ScrumpyDaddy

This is going to be a sad post for me. For my entire life since I was 18 months old I have been going to my father’s hunting cabin for mini vacations in the Adirondack mountains (NY state). My father and a group of other guys own the cabin and would go hunting for deer every fall. I loved going there during non-hunting times. We would go fishing off a dock or row boat at a local lake, Lake Adirondack. We would go exploring in the woods around camp and have camp fires. At night we would listen to the radio and play the card game hearts. It was one of my most favorite places to go. Well…this was my last year that I was able to go. I have not been there since my daughter was born 4 years ago. It is a 10 hour trip and with kids that is a little much for a long weekend. We found out this year that the owners, including my father, have decided to sell the place. They have not been there in several years to go hunting and the costs are not justifiable for the amount of time the men and their families use the cabin.

Anyways…on to the trip and enough remembrance and sadness. We went the first weekend in August. It was beautiful. A little on the cool side so we couldn’t go swimming, but we were able to do other things. We arrived early afternoon on Saturday and opened camp. On the way we stopped at pig rock to get some pictures and stopped in town for milk and eggs. We have always taken notice of pig rock, though for some time it was pink and I liked it better pink. We aren’t really sure who cares for it or why it is there, but we love it.

Camp was very clean since one of the other owners was there the day before.

While the cars were getting unpacked Abby and I went exploring. We walked down the hill to the Cedar River and Abby said, “There is a chocolate milk shake river.” It is kind of a brownish golden color due to the cedar trees around the river and it was moving fast and frothy around the rocks, so I completely understood why she called it that. For the rest of the weekend it was known as the chocolate river.

We went down and checked out the site for the camp fire. It was well maintained and it appeared to have been recently used. After exploring for a bit we went back to the cabin and had lunch. After lunch we went and set up the camp fire site for later that night. All the chairs and wood were taken down there and we got a bucket of water ready to put the fire out. While down there we saw 2 frogs in the river and what may have been either tadpoles or little minnows. Couldn’t really tell. We also saw tons of grasshoppers. Abby really wanted to see a bunny and brought down a bucket of “bunny food”. She had gathered grass, pine needles, and other little flowers that were on the ground and put them in a bucket and called it bunny food. She didn’t want to let the bucket go.

After the camp fire site was ready to go we went down to Sprague pond to look for more nature and the loons. Loons are large water birds that are black and white and have a very unique call. I am not sure what areas they live in other than the Adirondack mountains. We found out they spend most of their lives in the water and even their nesting grounds are right next to the water. To get to Sprague pond you have to hike for a little bit. I love hiking through the woods. Abby liked being the line leader even though she didn’t know where to go. She was very good about following the path and staying on it. We got to the pond and began looking for loons. At first we did not see any, but then we ended up seeing one. It was a long way off so it is hard to see in the pictures, but we could see it through my moms binoculars.

During dinner my Dad looked out the window and saw something we had never seen before at camp. He saw a bunch of baby wild turkeys and 2 adult turkeys. They flew up into the trees to roost for the night. They were gone by morning.

After our dinner and apple pie to celebrate Dave’s birthday we headed down to the campfire. Personally I think the pictures convey it better than any words I can use. Enjoy the ending to our first night at camp.

Abby had gotten as a present last year a giant Mr. Potato Head with smaller ones inside the belly. Tonight we discovered other fun we could have with the pieces of the larger Mr Potato Head. Abby saw the pieces lying on the ground, picked them up and came in the living room with a laugh. Look at me! See the pictures and enjoy.

In July we went down to Kentucky to spend a long weekend with our best friends from college. They built a new house and they were finally done and moved in. It is beautiful and tons of space. It is great to have to much space for the 4 kids and have a guest room to stay in. In their previous space they only had 3 bedrooms instead of 4 and a smaller dinning/living room space. Not much space for the kids to run around in. They also have a larger yard, but unfortunately at the time of our trip it was unusable.

They had a problem with no water (water company fault) and possibly bad sod from the beginning. They were attempting to water the grass and bring it back, but not sure if it worked our not. Due to all the water the yard was too wet to play in. It was fine though because the kids played on the deck and inside in their play area on the second floor. They have a loft area as well as the bedrooms and made the loft into a play area.

Dave and Earl of course did guy things. They went out and bought a grill for the new house and put it together. Ah bonding.

We also went to the sweet corn festival. They had the most wonderful corn. The kids especially liked the live animals they had. They kept trying to feed the animals grass they were pulling out of the ground.

Wow…I can’t believe it has been 2 months since Zach’s birthday party and I never posted anything about it. Oh well! Now to help all of you catch up with what has been happening around here for the past 2 months.

On July 3rd Zach has his 1 year birthday party. Of course since it was so close to the 4th we went with a patriotic theme. We had flags and red, white, and blue stuff every where. I also made a red, white, and blue cake from scratch. It was a rocket with USA on it. I have fallen in love with doing cut out cakes. My mom always did them for my sister and I growing up. They are a lot of work, but they turn out so cool.

We had a nice little crowd for it. It was of course quite hot, but we managed with some fans and some extra shade from a canopy my mom was able to borrow from a women at her church. It was a life saver.

We had a great time with family and friends who were able to come and celebrate with us. We decided to make it a pot luck party, so everyone brought something to share and we provided the drinks, condiments, hamburgers and hot dogs, and of course cake.