Kid Tracks Column: Holiday shopping

Making a list and checking it twice for cool outdoor toys

My family has a variety of outdoor activity interests and because of that, we have a lot of equipment needs. Christmas at our house usually includes splurging on a gift that I think is both practical and fun for everyone in the family. And more often than not, it is typically something that will keep us active outdoors and spending time together.

WOOL SOCKS
I know, socks are not the most exciting gift to put under the tree, but not only will they keep your child’s feet warm and dry, you will hear a lot fewer complaints about cold feet out on the trail. Merino wool socks are my family’s favorite because they are really soft and don’t shrink when washed and put in the drier.

The “Smart Wool” brand is widely available in adult and kid sizes and retails for $12-$20, depending on style and size. But if you’re looking for a bargain, “irregulars” can sometimes be found at L.L. Bean’s outlet stores for about half that price at this time of year.

MOISTURE-WICKING TOPS
These tops have a technical-sounding name but it’s just thermal underwear made with a special wool or synthetic fiber (not cotton) that keeps skin warm and dry.

Merino wool tops are pricey ($60 or more), but we’ve found synthetic blends, like Hot Chilly’s Pepper Skins sold at Olympia Sports, for about $25. They keep us dry and comfortable when we’re out cross-country skiing or sledding. Both the kids and I have tried nylon/spandex blend tops and we don’t like them for winter. The nylon is cold against our skin and even though the material does a good job keeping us relatively dry once we start sweating, we are not warm and cozy. And cotton thermal tops, usually the cheapest option, are not great for active sports (like sledding, skiing and snowshoeing) because once they get wet, they stay wet.

TRAIL BACKPACKS
Buying special backpacks designated only for your outdoor adventures can help get your crew ready for your adventure more quickly and efficiently. My kids use backpacks that are smaller than their usual school packs because they can’t handle too much weight when we’re hiking (or skiing) on a mountain. A smaller pack forces them to make better choices about what they actually need when they’re out on the trail, as well. Patches and pins to sew or iron onto the packs also make great stocking stuffers.

SNOWSHOES
This is a bigger-ticket item, but outfitting everyone with snowshoes ensures you’ll fit exercise in to your life this winter. We’ve found beginner snowshoes at discount stores for around $50, but you’re more likely to spend $125-$150 on a better quality pair at an outfitter-type store. Before you purchase, make sure to ask if the snowshoes require special boots. We prefer the type that can be worn with any type snowboot so that we can get more than one season from the kids’ gear.

BIKE RACK
This makes a great family gift, especially if someone is already getting a new bike for Christmas. Trunk strap-on racks that carry three bikes are typically less than $50 at discount stores. Hitch-mounted racks that carry four or more bikes typically start at $150 at outfitter-type stores. My family of four has managed to use a trunk rack for years by putting our youngest daughter’s smaller framed bike inside the mini van.

GPS UNIT
A GPS can make a great family gift because it not only teaches the kids about geography and maps, it’s also a tool used to play games like geocaching and EarthCache. Geocaching is a fun way to explore hiking trails and it gives kids an incentive (finding the hidden “treasure” box) to get out and exercise with mom and dad. And if you’re new to hiking or looking to explore new trails, geocachers often post detailed trail descriptions that include ratings to make choosing trails that fit your family’s interests and fitness level easier.
Hand-held GPS units, which are different from car units, start at about $100. For more information about Geocaching and using a GPS unit, go to raisingmaine.com/GPS.

Originally published in Raising Maine Magazine, December 2008

Kid Tracks Column: Go west with your young hikers

This is the time of year when Maine offers some of the most beautiful, colorful days to be out hiking. But this is also the busiest hunting season of the year thanks to deer, pheasant, ruffed grouse and bear. Since 50,000-plus deer hunting permits were issued by the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife this year, a lot of hunters will be roaming the woods in November during deer firearms season.

But do not let that stop you from hiking this month. The western mountains of Maine offer some great views of fall foliage with trails that are short, easy hikes for little ones as well as more challenging climbs for older kids. Stay safe by wearing your orange – or hike on Sundays, a state-mandated no hunting day.

Sawyer Mountain, Limington

This hike is about 3 miles round-trip with a 500-foot elevation gain. For children who have the endurance for a steady uphill climb, this trail offers a sense of hiking a “big” mountain with the self-esteem boost that comes from a manageable challenge. And being only 40 minutes from Portland, it’s a nice option for busy urban families looking for an afternoon hiking adventure close to home.

WHY WE LIKE IT: There is an old cemetery along the trail that is quite interesting. From the “no math” stones that have inscriptions that include the person’s age at passing in years, months and days, to the misspelling my younger daughter spotted on our first visit, it’s worth a quick, respectful stop. And when we hike here, we often bring along crayons and paper to make rubbings of both the cemetery stones and fallen leaves on the trail.

GETTING THERE: The trailhead is located at a sharp turn on Route 117, 2.5 miles south of the junction of Routes 25 and 117, or 2.4 miles north of the junction of Routes 11 and 117. There is a small parking area where trail maps are available in a map box. GPS Coordinates: 43.752, -70.729

Bald Pate Preserve, Bridgton

There are looping trails of varying distances within the preserve that are well marked. It’s an easy mile with about a 300-foot elevation gain to the summit of Bald Pate Mountain from the trailhead.

WHY WE LIKE IT: One year the girls were interested in learning about coniferous (evergreen) trees for a 4-H project they were working on and this area had several easy to identify examples. There are also great views of the surrounding mountains that are very colorful at this time of year. In October, and more often in November, we’ve spotted snow on Mount Washington from this area.

GETTING THERE: From Route 107 in Sebago, the trailhead is about 7 miles from the intersection of routes 114 and 107. The trailhead sign is a little hard to spot on Route 107 when coming from the southern direction because it’s positioned at an angle that is easier to see from the other side of the road. GPS Coordinates: 43.968, -70.710

Douglas Mountain, Sebago

This is a nice introduction to mountain climbing for little ones with the incentive of seeing the stone tower at the summit. For a first hike on this mountain, I’d suggest the Ledges or Woods trails because they are the shortest routes to the summit. Park at the trailhead and walk back out to Douglas Mountain Road. Take a left and follow the paved road up the hill to the old trailhead (about ¼ mile). There is no sign to direct you to the Ledges Trail from the new trailhead but once you find the old trailhead, the Ledges Trail (on the left with the stone pillar) and the Woods Trail (on the right) are easy to follow to the summit. The hike from the parking lot to the tower at the summit is about a half-mile total. The Eagle Scout Trail, the one at the trailhead, is a bit longer.

WHY WE LIKE IT: The Ledges Trail is a short ¼ mile to the top of the mountain with several spots with rocks to climb and views to enjoy during the climb. The kids always feel a sense of accomplishment hiking to the top, which was do-able when they were preschoolers. And the stone tower at the summit still has not lost its appeal for them. A map identifying the mountains at the top of the tower helps orientate visitors to the view. And if you want to wow the kids with your worldly knowledge, the inscription, “Non sibi sed omnibus” on the boulder near the tower, translates to: “Not just for myself, but for all.”

OTHER: There is a $3 trail use fee per car. The parking area is locked at 6 p.m.

GETTING THERE: From Route 107 in Baldwin, take Douglas Hill Road to Dyke Mountain Road.  GPS Coordinates: 43.876, -70.696

Douglas Mountain

Map created by EveryTrail

Jockey Cap, Fryeburg

This is another short hike, about 1/4 mile, with only a 200-foot elevation and offers a sense of accomplishment for young children. A great view of the surrounding mountains make this trail a good choice for the fall foliage season.

WHY WE LIKE IT: This area is a popular rock-climbing destination so many times we’ve seen climbers in full gear scaling the face of Jockey Cap. There are also boulders that form a couple of small caves for kids to explore and climb along the trail. There is also an interesting, molded mountain map at the top to identify the various mountains in view.

OTHER: There are some very steep drop-offs once you’re on the top of Jockey Cap, so parents should stay close to young children to be sure they don’t get too close to the edge.

GETTING THERE: From the intersection of Routes 113 and 302 in Fryeburg the trailhead is exactly one mile. The trailhead is between the Jockey Cap Country Store and the Jockey Cap Motel. GPS Coordinates: 44.022, -70.962

Burnt Meadow Mountain, Brownfield

This mountain has three summits that are all about the same elevation and offer great views of the surrounding area. Hiking to the summit, about 1,100-foot elevation gain within 1.2 miles, is a solid challenge for older kids.

WHY WE LIKE IT: There are plenty of places within a mile of the trailhead to sit and soak up the sun and enjoy the mountain views while eating a picnic lunch. We’ve actually never climbed to the summit on this mountain because the goal each time we’ve visited has been more about finding a nice place to relax and enjoy the view. The trail is good for little ones if the goal is hiking the first half-mile and staking out a place to spread out the picnic blanket, which was our first introduction to the trail when the girls were 5 and 7 years old.

OTHER: The start of this trail is to the right of the trailhead parking area. Don’t be confused with another spread of trees that looks like a trail. The real one is marked with light blue trail blazes.

