Camping...Adirondack Style!

Man, have we been missing out! My brother, a certifiable nature enthusiast, convinced us to go on a "REAL" camping trip...you know, tents, sleeping bags, the Great Outdoors??? Now, we've done this numerous times in the past, but gave it up once Drew came along as she really didn't appreciate 50 pounds of blankets on top of her body at night! Hence the camper thing, which we also love! But this trip really was an eye-opener for me. I hadn't realized just how much I missed camping until this past weekend!! My brother has camped in the Adirondacks for years and had a spot on Raquette Lake picked out for us. I have camped on Raquette before, but not in the lean-to site he found for us. It is about a 15 minute drive from the boat launch at Raquette Lake (the town). The one I've been to is a mere 3 or 4 minute drive from the boat launch. Anyway, this new site was way on the other side of the lake and was far more remote and QUIET! (Have you ever heard deafening silence before??) Below is a shot of our site from the water. (Click on the picture to get a full size view.)




For anyone who hasn't had the opportunity to camp in a lean-to in the Adirondacks, I highly recommend it! A lean-to is basically a small log cabin with only three enclosed sides. The fourth side is exposed to the outdoors. Below, Drew gets a tickle from Uncle (as she and Luci call him) and you can see part of the lean-to.

Here are some of the views around our site...

Now, mostly, this is a pretty pristine area, but not everyone respects these spots and someone thought they'd be funny and spray paint, "I chopped her body up" on the outhouse door! Actually, though I'd never do this myself, I did get a chuckle from this! Yes, this IS the only bathroom available! It was pretty stinky and I held my breath every time I used it!

One thing the girls got to enjoy this weekend was fishing! They caught more fish than I can count! Granted, they were nothing more than very small sunfish, but they didn't care! Here we see Uncle helping them out!

And here we see me tossing back the latest catch. (I used to be an avid fisherman before the girls came along, but I just can't seem to find much time to enjoy it anymore!)

Here's Drew first catch of the weekend. Her first fish ever was last year, a rock bass caught with Uncle's help!

And here's Luci's first fish ever! Like I said, they were catching them all weekend! They'd go turn over a rock or dig in the ground to find a worm and come running to catch another. When they couldn't seem to find anymore worms, we switched to slugs. They work and they also stay on the hook better than worms!

Below, are a couple shots of some of the wildlife we saw on our nature walks through the woods. Here's a beautiful salamander.

And of course a toad.

Speaking of wildlife, Drew thought she'd try out a tree to see how a bear scratches himself.

Luci couldn't quite get the hang of it, but managed to scratch her bum a bit!

We had been watching the weather to see what we might be in store for there and prepared ourselves for chilly nights. Thankfully, it wasn't nearly as chilly as we expected and our nights were pleasantly comfortable! The first morning, we awoke to some fog hanging over the water, trees and surrounding mountains. It was beautiful and serene.

During the day, it was warm enough for a dip in the lake!

Later, the girls enjoyed a boat ride to see some more scenery.

Here's a shot of our site taken from near the outhouse.

Uncle got the girls to pose for him!

In the evenings, we'd all sit around the fire pit and enjoy the fire. You can see the inside of the lean-to behind them. We didn't actually sleep in the lean-to, my brother brought his tent. But the lean-to came in handy for keeping our stuff together and off the ground. To the right, you'll see a silver tarp which we suspended from the ceiling of the lean-to to keep our food in to discourage the mice. It worked well! As a matter of fact, we didn't have any animal encounters whatsoever! A couple of deer got within a hundred feet of our lean-to, but Mouth #1 and Mouth #2 made sure they came no closer!

This morning (Sunday) we awoke to no fog, but a beautiful sunrise. This first shot is just before the sun rose.

And here's the first glimpse of the sun.

And finally, it popped out over the mountains. It was gorgeous!

A shot taken a little later in the morning. I'm still fishing!

After a fun, full weekend, this is the result on the ride home!

As I've mentioned before, what a wonderful weekend this was! The girls got experience some TRUE camping and they both REALLY loved it and had a good time! They got to explore and see things they've never seen, they got to go fishing, a brand new experience for Luci! They never sat still the entire time. We set a boundary for them and then let them run free whenever they wanted! They absolutely loved it as evidenced by the squeals of delight every time they found something new! The ONLY downside to this fairytale weekend was the lack of loons. We heard one brief call on our first night there, and then a few faint calls the next night, but that was it. And then, wouldn't you know it, while we were packing the boat this morning for our return ride, we heard Luci say, "Wook, a duck!" We turned around and there, a mere 15 feet from us was a loon! It was beautiful!! I scrambled for my camera, turned it on, zoomed in on the loon and just as I was about to hit the button....the damn bird dove under the water!!! Argh!! Oh well! At least the girls got to see one close-up! I'm so glad we took the girls on this trip, it was one way to celebrate Luci's "Gotcha Day", "Adoption Day", "Forever Family Day", "Insert your label of choice here Day"...it was Friday the 15th and she had a ball! (Wow, has it really only been 3 years since we adopted her??????) And we all had a ball! Next year, I'd like to fit several more of these types of trips in to our summer!

