Getting out with my boy

So, as i've admitted in past posts i have a strong desire for my kiddos to love the outdoors and all of the adventure related fun associated with it.  ...sure fire way for them to go the opposite direction?  Who knows?  Well to further my desires :) my son and i recently went to the Nantahala Gorge to watch the Freestyle Kayak World Championships (FWC) and do some kayaking of our own.  We were able to watch the semis and the finals, as well as get out on 2 amazing rivers.  I was positively psyched to observe my son really get into watching those amazing athletes pull some mind blowing maneuvers and combos.  He was fascinated not only by the incredible paddling, but also the fact that these paddlers came from all over the world to compete.  By the time we were watching the finals he was cheering for the athletes by name and whooping when they pulled big air.  I must say that i love the fact that my son has no idea who Kobe Bryant or Shaq are, but after watching the FWC he could tell you all sorts of things about Dane Jackson or Adriene Levknecht!

As for our kayaking, we took our Dynamic Duo, an unusual tandem whitewater kayak, and paddled some of the roughest rapids Miles had ever been through!  We started with the Little Tennessee which is a beautiful river with a nice mix of long flat water sections interspersed with some fun Class I and II rapids.  I wasn't too sure what river we'd hit the next day, but when Miles said he wished there were more continuous rapids we opted for the Nanty.  A little bit of complaining about the cold water aside, Miles loved it and is becoming quite the capable paddling partner!  Got a few pics from the trip below.

Miles and me on the Little Tenneessee

Checking out folks messin' around on the little upper wave on the Nanty.  Also, check out all those flags!  That's about half the countries who had athletes attend!

Wrapping up a run down the Nanty!

NC's own Adriene Levknecht!

Loops galore!

Dane Jackson about to go BIG!

From the Door Jam to the Threm-a-rest

Charting the kiddos growth on the inside of a door jam has been a tradition with many families over the last couple generations.  Our kids love standing with their heels up against the jam, standing tall, and letting us mark their height to see how much they've grown since the last measurement.  We took this same idea and enthusiasm and moved it to our sleeping pads.  Each camping trip we measure the kids on their Therm-a-rests and mark them with a Sharpie.  This process has been lots of fun and keeps a nice record of the trips the kids have done.

Birthday Camping

My daughter just turned 4.  We had a nice little gathering and made every attempt to meet her desires for her party.  Her requests were the following:  she wanted to go camping and swimming, she wanted a pink mummy style sleeping bag, and she wanted strawberries and Thomas on her birthday cake.  Those were 100% her ideas, and i gotta admit i got a bit teary with the camping and sleeping bag requests. 

We reserved some camp sites at Falls Lake (one of our local lakes), i took kayaks and there was a nice little swim beach, i managed to find a Eureka Lady Bug kids mummy style sleeping bag that had a big pink stripe (and insides), and we decorated her cake meeting her desires (and some of our :)  The party was a hit and i was pretty excited about how our camp scene cake turned out (check out the pic below). 

Z getting into her new sleeping bag.

Snugglin' down into the new bag :)

Birthday revelers heading out in some of the kayaks.

Z's 4th Birthday Cake

So, with left over holiday candy, some scissors, and toothpicks we made our scene. Graham cracker tent, gummy sleeping bag (cut from a darth vader head) and marshmallow pillow, gum drop fire ring, Twizzler flames, pretzel logs, marshmallow and toothpick roasting marshmallows, chocolate table, Smarty chairs, malt ball shoreline, white chocolate candy bar kayak, toothpick and gummy Yoda ears kayak paddle, and pretzel train tracks.  

Fun = Skills

As an avid outdoor adventurer, i always envisioned my kids would have the same strong desires that i do.  I quickly went through an interesting learning curve regarding this with my son Miles.  When Miles was quite young I had been very focused on the idea that he should be amazing at all things outdoorsy.  I worked with him on all sorts of very specific skills: rock climbing hand holds and foot placement, proper kayaking paddle strokes, how to best distribute weight in his backpack, etc.  ... I was so focused on the particulars of the skills that i had lost sight of the FUN!  As a result of my narrow focus, Miles' overall interest in paddling, rock climbing, etc, to my dismay, waned.  Eventually i realized the FUN factor should be my goal, and slowly things began to shift.  Adventures with my son and daughter are now more about the fun and play, and not about my personal desire for them to rock at the outdoor skills.  Keep the FUN (and safety) first, and then teachable moments will always crop up. This shift in perspective has made a world of difference with the adventures we have together.