GETTING THERE: The trailhead is on Route 160, about three miles from the junction of routes 113 and 5 in Brownfield. The trailhead is not well marked and is easy to miss unless cars are already parked there. GPS Coordinates: 43.9177, -70.8830

Burnt Meadow Mountain

Map created by EveryTrail

Originally published in Raising Maine Magazine November 2008

Kid Tracks Column: A-maze-ing Fun

The truth is, corn mazes are all about getting lost.

My family really enjoys our yearly visits to the Pumpkin Valley Corn Maze in Dayton and this year’s spider web theme made for another fun – and challenging – corn maze adventure for us.

At the entrance to the maze at Pumpkin Valley, a “corn cop” explains a bit about the maze and gives visitors a passport. By answering the trivia questions (there are a bunch of different themed passports to choose from) at each numbered marker within the maze, visitors can get a clue about which way to turn at that marker to find the next one. And here’s a tip: The answers to the passport questions are very tiny and upside down on the bottom of the page if you need extra help (don't mock the idea, you may feel the need to look when you're truly lost in the maze). But knowing the answer isn’t all that helpful at times because even with the correct first turn, you are often faced with many more navigation decisions to get to the next marker.

And let me clarify something now. Everyone is a critic about which path to follow when you're in the maze.

“I know which way to go, mommy, and it’s not that way,” my 10-year-old told me after five minutes in the maze.

So I decided to put her I-know-what-I’m-doing and you’re-not-too-smart-mom notions to the test by asking her to be in charge of leading the family through the maze.

It was not long before the maze’s spider webs had us passing through the same area over and over again.

“No, you’re taking the wrong way. We’re walking in circles again,” my 12-year-old told her younger sister when we were looking for our fifth marker.

OK, so you’ve got to set some ground rules with siblings at the start and give each a turn to be the leader so everyone has a chance to be humbled by the experience. Then you can watch those same siblings share a smile a bit later while in the throes of victory over finding an elusive marker, or when they discover the stairs to one of the bridges that overlook the cornfield.

But also expect that after an hour in the maze and more than a mile and half of walking, the kids might share another moment of conciliation and make a joint declaration that their parents take over and “find the end because we’re getting hungry.”

We brought along our GPS unit on this adventure, not to help us find our way through the maze (that’s cheating!), but to save a track of our path through the maze to see if we could “draw” the maze’s design.

Needless to say we did not come close to re-creating the design with our track. But after downloading it at home, we did have a few laughs about how many times we walked over the same path trying to find a way out of that particular area.

We were also surprised to discover that we had covered 1.8 miles in the maze from start to finish.

Not only is walking around in a corn maze a lot of fun, it's a great opportunity to get some exercise on a beautiful fall day.

We’ve been to two corn mazes in Maine this season and each has its own unique features in addition to their mazes.

Pumpkin Valley Farm offers wagon rides to pick pumpkins, a mini maze for young children and a playground complete with slides, tire swings, a corn kernel box (like a sand box but filled with kernels of corn instead) and some farm animals to feed. They also have a corn cannon – an ingenious device powered by a compressor with a steel barrel that can shoot ears of corn at targets in a field – that was admired and well-used by the male population (both young and old) visiting the farm. The Almeida dad was not immune to the cannon's allure and he was quite smitten after hitting a wooden target with it.

Zach’s Corn Maze in York has flashlight tag every weekend night (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), which my kids are itching to try this month because we couldn't stay until dark the day we visited in September. This maze also offers a pleasant 20-minute tractor ride to the maze entrance (included in the admission price) and pumpkin picking for an additional fee as well. My kids enjoyed this maze but without numbered markers to find, we did not cover as much ground within the maze as we usually do at Pumpkin Valley.

Visiting a corn maze is a fall tradition for my family and over the years we’ve learned a few things about making the most out of this seasonal activity.

* Bring a bottle of water. It might not seem like you’re going on a long hike but depending on the navigation skills of your children and/or you, the possibility of getting lost in the maze for more than an hour is a good one. If you’ve got little ones in tow, it’s best to anticipate their need for a drink when you are truly lost in the maze
and cannot make a quick exit to get one from the car.

* Encourage everyone to use the bathroom before entering the maze. It’s obvious, I know, but even if no one has to “go,” have them try anyhow. You’ll be glad you did when you’re an hour into the maze and have no idea how to get out and no bathroom in sight.

* Wear layers. Even when the temperature is brisk, you can still work up a sweat walking through the maze.

* Wear old shoes or boots. We visited Zach’s Corn Maze the day after a rainstorm and it was muddy, with a couple of big puddles. At the time we wished we had worn rubber boots. But even when the ground is not wet, the clay dirt and sand in corn mazes are like glue (a friend described it as mortar-like and I don’t think she’s too far off), so it’s best to wear footwear you don’t mind getting dirty.

* Bring a sense of humor. Whether you put the kids in charge of navigating the family through the maze or you do it yourself, you are likely to get confused and lose your way at some point. Every time my family has been in the thick of the corn maze we’ve overheard a heated discussion (involving kids and/or adults) about which path to follow next. The best way to avoid sibling fallouts (or spousal ones) in the maze is to make sure everyone has a time period when they are in charge of making the navigational decisions.

And I’ll let my kids wrap up this outdoor adventure with their thoughts about our latest trip to Pumpkin Valley.

10-YEAR-OLD: “I liked the corn maze but I got mad that we went in circles. I liked being the leader but the maze kept taking me in circles. I loved the tire swing and slides in the playground. My sister tried to bury me in the corn (kernel) box but the corn was so cold. And the corn cannon was loud but my daddy really liked it.”

12-YEAR-OLD: “This was a very long maze and there were a lot of circles. It was fun and there were some bridges so we could see the paths we just took from the top of the bridge. We did go around in a lot of circles and I knew we were doing that but my sister refused to believe that when she was the leader. And if you see our GPS track, we did go in circles a lot.”

Pumpkin Valley Corn Maze

We covered 1.8 miles during our corn maze adventure in about an hour and a half.

Zach's Corn Maze

We spent about an hour in the maze and covered 1.1 miles of walking.
See photos from Zach's Corn Maze

In the Maze at Pumpkin Valley


Originally published in Raising Maine Magazine, October 2008

Kid Tracks Column: Hitting trails with tweens

At 10 and 12 years old, my daughters have developed a level of fitness that has allowed us to explore more challenging mountain trails. We still enjoy the “easy” (i.e., short, minimal elevation gain trails) like the 1.25-mile loop around Mackworth Island, but the girls can only take so much of my reminiscing about how much they have grown. I clearly remember the days when it was an accomplishment for them to hike around that island.

“Mom. We’re not babies anymore.”

Oh yes, how well I know.

So my family has set our sights on hiking mountain trails, both to challenge the girls as well as help me accept the fact that my babies are growing up (and remind me that that is a good thing!).

Finding trails that are challenging but doable for my tweens (with an average fitness level for their age) has been a bit tricky. I’ve asked many hiking friends and acquaintances (with children and not) for advice about Maine trails. I’ve also inquired about how accurate the ratings are in a popular hiking guide book. In my experience
'easy’ is relative to an adult’s fitness level, not a tween. That’s not a criticism, just a reality check on how to go about choosing hikes that will offer up a challenge and still be a fun adventure for everyone in the family.

So below are a couple of mountain trails my family has hiked recently and our thoughts about them.

BLUEBERRY MOUNTAIN
The summit of Blueberry Mountain is in the Caribou-Speckled Mountain Wilderness north of Fryeburg. With a significant elevation gain, this can be challenging for a 10-year-old but doable if she has an average fitness level and you pack a favorite treat for the frequent breaks you might need to take during the ascent.

On this trip we hiked up the White Cairn Trail to Blueberry Ridge Trail, then looped back down Stone House Trail. The loop was about four and a half miles total. The White Cairn Trail was a challenge for the girls with a steep area that required climbing a couple of large rocks with tricky footholds. We took a short detour off the Stone House Trail on the way down the mountain to visit Rattlesnake Pool. It was an amazingly deep, clear pool and not a spot to be missed on these trails. Your tired feet will thank you for the cool dip.

TRAIL: White Cairn Trail to Blueberry Ridge Trail to Stone House Trail
NEAREST TOWN: Gilead
TRAILHEAD: It’s on Stone House Road off Route 113, about 1.3 miles north of Cold River camp. Park at the steel gate.
ELEVATION GAIN: 1,150 feet
SUMMIT: 1,750 feet
MILEAGE: approximately 4.5-mile loop
DIFFICULTY: Moderate for tweens, difficult for children under 8 years old
NOTE: Because we hiked this trail in mid-August, we were treated to an abundance of blueberries ready to be picked and eaten around the mountain.
ALTERNATIVES TO SUMMIT: The Stone House Trail was an easy, level path with a slight elevation gain just before the spur to Rattlesnake Pool. It would be a doable 2-mile loop from the trail head for young children (we saw several headed there the day we visited).
PHOTOS: See more photos from the trail

KIDS’ REVIEW:
10-year-old: “I liked this trail even though it was kind of steep and long. I didn’t like the big rocks I had to climb because there wasn’t any places for my feet. I packed some candy because it’s like my medicine to keep me going. I had Pop-Rocks this time. I also liked eating all the blueberries on the trail. Now I know why they call it Blueberry Mountain. I loved Rattlesnake Pool and that was my favorite part of the trail. I put my feet in the pool to cool off and it felt really good.”

