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First family hike success!

This weekend Michele was finally not in Florida.  She headed up to the Lodge with the boys on Thursday.  Andrea, Nathan, and Hazel were up Friday night until Saturday morning.  Dave came up Friday night.

On Saturday morning we did Polly’s w/ the Watson’s.  After that we did the Basin.  After the Basin the Watson’s headed home and we went back to the Lodge for Tommy’s nap time.  After nap we just hung out at the Lodge the rest of the night.  The kids have been building a hiking trail in our backyard, which has been keeping them occupied and enjoying outdoors.

So far hiking as a family has been a challenge.  There is usually lots of whining, fighting, both parents and kids getting frustrated.

On Sunday we decided to try again and do the Lonesome Lake trail.  This trail is 1.2 miles from the Lafayette campground to Lonesome Lake, then another 0.4 to the hut.  The trail is easy to moderate grade the entire way.

Early on in the hike we decided to split up, Dave took Eli and Aaron, and Michele took Tommy.   This turned out to be the ‘hack’ that solved our family hiking dilemma.  Dave could hike at a faster pace with the older kids, and Michele could take her time w/ Tommy.  Also, when the kids are split up they don’t fight and whine as much.

It turned out to be a great hike.  We had excellent views of the Franconia ridge and everyone had a good time.

At least for now, it turns out the best way to have a family hike is to not hike together as a family!  We’re hoping this turns around soon!

 

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Vacation Pics

Vacation week at the lodge went by super fast!  Michele ended up getting to the Lodge Friday morning at 2am, after spending a week and a half in Florida for work.

In the morning on Friday, I had a contractor at the house, so Michele took the boys out to play.  In the afternoon we checked out the Littleton Pool.  It was huge and had a high diving board, so the kids were happy!  The kids were beat after staying up late so many nights in a row, so we decided to skip the Franconia fireworks and just do a movie night.

On Saturday we were originally planning to do a hike or go to Whale’s Tale.  Unfortunately the weather did not want to cooperate and it was a wash out.  Instead Michele took the boys rock climbing at the North Country Climbing Gym.

On Sunday we headed out early.  On our way back we stopped at Loon for a ‘touch a truck’ event, which was a big hit, then had Enzo’s for lunch.

Below are some pics from the week:

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Vaca – Days 4 + 5

On Wednesday we visited Dave and Ursula, who were staying at a campground in Gorham.

We headed to a river nearby (Wild River) and hung out there a while.  Afterwards we hung out at their campground, played in the arcade, had a fire truck ride, went swimming in the pool, made dinner, had smores, etc. etc.

The kids had so much fun that we did it all again the next day!

Overall, it was great to catch up with friends and the kids had a blast!

 

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Vaca – Days 2-4

We are all starting to adjust to life on vacation together at the Lodge, just me and the 3 boys!

On Sunday, we packed up the car in the morning and headed up north.  We had lunch at Enzo’s in Lincoln.  Lincoln is very touristy, but it’s becoming a popular pit stop on our way to and from the lodge.

After dinner, Dave, Ursula, and Lily came up to visit.  We just spent the evening catching up and then they headed out Monday AM.

On Monday I had a couple contractors coming in the afternoon, so we couldn’t have any big outings.  We did Echo Lake beach in the morning.  Tommy is a total fish once we gets acclimated to the water.  Eli isn’t the biggest fan, and Aaron is somewhere in the middle.

I had 2 contractors come, one for installing a security system.  It turns out our insurance is mandating us to get a system since it’s a vacation home.  This is turning into a big expense that I wasn’t planning on.

Later on we had a roofing contractor come and take a look at our leaking roof.  He had installed the roof recently, found the leaking spot, and said he’d fix it for no charge.  Awesome!

In the afternoon we were looking to kill a couple hours, so we headed to the Sugar Hill playground.  The kids were super cranky.  We then went to the Iron Furnace in Franconia and found an awesome spot on the Gale River to throw rocks.  Turns out there’s no better way to cure cranky kids than throwing rocks in the water.

On Tuesday we headed out early for a full day at Santa’s Village.  I was a little worried about this trip, having all 3 boys to myself in an amusement park.  Especially after our recent Story Land visit, it was clear the 3 kids all wanted to go on different rides.

It turned out to be a great day together.  The boys were very well behaved, and we stayed there the entire day.  We got to go on almost all the rides and even the water park.  The ride lines were pretty short all day, which was a big plus.  Overall I’m a big fan of Santa’s Village over Story Land.  It’s much more low key.

I’ll add pics to these posts once I get back from vaca!