One example of this shift - over this past winter the kiddos came out to a couple of the kayak pool sessions we host through Frog Hollow.  I had been wanting Miles (and eventually Zella) to learn how to Wet-Exit from a kayak.  So, i kept that singular goal on my mental back burner, while focusing more on the time i spent with them about playing around in the boats.  Miles did end up Wet-Exiting without a spray skirt, and he did great.  He pushed his personal comfort zone a bit but all within the umbrella of FUN.  My learning curve as a parent eventually brought me to the realization that working to create memories of these experiences that are happy and joyous, instead of anxious and worrisome, will keep 'em coming back for more.  ...the skills will come.

Miles geared up!

Z chillin' with some kayaks

A spinning Z

Buckin' bronco

Buckin' Bronco

Kids Books and Paddling

The other evening when reading to my daughter, i realized how much kayaks and canoes are constantly infused into out children's stories.  If you haven't gotten your kids into a canoe or kayak before, you need to!  Chances are they're already primed to do it from bedtime stories.  :)

Here are a handful of images i scanned from books off my daughters shelf:

Richard Scary's Best Word Book Ever

I Love Daddy

Jamberry

Baby Beluga

Mama Do You Love Me?

Random Coloring Book

Work and Play

I was reading back through some of my posts regarding stream cleanups, and it got me thinking a bit about my kids interest in picking up trash.  It's been a funny progression, and it's at a point when we go out paddling or hiking, picking up litter is almost like fishing to them.  Like an avid angler casting a line with their sites set on hooking a specific kind of fish, my son is now obsessed with (ironically enough) snagging discarded, left for dead, fishing bobbers.  I find this humorous, and completely awesome that he is developing a real and good thing (picking up litter), into a fun game and adventure.

Thinking about this I remembered an afternoon last week. We were hanging out in our front yard with some family and friends, when Miles (my son) started picking Cleavers and sneaking behind people and putting them on their clothes.  Once the other kids discovered the amazing velcro qualities of Cleavers, they joined in, and as one might guess the front yard hang-out time descended into Cleaver chaos.  This lasted maybe 15 minutes or so before all the Cleavers in sight had been plucked, passed from shirt to shirt, to head to head, until they were just non-grabby, mushy, clumps of plant matter.  Our little front yard gathering dispersed, and as i was walking into the house i looked back and realized the yard didn't look like it needed to be mowed for another week :)  The Cleavers are what had gained the most height the quickest, and our actual grass was still at quite a nice level (OK so, now it's no secret that my yard is not just grass but a mix of odd and interesting plants, grass, and weeds that make for a fine surface to play on and look nice when groomed :)  But without a doubt, every Spring we will now hold our annual Cleavers Chaos Throw Down.

Hmm, what other work can we turn into play for the kiddos?     

Paddling the lower Eno River (AKA the Three Rivers Area)

I love this time of year in NC!  One day we're wearing fleece jackets and thermal underwear, the very next we're stripping down to shorts and t-shirts.  It keeps things interesting :) This time of year also typically means, rain.  Our local rivers have been blessed most of this past winter and early spring with nice water levels which has been great for my line of work.  When water levels are up it also means one of my favorite flat water paddling locations has access opened up to tons of small creeks and floodplain forest that can be paddled.  This is what i refer to as the 3 Rivers Area.  This is the lower Eno River nearing Falls Lake, and there is a great Wildlife Resources Commission Boat Ramp called the Eno Boat Ramp that is smack in the middle of a huge swath of undeveloped game land (if you want some specifics on the location, message me, and i can fill you in on more details).  Anyway, i have found this and similar areas really allow for kids and adults imaginations to run wild.  The mix of wide flat-water rivers, tiny creeks, open lake, and flooded forests, makes the perfect combination of environments to keep any flat water paddler happy.  If you decide to check out this area, a map is extremely helpful (here is a link to a topo map of the area http://www.froghollowoutdoors.com/MapThreeRivers.pdf ).  Looking at the map, every little creek you can see, can be paddled (when water levels are a bit up), and are part of what makes this area so awesome.  Anywho, enjoy the Spring.  And dress appropriately for the day :)


 

Coming out onto the Flat River after paddling through floodplain forest off of Cut-Through Creek

Our trash haul for the day

Creek Week Cleanup with the Family

My company, Frog Hollow Outdoors, hosted another on-water cleanup in conjunction with Durham Creek Week.  We brought the kiddos, had a couple handfuls of awesome volunteers and picked up a ton of trash out of Ellerbe Creek.  Check out our trash tally on my Water is the Source blog and click on the Trash 2013 link at the top of that page. Mostly plastic bottles and styrofoam.  Why does anyone use styrofoam still?