12-year-old: “At the beginning it was easy and then in the middle of the hike up the mountain it got harder. Once you reach the top of Blueberry Mountain it is a really pretty view. Going down the Stone House Trail was easier. The pool was really cool and it looked like a tropical beach with three shades of different greens with a waterfall. And there were no leeches in there.”

TABLE ROCK AT GRAFTON NOTCH STATE PARK
We hiked the Appalachian Trail to Table Rock last year and I was glad I waited until my youngest was 9 years old before trying this hike. The climb is steep but not too difficult if you plan for frequent breaks with favorite treats. The kids loved Table Rock and felt a
real sense of accomplishment for having hiked to it.

This year we hiked to Table Rock (per the girls’ request) and then continued on the Appalachian Trail (AT) in hopes of reaching the West Peak of Bald Pate Mountain. It was an overly ambitious goal and one we did not think we’d reach on this trip but decided we’d give it a whirl anyhow. We made it to the Bald Pate Lean-to which was a little over half a mile short of the West Peak. The girls enjoyed the hike to Table Rock but after that point it was difficult and strenuous for them. I think we’re still a couple of years away from getting to the west peak (which is at 3,662 feet). The Lean-to, at 2,700 feet, marked about 4 miles of mountain hiking for us that day (and included another couple ahead of us to get back to the car). To our way of thinking it was a good effort and a solid first attempt for the girls to summit such a large mountain.

TRAIL: Appalachian Trail to Table Rock Trail
NEAREST TOWN: Newry
TRAIL HEAD: About 12 miles from the intersection of Route 26 and Route 2 in Newry. It’s marked on the left side of the road.
ELEVATION GAIN: About 900 feet
SUMMIT: (Table Rock is not a summit, it’s a vista point on Bald Pate Mountain at 1,400 feet)
MILEAGE: approximately 3 miles roundtrip to Table Rock
DIFFICULTY: Moderate for tweens, Difficult for children under 8 years old
NOTE: There are metal bars that serve as stairs to climb the rock to get on to Table Rock. Some children may find them scary to climb down but there is an unmarked alternate path around them if you look for it. The view is beautiful on Table Rock but keep kids away from the sheer drop-off. Also, depending on the time of year you visit, you may run into AT thru-hikers (they hike from Maine to Georgia or vice-versa) and many are willing to chat with kids about their hiking adventure. We’ve been lucky enough to run into a few and my kids have enjoyed chatting with the “professional hikers.”
PHOTOS: See more photos from the trail

KID’S REVIEW:
10-year-old: “It was a steep climb to Table rock but it was OK. The metal bar steps are OK but they made me a little nervous going down but the second time it was easier. Table Rock is a great view and you can see the Eyebrow Trail on the mountain across the street. That Eyebrow Trail was scary when I hiked that last year and I'm glad I hiked Table Rock instead.”

12-year-old: “Getting up to Table Rock was steep but it wasn’t too bad. The view is very good at the top. You can see a lot of different mountains. My sister got a little freak-out going down the metal stairs but they are not that bad.”

Originally published in Raising Maine Magazine, September 2008

Letting go of the little things

Sometimes I make a suggestion to one of the girls and it leads to an argument, which often times has nothing to do with the original suggestion. A few times recently we've had words over the smallest things (hello puberty) so I have found myself choosing to keep my mouth shut and let some stuff go.

But in the spirit of full disclosure, sometimes it isn't worth the argument because the girls go out of their way to prove me wrong. I think that falls under the heading of "life purpose" at our house lately.

For instance there is L. and her stuffed animal (mostly WebKinz) fetish. She has to have a synthetic stuffed friend everywhere we go, even when it will be a hindrance - like hiking the Appalachian Trail to the Bald Pate Lean-to (with Table Rock detour) we visited last weekend. I would not recommend hiking up a very large mountain (6 miles round trip with a 1,700-foot elevation gain) carrying a stuffed animal in your hand but L. has proven it is possible. She also took the time after this particular hike to let me know how much her stuffed animal "loved it."

And G., who always has to wear soft and comfortable clothes, is in a fleece skirt phase (one that's going on its third year). Again, I would not recommend hiking very large mountains in a fleece skirt in the summer (or wearing any kind of fleece in 80+ degree weather). But G. has proven that it is possible to be both comfortable and competent hiking a mountain in a skirt. (Note to moms of kids with sensory integration issues: Clothing choices can make interesting fashion statements in the tween years.)

And to share a "tip" from L., who proved her dad wrong recently when he strongly suggested she wear lightweight pants on a hiking trail to keep from getting bug bites (and ticks), that wearing capris tucked in to knee socks is the only way to go.

"I wore my capris so if I got hot I could roll them up and roll my knee socks down. But if the bugs got crazy I could cover my legs up quick."

On that trail L. was quite a fashion statement but I can't fault the practical application. She managed to avoid poison ivy at Blueberry Mountain and I did not.

OK, so Fino suggested I wear pants on that trail too but I blew him off. I guess I have some life purpose left in me too when it comes to my spouse.

Almeida fashion

And no outdoor adventure is complete without one of L.'s friends.

A hot and sweaty L. at the Bald Pate Lean-to on the AT with 'Hiking Kitty.'

New goals for kids (and mom)

Being 10- and 12-years old and having several years of hiking under their belts, the girls have been ready for more challenging adventures. Last year we hiked to Table Rock (about 1/3 of the way up Bald Pate) and The Eyebrow (about 1/4 of the way up Old Speck) in Grafton Notch State Park. Table Rock was on the Appalachian Trail and that was a goal last summer, to hike a piece of that trail in Maine. After seeing the view from Table Rock, the girls decided it would be cool to hike the trail across the notch the following week. We braved the Eyebrow Trail and the girls decided that trails with bars, metal wires and open rock faces weren't really their cup of tea.

But they did it and I was darn proud of them.

So now that the thunderstorms have taken a vacation (hopefully for a long while!), we're on to our fall agenda -- hiking to mountain summmits.

Our goal is to hike to summits higher than 1,500 feet around Maine over the next couple of years. Part of our plan is to take a photo on the summit of each one (like the "real hikers" do). We've been thinking about the idea for a while and our hikes to the top of the South Bubble and Gorham Mountain in Acadia earlier this spring cinched the idea that this was the year to go for it.

A friend recommended Blueberry Mountain in the Caribou-Speckled Mountain Wilderness north of Fryeburg and we decided that should be next on our list so we could visit in August during blueberry season.

It was a challenging 4 1/2-mile hike with a 1,300' elevation gain that was made more interesting because we could pick (and eat) blueberries along the way. We ate a ton (we've never been good at collecting and saving for later). We were also rewarded with a stop at Rattlesnake Pool near the end of the hike. We could have looped the mountain trails with this as a first stop (there's minimal elevation gain so an easy hike for younger kids to this spot on the Stone House Trail) but decided it was better left to the end as something to look forward to. The natural pool was an amazing site and a perfect place to cool our tired hiking feet.

So our plan for summit shots is now officially underway and the girls have already met their first challenge of a 1,751' summit.

There is a secondary reason for this new family goal however, to help me handle my daughters' move from their tween to teen years. Some days it makes me sad to think how much my babies have grown. And truth be told, I simply haven't felt ready for the jump to the new phase of teenager-hood. But now I feel like I have something to look forward to beyond the mood swings and overall insanity that come with raising teens.

And the girls, well, hopefully they'll keep up with their current MO of talking about everything under the sun while we're out on the trail.

The natural world really does have so many interesting layers.

We're keeping track of our summit shots, which start in 2003 with smaller mountains, on MaineOutdoorJournal.com

[L. carried the GPS unit on her backpack during the hike so we uploaded a track of the trail in case you're interested in giving it a whirl with your tweens/teens.]

Blueberry Ridge Trail at EveryTrailMap created by EveryTrail:GPS Geotagging

Meeting up with an old friend

I ran in to an old friend this past weekend while hiking Blueberry Mountain in Gilead (just north of Fryeburg) with Fino and the kids.

Being the thoughtful individual that he is, he introduced me to some new friends and I am very much enjoying the company of these acquaintances today.

Yup, me and poison ivy have been catching up on old times since yesterday, when the rash that I thought was merely a bunch of bug bites broke out all over my legs.

I'm usually more aware of my friend's kiss of affection and wipe away the traces immediately upon seeing him but I missed his greeting this time.

Oh well, at least he didn't introduce himself to anyone else in the family (this time).

Disc golf is fun outdoor game for kids

The girls caught a discus event while watching the Olympics and that led to questions about what it was and how it was done. I threw the discus in high school so I knew the basics (but was never any good at it though) and after some explanation the girls got to talking about how long it's been since we played disc golf (my kids - like most - make interesting leaps in conversations).