Rebecca Kelly Ballet day camp

If you've never heard the name "Rebecca Kelly Ballet", you should do yourself a favor and look it up online (www.rebeccakellyballet.com ). I signed both girls up for a week-long day dance camp this past week and last night (Friday) was the recital. It...was...AWEOME! Luci was in the youngest group called "Kids Co-Motion I" which was led by Rebecca Kelly's husband, Craig. Their group was for the 2-4 year olds and they didn't perform onstage at the recital, but they had tons of fun anyway. Here are a few shots of Luci during the week.

Here's Luci with Craig.

Luci's little group was more along the lines of a "Mommy and Me" type of playgroup. I certainly got in a workout everyday as parents were required to participate with their children. She loved it and still does the moves to her favorite dance. Drew's group, on the other hand, was completely different. It was a structured ballet group. The girls were required to wear their hair up and have pink tights and black leotards. The girls were expected to control their behavior and pay attention at all times. Now all this may seem a little much for a 6 year old, but when you see Drew's face in some of these shots, you'll realize that she enjoyed herself immensely! I watched the rehearsal everyday as the camp was 45 minutes from our house and I had to be there for Luci's group anyway, so I got the oppotunity to watch their progress. The instructors were VERY ambitious and after the first couple of days, I truly wondered how these girls would manage to remember HALF of their moves! I was amazed, no...awestruck at how beautiful the recital turned out to be! As Julie said, these girls learn more in 5 days than they do ALL YEAR at their local dance studio! Anyway, below, Drew is (as usual) the shortest one in the class so is in front. Hannah is much taller and was in the rear rows for most of the recital, so it was tough getting a clear shot of her dancing.

Hannah was chosen for this group (Drew was not in this group) who used hula hoops as a prop. The lighting onstage was rather dim for photography purposes, so most of the pics I got were rather blurry, but I managed to get this shot of Hannah while she was standing still twirling her hoop.

Drew was singled out (probably no doubt due to her size) for a small solo part which she is seen here performing. Drew has what I like to call the "Awww Factor". Now, I think my kid is gorgeous, but I also think most kids are. She's not any cuter or more beautiful than any other kid up there, but because she's so small, the instant she goes onstage, all we hear around us is "awww!" or "Isn't she the cutest?!!" or any other various comments along those lines. She loves the attention! (We taped the recital and I've asked Dean to convert it to digital so I can put part of it on the blog. When that will happen is entirely up in the air, but I promise to keep at him until he does. A digital camcorder is on my wishlist, but it currently sits pretty low on the priority list...as are most of things I'd really like....sigh...)

Drew's little group performed this number with their instructor.

This is the beaming smile she had on her face for most of the recital! She truly loves ballet which I absolutely love!! She has decided to give up figure skating for a year to see if she misses it or not. (I'm looking forward to not freezing my butt off twice a week!!)

Drew plays around with one of the instructors, Raul Peinado. I think some of the older girls were a bit smitten with him!

Here's a group shot of all the OnStage kids. These are the 6-12 year olds. Incidentally, there was another set of sisters who were adopted from China in this group as well. Laura is sitting in the front row, second from right and Ella is standing in the back row all the way on the right. Ella had a certain fondness for Drew and everytime they had a break, she either had Drew on her lap or was playing with her or holding her hand.

After the show, Hannah and Drew got some beautiful flowers! They are stars, after all!!

Drew poses with one of the instructors, Emily Sorelle Adams.

And with Raul Peinado.

With Therese Wendler.

And here's Hannah with all three of them.

Here's Drew with Rebecca Kelly herself.

I can't stress enough how wonderful this program is! We asked Drew if she wanted to do it again next year and she enthusiastically agreed! I can't wait!

Our household grows by one!

