Here's some more end-of-June fun. It's rare in the summer for us to get to do something together as a family besides sit at the same table in the Dining Hall. If you've never had a meal with us during the summer you may not know that the volume level combined with the five second echo from the concrete floor and wood walls and ceiling makes conversation nearly impossible. Maybe that shouldn't count as family time.
We did have the opportunity between second and third sessions to spend most of a Saturday together, so we opted for hiking at a nearby trail we haven't been on before. It was 2 1/2 miles to the waterfall, making the entire hike five miles. (I learned that from teaching a second grader math last year. Those word problems are tricky.) I'm not sure how many steps that is for short legs, but the kids all surprised me and did great. Even Elizabeth walked about three miles of it, and we only had to piggyback her part of the way.
Love it when random strangers walk out of the woods just in time to take a picture of all of us together. As a general rule I don't exist in family photos.
A hole in a tree shaped like a heart. It must be the squirrel honeymoon suite.
I love rhododendron/hemlock/white piney forests. They're always darkish and smell like damp earth and rotting leaves. That smell ranks right up there with fresh cut grass. I've yet to see a candle in those flavors, but if they made one I'd have it.
Let me help you tie your shoe, Amelia.
About two miles in there was a smaller waterfall. A perfect spot for stopping to contemplate life.
Getting a little tired!
Finally, after much pressing on, upward and onward, after resting and even a bit of bellyaching, we finally reached it. The pinnacle, the crowning glory of the hike, the...trickle.
Just kidding, there really was a big waterfall but it was hard to get a good picture of it.
It was so dark in there my camera couldn't figure out what it was seeing. There's a big cleft the water comes through and falls for 60 or more feet. It's behind the tree in the foreground. It really is there, I promise. Every time I take a picture like this I think about how learning to use my camera for real would be nifty.
Pretending to be a lizard.
They are shy creatures, yet on high alert when a threat of danger is perceived.
The adult of the species takes on a curious orange hue when feeling mischievous.
A young female strikes an intimidating pose, using the weight of her stare to frighten off predators.
There was a treacherous hike up to the previously mentioned waterfall that my camera can't take a good picture of.
It was a fun afternoon, and the kids were troopers. Elizabeth keeps asking when we can go for a hike again. I wonder if she wants to hike on her own feet or go for a ride again.
During third session there was a tragedy. Mom brought the youngest kids home early from the evening game, and I brought the oldest two home when it was over. I came up the basement steps, opened the door, and saw a lake in the floor, liberally peppered with tiny blue gravel. The fish bowl was in two pieces. Mom said she was sitting at the counter and noticed there was some moisture under the bowl, so she picked it up to move it over so she could wipe it up. The bowl separated from its base, emptying its entire contents in one gush. Mom threw Lightning in a cup of water, which had earlier belonged to one of the kids. (Good thing it wasn't juice or milk!)
The cleanup took about 45 minutes. It's amazing how far teeny rocks can travel, and there was a pond on the floor on every side of the island. I dragged out the small fish bowl and got it ready for Lightning. When I put him in he didn't look too good, kind of swimming sideways. We left him that way when we went to bed, and by morning he had gone to the big aquarium in the sky. We had a proper funeral, and his burial plot rivals that of royalty.
R.I.P., Lightning.
We are now out of June. Look for July in the next post. I'm now officially only two months behind!
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