So off to the disc golf course we went this past weekend to play a round at Enmen Field in Brunswick.

Since it's been a long time since we've played "The Beauty" course in Brunswick, we had a hard time tracking down the holes in order. I really wished I had printed a map of the course at home because they didn't have maps at the clubhouse when I asked for one. That's not unusual at the disc golf courses we've visited previously though. The sport is casual enough that most players don't mind a few strays wondering on to a hole out of order (but I'm also mindful of my kids as it is mostly childless adults on the course) because the clubhouse didn't have any maps for newbies that day.

Stray is a good word to describe us - from following the holes to throwing the discs. But that does not stop us from having fun.

We have our own discs -- which are heavier than frisbees -- but I have no idea if they're putters or drivers (yeah, there are all kinds of discs and it's not unusual to see someone carrying a bag to play the different ones on the course) -- and take a bit of getting used to if all you've ever thrown is frisbees. But like frisbees, a quick flick of the wrist can make the disc soar.

But you don't have to have your own discs to play; every course we've been to offers rentals.

We've played disc golf in every season and winter is actually a fun time to play, although I wouldn't recommend doing it on cross country skis. Everyone in the family now has snowshoes so it's on our list of things to do when the snow starts flying.

Our winter adventure More about that adventure

Usually we play on a course in Gorham because it's closer to where we live but it was fun to revisit the Brunswick course after so many years. The girls were only 6- and 8-years old the first time I took them to Enman Field and I can't believe how much they have grown.

Our first trip More about how to play the game

At that time L. spent most of her time on the course collecting sticks for a fairy house (and looked like a little old lady carrying around her bag) and trying to get her disc "in jail" (her nickname for the cages). G. spent a lot of time hitting trees with her disc and all of us had to retrieve our discs from streams and bushes.

G. - and the rest of us - still hit trees and dig out discs from off-course landings and L. still calls the cages "jail" so not much has changed in that regard. But during our latest visit we made it through almost the entire course (we did 17 holes and couldn't seem to locate the 18th), something we haven't done previously. And we still don't bother to keep a formal score card (they always seem to have those at the clubhouse) as we still can't make anything less than 5 par even on the short distance holes.

The score I like to keep notes how long we spent laughing and having fun. That's the only thing that really matters anyhow I think.

This time it was a hole-in-one kinda morning for all of us.

Our latest day on the course

There are a lot of disc golf courses in Maine so check one out near you. A map of courses in Maine

The Pouch: tools of the motherhood trade

I have a small bag I carry in my backpack (I've never been a pocketbook kinda gal) for "emergencies."

It's full of random stuff, including some first aid kit type things, that have often helped me "fix "something for the kids while we were out and about during our every day life (not to be confused with our hiking first aid kit, which is a whole lot more comprehensive in the first aid department and a totally different story).

These are the tools of my trade as a mother.

The keeper of the peace.

The insurance policy.

The lifeline to sanity via a 7" by 4" zipper bag (with carrying strap).

"The Pouch" is also an evolving thing. Items are swapped in and out for the crisis triggers that change as my daughters grow.

And the truth is, I've used nearly every single item in The Pouch in the last year.

The needle from the sewing kit to pick out a splinter in the McDonald's parking lot that had to be taken care of at that exact moment.

The scissors to open a new toy in the car with so much plastic packaging it took nearly an entire trash bag to dispose of when we got home.

The band aids and antibiotic cream for the tiny, minuscule cuts the girls get that require attention immediately. (And I've learned to pack a few different styles and sizes because not just any band aid will do.)

The gum that helps calm my girls down when they get anxious. And for when the bigger accidents (like the trip to the ER for an x-ray last year) that require chewing to keep mouths busy while mom deals with the situation.

The tweezers for the ticks we seem to pick up walking around in random places - like from the library to the car in the parking lot.

The measuring tape to find a certain size picture frame while we are at a second-hand store and the selection and prices are amazingly good that day.

The little white eyeglass screwdriver that not only fixes G.'s glasses but help a co-worker fix at clock at the office.

The emery board and nail clippers for the hang nail that someone in the car has to dwell on at the start of an hour-long car ride.

The paper clips and safety pins because honest to pete I've found 1,001 different ways to fix something with those.

The hair elastics for the last minute pony tails that are needed when the wind kicks up and someone wore their hair down that day.

The pair of underwear and pad (not pictured) that have recently been added to The Pouch and saved the day (and much embarrassment) for the girls' friend who came on an adventure with us recently.

And the old expired BJs card because it earned its place after that day at the river.

Rt.26 has lots o' family-friendly stuff to do

We really enjoy traveling on Route 26 so when Fino suggested combining a yard sale expedition with a trip to the Perham quarries in Oxford County, everyone in the family gave an enthusiastic thumbs up to go.

It was only last year that we discovered how many family-friendly activity options were along Route 26 from Gray to Newry (and probably beyond but we've only made it to Newry so far).

Between Gray and Poland there's the Maine Wildlife Park, Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village, Range Pond and Poland Springs Preservation Park (we enjoyed the trails there last fall). Then there's the Oxford Plains Speedway and Perham's, which is a neat store where you can also pick up a map to get to their public quarries. There's more to do and see so check out more of Route 26 sites for the rest.

During this trip to Oxford county, we found quite a few yard sales and scored two new pairs of snowshoes (they were good quality and inexpensive - no more mishaps for me this coming winter/spring) along with several book sales that had titles we were looking for, including a 1970s 'How to Snowshoe' book I had to pick up just for fun.

We were so distracted by the yard sales though, we didn't get to Perham's to pick up their quarry map (they have three quarries open to the public) until after lunchtime.

With the daily thunderstorms these past few weeks, Fino and I consulted the quarry map and decided the short hike to Waisanen Quarry was a good choice for us. We figured that the 1/4 mile hike would get us back to the car quickly if a storm started to roll in during the afternoon.

The hike was easy and we were pleasantly surprised to find several wooden screens at the quarry. There were coarse and fine screens (which was even better and more unexpected to have both choices) and the kids got to digging and sifting right away. They rinsed the screens in the nearby pond and we did some reminiscing about our trip to the Western Maine Mineral Adventures with their 4-H group last summer.

We found lots of mica and feldspar, which was what this quarry was known for, as well as some clear, black and milky quartz. We didn't have any spectacular finds at the quarry and L. declared that she liked Mt. Apatite better because she thinks the purple apatite rocks she has found there are prettier. But that was OK. We enjoyed our time out in the quarry and took some time to check out the old mining relics parked nearby before we headed back to the car (which was cut a bit short as a thunderstorm started rolling in).

Do you have a favorite stop along Route 26? If you do, we'd love to hear about it because we hope to make a return to this stretch of road in a few weeks to hike at Grafton Notch State Park again. We don't mind hiking in the rain but the thunderstorms have really put a damper on our outdoors adventures this past month.

We're looking forward to getting back to the trails when this weather breaks, which should be soon. Well, it has to right?

The kids love Fuwa

The enthusiasm for the Olympics is in full swing at our house.

It started last week when the girls learned about the official mascots of this year's games at their friend's house last week.

Fuwa.

Each Fuwa represents one of the five Olympic rings and incorporates the most popular animals in China (complete with nicknames) - Fish (Beibei), Panda (Jingjing), Tibetan Antelope (Yingying), Swallow (Nini) and the Olympic Flame (Huanhuan).

Their names - Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni - mean:

"Welcome to Beijing"

My kids think they are pretty slick in knowing how to say Welcome to Beijing in Chinese.

I think it's a clever way to introduce children to the Olympics - and much more interesting than some of the previous Olympic mascots (like the live raccoon Lake Placid mascot that died before the games began). And in case you were wondering, Canada has already released their mascots for the winter games in Vancouver in 2010. I couldn't help but smile after meeting Quatchi - "a young sasquatch who comes from the mysterious forests of Canada."

Not as clever as Fuwa but definitely offers some entertainment value for adults as well as kids.

If your kids are enjoying the current Olympic games (or you want them to get interested in them), here are a few resources to learn more about the Fuwa:

Fuwa on Beijing 2008 This is the official website for the Beijing games and has the full explanation about the Fuwa.

Coloring book pages of Fuwa (about 1/2 way down the page)

The Wikipedia version of Fuwa also includes a bit more history about the unfortunate first naming of the mascots along with some parodies, superstitions and conspiracy theories (less we forget that kid-oriented stuff is not immune to that kind of thing either).

And if you're kids enjoy Anime-type cartoons (and don't mind that they're in another language as my Anime fans don't care so much about that) here's a sampling of the Fuwa TV show that has been running in China for a couple of years. Apparently the Fuwa TV show was introduced on November 11, 2005, at an event marking the 1000th day before the opening of the games but L. has enjoyed 'discovering' this show on YouTube this weekend.

The introduction of Fuwa on Chinese television

A playlist of Fuwa TV shows on YouTube

Another river with speed demon - and no drama

Last Friday while it was thunderstorming in Maine, we were enjoying a sunny (albeit humid) day on the Merrimack River in Massachusetts.

