But it's sure as hell obscured by all the crap they and life tend to throw at you in the meantime.
Kids are great, I love mine more than the air I breath. However, they are surely out to get me. I'm seriously convinced. Once we get in the car, the kids that were just behaving as angels turn into bickering old people in the back. It's as if one cannot hear the other, more like perfecting the art of ignoring them, and the other then becomes irate, and for a kid under ten that's sad, and either hits or screams. This in turn makes me lose my mind completely, more and more every day and any time we get in the car. And just before all the hair on my head turns completely gray and thins out entirely, they return to being their perfect beautiful selves and leave me heaving with confusion and anger.
How does this happen? I ask myself more or less every time. My son has gotten so good at pushing my buttons I don't even know what to do with myself, the hunter has officially become the hunted. He's got me in his sights and there's not a dam thing I can do about it but hope and pray that I live long enough to see his children do the same shit to him as he's done to me.
Now my daughter on the other hand, she's an angel of course, with only a few minor flaws. One of which is being a night owl, which is great, but when your four year old comes stomping into your room at 1 am, saying she's not tired and she's bored, you tend to lose your mind. Not only does she run like a thundering heard of buffalo through our hallway, but she slams the door open in such a fashion that leaves my heart racing thinking that someone is bashing my door in to come and get me. That's her gift, getting my heart rate to marathon level, and then thundering back to bed without saying two words.
I know I cannot be the only parent going through this. I know people who have more kids than me, who knows how, and when I hear that their kids are in bed by seven or eight, I want to rush over and ring the doorbell obnoxiously until the whole house is awake. It's unreal. I know others that have kids the same as I do, more often than not great kids, but when it's their turn, they're leaving their parents in mass hysteria.
Everyday I pray to have the endurance and the ability to deal with them and handle their stuff. I'm going to look back at these times and hope that I remember the good times and push deeper the times I wanted to tear my head off when their in one of their moods.
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Annual Brother's "Winter" Backpacking trip
 |
| Post Trip Pic, Pooped Dog and Hungry (smelly) Hikers |
Much to my brother's desire to plan in detail, we more or less winged the trip until the very morning when we decided where we were going to go. He mentioned one place when I thought that we had already decided another place... Typical for us, and anyone else in our family, rarely do we make a decision and rarely do we plan ahead of time. Also true to our family vises is you can guarantee when someone says they'll be somewhere at a specific time, just add 20 - 30 minutes and that's when they'll actually arrive. Once Chris and Zion arrived we packed up, which immediately got my dogs longing for a road trip and camping trip and my 6 year old son in overdrive ready to come with us. Little did I know how interested he was, he's not at the age where he shows too much interest in things other than his friend's, his trains and snacks. I hated to see him sad and leave him but there was no time to pack for him and where we were off to wasn't really ideal for him just yet. But next time buddy, you're coming with, I promise...
After we headed out of the driveway, we had two quality hours to spend together in the car ride up to Harriman State Park in New York. It's become one my favorite places to go to when looking for a fun over night trip due to it's closeness to us and it's very diverse features through the park. There's tons of water and rocks bigger than some buildings that you scale just to walk along their spines and see for miles in any direction. It was nice to spend that time with just Chris because rarely do we get to hang out alone and have the time to speak without interruption anymore. Zion, Chris' Yellow Labrador was happy napping in the back while we sped along 287 North.
Once at the park, the rewards of the nice weather introduced us to the hoards of park visitors...... By the droves and passenger van full. They were parked here, there and everywhere. We managed to get the right timing when someone was coming down and left, we grabbed their spot, reorganized, weighed out packs, loaded the pooch with her backpack, stretch and start hiking.
Did I mention that I really like Harriman? And especially their great building sized rocks you can walk on? Well the downside is that you have to get up those huge rocks to see the amazing views that reward you at the top. Once out of the car and on the path, the Appalachian Trail, after a few hundred yards we were headed pretty much up, up and more up. From just getting off the couch, I'd say I was more than a little rough. I hadn't worked out in some time, schedules just haven't allowed it, and my legs weren't felling ready for the challenge. BUT being stubborn and determined I made it up, sweating, cursing and chaffing as I went. I got there, pleased with my accomplishment and the many views that rewarded me at the top.
