juggling a camera, bag of apples, three year old, and an umbrella is not as easy as it looks), but those that I did take are below.

Just starting out. This is just after we crossed the bridge from Boston to Charlestown.

Heading out of Boston on Hwy. 1

Still on Hwy. 1. Still raining.

Still raining, but now the road is beautiful. We are very close to the farm now.

Boots! Our bag of apples is almost full!

Heading home over the Tobin. Still raining, but we have a bag full of awesome apples to eat!

Wow. I take back everything I have ever thought or said about the mountains in New England. I often scoffed at the White Mountains calling them “tall hills” in comparison to mountain ranges I have spent more time exploring like the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains. Meek mountains they are not! (Click on the photo, or here, to see more images from our trip.)

The White Mountains are simply amazing. The few trails we were able to pack in over a few short days were gorgeous, challenging, and definitely of a respectable level of difficulty and intensity. I think it is a bit premature to say that I’ve fallen in love with the White Mountains, but I also think that is a pretty accurate summary of my recent experience. I am eager to return, and many times a year.

Caleb had a similar experience, climbing his first mountain, and honing rock climbing skills we never knew he had. He was such a sport joining us on hikes and trying out new and challenging things. On our first day, he and I did a moderate ~1.2 mile hike up the Crawford Path (a small portion of it, that is), exploring Gibbs Falls, and identifying as many mushrooms, ferns, spiders and various other natural features as we could take in. It was a lot of fun hiking with him, and it was even more fun seeing how much he enjoyed the activity and simply being in nature.

The second day Megan and I took Caleb on a hike up Mt. Willard, hearing from a number of guests that it would be a great trail to take him on. When he made it to the top on his own, we found out that most people assumed we would carry him up. I carried him down the mountain on my shoulders like a champ and almost everyone we passed said hello and asked if he made it up on his own. His confidence and pride built as each person showed amazement that our little (big) guy could make it up on his own. (We are very, very proud of you Caleb!) The photo of he and I on the summit is one of my favorite photos of the two of us together.

If you have yet to visit and experience the White Mountains, I strongly encourage you to do so, and soon. The Highland Center is a great place to start, but even a quick 30 minute hike on the simplest of trails should give you enough of a taste to hook you for life.

Happy hiking!

Yes, I know it has been a while. A lot has happened in the weeks since my last post, and unfortunately this will be short as well. I leave you with the photograph below, which was taken just after Caleb reached the top of his first mountain, all on his own. It was a long hike for him ~1.5 miles, and a bit tricky for a 3 year old. But he did it, and we are really proud of him. His treat was riding all the way down on my shoulders.

Yesterday was a pseudo Daddy Day, and a full one at that. Megan has been in New Hampshire for work since Friday evening and Caleb and I have been doing our best to maximize the father/son time as well as the great weather. (Click on the photo to the right to see all of the images from our adventure.)

I’ve been considering a stint in graduate school sometime in the next few years and have been itching to check out the UMass Boston campus. Always ready for a new adventure venue, Caleb eagerly agreed to check out the campus. A short Red Line ride and shuttle bus transfer and we found ourselves on the campus…all alone (well, almost). I had hoped to find at least one random straggler wandering around the campus just itching to answer my questions, but alas, we had the grounds all to ourselves.

…Until we discovered the Mini Cooper concert/ race/ carnival/ extravaganza in the back of the campus. Sheesh. If only they had car seats installed in the test cars. There was a very cool looking course that you could race a Mini around, and at least 5 or so cars were screeching around caution cone corners. Maybe next time.

Leaving the UMass campus we found ourselves wandering around Copley Square, the Hynes Convention area, the Prudential, and eventually, the Symphony area. In case you are wondering, the Borders Books in Copley is very sweet, and the two guys standing at the front to answer book questions can indeed direct you to the nearest music store (not for CDs, but for guitar strings).

(If you clicked on the photo above and looked through all of the images and want to check out some of Stoller’s work, look no further.)

Our neighborhood is great. Every day there is something unique happening.

On Friday we were treated to a very special road construction exercise. It seems that a rectangle of street outside our building was ready to be ripped up (by a massive, massive machine) and then replaced moments later with fresh asphalt. We can’t figure out exactly why the road needed to be torn up, but at least the timing coincided with the start of Caleb’s afternoon nap…

Click on the photo to see the noise up close and personal.

