Checking Out

Going offline for a couple of days. We are heading to Recompence Campground, outside of Freeport, Maine, for a couple of nights of good old-fashioned family fun. Let me do the math for you... 13 adults, 20 kids. Sort of like herding cats.

Just a Picture

(click on image to enlarge)

I love this picture of Evan (in the orange shirt), it pretty much sums up his personality as of late. He got a strike by the way.

Summertime Plans

Haven't posted anything in awhile, been busy with the craziness that is the last few weeks of school. Only two more days, then 9 weeks of summer vacation. No big travel plans this year, hoping to get some shit done around the place and spend some quality time with the family. Being the list maker than I am though, this is what I have on tap for the summer.

1. Build a tree house. L & E have been asking for a tree house for months now, so that is first up. And yeah, it's going to have a 70 foot zip line.
2. Camping in Freeport, Maine over the July 4th weekend with some old friends and our collective 15 kids. For those of you without kids, spending 4 days and 3 nights with 15 kids may sound like hell, but it is actually pretty low key. This will be our third year at the same campground, cool spot right on Casco Bay. Lots of swimming, biking, campfires, and good old fashion fun.
3. I'm gutting our downstairs bathroom, and hopefully will finish remodeling it sometime in August.
4. Picked up a few hours at the local bike shop, only one morning a week, mostly doing inventory and minor repairs. I'm not really doing it for the money, more for the discount on bike stuff, plus it's a chill place to hang. Good people, music, and coffee.
5. Riding my bike as much as possible, still commuting to work, but am looking forward to some longer rides now that I'll have the time. Besides training for the PMC, I want to continue getting out on the mountain bike at least once a week as well.

Enjoy.

Happy Campers

I haven't slept in a tent since we backpacked in Montana back in 2001, but that changed this past weekend when we headed to Maine. We stayed outside of Freeport at the Recompence Campground with five other couples and our collective 12 kids. Those of you with children know that trying to camp with 12 kids, all under the age of 6, could be a recipe for complete disaster, but all of us were pleasantly surprised how well the kids did. There were a few melt downs, but the great thing about our group of friends is that our kids see each other often and we all have similar parenting styles, so it is easy to manage. Now this was hardly roughing it by any means, it was strictly car camping, but with so many little ones it was perfect. The campground was very family friendly; big field for the kids to run around in, walking distance to a farm, and ocean views. We spent a morning at the farm, checking out the baby lambs and chickens, then spent the afternoon exploring the tide pools and swimming in Casco Bay. After the kids crashed we hung around the campfire and enjoyed the stars. I haven't seen stars like that in a long, long time. It was great to hang with so many friends and their families. Next year we will definitely bring the bikes and there is talk of staying a few more nights.

Listening to: The Flaming Lips- The Soft Bulletin