Camping

This weekend, we escaped the heat in Boston (103 on Friday) and headed up to New Hampshire for a weekend of camping.  We headed to the opposite side of the Whites from where we usually go.  Kristen found a nice campground in Waterville Valley.  We took our new car and headed up after work on Friday.

Davis had a fantastic time camping.  He really loves camping and has been very excited all week. Some of the highlights:

1. Throwing rocks in the creek, for a couple of hours
2. Davis "making waffles" with two spoons and a lot of dirt, for a couple of hours
3. Roasting marshmallows
4. A super cuddle bug at bedtime
5. Davis loving watching the stars
6. Hammock time
7. Enjoying our new car
8. A couple of hours at the beach
9. Getting away with a warning for 41 in a 30. Oops.
10. Watching boats and dancing to music in Waterville Valley town square

Here are some pictures:

It wasn't quite this hot.  It maxed out at 103 on Friday.

Down at the creek

Throwing rocks

Throwing rocks

Throwing rocks

Throwing rocks

Throwing rocks

Campground with a running toddler

I can't remember what he was asking about or telling a story about

Davis likes the new car

Davis likes the new car

Exploring Polar Caves, a little bit disappointing, but Davis was cute.

Kissing mom on the kissing bridge

We headed back a little early on Sunday to make it to a birthday part for one of Davis' daycare buddies.  More pictures from that soon hopefully.

Camping

This weekend, we headed up to White Lake State Park in New Hampshire for our second camping trip of the summer.  This is the same place we went before, and it is a great campground for kids.  There is a very shallow, sandy lake, a great playground and it is a much closer drive than many other areas near the white mountains.   We went up mid-morning on Saturday and came back around noon on Sunday.

A few of the highlights:

• All three of us went swimming in the lake.  Davis had a fantastic time walking out in the water then being held by mom while dad dove in the water near by.  I learned an important lesson (again): don't do something unless you want to do it 20 times.  I ran and dove next to Davis and by the time I came out of the water, he was saying "more" and making the sign.  I had to then repeat this about 20 times, but my reward was fantastic toddler giggles.
• It was a little cooler this time, so Davis got dressed up in his camping flannel.  Pictures are below.
• We spent about an hour and a half at the playground while we cooked over the coals on the grills at the beach.
• We aborted our hike when it started to rain, but the path was easy enough that Davis got to walk part of the way back.  We did have to guide him around the bear scat.
• Putting the little guy to sleep was both a challenge and immensely enjoyable.  When we were in there with him to try and calm him and put him to sleep, it just turned into a very cute and lovable play and cuddle time with Davis.  the tent with the sleeping bags spread out was too much like playtime and apparently, when we lie down on the ground, we get sat on.  Eventually we had to leave him in the tent for him to go to sleep by himself.  
• On the way back, we stopped to pick blue berries.  Davis quickly got the hang of it and had very blue hands and lips by the end.  We paid for an extra half pint to cover his "contribution" to our haul.
• While picking blue berries, I caught and rescued a dragon fly.  It was trapped in the netting covering the berries and I managed to catch it and release it outside the nets.

A few of the pictures:

In the flannel in the campground

Dirt, dirt and more dirt were the story of the trip.

Taking a snack break in the car.  He would sit still here for a few minutes, which was a nice change.

Hiking

Hiking

More hiking.  Checking out the camera.

One of the highlights of the hike was banging on this rock with a stick.