Now It's Official...

Summer is officially done. I'd say I'm sad it's over but now we're entering my favorite time of year. Cool sunny days, crisp mornings, colorful foliage, bright blue skies, apple and pumpkin picking...what's not to like. The downside is it flies by and before you know it the leaves are all dead and brown, there's frost in the mornings and a nip in the air that lasts until March, but enough about that for now.

Brooke has been the busiest out of all of us I think. She started school and soccer and was supposed to start dance class, however that's been cancelled because of not enough kids in her time slot. Great to find out after she went out and got all new dance stuff. School is going very well, she's been excited and really into it since before she even went. She just hopped out of the car and waved goodbye while Jen did her best to hold it together. It's exciting to have her take that step but sad that she's growing up that fast also. We also finally went to see the Fresh Beat Band at Meadowbrook up in Guilford, which was her long time coming birthday present from us, and she liked that a lot also. In between she's been leading the way on hikes and being a great big sister to Emily.

Jen has been keeping busy with the kids and work as well as putting together a surprise 50th birthday party with her brothers for their mom last weekend. That went very well and everyone managed to keep the thing a surprise somehow. Emily has been talking a lot more lately and is also getting a few more teeth. She sings and dances and is also, sadly, growing up very fast. She changes almost every day it seems. On our hikes she now does big chunks of them herself, usually about half a mile at a time before requesting a ride in the pack. We've been doing a lot of smaller local hikes lately too, which are usually good for her to walk at least part of, and I've done a few on my own, so there's plenty to see on that front if it interests you. There's some really nice trails around here if you know where to find them, most are great for kids too.

I've just been busy at work and with the kids, working in a hike here and there and taking my pictures whenever I can. Hopefully as the foliage turns I'll be able to get some pictures of that. I always seem to miss it but this year I'm trying to make it a point to capture more of it than usual, which shouldn't be hard because usually I get none of it.

That's what we've been up to in a nutshell. I could go into more depth about everything but I'll let the pictures do most of the talking. I'm fighting a nice cold right now that Brooke presumably brought home from school and has spread it to almost everyone else in the house so I'm going to get some rest. Check back soon, I'll try and get to this more than once a month but I can't promise it'll happen. Hopefully it will though, it makes it easier to do when there's not so much catching up to do.

The pictures are here if you like. I've broken them down into sections, feel free to check out whatever you like. Just click the pictures that goes with each section to see more. bye for now!

School, Soccer, Charlene's 50th and more...

 

9/9 - Mt. Chocorua & Moat Mountain mineral site hike by myself

  

9/15 - Adams Point State Wildlife Refuge family hike

 

9/16 - Great Bay National Wildlife Refuge family hike   

  

9/19 - Sweet Trail/Durham point hike by myself

  

9/23 - Fundy trail/Pawtuckaway State Park hike with the girls

 

Summer 2012 Is Unofficially Over

Well it's a bummer but summer is unofficially over with Labor day weekend behind us now. Hopefully there will still be plenty on nice warm days before the leaves change, the pumpkins come out and things get frosty in the morning but the fun lazy days of summer are gone. Brooke starts school on Monday at the Exeter Day School, which she is very excited about and we're excited for her. She also starts dance up again Thursday and Soccer starts Saturday. She wants to do gymnastics too but we're not exactly sure where that'll fit into our busy little girls schedule and don't want her every waking moment booked up so we'll have to see about that. Emily is doing well too, besides a chipped tooth and a busted lip that came with it when she tripped in the driveway last week. She's talking a lot and loves to dance and sing and seems to be a happy healthy and smart little girl just like her big sister. We're going to be pretty busy from here on out I guess, at least until summer comes back around. We tried to squeeze in as much as possible this summer, knowing the chances we have to do things as a family will be far fewer from here on out. No more Wednesday afternoon trips to the beaches or to gather sea glass with school starting. No more weekend camping trips as she has soccer on Saturdays and soon the nights will dip down past the comfort point of 45-50 degrees for the kids. No more afternoon swims in the lakes once the water cools off and Buppy and Dew's pool is closed for business. Bummer bummer bummer. I'm sure we'll get in more hiking, as fall is a great time for that, and apple and pumpkin picking and all the other great stuff that fall in New England brings, but we're in no rush for that so let's get back to talking about summer.

We finished our summer off with a busy three weeks since the last post here. We have been on a couple hikes, the Sugarloafs a couple weeks ago and Mt. Cardigain this past weekend. The Sugarloafs are two peaks up near Twin Mountain and Cardigain is more towards Plymouth. The guide books say it is traditionally many New Hampshire kids first "big" mountain hike, but of course Brooke has been on many hikes that size by now, always does great and did this one with ease. Both hikes are about 3.5 miles with about 1200 feet of elevation gain and that seems to be about perfect for Brooke right now. Close to her limit but not really pushing it either. About an hour into the hike if you give her a few Pez she gets the energy to finish off the last half hour or so on hikes that size. We might try a little bigger one to see what she has in her but those two were very nice enjoyable trips. We went on a spur of the moment bare necessities camping trip too last Sunday with the Griffins and spent a beautiful lazy late summer afternoon and night at White Lake State Park swimming and camping before the hike. It was a lot of fun and very relaxing. We don't usually just hang out and do nothing on a a nice afternoon but that's just what we did there. Soaked up the sun and chilled. Follow that with dinner and a couple drinks around one last campfire for the season with friends and you have a great way to spend the unofficial end of summer. Actually I can't think of many better ways to spend it.

I also spent the weekend before camping and hiking in Baxter State Park way up in Maine, where Ryan and I went to finish off the last remaining peak on our list of New England 4000 footers. Hamlin Peak on Katahdin was #67 for us and the last feather in our cap. We added in a trip across the Knife Edge on Katahdin, probably the most spectacular hiking trail in the east, and another spur to the hardly ever hiked North peaks so we actually ended up climbing all 7 of the mountains summits in one big traverse of the mountain, 4 of which we'd done before, with only Baxter peak at 5267 feet and Hamlin at 4756 meeting the requirements to be on the official AMC list of 4K's. It was a tiring day, between having a moose wake us at 2:30 in the morning and not getting back to sleep before our alarm went off at 4 to head for the trail, and then we still had to drive 6 hours home after the hike but we had perfect weather, a great hike and got to feast at Famous Dave's on the ride home so it was well worth the trouble in my book. Only a second night to recover and relax could have made it any better. We're not sure what list/peaks, if any, we'll be chasing down next. The Northeast 111 involves a lot of driving to hike the Adirondacks 4000 footers, and then there's the New England Hundred Highest, and the 52 with a view are a collection of mid sized and smaller peaks with as you might expect good views so there's plenty of options. We'll just have to see what happens I guess. 

So that's our end of our summer tales. Now like I said we're going to be busy busy busy. We're hoping to get up to visit the Vermont side of the family sometime when the leaves are changing and see all the work they've done on their house. I told Tyler I'd go up and hike Camel's Hump with him this fall so I have to get that done sometime and we'd still like to get Brooke up to Story Land before it closes down so we have a lot to squeeze in over the the next month or so. I'll try to update this a little more often so it's a quicker read with less pictures to look through but since it's been a while there's quite a few this time. I broke them down into three sections to make them easier to find. Click on the links if  you'd like to check them out. Otherwise bye for now!

For our hike up The Sugarloafs click here

For a lot of pictures from the Mt. Katahdin trip click here

Last but not least for Fort Stark, Sea Glass, White Lake and the hike up Mt. Cardigan click here