The Manasquan Trail
Today Kirsten and I took a hike on the Manasquan Trail here in Turkey Swamp Park. Armed with a camera, a bottle of water each and some bug spray, we set off on our adventure. Well, the trail is only 2 1/2 miles long and we didn't expect too much of an adventure, but we were pleasantly surprised.
After walking about 20 minutes we came to the Manasquan River. The banks were muddy, and steep in parts, but the day was warm and I thought Kirsten might appreciate getting to put her feet in the clear cool water, so I told her to go ahead. She really enjoyed the water on her feet and we took some nice pictures of her wading through the water (which was mostly pretty shallow.) It was just such a beautiful spot with the sun reflecting off the water and sparkling on the leaves that made a canopy over the water.
There was also a fallen log across the river that Kirsten shimmied on to and crawled half-way across the river. She wanted to go to the other side, but I didn't want her wandering around without her shoes on, so she came back. Kirsten wants to go back with a picnic lunch and eat by the side of the water. Hopefully we can plan that before we leave.
Also along the trail were all kinds of critters. We were constantly running into caterpillars hanging from the trees, the many birds seranaded us as we walked along and Kirsten saw a chipmunk scamper into it's hole. But we saw the most impressive critter as we rounded a bend and nearly stumpled across a deer on the path. For a fraction of a second he stared at us and then was off like a shot. Unfortunately, he was way too fast for us to capture a picture of him. Before we knew it, he was gone.
The enitire walk took us about an hour and a half, but what a great amount of memories we gained! We can't wait to go on more nature walks.
Cranberry-orange cake
While we were staying at Turkey Swamp Park Grace Christian Church had it's annual "Church in the Park." Kirsten and I went to Sam's Club to get something to bring to the picnic that they hold after church and lo-and-behold, one of the food try-ers was sampling this delicious Cranberry-Orange cake. That was it, we decided, we would bring that. It was delicious and BIG!
We brought it to the picnic, but sadly it didn't even get opened. It was a really hot day and there was ice cream. Our cake wasn't even competition. Plus, someone else brought a HUGE birthday cake. After eating all the BBQ, desert was clearly not on too many poeples minds. (side note, those church guys make some mean BBQ chicken and ribs - Kirsten and I LOVED it!) At the end of the picnic I offered the cake to anyone with the qualification that Kirsten and I got to take a piece home for later. Well, we took a really substantial piece (like 4 servings) claiming that we were saving some for the boys.
The day wears on and we are still so stuffed from BBQ. Dinnertime had come and
gone and Kirsten said she wasn't hungry, so we didn't eat. But later
in the evening, probably around 7pm, I reminded her about the "cake" we brought home. It is about desert time, and I thought, well what harm is there in skipping dinner and going straight for desert, just this once. I take that big hunk of cake and split it in two. Well, we ate it. And
wouldn't you know about an hour later Kirsten got sick to her stomach. Now of course, I am feeling totally rotten. Isn't it my job to protect the kids from over-indulgence? Aren't I supposed to be the voice of reason? Great job Mom!
But you know, she handled it like a trouper. She went out for a walk by herself for fresh air and when she came back, she just wanted me to rub her head so she could get to sleep. I think we both learned a good lesson on over-indulgence, but I did especially. I had forgotten how young she is (she acts so grown-up), but what might be a little "splurge" for me, was just really bad for her. Hopefully, I will get a whole lot better at this mommy thing before I am done.
Girl's Week at Turkey Swamp
While the guys were out galavanting in Arizona, Kirsten and I were having fun of our own here in the RV at Turkey Swamp Park for "Girl's Week". We were internet-less (Wow! Was that harder than I expected), so we will have to catch up on it now.
To begin the week, there were lots of playdates. Abigail and Cory came over a few times before their big trip out west in their RV. As always, the girls had a great time riding bikes, catching toads and just giggling. Rachel Douthitt came over to play twice and Kirsten loved catching up with her as they don't get to play as often. And Sammie Pierson came over to play once. Unfortunately, that Friday was the beginning of the heat wave that is still in effect today, which made the girls a little less than enthusiastic to do too much running around.
Kirsten and I also had some very good alone time. We played Rack-O and Sequence and Rummy-Cube. She is getting to be a very good game player, just so grown-up like for a nine year old. During the week we alos watched an awful lot of movies. There is not much TV reception at the campground, so we watched all the movies Kirsten got for her birthday (several times.) Favorites were Enchanted, Nancy Drew and Moondance Alexander. But we also enjoyed Flywheel, Alvin and the Chipmunks, National Treasure 2, and Barbie Rapunzel.
