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!