As indicated in an earlier post, we spent this Thanksgiving up in the White Mountains, in the wonderful comfort of the Highland Center. My parents drove up from New Hampshire to spend the holiday with us and everyone had a great time. (Click on the photo to see more images from our trip.)

We filled the daytime with a lot of hiking and playing, and the evenings with games and stories. We did a number of short hikes and a few more ambitious hikes but also had fun building snow forts and messing around in the powder in front of the lodge.

Caleb had a fantastic time and really enjoyed winter hiking. His boots performed wonderfully though his mittens became wet due to frequent contact with the snow. Even so, Caleb’s hands stayed nice and warm and everyone was happy to be out in the cold and snow.

For evening games, we played Caleb’s favorite version of ping-pong each night (”Crazy Ball!!”), a round of CandyLand, and some hide-and-go-seek.

We look forward to our next trip to the White Mountains and certainly to the Highland Center.

(Thank you Vinnie for being so hospitable!)

Just a quick post to share a handful of my favorite photos from this weekend. We had a wonderful time and when asked, Caleb continually cites “hiking” as his favorite part of the trip (which, of course, makes me incredibly happy). He did an excellent job staying on his feet despite the slippery trails, had a great attitude, and endured my every five minute check-in asking whether his fingers, toes or body were cold. The weather was fantastic — we had a few snow showers and the temperature was perfect (in my opinion) for winter hiking. Just cold enough to keep the trails more sparsely populated (mid 20’s), but warm enough that you could hike in a base layer and shell (popping your gloves and hat on and off to maintain your temperature, of course) if you heat up like me when hiking at a fast pace.

Here are a few quick teaser photos (a full post will come in the next few days):

Caleb and Megan in the lodge before a hike in the morning during snowfall.

The happy hikers while on the trail about 45 minutes later.

One of the countless beautiful scenes we experienced while hiking.

Caleb running to me during a hike around the lake at dusk. He had his lion (PLC Lion) in his backpack.

Caleb listening to stories in the lodge on our last evening.

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.

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…

Boy am I glad we left yesterday evening instead of trying to stick it out last night. It is sunny and beautiful in Boston (and our tent is finally dry — it’s been hanging in the shower since last night) but not so much in Bear Brook State Park. Here’s the hour-by-hour weather forecast:

Caleb and I decided to come back a day early from our camping drip due to the somewhat “wet” weather. It started raining during the middle of our first night, and kept up for pretty much all of the next day (yesterday). We checked in at the office yesterday morning to inquire about the weather and were told that the sky would clear up just after noon. Noon came and went, and we decided around 4pm that we had enough of the weather. We still had a great time and made the clip below early yesterday morning (around 6am) when Caleb finally woke up:

Truthfully, it was a pretty difficult camping trip, at least from my perspective. Camping is somewhat laborious anyway, but add into the mix a two or three year old boy, a huge dog, some rain, and endless mosquitoes, and I would think even the most seasoned camper (which I am not) would get a bit dissuaded.

Caleb seemed to have a fantastic time, especially on our first day (setting the tent up and hanging out before bed). The mosquitoes clearly bothered him but doses of bug spray at least helped keep them at bay. The rain was another story — Caleb very much wanted to go hiking on our second day (as did I), but every time we ventured out, it invariably started raining too hard to continue (sans good rain gear including waterproof hiking shoes).

Nadine had a really hard time though I think she really enjoyed hanging out in the tent with us. I had put flea/tick/etc. junk (Frontline) in her fur the day before our trip (which always tweaks her system a bit) but still ended up having to put bug spray on her to keep the mosquitoes off. I doused her collar and then put it back on her but then I found a bunch latching on to her stomach and the bridge of her nose (poor girl!). She also seemed to think that we were moving and more or less refused to eat (even carrots, one of her favorite treats). I kept finding her “burying” her food bowl (a stress-induced hoarding/rationing behavior — she would nuzzle her bowl with her nose into a corner of the tent as if to cover it with dirt) and she continued to refuse food until we returned to Boston last night.

Trips to the bathroom were also a bit of a challenge. I opted to bring Nadine as leaving her in the tent — to potentially tear it to shreds trying to chase a passing deer — was likely a poor option, and didn’t want to expose the car to more mosquitoes than necessary (three to four managed to always enter no matter how briefly the door was open). So the three of us piled into a stall (which was thankfully one of the cleanest bathrooms I have ever seen at a campground) and made do (umm… no pun, however slight, intended…).

For fun, which we managed to create/find/sustain despite the above, we hiked (per our several, though abbreviated and wet attempts), made fires (the second one was freakishly extinguished by the rain just 5 minutes later), skateboarded (well, Caleb did “tricks” while I watched), explored a bit, read stories in the tent, visited nearby Concord (about 30 minutes away — our morning adventure while waiting for the sky to clear up), and took a detour into the nearby Camping Museum (which was awesome!).

All in all, Caleb and I are ready to take another trip (Nadine not so much). The next time, we’ll hopefully have better weather, and will perhaps choose a climate not so mosquito friendly…

The cat is out of the bag. Caleb wants an orange skateboard and he is going to get one. It arrived in the mail today (he’s already mastered a few moves) but when we were in Pennsylvania a few weekends ago, my Uncle bought him a top-notch and fire-laiden skateboarding helmet (complete with elbow and knee pads). He couldn’t wait to get the skateboard and tried everything on in my Aunt and Uncle’s family room:

And then here’s a photo of him looking far more innocent in the back yard:

Here are some photos from our soccer time in the park yesterday morning. (I’m trying out some new code to present images. I haven’t quite figured out all of the quirks, but we’ll see if it does the trick.)