It was our annual trip to the Treehouse (my mom and her fiance's boat). Last year the girls took turns driving the boat but this year, G. took a whirl with the skiff instead.

She was a bit of a speed demon zipping around the river (which is translating to the tractor as well in the backyard) and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

L. opted not to drive the skiff but what she did do that was just as noteworthy.

She went swimming in the river.

Yup, after some thinking on it (which included looking closely at the water for a while) she tested things out by wading in to her ankles. Within minutes of that, she was swimming underwater.

And we are happy to report that there were no sightings of leeches on this adventure! (And no photos either as I went swimming too in solidarity for putting that experience behind us.)

We celebrated L.'s milestone afterward with some Tootsie Rolls and a few rounds of Kings in the Corner back on the Treehouse with grandma.

Sunny days on the river are back (well, even if they are in a different state right now).

Free TV viewing online, why pay for new TV?

The kids are hooked on hulu.com.

It's a website that has an impressive list of TV shows you can view online at no cost. Now that the kids have 'discovered' it, they are hooked.

Every night after dinner I let the girls choose a movie to watch (their only TV time of the day) and lately they have chosen to watch two hours of the old Charlie's Angels episodes on hulu. And as much as I cringe at the adult themes that go on with that show, I think it's pretty tame in comparison to today's TV geared for their tween age group (well IMHO).

Before hulu, the kids were on a Netflix and YouTube movie kick. They enjoyed watching Anime movies on both sites as well as the random stuff Fino always seems to find. The three of them huddle around the computer every night and it sort of warms my heart to see their together time quite literally, in very close proximity.

It seems like eons ago that the kids went to our DVD cabinet to make their movie choices. The truth is, our TV has had very little 'on' time these days with only the occasional library movie rental or Netflix DVD.

Since we don't have cable, my family has not always had the variety of TV watching options that our friends did so we were often in the dark about the popular TV shows. And with the bunny ears going the way of the dinosaurs, my family thought we might have even less options for this kind of watching in a few short months.

But now, maybe not.

The question I often ponder now that sites like hulu are around, is why people are paying for cable when they can watch the same shows online? Granted computer screens aren't the same size as most living room TVs - that might take a little getting used to for some people. But for my family - one of a small number of cable-holdouts - now that we have free access to cable TV shows, watching them on our 16-inch computer monitor is an OK option.

I have thought for some time that all the hoopla about digital TV is smoke and mirrors. Instead of being worried about whether we're going to buy a special digital box for our ancient TV in the living room (ancient being purchased in the early 90s), and apply for the government 'coupon' to off-set that cost, I think the real investment for my family's viewing entertainment might simply be to purchase a larger computer monitor.

Maybe the government officials who set this February 17, 2009, deadline for digital TV know that computers will replace TVs in the near future (and they're trying to save those few manufacturing jobs still left in the US)? Or maybe it's just taking the rest of the American public a while to figure out it can (and likely will) happen a lot sooner than they think.

OK, I sound a bit like a conspiracy theorist, but I'm curious. What do you think about the cable vs. online TV/movie viewing options for you and your family?

Kid Tracks Column: Skin-crawling drama at the river

A biking trip to a favorite swimming hole was more eventful than I was prepared for as the lone adult with four kids in tow. The swimming part wasn't the problem. It was the run-in with leeches I could have done without.

The day started with a bike ride to the Saco River with my girls and two of their friends. It was a warm day so the plan was to swim once we got there.

Finding a place to park the bikes once we got to the river required a bit of maneuvering over some rocks and a walk on a trail through the woods but we found a nice spot for a dip in the river.

The girls decided once they were in the water that they wanted to swim to a little island just off the shore. It was about 50 yards away from the sandbar they were standing on and as close as it seemed, I wasn't sure if any of the girls would find the distance too tiring.

But I agreed ­ after much pleading on their part ­ that they could go with one condition. They had to swim with me two at a time since they didn't have any noodles or floats (no room on the bikes for that gear). I took my 10-year-old and her 9-year-old friend first. The girls swam the distance without a problem and climbed up on the island's rock with smiles on their faces. But as I turned back to get the other two girls, my 10-year-old started screaming.

"mommy, Mommy, MOMmy, MOOOOOMMY!!"

I asked her what was wrong and her friend said, "Oh gosh ... you got leeches."

So my 10-year-old did what a lot of kids would do. She started swiping at her skin, jumping around and screaming about getting them off.

I climbed up on the rock to check things out and her hysteria grew. I had to tell her to stay still so I could take a look and confirmed (silently) that yes, she had a bunch of tiny, squirming leeches attached to her.

I thought (again, silently), "Oooh, yuck-a-doo, but I'm the mommy so I canNOT freak out."

I tried to get a couple of leeches off with my fingernails but it wasn't working very well (probably the one and only time in my life I wished I had long nails). I told her we had to get back to shore where my first aid kit was.

As far as my 10-year-old was concerned, getting back in that river was unthinkable.

Yeah, I wasn't so keen on that either (I had several leeches on my own feet that I couldn't deal with at the time) but we had no choice.

So I sent my 9-year-old friend out first and asked my 12-year-old, who I knew was a solid swimmer, to meet and guide her back to shore while I carried my 10-year-old back into the water.

Once I got back to shore, which required me to swim while carrying a hysterical child, I had my hands full with her as well as the other three girls. The whole crew was jumping around in a building panic trying to figure out if they had leeches on their bodies too.

Then my 9-year-old friend exclaimed to my 10-year-old, "You have some on your back too!"

That made my her jump and swipe at her back even more enthusiastically while screaming "get them off, Off, OFF!"

I snapped at the other girls to check each other for leeches and pointed to a spot about 20 feet away where I wanted them to do that. I was trying to calm down the still hysterical child and did not want any help from the peanut gallery (although I did feel badly I was short with them and apologized later).

I sifted through my backpack looking for my first aid kit only to find that someone had removed it. (As of today, that "someone" in my family has yet to fess up.)

So I grabbed a plastic card from my wallet in hopes that I could scrape the leeches off. But the card was too thick and did not bend enough to fit between my 10-year-old's little toes (she had several leeches between each one). So after testing a handful of cards, I found my expired BJ's card had the most flexibility and worked best.

Now when I say that this kid had little leeches all over, I'm not exaggerating. The tiny suckers with their wiggling tales were all over her feet, legs and back. A conservative guess would be around 40, although I think there were more than that.

The worst clusters of the suckers were on her healing cuts, which is why I think they were attracted to her in the first place. The day before she had sliced her leg and a large cluster of leeches were camped out in that area so that's where I started my removal work. But as I scraped the little suckers off, her cut really opened up and blood started flowing down her leg, which got the other leeches wiggling their tails more enthusiastically. I wasn't sure if that meant they were digging in or not but it's not a sight I will forget anytime soon.

As I scraped, I explained to her and the other girls that leeches have been used for medicinal purposes for hundreds of years. As you can imagine, the girls thought that bit of history would have been more interesting if they were not in the midst of a hands-on learning experience.

My 10-year-old's feet became full of sand during the removal process and she would not consider putting her feet back in the water to rinse off so I could see if I missed anything.

Oh no, there was no more walking anywhere near that water again.
So I called it quits for her and took a moment to scrape the little suckers off my own foot and the one my 11-year-old friend found on her back. The other two girls were completely clear (and I noted that neither of them had an open cut on their bodies either).

My 10-year-old had calmed down enough at that point to ask to go home. That's when we all realized that we had a bike ride ahead of us to get there.

The girls put on their clothes, shoes and bike helmets amidst their skin-crawling shutters. We made tracks away from the river (and over the rocks and through the woods) in record time. Although no one was interested in stopping for a water break on the way back, my 10-year-old did stop and pick up a dead butterfly she spotted on the side of the road. I took that as a good sign she wasn't fearful of all of nature's creatures.

I got my 10-year-old in the shower once we were home and tried to put salt between her toes to get rid of the remaining leeches there. The salt didn't seem to work (it probably would have but I think it just wasn't working fast enough for her) so I went back to scraping them off with the card.

Unfortunately, we found a missed leech in a particularly sensitive private area and since it had been attached for a while, it was full of blood and not easy to scrap off in that tender spot. She of course was mortified and then upset about the bleeding that happened after that leech was removed.

Later that night while we were snuggling on the couch, my daughter started experiencing the skin crawling feeling and asked me to check her body for leeches.
There weren't any left.

She woke up several times that night with dreams about "creepy crawling stuff" and had a hard time getting back to sleep.

The next day I asked her if she thought the leeches were worse than the time we were swarmed by yellow jackets (everyone in the family was stung multiple times and it was quite scary for all of us).

"No, the bees were worse."

OK, so there is hope we might go swimming again this summer.

But next time we're going to the lake.
 

 The group before we headed off to the river.

 

I will never look at wild rice the same way again.

The expired BJs card now has a permanent spot in to the family first aid kit.

Originally published in Raising Maine Magazine, August 2008

My farm girls and driving

Our newest acquisition has the girls all aflutter -- a tractor lawnmower. Fino took the mower part off for some cleaning and repair and gave the girls a chance to drive the tractor around the yard.