Here’s a map of the walking route we took this past Friday. We started at Boston University (the red marker) after exiting the Green Line. Click on the map for a larger view.

Yesterday was one of the more physically intensive Daddy Days we have had for some time. When asked, Caleb said that we should go to Central Square. Not content with our normal route of a walk to Park Street to catch the Red Line over the river, I decided that we would take the Green Line to BU and walk to Central Square instead. The weather was perfect and I figured it would be a good way to see a part of Boston neither of us had explored much before (Cambridgeport). Click on the photo to the right to see all of the images from our adventure!

The weather was indeed beautiful — sunny and not too hot — and perfect for a long afternoon walk outside. The walking portion of the trip, essentially BU to the North End, via Central Square and the Mass Ave bridge on the way back (instead of the more direct Longfellow Bridge) was just under 6 miles long. Roughly 5 of those miles Caleb trudged from the comfort of my arms or shoulders. (What’s a stroller?)

We learned a few things along the way, namely that Boston is beautiful in the summer, and the park along the Charles River (adjacent to Storrow Drive) is simply made for running/ strolling/ taking everything in.

Megan took some great photographs of Caleb and his friends the other day. They were hanging out in the playground next to our apartment enjoying the fantastic weather. Caleb did a few tricks on his skateboard for the camera and is really getting a hang of his balance. It helps when there is nice cushy rubber for him to fall on (the green/ gray/ black ground cover in the photos). Click on the image to the right to see all of the photos!

I just finished cleaning off our tent this afternoon and officially ended the experience by putting it and our sleeping bags away. I toyed with camping out in one of our bedrooms but decided to let the experience stand as is. While I am pretty down about the various unexpected challenges we had to deal with, there is a lot that went well. (Click on the image to the right to see all of our camping photos.)

First and foremost, Caleb had a great time. That was my nearly singular aim, and I think I can say, mission accomplished. He didn’t mind sleeping in a tent, or getting a bit dirty, or even dealing with the mosquitoes or rain. He clearly didn’t appreciate the latter two if you asked him about them, but neither seemed to slow him down much. I look at camping as a way to get out of the hustle and bustle of life and slow down a bit. Caleb seemed drawn to the same (we sat near the fire on our first night and listened to the forest and its many noises) and seemed also genuinely energized to be having the semi-roughing it experience.

In retrospect, I’ve decided that I shouldn’t be too hard on myself for deciding to leave a day early. Indeed, it continued to rain throughout the day and into the day we had originally planned to leave. Without the proper rain gear, and having to consider our dog’s comfort level as well, avoiding the rain was the proper move.

On the upside, we had a lot go in our favor. There were only a handful of campers in the campground aside from the three of us (perhaps five campgrounds out of 90 were occupied, perhaps due to the weather… ) so we had a considerable amount of peace and quiet. Despite the rain, our tent kept us very dry and comfortable. It also helped keep the mosquitoes out and offered a spot for Caleb to go to the bathroom so we could avoid the rain (the rain fly creates two fairly roomy vestibules on either side of the tent — Caleb managed with some finagling to be convinced that the option was far more preferable than running through the rain roughly 300 yards to the bathroom). Nadine perked up the second day and I figured out how to keep the mosquitoes off her without too much bug spray on her fur. We had the opportunity to visit a very cool museum and talk with a friendly person for a bit. And, perhaps most importantly, Caleb wants to go again, and soon (a not-so-certain outcome with kids, even after an ideal camping trip).

So, all in all, it was far more fun and successful than perhaps I convey when harping about the few discomforts. Perhaps we’ll try again next weekend…

Yay! Another Daddy Day post! (I think I am almost caught up now.) The photos to the right (click on the image to see them all) are from the end of May. Caleb took a late and rather long afternoon nap, so we ended up heading out on our Friday adventure pretty near to the end of the day (we left the North End around 4pm I think).

In talking through our options with Caleb, he picked Harvard Square as our destination. We made a pit stop at Megan’s office, which is on the way to the Park Street Red Line station, because I forgot to ask Caleb to use the restroom before we left our house. A short ride across the river and we romped around Harvard Square for a bit, taking in some dinner, and checking out Eastern Mountain Sports for skateboards (they had none).

On our way back, we decided to take the scenic route along the waterfront and took our time moseying home.