Further down the way we got to one of the neat rock formation along the way, one that definitely makes you feel small, all things considered. The Lemon Squeezer on the Appalachian Trail. It's a pretty tight fit between two enormous rock formations that the AT runs through, we have been that way before, checked it out again and headed in the opposite direction to go one some trails we had not been to previously.
We made it over many ups and downs and then came to a burned out section that led us to one of my favorite places, high up on a ridge with views galore.
The rest of our day consisted of similar scenes, ups and downs and more exploration. There were spots where there were tons of people, mostly very polite which was great to be a part of, and then there were places where we weren't bothered by a soul. We saw parts of the park that we never had seen before and it was a very nice change of pace.
We made it to the shelter where we were going to camp near only to find that it was a very popular place with lots and lots of other hikers and campers. Too many for my liking and I'm a pretty sociable guy. The part that was too much for us is there was a group of dad's who brought their daughters out for the night, which is great, but they were very loud and out of control and left used TP all over the place. I am happy they brought their daughters out but they should teach them the right way to do things in the woods so we can come to these places in the future and not see liter.
Our camping options were limited but we made it down this ravine to a semi flat area with a little water available and we made camp. The dog immediately went in the tent once up and was done for the day. I, somehow managed to start our campfire with a striker and it actually worked! I felt more manly than ever.
After hanging the bear bag and getting set for bed, we hung around the camp fire and enjoyed more conversation and some dinner.
We did plenty of smooth rock ups and downs, through some blow downs and over ankle biting rocks. We saw plenty more happy people out enjoying the trails, saw one woodpecker and more beautiful miles of trail. The leaves on this trip provided both entertainment, for those not slipping on them, and a level of technical footwork I wasn't expecting without snow. They were very slippery.
Saturday, October 24, 2015
A dream home, that isn't ours.
Today our family was invited to a sort of house warming/Fall/Halloween party at a friend's new home on the shores of Lake Nockamixon. When I looked up the address I knew it was going to be good, but I didn't realize just how good.
The long winding driveway is a sure giveaway to the treasure at the end of the road. A new house with the important things, a lot of windows showing off the amazing views of their lake frontage. They own roughly 11 acres of mostly open property with the new home perfectly positioned to view the wonderful lake. They had a fire going, tons of food, views galore, sports on three televisions and my complete admiration.
I felt drawn to the water like I normally am, it's amazing how it feels with just the addition of water to a property can do for that property.
My wife and I had paddled past this property before, a friend of mine almost bought it, and thought how nice it'd be if we could have this kind of property to enjoy. It's so beautiful and relaxing. Although it wasn't as quiet as it is at our house, funny how that works.
Of course the kids were all over the place, checking out every inch of the property and the house, they rode on the hayride three times and played on the bounce house forever.
When it came time to leave it was like pulling teeth, the two little ones weren't ready to go just yet, but after serious negotiations. After the yelling and screaming match was over, we made it down the road with apologies in tow. I'll never understand why it's so hard for them to leave a place without the yelling and screaming, I know there's are other kids that put their parents through this kind of trouble but I wish, for once, my children were not one of them.
My new goals are going to be to get this house up to date, finished and enjoy it for a while. In the meanwhile I'm going to plan my pursuit of my happy place, on the water, in the woods.
The long winding driveway is a sure giveaway to the treasure at the end of the road. A new house with the important things, a lot of windows showing off the amazing views of their lake frontage. They own roughly 11 acres of mostly open property with the new home perfectly positioned to view the wonderful lake. They had a fire going, tons of food, views galore, sports on three televisions and my complete admiration.
I felt drawn to the water like I normally am, it's amazing how it feels with just the addition of water to a property can do for that property.
My wife and I had paddled past this property before, a friend of mine almost bought it, and thought how nice it'd be if we could have this kind of property to enjoy. It's so beautiful and relaxing. Although it wasn't as quiet as it is at our house, funny how that works.