 

My lovely wife, our sister-in-law, and Z!

Z working hard :)

M and me with our trash haul

Trash gathered after about 2 hours on the water

North-South Greenway Bike Exploration

So yesterday, was a teacher workday at my son's school.  A few days prior i mentioned to him that we could have a little outdoor adventure with one of his friends and asked him what he'd like to do.  I imagined that he might say, go paddle the Eno or hike a nearby trail, but to my surprise he said he wanted to go on a bike ride.  Well, Miles has been able to bike now for maybe a year and a half, but his biking prowess has been somewhat limited, and his overall desire to push himself with it has been pretty much non-existent.  I knew that the friend coming over was quite the accomplished little bike rider, that she felt right at home on two wheels, and was no stranger to longer neighborhood rides.  Needless to say, i was curious to see how things would turn out.  I really was hoping they would take ownership over their ride, so i didn't want to interfere too much in their day of adventure.  I suppose, i was feeling nostalgic for my days of freedom through completely untethered biking around my neighborhood when i was his age.


Miles' friend got to our house, we hoped on bikes, rode a few blocks down to our neighborhood park (Northgate Park), and jumped onto the middle of Durham's North-South Greenway.  This is a disjointed trail pieced together by a handful of shorter trails that run from Downtown Durham and will eventually end at West Point on the Eno Park.  Currently, the northern terminus of this trail ends in very anti-climatic fashion at Horton Rd. So, anywho, we hoped onto the trail in Northgate park and headed northward with little plans as to how long we'd be out or our final destination.  Well i must say i was pleasantly surprised, not to mention quite proud, that they biked all the way to the highly anti-climatic northern terminus of the North South Greenway at Horton Rd., turned around and biked all the way back home!  This ended up being almost 10 miles!  ...so proud of my dude!

I also had to give myself a little pat on the back, because, with the exception of leading them onto the trail, giving some supportive encouragement on big hills, and only being directive when we came to some of the bigger road crossings and intersections, i did a decent job of being hands off and letting the trip be theirs.  We stopped when they wanted to stop, we ate when they wanted to eat, we biked the pace that they chose, and they just kept on going!  I don't know exactly what brought about this shift in his desire to bike, but he found a fire within himself to do it!  Here's a link for a PDF of the North-South Greenway and the ATT in Durham.  Map 1 on this PDF shows the route we rode.  Also, here are a handful of pics that highlight some different sections of this trail and their trip.

One of many snack breaks on the North-South Greenway

Getting pretty excited about all the vehicles at the National Guard Armory right on the Ellerbe Creek Trail section of the North-South Greenway

Biking through Whipporwill Park on the North-South Greenway.

Exploring a wetland area on foot that Miles spotted along the Warren Creek Trail section of the Durham North-South Greenway.

 

Boardwalk on Warren Creek Trail segment of the Durham North-South Greenway

One of a handful of bridges on the North-South Greenway

Nice mildly curvy hill.

Side trip to the Museum of Life and Science (MLS) which is just a block down from the North-South Greenway on Murray Ave

Shark teeth found in the fossil dig at MLS

Miles' brick on the Dino Trail at MLS.

Parasaurolophus riding at the MLS

Checking out the picnic dome before hoping back onto the trail.  The echos under this thing are amazing!

Stopping to admire a true Durham landmark, the Bronto!  This is right next to the Greenway on the Wescott Bronto Trail segment, just north of Northgate Park.

Passing the Radio towers on the Wescott Bronto Trail section of the North-South Greenway

 

Back at Northgate Park!

 

The Fate of a Holiday Tree

We finally did it.  We got rid of our Christmas tree.  We make an effort every year with our holiday tree to either get a live tree we can plant, or if it's a cut tree, do something special with it after it's bathed in it's decorated glory. This year we dropped our, and a neighbors tree off to the NC Museum of Life and Science so that it could continue being enjoyed by their resident red wolves.  We've donated our cut tree to the museum before but i think it was pre-red wolves.  Maybe the bears got it last time?