They love it.

Yup, the girls have turned in to real farm kids even though our "farm" consists only of poultry (about 32 chickens, ducks and guineas altogether) and a large summer garden. Although L. has been asking for a sheep for a couple of years and Fino wants goats for milk even though none of us really has a taste for it. Me, I'm aalll set with the poultry so as long as I have some influence in the family, we won't be expanding the family farm anytime soon. Plus, the topic of chicken chores - which are not too time-consuming or difficult most of the year (winter is rough for managing water in the coop) - usually reminds them how much more work additional animals would be.

It seems the tractor has also served as a change in thinking for G. She has declared periodically since she was about 5-years-old that she is NEVER going to drive. Some of her reasons ...

"It's too confusing with all the other cars driving so close around you."

"There are too many rules and things to remember."

"It would make me too nervous."

"It doesn't seem like much fun."

Of course I knew the tide would turn on that and now at 12-years-old, she's thinking her experience with this new (old) tractor is "good practice for driving a real car someday."

Yup, a new dawn is rising.

What I like about the tractor is that it is a manual transmission. G.'s trying to get that figured out so she can buzz around a little faster than first gear allows. Better to learn that skill on a tractor than on mom's car in four years.

Yikes, four years?! I can't possibly be that old yet...

My farm girls driving the tractor

A cautious good time at Funtown

We met up with Mom of 9 at Funtown last weekend for my kids' first trip to the park.

My kids had never really been to a big amusement park except for a short trip to Disneyland when they were both little (3- and 5-years-old). We also went on a camping trip with their cousins to Big Sur during that same trip to California. When we got home, the girls talked to family and friends for months (maybe years) about the "mermaids" they spotted off the shore (they were seals but all the girls were sure they were mermaids) and the waterfall we saw on one of our hikes during the camping trip. They even shared the stories about the bathrooms with the quirky showers at the campground.

What they never talked about, not once, was their day at Disneyland.

Fino and I thought the Disneyland trip was memorable, but not in a good way. The crowds were crazy and we got on two or three rides in the five hours we were at the park because of long lines. I remember G. had a few break-downs because her sensory issues - combined with the sights and sounds of the park - made the experience completely overwhelming for her. And dealing with her crying one moment then running wild the next because she simply didn't know what to do with herself was no fun for anyone.

So that was the beginning - and end - of attraction-type parks for us (which was OK with me because family budget couldn't afford them anyhow).

Then when the Funtown trip came up recently, neither of the girls were overly excited about going. I actually had to talk G. in to the trip (which thanks to Momof9's suggestion to show her a map of the park to scope out what she wanted to do ahead of time, got her interested in giving it a whirl).

But the kids have been on rides so that's not a totally foreign experience for them.

Every year we go to the Ossipee and Cumberland fairs and I give the kids the choice of riding a couple of rides when we're there. And we've been to Old Orchard Beach's Palace Playland a few times as well.

Their favorite "ride" is usually the fun house and/or carousel.

Me, I loved roller coasters as a kid/teen/young adult and dragged whoever was with me on one at every opportunity I had.

It started with Canobie Lake Park when I was a preteen then I jumped at the chance to visit King's Dominion in Virginia to try some new coasters during a band trip in high school.

When I was in college in upstate New York and my dad came to visit, I dragged him to Canada's Wonderland in Ontario (which had an impressive number of coasters there).

Then after graduating with my master's degree, I drove across the U.S. with a couple of friends to celebrate and we splurged on a day at Six Flags over Mid-America (that month-long trip was memorable and blog fodder for another day).

I also begged my dad to go to Valleyfair when I drove out to Minnesota with him in his '48 Ford for a hot rod show in my early 20s. Then there were the multiple trips to Six Flag parks in Massachusetts, New Jersey and California, depending on where I was living at the time.

So as much as I have always hated crowds (I was never a stay-all-day type of park visitor), I felt a need to try new coasters wherever I went.

I figured that the day we did go to a larger amusement park (when the girls were older) that one of my progeny would enjoy roller coasters like I always have.

Nope.

L. has her daring moments but not with amusement park rides. The spread eagle hands on the Flying Trapeze was as far as she went at Funtown. Oh, and the five rides she took (four consecutively) on the tea cups. The Thunderbolt was, in her opinion, "OK, but a little too fast." At least she tried it.

G. skipped the Thunderbolt but I did talk her in to the log flume ride. The photo taken by the park's Action Shots of our log going down the big hill was priceless. Everyone in our log had their mouths open screaming their delight and G. had a look of sheer terror on her face. (I should have bought the photo but couldn't justify spending $9 on something that stressed G. out.)

Her thoughts about the flume ride?

"That was the scariest ride ever mom! I am never going on another ride like that again."

I guess a love of roller coasters is not a genetic thing.

Haying season on a Maine farm

During a stretch of warm, sunny weather when most of us are thinking about swimming and playing outside, Maine farmers are thinking about winter. Well, the preparations they need to do during the summer to feed their animals when the green pastures are covered in snow.

Baling hay and storing it to feed animals during the winter has to be done during the hottest, driest days of the summer. Why? Because hay can not be wet when it is stacked in the barn. The moisture can cause spontaneous combustion from heat building up in the hay, which is the main cause of barn fires. (This was a new learning for me, which you can read more about here.)

Since G. has been halter training a beef cow for her 4-H project this past year at a local farm, our whole family has been educated with the ways of Maine farm life. G. has helped with weekly farm chores as well as the care of Sparkles (her cow) since November. And since Sparkles needs to eat this winter (as well as all the other animals at the farm), G., L. and I helped with the haying chores yesterday afternoon and evening.

Haying is hard, hot, sweaty, dirty work. It’s also quite interesting to a know-nothing-about-farming person like me. There is a science and technique behind loading and stacking the bales in the barn.

Since L. had a hard time lifting the hay bales, she was given the task of keeping the floor clear of hay in the loft. She was given a wood board for this job. L. got the hang of it but said she would have been able to do a better job with a broom (little did she understand the barn floor was never going to be free of hay).

G., having worked with her 400-pound (give or take a few pounds) cow for months now, did not have a problem swinging the hay bales in to stacks. G. has a powerful strength that she had never been able to put to constructive use before her time at the farm. But the weekly visits keep her sensory issues in check with all the heavy lifting (and wrestling with a reluctant cow to teach it to walk with a halter).

We worked hard stacking hay and I was impressed the girls worked through the last wagon delivery of the day. We made a stop at the McDonald’s drive-thru afterward for an ice cream sundae. We would have preferred different ice cream but there was no way any of us were walking in to a store covered in hay, dirt and sweat after four hours in the hayloft. The drive-thru seemed the only option for us at the time.

I thought I'd share a few of my family's learnings about stacking hay yesterday:

1. Wear long pants and a long sleeved shirt even if it is wicked hot outside. Last night G. and I were nursing cuts and a rash from the constant contact of hay on our forearms.

2. Wear gloves. We brought some and we were oh so glad we had them (see #1).

3. Bring lots and lots of water. It might have been the upper 80s outside, but on the roof of a barn, it gets a whole lot hotter.

4. People with pollen allergies should plan to have an extra dose of antihistamine and eye drops on hand along with access to an air conditioned room for the night to fight off their body’s reaction to being around that much hay. (G. and I had a rough night sleeping last night but we were feeling much better today.)

5. Taking photos in the hayloft is tricky because there were particles of hay flying around everywhere so it looked like raindrops on the camera’s lens.

6. Hay is slippery on a wood floor. Stray strands of hay fell from the bales as they came in to the barn and were being stacked and I slipped a couple of times before L. made it over to my part of the loft to clear it up. I looked and moved like the total and complete amateur while I was in that hayloft.

7. Hay bales are slippery when you climb on them. All the people in the loft had to catch the hay rolling down from the pulley thing (I’m sure it has a name, I just forgot to ask) and swing the bales in to place. Swinging a heavy bale while standing and balancing on a few bales of hay (we had to build from the floor up) took some coordination. Both G. and I took a header off the hay stack but were unhurt (unless you count the painful blush each of us conjured after the tumble).

8. There is a science to stacking the bales of hay. I was instructed to use the momentum of the bale to squash it in to place in the stack and could not seem to get the hang of it. The rest of the stacking crew made it look easy (years of experience will do that).

9. It takes about 5 1/2 hours to load and stack 1,400 bales of hay in the hayloft (we missed the first hour and half because of my work schedule). The only break the crew had during that time was between hay wagons being pulled up to the barn.

10. Those 1,400 bales of hay (plus the additional 200 or so more that will be loaded in to the barn before the end of the summer) will feed about 20-25 beef cows during winter. I thought that was a whole lot of hay for the number of animals. I knew cows ate a lot but I have a whole new perspective about how much that "a lot" actually looks like now.

A video of the hay rolling in to the barn

Skin crawling drama at the river

I took G. and L. and two of their friends on a bike ride to the Saco River to swim (in a different part of the river than where we went kayaking). All the girls wore their bathing suits under their shorts and t-shirts and packed their towels and water bottles in their bike baskets. It was a fun 3 1/2 mile ride with a water break about halfway there.