Ok, ok, before you get too excited, we have NOT adopted another child! I know...bummer! BUT we have acquired a new house member...well, we will very shortly anyway. For those who have been following along from awhile ago, you may remember me saying something about my dad possibly moving in if he could sell his house. You guessed it, he finally sold his house! So he will be moving in within the next month or two. For now, he will stay in our camper while we aren't camping until it is too cold to do so. While we are camping, he'll be in the house, unless he decides to camp with us. Once it gets too cold to stay in the camper, he will be taking over the upstairs bedroom that I am currently using as a sewing room. My stuff will go into storage. My dad plans on giving us a large portion of the proceeds from selling his house so that we can start on the rebuilding of our kitchen which will now contain a back bedroom/bath for my dad. In my dreams, this addition/renovation would have two floors so we can build two more bedrooms upstairs, but realistically, I have little hope of this actually happening. It would be nice to move the girls into our current bedroom which is the size of their bedroom plus my sewing room put together, and then not only would their huge bunkbed/playhouse not overpower the room, but they'd have room for all their toys, too! Our room also has a big walk-in closet which would solve so many issues with their clothes and all the hand-me-downs they have yet to fit into! The sewing room would be cut in half, half for an upstairs laundry room and the other half would be a hallway leading to the back bedrooms. Back there, I'd love to put another bedroom (for any future children because come hell or high water I am NOT done adopting kids!!) and a master bedroom and bathroom suite with a set of back stairs or exterior stairs off a small deck for fire safety reasons.

Yes, I love to dream and this is one heck of a dream as to do this would essentially double the square footage in our house which would do god only knows to our already over-inflated property taxes!! My father's financial gift would definitely help, but would in no way be enough to actually finish the job, even without the second story! We're probably looking at a home equity line of credit at the very least. My business is definitely increasing, but is it enough to realize this dream??? I guess only time will tell! If anyone has any helpful money-saving tips or secret grant/loan tips for us, I'd really appreciate it!

Camping with Daddy!

Have I mentioned before how much I LOVE camping??? We just returned from our latest trip and I am bummed that we had to return to life in general today. Below is one of the results from the girls' favorite camp activity (other than riding their bikes). This one is Drew's creation after Julie traced her outline on the pavement.



Here's Luci's creation.

Here is some of Drew's budding academics. She practices her math skills with the sidewalk chalk.

Luci tries out Hannah's scooter thingy (yes, I KNOW there is an actual name for this contraption, however, I am currently having a brain-fart and cannot think of it, hence the "scooter thingy".)

Amy and Uncle pulling out after a pleasant visit on Saturday. Amy waves good-bye!

Here's my cute little man being a good boy.

And here is the newest family member on the "S" family! This is Ruby, Hannah's new dog, actually she is still a puppy, but you'd never guess it from her behavior. She is the sweetest, prettiest pup I've seen in a while! And very lovable, too!

Here's one of Monty's favorite pasttimes when nobody is playing with him. Chew, chew, chew! Speaking of chewing...Mr. Monty will officially be less of a man as of next Monday, and while he's under, the Dr. will be pulling all four of Monty's baby canines as they are still in his mouth right next to all four of his adult canines! Apparently, it is rather common in the toy breeds for them to retain some of their baby teeth. So along with having a sore ummm, nether region...he'll also have a sore mouth, poor little thing! He'll be getting lots of TLC when he gets home from that appointment!

The girls came up with a new game called "Mergency". In this scene, we have the patient, Luci, laying on the backboard while EMT's Drew and Hannah prepare to load her into the ambulance.

Once loaded, the EMT's get into the front seat of the ambulance and start driving. (Dean provides sound effects and motion effects for all the potholes in the road.)

Luci's pretty good at "playing dead". Gotta love the tongue!

And of course, today is Father's Day! And to celebrate the awesome Dad in their lives, the girls gave him a book called, "Me and My Dad". Here he is reading it to them!

Also part of the gift was a ribbon with "World's Best Dad" (and he really is!!) and some homemade artwork from the girls (which was Dean's favorite gift of all...next to the hugs and kisses, of course!)

Playtime ensues after the gift-giving!

After the little Father's Day celebration, we went to the "S"'s camper for breakfast. How's this for some breakfast chow??? I don't do strawberries, so I opted for some pancakes a la Jimbo! They were pretty yummy!!

Poor little Monty was left outside at our camper while the rest of us were at the "S" camper and he was none too happy about either!

Ummmmmmm.....I don't really have an explanation for this shot.

Jim on a little morning walk. Walking off some of those calories from breakfast, maybe???

Hee hee! The girls drew hop-scotch squares on the road and Dean was giving it a try! It looked as funny in person as it does in this picture!!

Nothing was funnier than watching Luci hop! I can't even describe how she was moving, but suffice it to say that we all got a huge laugh out of it!

This little gem of nature was located outside the men's bathroom. I snuck up while Mama was out looking for some food.

And what would summer be without some cute posed shots of the girls! I love these hats! Not as much as those smiles, but they're still cute!

The next planned trip is two and a half weeks from now and it's far too long a wait, but school isn't out for another week and a half. And then I have a wedding to shoot on the 27th, so we'll see how it goes for that weekend. Until then...