Backpacking in Shenandoah

Brady has been asking a lot of questions about backpacking for the last year or so.  We started to think he might be ready for an overnight, and even told him on some day hikes that any complaining about being tired would indicate that he wasn't ready for a backcountry trip.  He sucked it up on all those hikes and earned himself a pack for his (half) birthday and a trip this fall.

We were originally thinking of doing Old Rag, but got a little nervous about Brady navigating the rock scramble with a heavy pack.  We reevaluated and chose the AT / RipRap / Wildcat Ridge trail loop.  The maps all claim it to be 9.8 miles, but we mapped it closer to 11.  Not sure where we picked up an extra 1.2 miles!

At the car, putting on his pack for the first time.  Smart enough not to comment on its weight!

We stopped at several rocky overlooks the first day...perfect spots for some rock scrambling and trail mix!

Back on the trail...  

Brady wanted to take the first potential camping spot we found, but we encouraged him to keep going.  It paid off and we found a spot that was perfectly perfect!

Brady and James in the "kitchen":  a large flat rock for the camp stove with a log and several other rocks perfect for seats:

Looking back toward the bedroom area:

Setting up camp:

From the kitchen downstream to the campsite:

Brady loved just having some time to throw rocks and play around the stream

Getting dinner started.  On the menu:  trail mix, smoked gouda, and Thai noodles with green curry.

It got dark fast!!

This is a kid who needs more weight in his pack!

After a rousing game of cards (3-13, a new one we've learned from Popsie!), it was lights out at the late late hour of 9 pm. 

Snuggled up warm and cozy...
 

It was cold that night; thankfully we were prepared with warm bags and lots of layers.  We think it got down to the low 40s. 

Warming up with oatmeal and hot cider for breakfast:

Brady explored a bit more while James and I packed up camp.  He had a grand time fighting off the invading t-rex...

For some reason, Brady was really excited about the water filtration.  He kept asking when we needed to get more water.  In the end, I think it ended up being much less exciting than he'd anticipated!

 

Waiting patiently for the last bit of gear to be loaded:

Here we go again...back on the trail about 10:00 am.  We'd covered about 4.5 miles the day before, so still had about 6.5 to do today.  

Not long after we started in the morning, Brady stopped for some help adjusting his pack.  While we were stopped, we were lucky enough for a perfect bear sighting:  he was on the other side of a creek, running away from us!  Cool!

Lots of time on the trail meant we learned some new things about Brady.  Like the fact that he can blow bubbles with gum.  Huh. 

We decided we really should have done the loop the other way, as today's views were few and far between.   

Making our last trail switch onto the AT.  We all agreed after about only three-quarters of a mile that we can't really fathom wanting to thru-hike the trail!

 Fun...

The lack of great overlooks made it challenging to find a spot to break for lunch.  We kept telling ourselves that we'd find the perfect spot at the top or around the next turn...but the turns kept coming and the "top" never quite materialized! We finally plopped down in a small clearing just off the trail.  We were tired enough at that point (2:00!) that it seemed just perfect to us.

One bonus of covering so much ground in the morning was that we had just over a mile to go after lunch!

Look!  Cars!  The parking lot!  We made it!

 

One proud backpacker!!

The full loop.  We started and ended at green; spent the night at red:

Overall stats...(because we're nerds like that):

Ouch - the elevation change.  What goes down the first day, must come back up the second...

All he wants for Christmas...

Tooth #5

Brady lost tooth number 5 today!

Preschool Graduation

Yes...there actually is a such thing as preschool graduation! His school had a graduation celebration yesterday for the last day of school. Four songs, diplomas, and a small reception. Brady was lucky enough to have all of his grandparents in attendance. (Somehow we didn't get a picture...I must not have been thinking straight!)

We are the Pre-K...

Brady was the second kid in and the second-to-last to get his diploma. He behaved quite nicely and was very nonchalant about receiving his certificate.



I had already written his teachers a thank you note for all that they did this year, but I thanked them again for their wonderful classroom. Something about the way they managed the classroom and treated the kids really helped Brady this year. James and I will take some credit for it too, of course, but he is SO much happier and SO much more confident in himself right now than he was last summer. When I told this to his teachers, they said that he's the child in the classroom that they really miss when he's not there - he's a leader, he's helpful, he's a good friend to his classmates, and they understand why I kept him home for myself on Fridays!

It's so nice to hear these things...makes me feel that we must be doing something right :)

May there always be sunshine...

Rudy's contribution to the festivities? Mid-ceremony, he announces to James, "Take this [handing him a paper]. It has my booger in it." James thought that was really loud, but I didn't even hear it at the end of the row. What everyone in the church heard though was when Rudy said (loudly), "Berger? His name is Berger? Tha's pre'y silwy"

Make new friends

Learn my letters, ABC!

FIVE years old

I can't believe I've got a five year old! Everyone says it...but really...where did the time go? Since we're all usually a little burned out after the holidays, we do most of Brady's birthday celebrating on his half-birthday. So, we save all of his presents and his big birthday party for the summer. He's perfectly happy with this plan because then he gets to have a pool party!

We still tried to make today special though. We continued our "birthday pancake" tradition (pancakes with food coloring and sprinkles) this morning; James stayed home for breakfast as an extra treat. Brady got to help James make his special IHOP pancake recipe.

Brady was supposed to have special friend week at school this week. We postponed it because he was sick on Monday, but we still got to bring in snacks all week and I got to do story time today. He picked out ice cream snowmen as his special birthday snack for school. They were a big hit, but my hands were freezing after making 18 snowmen!! I read Happy Birthday Danny and the Dinosaur for storytime; we took in props (a rescue hero as Danny and a couple dinosaurs and balloons) and Brady got to help "act out" the story.

This afternoon, we went to Bella's house for cupcakes and then came home for Brady's birthday dinner. His special request was English muffin pizzas for dinner.

We didn't have a birthday cake, but I we still managed to turn regular fondue into "birthday fundue". (We'd been planning fondue for New Years Eve but decided we didn't want to share a pot of chocolate with him and his cooties that night. He thought it would be fun to have it tonight.)

We finished off the day with a family game of CandyLand and family story time with Brady's baby book. He loved looking at all of the pictures and hearing the stories of his first year!

And - how's this for perfect timing - he lost his first tooth today! It's been loose for a few weeks and we noticed that the new tooth was coming in. I've been teasing him since it was first loose that I was going to pull it out with pliers. He showed me how loose it was today and I asked if I could try to pull it out. He wasn't thrilled at first, but the tooth practically fell out as soon as I touched it. He's told everyone that he lost it and that the tooth fairy might not come tonight because she's pretty busy!