This year seemed to have a little less pomp and fanfare for our giving-of-thanks to the tree.  In previous years we've tried to make a bit of a to-do of things when we retied it.  We'd make an event out of digging the hole to plant the live trees, or go as a whole family to take the tree to the museum, and we've also had a number of bonfire gatherings to welcome in the new year with friends and family (and whoa! let me tell ya, Frasier firs or white pine can be exciting ways to start a bonfire).  However, this year our undecorated tree was placed out in the front yard and waited there for about 3.5 weeks before my daughter and i unceremoniously shoved it into the back of our van with our neighbors tree.  We drove it over to the museum where we dumped it outside of an access fence to be taken away at a later time.  ...I had a moment of sadness thinking about how we didn't create a special, joyous moment with our children or friends, and then my daughter, who had been uncharacteristically quiet through all our endeavors, stepped up to the trees and said "i love our christmas tree."  and then turning to me asked, "now the wolves will love our christmas tree?"  ...little tear ...special moment achieved :)   ...and quick photo op.   Thanks Zella!

Water is the Source: Trash Pick Up on the Eno

Just thought i'd test out how to share posts from one blog to another... think this'll work?

Water is the Source: Trash Pick Up on the Eno: So, here i am after over a year since last trying to keep up with a blog, trying it again.  Well, we'll see.  I figure the beginning of a ye...

I was just looking at my other blog (my other neglectiblog wateristhesource) and saw this post i put up about an old family camping trip...good times.  If you're considering getting into camping with your family ... and you should be.  This offers some interesting perspective.  Also, just as an FYI, we camp as a family quite a bit now-a-days, probably about one a month on average.  Have a read... 

FROM WATERISTHESOURCE in 2010:

This past weekend we went on a family camping trip to Goose Creek State Park.  We try to take one camping trip a month with other friends and families.  My family consists of my amazing wife, Andrea, and our two beautiful children Miles (almost 6) and Zella (1 year, 4 months old).  These trips always have some sort of interesting challenge associated with them.  This particular trip was one of the most difficult we've had.  Things started off rough with us rushing to set camp before dark on Fri night, plus Z had some funky snotties, the temps were some of the coolest she's ever camped in (high 30s), plus she has no love for blankets or anything else over her when she sleeps, on top of this she has 2 new teeth coming in ...it was a relatively sleepless night, for us as well as our friends (sorry y'all).  The following evening we moved to a campsite further away in an effort to save our friends from the late night howls, screams, cries and other noises of discontent from Z.  However, the second night Z actually slept pretty well but we quickly discovered we were so far from our friends that we hardly saw them the remainder of the trip.  ...sad for us ;-(

All these aspects of the trip made it one of our families most challenging yet.  But taking a moment to step back during the trip as well as reflect on things a bit afterward, we were reminded that this trip was actually quite excellent despite our immediate perceptions.  First of all our whole family was camping!  That in and of itself is awesome.  We paddled our new-to-us family canoe for the first time, taking it out on 3 different little trips through both brackish and freshwater wetland swamp areas, and the open water of Goose Creek. One of our paddle trips was Miles very first night paddle and the moon was absolutely amazing! Miles also went fishing with a good buddy and caught his first fish, which we cleaned cooked and ate (awesome full-circle sort of moment)!  One of the families brought pumpkins (thanks M&M) that the kids designed jack-o-lanterns with and got to take home.  At night while trying to sleep we heard all sorts of wildlife (great horned owls, screech owls, and something that made a completely bizarre flapping noise as it flew right over top of our campsite). And finally even though we didn't see all our friends as much as we may have liked, we did still get to see them some and hang out in the woods together!

So, i suppose the take-away lesson here is that while creating these sorts of family outings has the chance of being difficult and challenging in certain ways, they also offer amazing educational opportunities and life altering moments for our kids and our family as a whole.  ...we'll keep doing 'em ;-)

Sweet!  I'm getting up my annual post!  :/
Well, here we go again.  Gonna try and get things back up and going again with the blog...  I've got a few ideas on my brain that i'd like to attempt in 2013 and i'll put them out on the interweb for all to see (really the very few, since who's looking at a totally inactive blog) and judge.  So anyway, here are a handful of things that i'd like to try and do this year with the kiddos and family (more definitely to come :)

1) Build a homemade fire heated hot tub out of an old claw foot tub i found in the woods.
2) "Faux-Woody" the the work van.  I'll get Miles in on on the action.  And, just because...
3) Create a cable swing between two trees on either end of our yard.
4) Create a solid plan for a house addition (master bedroom and bath, with basement play room, and a screened in porch)
5) Whitewater kayak with my 8 year old son in the Jackson Dynamic Duo 
6) This Fall/Winter, begin planning a family cross country road trip and let the kids help determine our destinations and routes.  I'm gonna guess one of Miles' (will be 9) choices will be Dinosaur National Monument.  As for Zella (will be 4)... i have no idea what she may choose.
7) Chickens?
8) Keep active on this blog!
8) more to come...