Veterans Day Pancakes

Pre-school: Day 1

I took the day off to drop off Miss M at her first day of pre-school. Fearless as always, she didn't hesitate when I told her I wasn't accompanying her to the room. As she strolled down the hall with her new classmates, the last 3.5 years seemed awfully brief....

A Smattering of Sky Scenes

Strange summer: almost no rain but great clouds, thunder, and even a rainbow. I haven't seen our creek run dry before! I wonder if the beavers are starting to panic....

Finishing the 4000-footers

After ~20 years of pecking away at NH's 4000-footers, it came down to an overcast July weekend, the Carter-Moriah Range, and my soon-to-be-married brother. We parked at the 19-Mile Brook trailhead and started our loop down Rte. 16. By crossing through Camp Dodge we picked up the Imp trail partway up. A couple hours of climbing brought us past this (bear-clawed?) tree to the ridge near North Carter. With the goal of camping at Imp Shelter, we then scrambled down one of those ridiculously steep stretches of White-Mountain "trail," irritating my I-T band (as diagnosed by Geoff) in the process. By the time we dropped our packs at Imp and began the climb up Moriah (#46), the clouds actually showed signs of breaking up. Our run up the exposed ridge was complemented by emerging views north to the Pilots, west to the Presidentials and east to the Evans Notch area--not bad! Returning to Imp completed our 10-mile day. After an exquisite dinner of pasta, sundried tomatoes, green peppers and canned chicken, we turned in.


The morning brought wisps of mist to the campsite and thickening clouds to the ridge, and our first climb took us back up the ridiculous trail to North Carter. As we ascended into the clouds it occurred to us that a shuttle could have taken us to an easier trailhead and obviated the need for re-treading this trail. Oh well.




Once we made it up, the rest of the day was mostly downhill. The ridge run took us to unremarkable Middle Carter (#47) and then, with a small drop and climb, up to South Carter (#48)! Not many views along this stretch, so it was nice to have the clear weather on Moriah the day before. Dropping down to Zeta Pass and 19-Mile Brook took us back to the car to finish our 9-mile second day. It also irritated Geoff's I-T band! A fair amount of limping on the way out, but a successful end to the 4000-footers.



Thanks Geoff!

Tickling the Keys

On one of her trips to Buffalo, Mom discovered a piano that was just yearning to travel east to NH. As it seemed a perfect size for our place, she found some movers heading in that direction and convinced them to take it along. It arrived in one piece, was installed successfully, and now fits perfectly in our back room. It needs a tuning after its travels, but it is a fantastic addition--thanks Mom!

Here Myrick demonstrates that she doesn't need any lessons, just a chance to pick out the tune to the ABC song!

Myrick's First Haircut

While in SC, we decided with Dad's okay, that it was time for her first haircut. In truth, Myrick's do was a mullet, just the way it grew in. But it was a beautiful, blond mullet with baby curls at the ends. My biggest fear was that by cutting it, the curls would be gone permanently. It was a good cut done by pros who cut only small people's hair, and Myrick did great. While it is still adorable, I miss the curls. I almost cried, but walking out with a baggie of her hair was a small consolation. It's hard to let go and watch my baby girl become my little girl.

Cousin Camp: Day 5

Pretty mellow day recovering from the biggie the day before. The boys went off to the mall to run around and stay cool while we girls (plus Pender) headed off for our own errands, one of them being Myrick's very first haircut (more on that in a separate post).

This was our last day of camp, and I think we were all pretty well pooped (see pitiful kids in photo at left). Chris and the boys drove home the next day, and the kids and I left the day after that. As they pulled out of the driveway Myrick was yelling, "Come back Maddox and Nixon, come back!" Oh, my heart.

I'm sure we left behind plenty of chores for Akie and Poppy to do to restore order to their home. We're already talking about next year. Sounds like we might have a "destination" camp at the beach.

Thanks, Akie and Poppy, for an awesome Cousin Camp! You helped the kids begin building a bank of summer memories this year.