Of course the kids were all over the place, checking out every inch of the property and the house, they rode on the hayride three times and played on the bounce house forever.
When it came time to leave it was like pulling teeth, the two little ones weren't ready to go just yet, but after serious negotiations. After the yelling and screaming match was over, we made it down the road with apologies in tow. I'll never understand why it's so hard for them to leave a place without the yelling and screaming, I know there's are other kids that put their parents through this kind of trouble but I wish, for once, my children were not one of them.
My new goals are going to be to get this house up to date, finished and enjoy it for a while. In the meanwhile I'm going to plan my pursuit of my happy place, on the water, in the woods.
Friday, October 16, 2015
Our Daughter's First Backpacking Trip
becomes a
Well the "Nothing Before Ten" gang was at it again with our latest adventure in the wonderful woods of Pennsylvania Saturday and Sunday this past weekend. This is the first real adventure with my new Wrangler and it was a fun first trip out. We left a little later Saturday morning due to a gathering with friend's at a local park, which was nice, as usual trying to fit everything in the weekend as possible. We headed up to the Loyalsock Trail and specifically, Sone's Pond.
Our son has been backpacking with us before, my wife and I took him when he was one to the Pinchot Trail. It was hotter than hot and probably not the best hike to take with a little one in tow. But it worked out and he was happy for the most part. For some reason a trip with our daughter took more time to schedule, she's an October baby and it never felt like the right time to haul her out without the weather and schedules getting in the way. Well my wife decided that we've been waiting long enough and scheduled it so that it'd be on the calendar and we'd have little choice to change it.
So the weekend was upon us, the weather perfect and we threw as little as we could into our packs and got on the road after the park. It was a beautiful drive with the Freedom panels off of the Jeep and blue skies above. The kids we're happily chatting away, which eventually lead to napping and reminding me about how long a road trip to where we were going really felt. It was a lot longer than I remembered.
We turned off the pavement and headed down the forest road towards the Sone's Pond parking area. Stephanie was more than happy that her side of the Jeep wasn't on the edge where the drop off was, down into the ravine. Few things compare with driving through the woods with the top off and the trees going past overhead. The feeling is freedom in a sense, you're almost part of nature when you can look up, as opposed to just side to side and front to back. We didn't see any neat bird life this trip, but the trees were enough.
We arrived at our location, let the dogs out of their confines from the Jeep and let the kids explore. Which brings up an interesting point. I love the kids exploring, it's one of the things I want most for my kids. I want them to get out, get dirty, explore the grasses and the woods, look under the rocks and swim in the lakes. However this also brings me great frustration and concern. I find myself NOT being happy that they're exploring, cause it's careless, sometimes dangerous and often I feel as though they're destroying more as opposed to exploring. Stephanie reminds me often, to just let them be... something which is almost impossible for me to comprehend. However, I'll keep trying to get them out and maybe, with time, I'll be more comfortable with their level of exploring and they'll come around as well to where they're exploring more with the intent of learning, as opposed to rock throwing, etc.
While they played and had a snack, I divided and conquered the gear mess in the back of the Jeep and got us ready for our short walk. Steven and the dogs lead the way, which we thought was the way, which turned out to be the way after a few doubtful map checks. Steven happily pointed out the path off the forest road was "here", and down we went. It was only about a mile, maybe less, but the smell of the pines and the feeling of being unplugged and in the woods was quickly taking over and IT FELT GOOD.
Now came the most stressful moments of camping for me, the setup. I find myself trying to keep an eye out for ever moment of the kids ways and try, TRY , to keep calm while they go through bring nice to each other, minding their own business and fighting like siblings. I try to get the kids involved in setting up the tent, I try. They want to, all for about 30 seconds, then it
becomes a fight as to who's doing what and then standing on the tent, to the point of almost damaging our only shelter. When it comes time to cache firewood, no one is around... it seems routine every time firewood needs to be collected, my kids vanish.
