Summer Vacation to New Hampshire

It was summer in the city. And the constant whirr of air conditioning units and the occasional whiff of neglected trash on a hot and dog urine-painted New York City street was enough to make anyone pine for pine trees. And so, on a hazy Fourth of July morning, we headed north ... to New Hampshire ... for a week in the woods, listening to the birds and bugs and breathing fresh alpine air.

  

Henry took this family portrait showing how Kate and I like to bow to the photographer

Henry drank a LOT of water in the ride up. We stopped nine times in Connecticut to pee. One of the places (a parking lot) was very close to Dinosaur State Park. So we stopped by.

Pee #10 occurred at the home of these nice folks, in Newburyport, Ma.

We enjoyed homemade cider donuts and ice cream at a local strawberry farm

We enjoyed strawberries there too

This is where we spent the majority of the next six days

The lake house was very close to this very large boulder (the largest 'glacial erratic' in New England, if you must know)

The week included scavenger hunts ...

... and ice cream socials ...

... and beaver dam spotting ... 

... and, of course, open-flame grilling

We bounded on boulders by and in some cascading waterfalls

And generally had a jolly good and wet time

At the top of Mt. Washington. The kids got altitude hunger

We also visited the locally renowned 'flume gorge'

Kate was mesmerized by moss

You can't tell, but there's an awesome geological feature behind us called 'the basin'

These two were basins in their own right for smores

Cookie of the Month: July -- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Can you believe that this is our FOURTH YEAR of operation? We can't. The kids are getting older, which sounds like a good thing for quality, but what actually will happen is that we will let the kids do MORE of the tasks (or at least more independently), which may result in a lesser quality treat. But we think the grandparents are cool with that. They get (occasionally) delicious baked goods for the price of simply NOT telling the feds about our child labor ring. Or, as we call them here, economically active youths. Heck, they make more (in cookies and kisses) than many interns. It's a win-win!

We weren't sure we were going to launch another year of this club, honestly. There are so many other things our precious (Kate says I shouldn't call them 'special') kids can do for their grandparents. Draw, paint, mold, write, etc. Plus, we were running out of cookie ideas. But we decided that, what the heck, who doesn't like baked goods! 

So this year, our theme is going to be: Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Why, you ask? Well, first, everyone likes 'em. Second, there are so many different varieties (soft batch, crunchy, with M&Ms, with zucchini, etc.). Third, they are super easy to make ... which is good for the laborers and good for the supervisors.

Hope the grandparents enjoy! Here are photos from the July baking session.