Olivia's New Sport

After doing the spring training, Olivia has joined the Greensboro Gladiators Homeschool Cross Country Team.

Coaches Rebekah and Michelle have been pushing her hard because they see some real potential in her abilities.

Her first couple of races were hard and she took a couple of falls, but she always finished and consistently improved her times.

She even got competitive a time or two.

Her hardest meet was unquestionably the State Championships they held at Hagan Stone Park. It was a full 5k, which she hadn't done before and there were some tough hills, especially the one up to the finish line.

She did great, though, and persevered through the heat and hills and finished the race.

The kids had a great time celebrating when they were done.

The parents did, too!

Camp 2018 - Hikes

This year, Rebecca took the bigs on the traditional Owl's Head Mountain hike. The littles were too big for me to carry and we were confident that they would not have done well, so I decided to stay back with them and go fishing.

The three adventurers were full of energy and raring to go!

And go they did! They made it up in a couple of hours, had lunch, and hung out at the top for a while.

Mama even got some time to relax. 

Of course, there was the obligatory climb to the top of the fire tower...

And the view of Lake Eaton from there...

It was a warm day and the kids were happy to jump in the lake while waiting for their ride to come get them.

We also found something new this year. There's something called the Tupper Lake Triad, which is a challenge to climb 3 peaks around Tupper Lake. We did all three in one day!

First we did Coney Mountain, which was a fairly short 1.1 mile hike to the top. 

Then we moved closer to Tupper Lake and did Goodman Mountain. It was a little longer at 1.7 miles, but still not too bad, especially because the first half was on an old section of Route 9, the main road between Long Lake and Tupper Lake. When they rebuilt the road a few decades ago, they abandoned this one. 

The last one was Mount Arab, on the north side of Tupper Lake. It was very short, but more of a vertical climb. I stayed down on this one because we were taking the opportunity to do laundry in Tupper and wanted to make sure it was done in time. 

This one had a ranger cabin and fire tower at the top, similar to Owl's Head, so they got some great views of Tupper Lake and the surrounding area.

The kids all did a great job keeping positive attitudes and walking the whole way on their own! Next time we go up, we will definitely have to do these peaks again!

Camp 2018 - Fishing and Wildlife

Fishing is something that will always be a part of going to Camp. Despite being down in North Carolina for nearly 30 years, I've never gotten the hang of fishing like I did up there. Something about being able to actually see the bottom maybe...

Of course, the kids always look forward to fishing for sunnies. 

They aren't any good for eating because they're small and bony, but they definitely keep the kids busy. 

You can practically catch them on an empty hook!

I don't bother bringing my own pole with me most of the time when I bring the kids because I know I'm going spend every minute either baiting a hook or unhooking a fish. 

That doesn't mean I did get any fishing done. I did take a couple of trips up to Bog River Falls and managed to land this 16" largemouth bass. I've never caught a largemouth up here before! Apparently, they aren't supposed to be in these waters because they crowd out other fish.

In all, I caught 6 good-sized bass in both Bog River/Tupper and Lake Eaton.

For Olivia's AHG Fishing Badge, she had to clean and prepare fish two ways. 

 She pan fried one set and baked the other with garlic. They were both amazing!

Fish weren't the only animals we got to see up there this year. We spotted a number of birds that we though were loons, but turned out to be Merganser ducks. They have really long necks and dive like the loons do, but they sit lower in the water and don't stay down as long when they dive.

This bullfrog decided that Rebecca's paddleboard was a good place for a rest.

We found a Monarch Butterfly that had just emerged and pumped up his wings, so he was easy to catch. Of course, as soon as his wings dried in the sun, he flew off. 

Of course, there were plenty of toads to catch, too.

And on one of the hikes, we spotted a woodpecker darting from tree to tree.

But our most amazing sight this year was a loon with her baby. We got to see her several times out on the lake in the mornings and evenings. 

Camp 2018 - Raquette River Paddling

Normally we would take all the kids to the Wild Center, but because it's getting so expensive for us all to go, we decided to do something a little different this time around. Last time we were up, we visited the Wild Center and got to see the Raquette River that runs right behind the center and flows into Tupper. At the time, we thought that it would be cool to take a canoe trip on it.

Well, this year, Rebecca and I found out that the Wild Center does paddling tours of that section of the river, both in canoes and on paddleboards. Of course, when she heard that, Rebecca was all in for  a paddleboard trip.

The river here is wide, slow and beautiful!

It may look like dry ground here, but I promise there's a river under all that grass.

A couple of views of the active beaver lodge that is on the river. Fortunately, the Raquette is too big for them to dam, but they still use this area as a home.

Rebecca's guide showed them all the various water plants that you can find in the river. This area of the river is very slow and winding, so there is a lot of diverse plant life in the water.

On another day, Olivia and I took a canoe tour on the same section of river. It was super windy on our day and our canoe was so light, we kept getting blown around. It was quite an adventure! That didn't stop us from having an amazing time, though.

We got really close to the beaver lodge from the opposite side from where Rebecca saw it. 

We spotted a flock of Canada geese.

And some turtles hiding in the weeds. And like Rebecca, we got to hear all about the various plants in the river along with some of the logging history of the area. 

On our walk back up to the car, I spotted this maple that had decided that September was close enough to fall to show its colors. Gorgeous!