My wife was soaking up the pond and the sun's rays coming off of it, the kids were doing their best to make me concerned in my mind as to what they're doing, how they're going to break something and that they've secretly plotted against me to make this as stressful as possible. I made the mistake of setting up my beloved hammock and they climb in, both promise me that they'll behave, which they don't. Being fearful that it'll be destroyed, I threw them out and put it away. Which only turned them more on me, mutiny was right around the corner.
With things in place and sun heading towards the horizon, Rowdy found his spot in the pine needles and we got a small campfire going. We had a small dinner, Lucy huddled as close to the fire as possible while I'm concerned about the fire getting into the nearly tinder dry leaves all around.
While you'd think the kids would be worn out some, from the walk and the exploring, you'd be wrong... well or Amanda anyway. You know it's bad when Steven says, "Amanda it's time to go to sleep, I'm trying to sleep." We all curled into our sleeping bags, had to hold Amanda down while the last of her energy burned out with the remaining embers of the campfire and with the stars above and the cool night setting in, we were off to sleep.
We awoke to more sunshine and plenty of warmth. We got up, packed up and headed towards the Loyalsock trailhead and the waterfalls at the trailhead parking lot. A very nice, and steep, hike down the trail with the rushing creek to our side, we came to the top of the falls and the creepy tunnel the water ran through. We had a wonderful snack and did some fun exploring and took plenty of photos, headed back up to the trail, marched our way through the muck and the mire of the railroad grade trail for about a mile and then made our way back to the trailhead up a very steep trail back to the Jeep. Stephanie and I took turns carrying Amanda because her legs were "too tired". Steven marched his way along, sometimes running, sometimes complaining, but moving in the right direction.
We headed on our way home, only to stop and do a brief detour at another dirt road that had a large sign outside saying 60 acre lake for sale. We went down the trail with no big tada at the end, there was another huge sign which we called without an answer. Left a message without ever hearing back from them.
Off to dinner we went at one of our favorites, PJ Whelahan's.
With a tired crew we headed home. The kids and Stephanie were asleep fast enough. It was a fun little experience, but as usual, there's things I should learn from for the future trips.
Well the "Nothing Before Ten" gang was at it again with our latest adventure in the wonderful woods of Pennsylvania Saturday and Sunday this past weekend. This is the first real adventure with my new Wrangler and it was a fun first trip out. We left a little later Saturday morning due to a gathering with friend's at a local park, which was nice, as usual trying to fit everything in the weekend as possible. We headed up to the Loyalsock Trail and specifically, Sone's Pond.
Our son has been backpacking with us before, my wife and I took him when he was one to the Pinchot Trail. It was hotter than hot and probably not the best hike to take with a little one in tow. But it worked out and he was happy for the most part. For some reason a trip with our daughter took more time to schedule, she's an October baby and it never felt like the right time to haul her out without the weather and schedules getting in the way. Well my wife decided that we've been waiting long enough and scheduled it so that it'd be on the calendar and we'd have little choice to change it.
So the weekend was upon us, the weather perfect and we threw as little as we could into our packs and got on the road after the park. It was a beautiful drive with the Freedom panels off of the Jeep and blue skies above. The kids we're happily chatting away, which eventually lead to napping and reminding me about how long a road trip to where we were going really felt. It was a lot longer than I remembered.
We turned off the pavement and headed down the forest road towards the Sone's Pond parking area. Stephanie was more than happy that her side of the Jeep wasn't on the edge where the drop off was, down into the ravine. Few things compare with driving through the woods with the top off and the trees going past overhead. The feeling is freedom in a sense, you're almost part of nature when you can look up, as opposed to just side to side and front to back. We didn't see any neat bird life this trip, but the trees were enough.
