Cape Ann Camping

Well it is supposed to be a diver's retreat but it seems that only about five of the twenty or so people that go actually dive. It seems that Mel Rich (the coordinator) has been going to this particular camp for many years now and arranged for our group to have a section of approximately fifteen sites reserved for us. Cape Ann is located a little north of Gloucester, MA along the salt marshes. Obviously since Jaedyn and I don't dive we dropped the kayak in off one of the jetties and paddled through the salt marshes, which were defiantly a different experience. They start out like a very calm river following the tides, weather is going in or out, and then they get narrow and start to wind around like a maze. Every once in a while I'll come to a dead end and have to turn around and remember how I got in to begin with. Oh who am I kidding, they were all dead ends. A couple of times I tried to stand up on the grassy marsh and see if I could find a way through to the river but it just looked like one big grassy field. As the picture can clearly show, between the grass are small thin water ways that i was paddling through. Sometimes I thought that I was coming to another dead end and suddenly a water way would appear around the high grass. This was defiantly like nothing I'd ever paddled through. I only wish Jaedyn had gotten to see it. Yeah she feel a sleep about twenty minutes into our trip and I had to wake her up when we arrived at the boat ramp.

Now how could I forget about dinner on Saturday night... This is what we were all waiting for. The LOBSTERS. I'm not talking about your 1 1/2 pound'ers that you get at the market. These babies were right off the boat. Lets see, we drove into Gloucester Saturday morning around 9:00 A.M. and went to the back door of warehouse on the water and waited for a scruffy old gentleman to let us in. We walked into a room with large crates floating in water that was being circulated by large hoses, kind of like a jacuzzi for lobsters, only the water was really COLD. Then we just let him know what size we wanted, payed and left. I can tell you that know one got anything less than three pounds and the largest was ten pounds. We opted to get a six pound that we split. Next time we're going to get a ten, because at six pounds it cost us $46 and a ten only costs about $12 more. Oh, we ate well that night. We had already brought our own corn potatoes and butter but it seems that Mel and his friends had already chipped in to get corn and potatoes for everyone, thanks any way.

On Sunday we drove into Gloucester and walked around shore and by the statues on the coast, like the "old man and the Sea." Then finished out or trip by having lunch at "The Gull" restaurant, which supposedly have the best seafood chowda. I'm glad that we went and if at all possible I really want to go again next year. Although the way things are looking right now, Jaedyn, Autumn and I may be living in New York in our first home. So we have a lot of good things going on right now and we are all really excited.

The Last Horah!!

The count down to kindergarten is coming to an end with ONE DAY LEFT. As summer is coming to an end I decided to take the family on one final camping trip. We decided on Lake Warmaug state park in New Preston, CT. Autumn actually did a wedding several years ago at the country club right down the road. The days prior to our trip had me a little worried because the fuel pump on the Saab broke and had to spend some time in the shop. So I was a little uneasy about going away an not knowing if I was going to have a car on Wednesday to get to work. Everything did work out and Barney and the boys at Swedish motor works took care of everything while we enjoyed the cool night by the campfire and kayaking around the lake. It seems that the company that rents out kayaks close down at 4:00 and by the time we had set up the camp site and gotten our bathing suits on they were no longer renting for the day. No worries, Autumn and I just took turns chauffeuring Jaedyn around the lake. After dinner, smores and a good nights sleep we woke up to a cool morning and a nice hot fire to eat breakfast by.

After packing up the camp site we headed off to Kent to see the falls and check out down town. The falls were nice; I can only imagine what they'd be like in the spring time after a good rain. Autumn was talking the whole time about filters and her other cameras and coming back in the spring to photograph the falls again. All in all a good couple of days to relax before we take on a new adventure with Jaedyn and for us.

Her first time...

Well, Jaedyn and I finale got my wife, Autumn, to go kayaking with us. I was expecting the worst and hoping for the best. It turned out to be the later of the two. She did really well despite some unforeseen challenges. For example, I thought she would use my sister's kayak witch is smaller and thinner which makes it easier to paddle, but the seat wasn't comfortable, the boat wobbled more and the cockpit opening was smaller, all of which made our boat more appealing. The only problem was, jaedyn has to ride in our boat because it has the storage compartment which she rides in. Normally not a problem but for someone who has never been in a kayak and is still trying to get the technique down, Jaedyn doesn't exactly make things easy.

So, we were on our way up the saugatuck river. I got a couple good shots of my two girls paddling. Too bad they were going in different directions. So after ducking under two bridges and letting the tide take us up river for a little break we arrived at the first small dam. I can't tell you how proud I am that Autumn made the trip and not only did it but, actually looked like she enjoyed herself.

