More camping

The area where we camped was bear country, so we were given the requisite warnings about keeping food inaccessible, away from the campsite, etc. L. was SO excited and determined that she would see a bear, despite us telling her how unlikely that would be. We did not see any bears there. We did see deer--a mother and her baby--in the road. Fortunately we had plenty of time to stop the car and watch them. They were beautiful. M & L, on one of their early morning hikes, were lucky enough to see a mother coyote and her baby. The baby was jumping up, in a meadow that was taller than her, to keep an eye on her mommy. I'm so jealous I missed that!
Anyway, L took great pleasure in making black bear footprints at our campsite and on some of the hiking paths we were on. She used her footprint identification guide to form them perfectly, staggering them just right, so they looked like a bear was lumbering across the path. Everytime she saw one of her prints or thought about it, she would giggle and go on about how other campers and the park rangers would freak out over the bears in the camp. She made some of them ridiculously huge, to make it look like a mutant giant bear.

We've inadvertently established several camping traditions that L militantly enforces. One of the traditions is that we must play Monopoly while on our camping trips. I think this actually started because we had several camping trips in a row in which it rained profusely for at least a day, so we stayed in the tent and played Monopoly. M won this time, and I'm glad he rarely wins. He's a great loser but a completely obnoxious winner! :P


Another tradition involves me wearing a very dorky but useful headlight and reading from a book of ghost stories. This must occur every single night, after it gets dark and we are sitting out by the fire. L also must be the one to hang the clothesline at the campsite. One of the first things she does is case out the trees and pick the ones she will tie the line to. She then explores the surrounding woods (after M checks for poison ivy) and designates each individuals' "potty tree".
She loves all the hiking and constantly suprises us with her stamina. We sometimes end up on some long and treacherous hikes, and she keeps us with no problem and no complaints. She cannot come near a body of water without entering into it, regardless of what she's wearing. I don't mind. It gives me an excuse to get in the water fully dressed (love water but swimsuits are not my friend these days). We've taken to wearing our 'rock climbing' shoes for hikes, as they are great all-terrain shoes. You can hike on land, walk through the water without slipping, and they dry quickly and nicely. L and I each have a pair. I've been nagging M to get some, too, but he has a foot....uhhh...thing. He won't wear any type of sandals. Anywhere. Ever.

We spent a couple of afternoons on the beach there, which was small but quite nice. It was very clean. And best of all--no leech attacks this time! She made several friends each day, which makes it a lot more fun for her. M & I take turns going into the water and/or building in the sand with her, which she enjoys, but it's just not as fun as having a big group of kids to play with. She does fairly well at making new friends, as she's so outgoing and friendly.

One more vacay post, and I think I'll be caught up and back to current life. Right now life mostly consists of trying to catch up on everything we've let slip over the last few weeks. With family vacation immediately followed by a visit from our friend Anthony, the house and garden have been sorely neglected. And, as usual, there are always cats to keep us busy. We currently have 20 in foster care, some sick or with special needs. We have no homes for them and no money for vet bills. HELP!!