We arrived at our location, let the dogs out of their confines from the Jeep and let the kids explore. Which brings up an interesting point. I love the kids exploring, it's one of the things I want most for my kids. I want them to get out, get dirty, explore the grasses and the woods, look under the rocks and swim in the lakes. However this also brings me great frustration and concern. I find myself NOT being happy that they're exploring, cause it's careless, sometimes dangerous and often I feel as though they're destroying more as opposed to exploring. Stephanie reminds me often, to just let them be... something which is almost impossible for me to comprehend. However, I'll keep trying to get them out and maybe, with time, I'll be more comfortable with their level of exploring and they'll come around as well to where they're exploring more with the intent of learning, as opposed to rock throwing, etc.
While they played and had a snack, I divided and conquered the gear mess in the back of the Jeep and got us ready for our short walk. Steven and the dogs lead the way, which we thought was the way, which turned out to be the way after a few doubtful map checks. Steven happily pointed out the path off the forest road was "here", and down we went. It was only about a mile, maybe less, but the smell of the pines and the feeling of being unplugged and in the woods was quickly taking over and IT FELT GOOD.
Now came the most stressful moments of camping for me, the setup. I find myself trying to keep an eye out for ever moment of the kids ways and try, TRY , to keep calm while they go through bring nice to each other, minding their own business and fighting like siblings. I try to get the kids involved in setting up the tent, I try. They want to, all for about 30 seconds, then it
becomes a fight as to who's doing what and then standing on the tent, to the point of almost damaging our only shelter. When it comes time to cache firewood, no one is around... it seems routine every time firewood needs to be collected, my kids vanish.
My wife was soaking up the pond and the sun's rays coming off of it, the kids were doing their best to make me concerned in my mind as to what they're doing, how they're going to break something and that they've secretly plotted against me to make this as stressful as possible. I made the mistake of setting up my beloved hammock and they climb in, both promise me that they'll behave, which they don't. Being fearful that it'll be destroyed, I threw them out and put it away. Which only turned them more on me, mutiny was right around the corner.
With things in place and sun heading towards the horizon, Rowdy found his spot in the pine needles and we got a small campfire going. We had a small dinner, Lucy huddled as close to the fire as possible while I'm concerned about the fire getting into the nearly tinder dry leaves all around.
While you'd think the kids would be worn out some, from the walk and the exploring, you'd be wrong... well or Amanda anyway. You know it's bad when Steven says, "Amanda it's time to go to sleep, I'm trying to sleep." We all curled into our sleeping bags, had to hold Amanda down while the last of her energy burned out with the remaining embers of the campfire and with the stars above and the cool night setting in, we were off to sleep.
We awoke to more sunshine and plenty of warmth. We got up, packed up and headed towards the Loyalsock trailhead and the waterfalls at the trailhead parking lot. A very nice, and steep, hike down the trail with the rushing creek to our side, we came to the top of the falls and the creepy tunnel the water ran through. We had a wonderful snack and did some fun exploring and took plenty of photos, headed back up to the trail, marched our way through the muck and the mire of the railroad grade trail for about a mile and then made our way back to the trailhead up a very steep trail back to the Jeep. Stephanie and I took turns carrying Amanda because her legs were "too tired". Steven marched his way along, sometimes running, sometimes complaining, but moving in the right direction.
We headed on our way home, only to stop and do a brief detour at another dirt road that had a large sign outside saying 60 acre lake for sale. We went down the trail with no big tada at the end, there was another huge sign which we called without an answer. Left a message without ever hearing back from them.
Off to dinner we went at one of our favorites, PJ Whelahan's.
With a tired crew we headed home. The kids and Stephanie were asleep fast enough. It was a fun little experience, but as usual, there's things I should learn from for the future trips.
Getting out while the getting is good...
This week my wife and I planned a night to get out and go for a bike ride before the winter sets in, but when? The time never seems right and there's always soooo much to do to just get going on the bike ride. First I have to get all the bikes out, fill the tires (they always seem to be eternally empty), get out the bike trailer which is falling apart at the seems, literally, and either needs to be replaced or rebuilt Tim the Tool Man style.