All in all it was a great time just meeting with friends and for Kirsten and I to hang out together. She was excited when the boys came home, but is looking forward to us having an opportunity for "Girl's Week 2."
Coming home from Arizona
I tried to do a post from the pool at the Sheraton... but before I got much written everyone decided to leave, so my next chance to write is now at the airport. We had a great trip. Starting with a 4 wheel drive tour of Sedona. The scenery was amazing and the off-road driving was fun. Our driver was also a documentary film maker and photographer, so we found her pictures after the ride at http://www.dreamstime.com/taragolden_info
The Grand Canyon was also awesome. Maybe we should get in a bit better shape and try hiking further into it next time. Even a short hike was fun though. Not so suprisingly there is no aircard service on the south rim of the canyon, but surprisingly there IS service about 20 miles south, just outside the national park entrance. See Mark's post there.
Grandma's 100th birthday party went very well. After all the celebrating, visits and stories I was able to collect pictures from a lot of the cameras and should be able to put together a pretty good set for everyone.
We were also able to spend a couple nights at the Swiers in Sun City and catch up on that side of the family. We learned that Mark likes Mexican Train and Spades (he likes it more when he wins, but he was pretty good at both games).
Now we are sitting in the airport waiting for the plane. So far it seems that the worst thing that's happened in the trip was that airport security confiscated our sun screen. I completely forgot it was in our bag and after two trips through the X-ray they found it and took it away. Oh well...
After we get back I should be able to organize more pictures and link them into this post.
the grand canyon
I' currentlly driving back to a hotel from the grand canyon. I found out that it's not big, it's BIG. That thing was huge. It was amazing to be able to look at a whole that big. A picture really can't portray it correctly. My dad and I hiked a little bit of a trail into the canyon. It was hard but also really fun. I don't think my mom would have liked it, it was narrow and dropped off steaply.
bye bye,
Mark
First entry from Arizona
Mark and I have a half hour to wait in Sedona before we take a jeep tour of the canyons here so we decided to see if this aircard would let us make a quick post. It seems to be working pretty well.
Last night we got in fine and picked up the rental car Tammy found for us. Really nice, a convertible PT-cruiser. Even though it was 102 outside we had to ride to the hotel with the top down.
Today we got up late (by our NJ clock) but early in the AZ timezone and drove up to Sedona. It's changed a lot since I was here 15 years ago. Lots of shops, lots of construction, and I heard that real-estate prices are flying high. Not like NJ.
We stopped in a gourmet jerky shop and boy were they right. We tried Elk, Buffalo, Beef and Alligator. Mark said they were all good but we bought some Elk for our trip.
Gotta go now -- maybe we'll do the next post on the drive to the Grand Canyon tomorrow. This aircard is fun!
Kirsten's birthday party
Yesterday we celebrated Kirsten's birthday here in Turkey Swamp Park. We were joined by the Biddles, who were camping with us, and the Cornmans and Rappleyeas, who came later in the day. This is the fourth year we have celebrated here and each time, no matter what the weather, we have had a good time.
Speaking of weather, around 1:00 pm a ranger came to our campsite and told us there was a tornado watch until 5:00 pm. and I thought, OK here we go again. (Remember 2 years ago for her birthday when there were 15 or so of us all huddled in the RV trying to eat while the winds howled?) And of course, as soon as the ranger told us that, the wind starting picking up and the rain came down. There really wasn't much else to do but go back to the RV and bake a cake while the girls (Kirsten, Abby and Cory) watched a movie. So I figured that once again we would all be smushed together eating in the RV.
But guess what? The storm blew over just as quickly as it came in and we had an absolutely fantastic afternoon. The kids played in the playground and caught toads and got really dirty (which is what you do when you camp) and the grown ups had an enjoyable afternoon just chatting and eating (that is my type of afternoon!) We finished off the day with chocolate cake and ice cream. The evening was spent sitting around a wonderful campfire that Dave made (without any accelerants, I'm impressed!) And best of all, Kirsten claimed that I am the best mom ever and said she really, really enjoyed her birthday. (Of course, getting to sleep over Abby and Cory's RV TWO nights in a row was a high point of the whole birthday.)
We are truly blessed as a family, and I have to say, if the rest of our part-time lifestyle as RV'ers is this much fun, then we have definitely made the right choice.
