Hiking White Cap Mountain, Rumford

Today started out with a bit of a wrinkle.  We voted that Mt. Blue would be our next hike, followed by White Cap since it was a bit longer. We drove all of the way to Weld to find the road to Mt. Blue closed.  No one was willing to walk in the road (about 1.5 miles) and then up the mountain, so we turned around, slightly, and headed to White Cap in Rumford instead. This kids handled the change of plans and the extra time in the car well (thankful for good audio books!), especially given the debacle of the last hike and unexpected mileage. Before we got our of the car we set clear expectations with a promise that there would be no unplanned side hikes;)

It was a gorgeous day!  This is another favorite of ours because of the longer distance, but much more gradual incline than Bald. The 360 degree view shows Sunday River, Mt. Abram, and the mountains of Grafton Notch to one side and the back side of Black Mountain on the other.  It is cool to see 3 of the ski mountains in one hike.  

Educational Baking, Birthday, & Pool Time

We have been having so many desserts during this quarantine! James is becoming more interested in baking and made this awesome lemon cake.  We have also made donuts, bagels, bread, and eclairs together among other things.  Luckily doing lots of yard work and hiking are balancing it all out;)  

This week we celebrated Grandpa's 75th birthday.  It feels like we miss him more everyday, but we certainly feel his presence in all that we do. Everyone is always excited to celebrate him as if he were here with letters, cards, and stories. I often come into the dining room and hear them talking to his "flat Grandpa" pictures about various things:)

It felt a bit crazy, but we opened the pool! May 17th is the earliest we have ever opened it, but it has been pretty warm and we actually have TIME to open it and enjoy it.  The kids did make the first jump, but it was only 55 degrees so it was short lived.  I will say though, Ben has a current streak of 5 days of "swimming" since it has been open.  It is warming up surprisingly quickly, it is now up to 68. 

We have completed testing for the year and are finishing our days with fun projects.  One of the topics we have focused on this spring has been cell structure.  Today we used cookies and candy to create different parts of the cell for both an animal and a plant cell. Can you tell the difference?  Among the cell components are: nucleus, mitochondria, ribosomes, cell wall, chloroplasts, and vacuoles. Naturally the frosting represents the cytoplasm holding everything together;)  

Randy Riley Rap

Noah has been doing the most distance learning this spring with his chorus class. He put together various projects on different topics, composers, exploring different music genres, etc.  I did want to share this video he made at the end of the year.  The assignment was to rap or sing a children's book or story. He created a rhythm on Incredibox, took and edited the pictures, recorded the song and put it all together.  He is pretty proud of how it turned out. You can find his rapping of "Randy Riley's Really Big Hit" by Chris Van Duse by clicking Here Enjoy!

Bald Mountain and the Saddleback Wind Trail

After last week's "easy" hike to Reed Brook we were ready to take on one of our favorite hikes, Bald Mountain in Weld.  We love this hike because it is just about a mile to the top with amazing views, but the hike is straight up for some great exercise.  I quickly realized that the kids had reached an exciting place for hiking endurance this year.  We made it up the trail very quickly with almost no stops.  Each time we hike, Ben begs us to continue on to see the windmills on the Saddleback ridge trail (an additional 1.5 miles one way). This year was no different.  The kids were only mildly excited, but since the first part of the trip went so quickly and easily I thought there wouldn't be a better time, especially since the bug weren't out yet this year... 

I am sure the rest of this story is fairly predictable... we got about halfway and people started to complain that the trail was too long and were getting tired... I will spare the details, but it is pretty easy to imagine. BUT when we finally made it everyone was really impressed to see the windmills from this perspective, and so close!  Not impressed enough to continue down the trail to see the bases, but still impressed. Although tired everyone did an awesome job on the way back and I was so thankful for this "peak experience" or none of us would have made it back;) When we did finally reach the bottom the kids were really proud of themselves and ultimately glad they did it.  I had to promise no more "unscheduled" extensions of our hikes.... Understandable since we were all mentally prepared for a 2 mile hike and came out having hiked over 6 miles... oh well!

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!