Once we got to the river, we had to drag the bikes over some rocks and found a nice spot to swim.

After much pleading to swim to the little island just off the shore (about 50 yards away), I finally agreed on the condition that they had to swim with me because we didn't have noodles or floats with us (no room on the bikes for that gear). The girls were standing on a sandbar about 1/2 way to the island at that point so I thought they could manage the remaining distance without much trouble.

I swam to the four girls at the sandbar and decided to take two at a time over to the island, and took L. and her friend K. first. The girls swam the distance easily and climbed up on the island's rock. But as I turned back to get the other two girls, L. started screaming.

"mommy, Mommy, MOMmy, MOOOOOMMY!!"

I asked her what was wrong and her friend K. said, "Oh gosh L., you got leeches."

So L. did what most females would do, she started swiping at her skin, jumping around and screaming.

L.'s hysteria grew and I had to firmly tell her to stay still so I could take a look. I confirmed (silently) that she had a whole bunch of tiny, squirming leeches attached to her legs and feet.

I thought (again, silently), "Oooh, yuck-a-doo but I am the mommy so I can NOT freak out."

I tried to get the leeches off with my fingernails but there were too many and my nails weren't working very well (probably the one and only time in my life I wished I had long nails). I knew I had to get L. back to the shore where my first aid kit was.

As far as L. was concerned, getting back in to the river was unthinkable.

I wasn't so keen on that either (I had several leeches on my feet that I couldn't deal with at the time) but we had no choice.

So I sent K. out first and asked G., who I knew was a solid swimmer, to meet K. and guide her back to shore while I carried a hysterical L. back in to the water.

I swam L. back to shore in a rescue carry and was thankful that I remembered my former training a certified swim instructor and the basic life guard class I had taken years ago.

Once I got L. to shore I had my hands full with her and the three other girls, who were also jumping around in a building hysteria trying to find out if they had leeches.

Then K. pointed and exclaimed, "L. you have some on your back too!"

That made L. jump and swipe at her back while she also hit her legs and feet trying to "get them off, Off, OFF!"

I snapped at the other girls to check each other for leeches away from L. I could barely handle L. in her current state of hysteria but felt bad I was short with the other girls. But at the time I didn't feel like I had a lot of options.

I sifted through my backpack only to find that someone had removed the first aid kit and had not returned it. (As of today, that "someone" in my family has yet to fess up.)

So I grabbed a plastic card from my wallet but it was too thick and didn't bend enough to fit between L.'s toes (she had several leeches between each one). So after testing a handful of cards, I found my old BJ's one had the most flexibility and worked the best.

Now when I say that L. had leeches all over her, I'm not exaggerating. The tiny little suckers were all over her feet, legs and back. A conservative guess would be around 40, although I think there were more than that.

The worst clusters of the suckers were on her recent cuts, which is why I think they were attracted to her in the first place. The day before L. had sliced her leg and had a 3-inch cut that was still scabbing over. She had about 10 leeches on that cut alone and as I scrapped the leeches off, it opened up and started dripping blood down her leg.

It took about 10 minutes to scrape the leeches off with the card, although it felt like an hour. As I worked I explained to L. and the other girls that leeches were used at hospitals by doctors of the past and that I thought they were still used in some places because leeches were good for healing.

As you can imagine, the girls thought that bit of history would have been more interesting if it they weren't having a hands-on learning experience at the time.

L.'s feet became full of sand during the leech removal and I couldn't tell if I got them all off so I suggested we rinse her feet off.

Oh no, there was no more walking anywhere near the water for L., no matter how important those suckers were in the history of medicine.

I got off as many leeches as I could see and then took a moment to scrape off the ones on my own foot and the one leech that B. had on her back. The other two girls did not have any on them.

L. had calmed down enough to ask to go home at that point. That was when I realized that we had a 3 1/2 mile bike ride ahead of us.

The girls put on their clothes, shoes and bike helmets in record time amidst the shutters from the creepy crawly jitters they had. They were troopers though and we made tracks away from the river. No one was interested in stopping for a water break on the way back (although L. found a dead butterfly on the side of the road and picked it up to bring home, which I took as a good sign that she was calmed down enough to pick that up).

I got L. in the shower once we got home and tried to put salt between her toes to get rid of the remaining leeches. The salt didn't seem to work (it probably would have but I think it just wasn't working fast enough for L.) so I went back to scraping them off with the card. Unfortunately for L. she found one in a particularly sensitive private area (just on the outside edge). And since it had been attached for a while, it was full of blood and not easy to scrap off in that tender spot. L. was mortified and really upset about the bleeding that happened after the leech was removed (leeches know how to open a vein).

Later that night L. just wanted to snuggle with me. She was experiencing the aftereffects of feeling like her skin was crawling and asked me a couple of times to check her body again for leeches. There weren't any left.

She woke up several times that night saying she kept dreaming about 'creepy crawling stuff' and couldn't sleep.

The next day I asked her if she thought having leeches was worse than the time we were swarmed by the yellow jackets (everyone in the family was stung multiple times and the incident ranks top on our list of our scariest experience while hiking).

"No, the bees were worse."

OK, so there is hope we might go swimming again this summer.

Next time we're going to the lake.

Since we had never swam to the island before (in background), we believe L. picked up the leeches on her swim over there. We've swam in this area for years without ever even seeing a leech. A cluster of the little suckers on a small cut on L.'s toe. G. snapped the pics while I helped L. That old BJ's card really took care of those suckers. The dead butterfly, which proved a nice distraction at home, that L. picked up on the ride back. As long as she has something to hold, she's a calmer kid.

Learning to kayak ... and a rescue

Last week the girls and I, along with some friends, took an introductory kayaking class with LL Bean's Walk-on Adventure Series. It seemed a good way to learn the basics of kayaking to see if we would like the sport.

We did but there was a bit of disappointment in the pace of the class. The instructors were very knowledgeable but we didn't spend much time paddling. The kids felt they did more waiting around than paddling and were a bit frustrated trying to keep their kayaks floating in one spot. It would have been more fun for all of us if we had done a steady slow paddle. We spent most of the class paddling a half dozen strokes or so and then would be told by one of the instructors to stop and wait for the rest of our group lagging behind (and for the record, we weren't waiting for any of the kids in this class).

So I told the girls we'd rent kayaks somewhere else, like maybe a river so we wouldn't get all salt-water sticky (the class was held in a quiet ocean cove off Wolfe's Neck), to try it again. After a bit of surfing the web, I found an outfitter in North Conway, N.H., that had a good family rate for kayak rentals and made a reservation for Friday.

The equipment we were given at the river was not nearly as nice as what we used with the LL Bean class but everything appeared in working order even if the life vests were less than comfortable (they were the classic orange ones).

After the friendly guy from the outfitters dumped all our gear on the beach, Fino and L. got in their kayaks and were headed around the first bend of the river before G. and I were. Fino hit the faster moving water first and when L. saw him cruising along, she got nervous and stopped paddling.

I yelled to L. to paddle but she just let the current take her along and by the time I realized that she was going to hit the stump in the middle of the river, I couldn't get to her in time.

L. flipped over.

I paddled as quickly as I could over to her but not being a proficient paddler myself, it wasn't the most direct - or controlled - approach. But the river was only about three feet and L. had stood up after the flip and was grabbing for her Webkinz puppy before she walked herself to shore.

But the flip had really taken her by surprise and shaken her up so she was crying when I reached her.

Fino grabbed her paddle in the middle of the river while some very nice 30-something guys in a canoe grabbed her kayak and floating lunch box and brought them to the shore. We dumped out the water and dragged it to our other kayaks while L. continued hugging her puppy and sniffling.

While I was talking to L. and sharing a giggle with her about how she can never be without one of her Webkinz at all times, a man with a camera (that looked pricey and professional) walked over to us.

It turned out he was from The Conway Daily Sun and took photos of L.'s flip. He was watching that particular area because the newspaper was doing a story about a mother who had complained to the newspaper about the lack of signage and information about the dangers of the river.

The photographer asked L. her name and commented that she handled her flip well - and that she was able to get her puppy out of the water so quickly. She introduced him to Meggie while she wiped her tears away and I shared with him how we had taken a kayaking class earlier in the week so L. wasn't totally clueless about kayaking. L. told him she was surprised by the current so she got nervous and forgot to paddle away from the stump.

Since L. wasn't keen to get back in to her kayak right away, Fino linked hers with mine and L. walked along the shore while I paddled down a short stretch of the river. The Saco is not deep (about 3 feet deep or less in most places) and the sandy pebbled shore made it easy walking for her.

L. got in her kayak a short time later and after the second patch of faster moving water with me in the lead, she handled it well and gained some of her confidence back. We paddled about four miles down the river without further incident. In the van on the way back to the outfitters to get our car, L. told me that Meggie thought the trip was OK but kayaking was not her favorite thing to do.

On Saturday morning I went to The Conway Daily Sun website and found photos of L. on the front page accompanying the story about the river. The story was about a Rhode Island mother and her son who flipped over (in the same spot as L.) in a rented a canoe.

