Waterfalls and Bridges

Now that the snow has left most of the lower elevations we are trying to take advantage of hiking spots before the bugs come out.  Gabe had the day off and we were tired of chores so we spent the day exploring places in the Carrabassett Valley area we hadn't been to before.  Our first stop was the Reed Brook trail and waterfall.  This is a super easy 1 mile round trip hike that took us along the brook and over some really neat bridges and trail features.  There is one bridge in particular called "the Lost Boys Bridge" that certainly makes you feel like you are in Neverland.  Ironically, this bridge isn't technically part of the trail anymore since they move the trail head, but it is still there and neat to walk across and back. The trail was really well maintained and has been thoughtfully marked with cute, hand painted signs. The waterfall was bigger and more impressive that I was expecting too. 

Our second stop was the wire bridge.  People have told us about this for years, but it is a bit far to drive just for a bridge and usually we are all so tired on the way back from CV we don't bother to stop. But since the hike was so short we finally stopped to explore it. It has a really interesting history for those who are curious. The kids weren't aware that the bridge moves (like the bouncy bridges on a playground) when you drive onto it... especially in a large vehicle.  They weren't super impressed at first and some of them refused to drive back over it and got out to walk back across;) 

Our last stop on the way back was Mosher Falls (I actually don't know the real name of it), but it is on Mosher Hill Rd. close to Clearwater Lake.  The kids and I had been here multiple times, but Gabe hadn't. The coolest part of this hike is that it is a few hundred feet off the road to the top of the falls.  We didn't take the time to hike to the bottom and up the riverbed this day, but it was still gorgeous.  

We finished the day ordering take out from our favorite Mexican restaurant and were still home before 2pm!   

Legos, Chicks, and Lots of Purging

Things continue to be pretty low key around here.  We are making lots of progress towards wrapping up the school year. The lego creations the kids are coming up with are impressive.  This challenge was to build a bridge to span the river to allow the boat of storm troopers to pass under. Thanks to the Lego Masters show their designs are so creative with awesome back stories to each one. 

Our chicks arrived last week and they are all growing so fast!  This year we have 7 new layers and 30 meat birds. We can't wait to watch them grow.

We have also taken on the project of trying to purge and organize our house a little (or a lot!) more to try and make it easier to keep things picked up.  It seems like we have been successful. We all feel much lighter getting rid of so much stuff AND the Thrifty Santa Toy Sale will be getting lots of new items:)

Poplar Falls Take 2!

We have literally seen no other humans outside of the 6 of us since this whole thing started.  Gabe has been grocery shopping once and goes to work so he sees people, but the rest of us are hoping for warmer weather. We are fortunate to have friends who are equally deprived of other human interaction:)  We tried our best to social distance and in the end it was totally worth the excursion... probably.  From a COVID-19 perspective it was worth it... from a comfortable hike in the woods, maybe not.  What the pictures don't tell are the story of how the trail was a muddy/snowy/wet mess and everyone was cold, wet, and uncomfortable (and generally grouchy) by the end. The waterfalls were beautiful at least!

The COVID-19 Quarantine/Social-Distancing Continues...

We have made it about a month into our time at home.  No one has really left the house except Gabe to go to work.  The lego projects continue to be amazing, their art and creativity are really blooming during this time. The top pictures are from a blindfolded lego challenge.  They had 5 minutes to build with a blindfold on, then 30 minutes to create something from this start.  This was definitely not Noah's favorite challenge, but he turned it around at the end. The kids really got into the Mona Lisa project having her: shop for groceries, be a teenager "with hair over her eyes like Violet from the Incredibles", pose as Baby Lisa, and be a real estate agent who loves her desk.  This is always a fun time in the school year when we are finishing our "regular" curriculum and have more room for playing outside and exploring other interests.

Although we all miss something about "how things were" we are unbelievably fortunate to be enjoying this time and tackling things we have wanted to get to for years. After the "nail polish incident", we emptied both the front room and the mud room and sealed/re-sealed the grout and tile. This was a pretty big job, but both floors look so much better AND, when someone promptly spilled something it cleaned up easily.  Don't worry though, the red nail polish is now enshrined in the grout of the front room;)  The other big project was tackling the overgrown mess in our yard. Gabe has worked so hard all week in creating "Mt. Brushmore", our second burn pile of the season already! 

James has been disgusted for years at how much trash is on the side of the road along our running route. Today we finally took a run/walk to collect garbage.  It was actually way more than either of us thought so we had to leave piles on the side of the road and go back and collect it with the truck. He was pretty proud of himself, but more so, fired up to write a letter about it... we told him that he should wait a few days until he was sure he could use constructive words;) Happy Earth Day!

Easter 2020

We still didn't have power on Easter, but it was sunny enough that we could dye eggs, play games, and read books. It was a fun and relaxing day, but going on the 4th day with no power  (and no internet, stove, oven, etc.) was wearing on everyone. At around 4:30pm the power came back on and we sprang to action with all hands on deck to pull off an awesome Easter dinner to end the day.

As a reminder that things are chaotic most of the time at our house- There was also a red nail polish incident on our very porous, non-sealed tile floor in the front room... needless to say, there will forever be a red reminder of this day (and to never buy 4th of July nail polish again).

Biggest Snow Storm of the Year... in April!

These pictures really tell the story. The top pictures are of us enjoying being outside and cleaning up the yard before the bugs come... this was Wednesday, April 8th. The next pictures are from Friday, April 10th... we got over 18 inches of super heavy, wet snow... our biggest storm of the year... we lost quite a few trees, we lost power for several days, and finally dusted off our generator. It was a bizarre time, but no more than anything else that is happening, so we enjoyed it as much as we could:)