Family Camping Adventure

We really want to become one of those families who camp on a regular basis over the summer, because it is really fun to be outside all day, to sit around the campfire, to sleep under the stars. In actuality, though, it requires a lot of gear and a lot of preparation, so one night once a year is plenty for me! Camping is a big thing here in Vermont and there are a ton of State Parks that make it easy. We heard about this one up in the Lake Champlain Islands and decided to try it out.

Our campsite was right on the water, with a big rocky drop-off that kept the kids at a safe enough distance from going straight into the Lake. We got a site with a Lean-to, which is a three-sided wooden shelter that provides a dry place for our stuff and enough room for our air mattress and Jacob's portable crib. The kids slept in a tent nearby.

After setting up camp, eating lunch, and a short wait for the rain to go away, we headed to the nearby Lake. We had to drive to a different part of the island but found this little beach where not many people were out. It was mostly mud, but the water was nice and the kids enjoyed playing for a couple hours.

After going in a little too far and getting swept up, Jacob had a healthier fear of the water and happily stayed where he could sit down and scoop water & dirt into his buckets.

Leah is a fish and wanted to go as far out as possible and practice her swimming.

One thing we like to do in the sand is dig channels into the water. We like to see how elaborate they can get. This time we even added a bridge!

Back at the campsite we started a fire and grilled some chicken & veggie foil packets I'd prepared ahead of time. They took awhile, but the kids were happy to play in the dirt, throw rocks in the water, and work on scraping away at a dinosaur fossil project Grandma sent Andrew before we left.

Jacob was so happy to be "ou-side" all day. He was a lot less mischievous than he usually is and wanted to be held much of the time when he wasn't digging in the dirt.

They were so excited to stay up till it was dark and enjoy the campfire. They got to see lightning bugs, which they rarely enjoy at home, because they're always in bed before dark. They all slept pretty well (except me-- I don't usually sleep well outside of home anyway, and the air mattress wasn't too comfortable) and there wasn't even anymore rain.

The next morning we weren't in a hurry but got up and packed up. Jacob was so cute looking at his books in the Lean-to while Abi and Andrew played on the log in the woods by the water. After we got everything loaded we enjoyed a nice lunch at Panera Bread on the way home. It was a great time as a family and we gained lots of great experiences.

Andrew's 7th Birthday

How is it that my second little baby is already 7 years old? Andrew is my funny, sensitive, inquisitive, lovable guy with a passion for all things dinosaur. He isn't really into a lot of "book" work as far as school goes, but he loves when he can do projects or science experiments or games, anything hands-on. He is pretty good when it comes to numbers and reads fairly well now, but it's dinosaurs that draw his attention from anything else academic. He can tell you the name of at least 30 different dinosaurs and tell you random facts about equally as many. He studies his Dinosaur Encyclopedia he got for Christmas and watches dino shows on TV regularly. He wants to be one of the few Christian paleontologists when he grows up-- already scoffing at those who say the earth is millions of years old.

 His second passion is video games. He loves the XBox and will lose himself in a game. When he puts his mind to accomplishing a goal on a game, he won't stop till he gets there. He loves a race car game we have, and a Disneyland game where you complete a variety of tasks around a virtual park. He is really pretty good at computer-related things.

He is still progressing in Taekwando, already up to green belt, which has taken a full year. He rarely practices outside of class, but enjoys going to class, and I think will eventually dedicate more time to the sport so he can work his way up to black belt. He enjoys sparring, as well. He likes to be outside, but only if there's something specific to do. He's usually good at imagining he's some sort of wild animal and will play to that extent, but often he gets bored just being in the backyard. He is always full of questions! He has to sit in the car where he can see the dashboard because he likes to see how fast we're going and see how all the things work. He is curious and imaginative.

This year of course he had to have a dinosaur themed birthday party. We invited a few of his friends from church (unfortunately there are only about 2 boys that are close to his age & they are not regular-attenders-- there are lots more girls!) the Saturday before and had cake and just played in the house. I think he had a great time and enjoyed being with his friends and opening his gifts.

I love putting time & effort into their cakes, and this is one of my favorites I've done. The volcano was definitely the most fun part! 

His gifts from his friends (Autumn, Beau & Colby) included a kite, a ball, and a couple trucks.

We bought him a Nature Explorer vest (which has pockets for binoculars, a compass, etc.-- it's similar to one worn by a character in his favorite show Dino Dan), a Sketch Pad (which quickly became a "Dino Field Guide"), and then on his actual birthday he opened a new Bible (not a storybook one) and a Dinosaur Science Kit.

ECHO Museum

This past Thursday, we had another fun family day trip to the ECHO Museum in Burlington. It is a neat science museum, and the largest one in Vermont, but nowhere near as cool as the museum we loved in NC. Much of it was geared toward older children, or just too "educational" to be really fun, but there were two sections that the kids really loved.

One was the live butterfly exhibit. There were thousands of them inside a heated little tent area. Leah loved that one landed on her back.

Our other favorite area was the play space for younger kids. Jacob LOVED the water table and happily played for a long time.

There were things to climb on and slide down and lots of imaginary play. They would have happily stayed all day.

Leah is really in to sea turtles right now so she loved the pretend animal hospital where you had to feed and care for the stuffed animals.

Jacob loved the big aquariums, and here he is giving the fish a kiss.

There was an exhibit about the weather where they got to put on their own weather forecast for a pretend TV news show.

After we went through the museum, we had a picnic outside. The museum is on the waterfront of Lake Champlain and it was a beautiful day, so we enjoyed being outside.

We also decided to make a stop on the way home at Lake Champlain Chocolate Factory. I had heard they had a Factory Tour, but in reality it was just listening to a guy talk while the workers did their thing behind a big glass window. So it was not very exciting, but there were a few samples, and of course we bought a few chocolates to take home!