I think a heads-up that there are a couple of faster moving parts to the river would have been helpful to me because I would have tested the current out first in my kayak instead of letting L. get ahead of me in hers. That was my fault for not taking the lead initially (no one at the outfitter office or delivery guy said a word about a river current).

But the current wasn't unmanageable, just not what I had expected. I am familiar with the stories about the partying that goes on the Saco River so I never thought to ask about the river's current because I figured it wasn't anything to worry about. And other than a handful of spots, the rest of the river was in fact slow and easy and offered some very pleasant paddling (and although there was some partying on various part of the shore along the river, it was not too crowded or crazy because it was a weekday).

So on one hand I agree with the mom that a warning sign at the put-in location would have been nice. But what I can't get my head around was what this mom was thinking when she took her 4-year-old out on the river in a canoe knowing she did not know how to swim (see the newspaper story below).

As for L., she is no worse for the wear after her kayak flip -- she's been initiated to the "club" so to speak. And she couldn't wait to tell all of her friends she was in the newspaper.

"I'm famous ... and look, you can sort of see Meggie too," she told me with a big grin on her face after I printed out the paper's front page.

To her friends upon showing them the print out, "Yeah, I didn't like that stinking kayak too much when I flipped over but I saved Meggie and we paddled 4-miles afterwards."

The headline with L.'s photos are unfortunate as I think my family did not fit in to the 'lack of common sense' category nor were we the family the story was about.

L. and Meggie down river

Here's the text of the story since it's not easy to find in the .pdf format they have on that newspaper's website:

By Nate Giarnese, The Conway Daily Sun

CONWAY - A flurry of e-mails by a "panicked" mom detailing her frightening ordeal on the Saco River has river guides reminding inexperienced canoeists that common sense is key for a good time on what is generally considered a family friendly river.

Pamela Bhatia was on vacation when she was sucked under by a swift current that dumped her young son out of a canoe during what she describes as a heart-stopping brush with death over the July 4 weekend.

"I can't get these knots out of my stomach of what could have happened and I can't wipe out the image of Kamran's head in the water under that canoe," wrote the Rhode Island mom in an email widely circulated among river watchers and officials.

"Kamran's Warning - this river can be swift and unpredictable and is unsafe for small children and inexperienced swimmers," she said is a message that should be posted. "This would have been enough to stop us - it is a start to help other parents." The rental company where she got the canoe says it's not that simple.

Northern Extremes, says the woman ignored simple directions and safety instructions and refused to take responsibility for her own children, returning to the shop yelling and in tears after floating too far down an "extremely safe" stretch of river. The company said it was her own panicked reaction that caused her boat to flip somewhere east of First Bridge in North Conway, and her inability to swim or even float that was at the root of the scare.

"At some point Americans have to start to take responsibility for their actions," said Stephanie Manson, who owns the Conway outfit with her husband.

"It's not a dangerous river, this is not white water."

Bhatia, who declined to give her phone number and could not be contacted beyond by e-mail, overturned the same day a Massachusetts woman who apparently couldn't swim waded over her head in Albany's Iona Lake and drowned in seven feet of water, with friends perched nearby in a boat.

Bhaita said hers wasn't the only boat to flip that day. She left New Hampshire feeling regulations and warnings were not in place to prepare her to fend for herself in the "middle of nowhere."

"There are more precautions taken before you ride the tea cups at Story Land than on a 7-mile stretch of running river in the wilderness," she wrote.

Bob Tagliafferi, head of a river group promoting safe, eco-friendly recreation on the Saco in Maine and New Hampshire, said it sounded as if Manson handled it properly, including having the woman sign a safety waiver. While Bhatia, he said, suffered "an unfortunate series of events that happened quickly," and walked away "looking to assign blame."

"No doubt she had a frightening experience," he said. "Thankfully no one was seriously injured, hopefully something can be learned from this."

Manson said she gave Bhatia standard instructions and warned the family their two kids wouldn't fit safely in a canoe. Yet Bhatia's husband was "adamant" that they go out, Manson said, so the family opted for a rubber raft which they lashed to the canoe with a rope.

"We won't even rent to somebody with kids if no one in the group can't swim," Manson added. "I know I did everything right."

She said the woman was too preoccupied listening in on another rental agent discuss alcohol policy with another group to pay attention.

Still exhaling from her terrifying plunge, Bhatia e-mailed many, including state Rep Tom Buco, DConway, at midnight Sunday detailing her plight and begging for her message to be spread. She offered to pay for signs warning the river is unsafe for children, urging the rental company to remove a picture from its Web site of a baby in a kayak with its parents because she said it sends a false sense of safety. "I told her I was sorry she had such a terrifying time on our river," said Buco, who planned to discuss the incident with outfitters and said safety standards must be set at a level to protect even the least prepared boaters. "It has to be safe for everybody."

Mary Seavey, a local woman who helped rescue a woman floundering in shallow rapids Saturday, said a glut of rude and foolhardy tourists venturing out unsafely or disrespectfully has made the river a must to avoid on holiday weekends. “It was a nightmare," said Seavey, who was out for a paddle when a woman, whose story is strikingly similar to Bhatia's and on the same day, went under. It was unclear whether it was the same woman or a separate incident, but Seavey saw a multitude of boaters behaving badly. "People didn't care what their kids were doing," she said."The river was full of rude people. Kids were throwing rocks." Seavey stopped to attempt to help the "panicked" woman, who despite wearing a life vest, was being dunked underwater in a stretch in Conway near rocks and steep sandy cliffs.

She said the heavy-set woman, who she doubts was Bhatia because of the description of the boats and her husband, was thankful after she was helped. But she clearly had no idea what she was doing. She had kids on a raft tied to her craft by ropes stretched across a wide expanse of water. They snagged and the woman went over when she hit a rock, she said. "What these people did was absolutely ... I can't imagine tying things up like that," Seavey said. "The kids were rude, they were screeching." She noted with disdain that a group on shore ignored the struggling woman who was eventually pulled from the river by two teens.

Seavey has since sworn off hitting the Saco on big weekends, despite the best efforts of rental outfi ts to educate their renters - Tagliafferi said outfitters' boats comprise only a third of the as many as 3,000 folks who can be on the river at one time because of a lack of "courtesyâ" and the safety risks it presents. "I'm sure Stephanie gave them all the rules. She's not the river police, she's running a good business," Seavey said. "It was people who think they know what they're doing but don't."

Bhatia, who hails from the Ocean State town of North Smithfield, complained on her trip of brushes with booze, including two girls whose canoe she said was lodged in the rocks and whom she said she hit. She said she didn't know whether to blame her own family's inexperience, or that of the "partying" duo, who had loaded into their canoe a cooler and a dog. Either way, she said rafting rental companies turn a "blind eye" to alcohol, and that officials should better regulate the waters. Manson rents floating coolers, but says she tells renters she does not "condone" public drinking, even though for many boaters and riverside campers, beer is an entirely legal staple of a relaxing trip. “I can't tell people they can't have a good time and have a beer on the river," Manson said. "I say, "I don't have the right to look in your cooler"."

Tagliafferi said there are no state laws against alcohol on the river itself, but laws governing drinking at landings vary by state and location. Moderate drinking he said can be part of safe, responsible outing. It's only a "small percentage" - heavy problem drinkers - he said his group has set out to chase off.

Conway police Lt. Christopher Perley said Conway's scarcity of open beaches where large groups can congregate contributes to Conway having fewer problems with alcohol and disturbances than across the border in Maine, where agreements with large landowners provide ample public party spots. "There's less places to stop," he said. Tagliafferi, executive director of the Saco River Recreation Council, said the wild Saco, while not a controlled amusement like a theme park ride, is an "extremely safe river." "Still, it should be approached with respect. “It is not without risks," he said.

The council is working with state and local authorities to educate boaters about responsible camping and to bring more policing "to curb this activity no one wants to be around." Tagliafferi said police this weekend will be at put-ins along with council members, part of a bid to remind boaters to pick up trash and to fend off those who badly abuse the river. "Sooner or later they will find somewhere else to go, realizing they're not wanted around here," said Tagliafferi, who owns outfitter Saco Bound. "It's a busy weekend coming up and there will patrols out there." His advice to unsure boaters new to the river: "If you don't know, ask questions. Overall it's a great activity for families," he said. When in doubt, you can always get out of a canoe in shallows before approaching uncertain waters. One warning could be a lifesaver: Watch out for fallen trees, called strainers. "Even with a life vest, it can drag you under," he said. Tree trunks and limbs don't impede the speedy current, whose force likely eroded a dirt bank and caused the tree to drop, but branches can strain out boats and people, a "every dangerous" situation. This time of year, though, water levels are low and the current is mild, unlike spring when ice melt and rains can swell rivers over their banks and to unsafe heights.

A week before Bhatia's incident, Manson said the flow was considerably higher when Northern Extremes sponsored 30 boats for a Girl Scout river cleanup. Like most days no serious incidents were reported. "It was a beautiful day. It's a really safe river," she said, adding still, "It is a river in New Hampshire, there's no McDonald's on the side or EMT's on that river."