we just got back from a short backpacking trip at afton state park. afton is a family favorite…short drive from the city, short hike in, lots of birds, cool solar powered water pump, not too buggy, place for the dog to swim, etc. perfect as a short weekend trip (http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/afton). we took ella when she was just over 3 months old, again when she was about fi’s age, and again last spring before my belly got too big (the first half page of photos here are from these first two trips: http://www.fidean.net/pix/camping01to03/camping01to03.html).
on this trip, ella hiked in the whole way and wore her back pack nearly half way. the hardest part, as usual, was slowing down our regular pace. you’d think we’d be used to it by now, but this is the first time e has hiked in on her own. she’s hiked a lot, but always during the middle of the day. this was the first time hiking in with the goal of getting to our campsite before dark where she wasn’t in the kid carrier. fi also got tired of the stop and go, but only when she was trying to fall asleep and wanted me to keep that soothing mama walk going. when we’ve gone on our own or when we just had e in the backpack, the hike in took about 40 minutes. this time it was about 90. oh well. such is backpacking with kids, right?
e found all sorts of cool stuff - flowers, huge oak leaves, ants, daddy long legs, interesting rocks, a bird nest (above the door to the outhouse near our camp site), a wood pecker, ‘cotton’ from the cotton wood trees, birch bark, pine cones, sand, etc. she especially loved the log shelter. we just returned ’swamp angel’ by anne isaacs to the library (http://www.anneisaacs.com). similar to the paul bunyon legends, only angel is a giant woman who builds her first log cabin by the age of 3. anyway, e climbed around the log shelter saying ‘hey! this is the cabin i built when i was a baby! it is!’ she also really liked it when bill and i made whistles out of blades of grass.
fi had fun. she’s not even 9 months old but i can tell she’s an outdoor lover just like her older sister (and her parents). walking along, she would ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ and ‘coo’ with delight at the leaves and branches blowing in the wind. she had a grand time crawling around our grassy camp site and finding twigs to chew on (hurrah!). she, and e too, also really enjoyed hiding under the sleeping bags together (oh, and e got one of those sauce lights for her 3rd bday, which was pretty cool to use when we were all hiding in the sleeping bags).
i went on a trail run at 5am saturday morning. i’ve been meaning to go every camping trip we’ve taken, but this was the first time i actually slept well enough and was up early enough to actually do it. it paid off! i saw a pheasant - we scared each other and i almost wet myself. gave me a little extra adrenaline for the rest of my run! hee hee. also saw two deer, mist rising off the river, the sun rising. it was wonderful. only bad thing is that my light hikers suck as running shoes. must go shopping!
only bummers - found out at 4am that one of the therm-a-rests has a slow leak. and, poor bill lost his pricey smith shades down the privy. he was helping e on the potty and leaned over to get a tick off her back and….plop. poor guy. will have to fund new ones on sale someplace.
one funny - we were joking yesterday after driving down a rough road with e in the back of the car going ‘weeee! this is fun!’ that they get their red hair from both sides, as well as a love for going over bumpy trails on wheels (since bill and i were both avid mtn bikers when we met).
okay, more pictures! http://www.fidean.net/pix/afton/afton.html
