CPRMom

The past 3 years I've worked at summer camps.  I'd volunteered for 3-4 years before that at Cub Scout Day Camp for a week - it's only 1 week.  But the past 3 years I was paid staff at Camp Seawood. I enjoy working at camp.  I'm outside all day without a cell phone.  It's almost Nirvana - almost because I'm surrounded by kids.  But for the most part they're all awesome. This summer I decided to not work at camp.  I did end up volunteering at Cub Scout day camp the  last week in  June.  This is Micaela's last summer before going to NHIA.  I wanted to have time to do fun things with my kids. But I usually teach fewer classes in the summer because fewer people sign up.  It's hot, people are on vacation, it's normally a slower time of the year.  I still need bring in some income to pay for the summer adventures. I was fortunate to be able to book enough private on-site classes that covered the income I would have made at sum...

Friday Thing 3 attended 2 APEX programs at Hidden Valley. It's an hour drive so I decided to stay and do a little hiking. It was overcast in the morning so I did not set out until lunchtime. The plan was to hike the red trail to meet the blue trail to the top of Mt. Shannon which is a small mountain on the camp property. I would then take the yellow trail back. This is the map I used.  I found a lot of red trail markers, but they were not the red trail. This is not the red trail I started down what I thought was the red trail, until the trail markers disappeared. I saw 1 blue marker, and no others. There was a nice snowmobile trail so I followed that. That lead me up to a nice field by a road. When I got to the road I saw the field was posted 'No Trespassing', so I couldn't return that way. So I followed the road to the next road, and eventually to the entrance to the camp. This is where I met up with Tucker and his owner. Tucker was a very friendly bla...

A few weeks ago I did something I've never done before, I went hiking alone.  I've always had my kids with me, or gone with a friend.  This time I went alone. It was the first day I was not scheduled to teach or work for someone.  I had a lot of work to do for my businesses, but I decided I really needed a mental health day.  I also had to be back to pick Jacob up from school to get him to New Heights, so I picked Pawtuckaway since it was close by. It was a great hike!  The top of the North Mountain does not have stunning views, in fact I walked around a bit before I realized I was at the top.  There are a lot of trees, and Pawtuckaway is not a tall mountain.  Parts of the trail were pretty steep and I had to climb rocks.  Not what I was expecting, but it was a great hike. Yes, I climbed up this.  And another slope that was all rock. The view from the top. I had a few reasons for trying solo hiking.  Mostly I nee...