As always I'm proud of my little girl Jaedyn who not only enjoys riding with mommy and daddy but has taken a real liking to kayaking. She even paddled by herself, of course I was close by to make sure she didn't get in over her head.

Forget dinner mom, I'm commin home with Crabs..

Another beautiful day Kayaking on the Saugatuck with my favorite girl, Jaedyn. We headed down stream and out to mouth of the river to cockenoe island. We paddled into the small bay on the island and took a little swim, took some pictures and stumbled on to a baby seagulls nest that their mother didn't want us near. After leaving the island we paddled over to what Jaedyn and I have rightly dubbed "crab island."
After flipping over some rocks to find sand crabs scurrying all over the place, I started to search the shallow waters of the sound to see if we could find some more. She thought it would be better for me to collect them. She wasn't into going any where near the crabs especially once we started finding bigger ones. Jaedyn really wanted to go swimming but after realizing how many crabs were in the water, she changed her mind about swimming. We found a lot of small sand crabs, one spider crab and a large horse shoe crab. None of which, Jaedyn would touch, but I did get her to step on the horse shoe crab, for all of one second.
With as much paddling as I'd done and exploring that Jaedyn did, we were getting pretty hungry, so we headed back home. What better way to celebrate a good trip on the water better than to go home and cook up some tasty crab cakes.

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Jaedyn vs the Giant

Don't worry, the giant was sleeping. Jaedyn and I went hiking at Sleeping Giant state park in Hamden ,CT today. I wanted to scout out a couple of climbing routes from the top of the chin so we decided to take the blue trail up the back side of the cliff. It posed to be quite a challenging hike, but Jaedyn wasn't going to let that giant get the best of her. She was determined to get to the top, she even showed up a couple other hikers who were struggling to scramble up the rocks. Once we reached the giants chin we took some pictures, climbed on rocks and even spotted a rabbit. Jaedyn actually spotted the rabbit first, she getting to be quite the little animal watcher. As we hike she's always telling me to walk quietly so I don't scare away the animals. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to the Giant latter in the season to climb "Wiessner's Rib," another route on my to-do list...

Kayaking with Jaedyn

Well, Jaedyn finale got to ride in the kayak. I thought that she might get bored after a few minutes and want to go home but she loved it. The only trick is keeping her hands occupied. She likes to drag both of them off the side while I'm tyring to paddle and in such a small boat it makes quit a bit difference. None the less, we both had a blast even though it was a short little trip around lake hills. It's too bad that after Memorial Day we won't be able to get in to Lake Hills due to the staff checking for "members only." You see, the lake down the street from our house is a private lake that only certain property owners can use. Of course know one enforces their beach and lake policies between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

The butterflies are here!!!

Well Jaedyn's caterpillars finally turned into butterflies. The four caterpillars that we received several weeks ago came out of their crystallises. Despite the fact that she had split her lip wide open only an hour earlier and the tears were still dripping down her face she couldn't stop bouncing with joy. They're called painted ladies and they seem to only drink sugar water that we've sprayed on the leaves of some flowers that line the bottom of their collapsible net.


I felt soooo bad because during the hole ordeal of Autumn and I calming her down with Popsicles and soft words all she wanted was to go to school. Good news is that she's going back tomorrow and she's eating solid food.

Devil's Den Hike

Jaedyn's definatly starting to enjoy hiking more and more. We broke up our 3.5 mile hike with her climbing rocks on the side of the trails and looking for animals. She loves playing with the local wildlife, well the ones she can catch anyway. Chasing the frogs into thier under ground homes. Poking the beatels until they curl up into little black balls. Watching the butterflies circle as she spins herself dizzy. Of course the female white tail dear had to be the highlight of our hike. We were coming off a rock slab on one of the scenic vistas and there she was staring right at us. After a quick exchange of glances the doe darted off through the trees.

Here we go!!!!

Why do we have blogs??? Is it to sell a product, show off, keep family members up-to-date with our lives... I guess for me it would be the later. I want to be able to share pictures of my adventures with Jaedyn and Autumn as well as my solo adventures. A place where friends and family that I may not always have time to call or e-mail can see what's going on in our lives.
I guess I could start off buy putting up a couple of my favorite pictures from the last several years.

What can I say about this picture....

The three boys modeling Jaedyn's new princess stuff.

Who doesn't like making a good ol' fashion snowman.

Just one of the awsome climbs I did out in Arizona. (Mars Attacks)

A ton of thanks to Mike and jodi, it was a trip.

What can I say...

The look on the employees face at the rental car place was priceless.

Let's not forget about the many faces of Jaedyn.....
"I don't want my picture taken anymore"
"Is this how fishes eat?"

Well, that will do it for now. Hopefully I'll have some great pictures from Autumn and my trip to the Gunks in October.