So we decided Friday, today, would be the day that we'll get the go. And everything seemed to be working in our favor. My mother was going to keep the kids and go to a farm to pick out some pumpkins and then we were going to go on our own, only two bikes! It turned out to be not meant to be as my mom's car battery bit it, surprisingly started right up when she was ready to leave the kids with us and return to her sanctuary of her own home. So I thought the plan was on hold, I made it home and then I find my wife in "Sporty Barbie" mode, workout attire from head to toe and ready to go. This kicked my desire to bike into overdrive and we scurried to get everything together and off before we lost the light of the ever fading fall evening.
To the lake we go, as my son complains that he doesn't want to go to this park, because it's stupid and boring. When asked where he wanted to go, he retorted that he wanted to go to the park with the parking lot that had the tall grass and the small fence, "don't you remember Dad?" Indeed I did, especially since we were on our way there as it was. As I pulled into the parking lot, he said, "yeah... here", like he pointed me in the right direction. He can have this victory if it makes him feel better.
We unpacked and mounted our bikes, ready for the ride. But how far? The sun was getting close to setting off in the horizon and we had to be out by dusk. We made our way down the leaf riddled path, winding through the woods as the sun shimmered off the lake nearby. The smell? Amazing. The best part of Fall is in the air and there's a surprisingly large amount of leaves already on the ground. As we crunched down the path, the kids complaints left and the wonder of nature set in. They noticed the leaves, the trees and the few deer we passed on the way.
We turned the corner, crossed the bridge as the sun was telling us that we weren't going to make it around the lake and we headed a little further down the path, right at where the big hill reminded us even more persistent to turn around and enjoy what we can with our remaining light.
We stopped at the bridge to see if we could see any turtles, but they were all home eating their dinner (begs to ask, where do turtles go at night?) The kids noticed several birds bathing themselves and we ran down the bridge walls a few times.
As the light left, we hopped back on our bikes and headed for the Jeep. Stephanie and Steven got a head start on Amanda and I, but we caught up very fast and the sound of Steven laughing and watching him try to pedal harder to keep the lead was worth it.
We did two miles in total when it was all said and done before the day was done. Steven asked, "what are we going to do/go next?" I swear, he's more me every moment than I can handle. One of these days I have to teach him to enjoy the moment in front of you and not worry about where we're going to next. Something I need to learn myself.
So we decided Friday, today, would be the day that we'll get the go. And everything seemed to be working in our favor. My mother was going to keep the kids and go to a farm to pick out some pumpkins and then we were going to go on our own, only two bikes! It turned out to be not meant to be as my mom's car battery bit it, surprisingly started right up when she was ready to leave the kids with us and return to her sanctuary of her own home. So I thought the plan was on hold, I made it home and then I find my wife in "Sporty Barbie" mode, workout attire from head to toe and ready to go. This kicked my desire to bike into overdrive and we scurried to get everything together and off before we lost the light of the ever fading fall evening.
To the lake we go, as my son complains that he doesn't want to go to this park, because it's stupid and boring. When asked where he wanted to go, he retorted that he wanted to go to the park with the parking lot that had the tall grass and the small fence, "don't you remember Dad?" Indeed I did, especially since we were on our way there as it was. As I pulled into the parking lot, he said, "yeah... here", like he pointed me in the right direction. He can have this victory if it makes him feel better.
 |
| The last of the days light |
We turned the corner, crossed the bridge as the sun was telling us that we weren't going to make it around the lake and we headed a little further down the path, right at where the big hill reminded us even more persistent to turn around and enjoy what we can with our remaining light.
We stopped at the bridge to see if we could see any turtles, but they were all home eating their dinner (begs to ask, where do turtles go at night?) The kids noticed several birds bathing themselves and we ran down the bridge walls a few times.
As the light left, we hopped back on our bikes and headed for the Jeep. Stephanie and Steven got a head start on Amanda and I, but we caught up very fast and the sound of Steven laughing and watching him try to pedal harder to keep the lead was worth it.
We did two miles in total when it was all said and done before the day was done. Steven asked, "what are we going to do/go next?" I swear, he's more me every moment than I can handle. One of these days I have to teach him to enjoy the moment in front of you and not worry about where we're going to next. Something I need to learn myself.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)