Family
We wanted to grow some pumpkins for the kids this year, so we planted a couple plants on the perimeter of the property. We had 3 pumpkins grow and each day the kids went and checked on their pumpkins. Ironically, the farm directly across the road planted about 40 acres of pumpkins, so there was no shortage of pumpkins or seeds, but glad we plant our own little patch.
It's tomato picking time with the kids! In my opinion, there isn't anything more fun and satisfying than watching them enjoy picking some fresh garden veggies. This isn't always the most productive harvest, but it sure is a whole lot of fun!
I took Hunter on a like fall forage around the mountains of Hot Springs, VA, primarily so he'd finally take a nap, but also so I could do a little mushroom hunting. We had a great hike and he was drooling out of the baby bjorn in no time flat.
We found some older mushrooms, but still fun to find nonetheless. We found some Chicken of the Woods, Maitake, (Hen of the Woods, and my first ever Cauliflower mushroom. I've never found one of these and had to do some research to even find out what it was. Unfortunately, it was a bit old and I opted not to eat it.
Note: I intentionally picked some Jack O Lantern mushrooms so I could take them back to the house and examine them further. I found them on the tree with the maitake and I circled them red in the last picture. Don't eat those. You might die.
*As always, I am not a mushroom expert, so please do not use this blog as a source of knowledge. Do not consume wild mushrooms unless you are 100% sure of their identification.
Spence and I took the afternoon to spend together the best way we know how - which is hiking up through a mountain stream fishing dry flies to wild rainbows. There is not many other places I know of with wild rainbows, so this stream is very special. In addition, it has one of the coolest, most picturesque streams I've fished.
I knew the trip was going to be special when we walked to the first big plunge pool and scared a bear from taking an afternoon drink right out of the place I wanted to fish!
Wild rainbow fishing (think brookies) is exactly what you want when you dont fish as much as you want. The fish were not selective and happily ate a decently presented dry fly. No match the hatch, techinical Euro nymphing, micro drag, etc, etc. Just happy hungry trout in a beautiful setting. Stealth and an accurate cast was all you needed. We only took one little 3 wt and I found it more fun watching Spence fish then I did myself. Plus its loads of fun busting on each other after missing a fish, which happens often when the little 4" fish tried eating a bug that is bigger then his mouth.
Later the at evening, my father-in-law and I took Jack back to the bottom of this creek that held some stocked trout. I had a more difficult time catching a trout that clearly had no idea what I was trying to pass off as food, but alas I triumphed. And a happy 3 year old was the winner!
We grew a garden and the kids helped pick the first harvest of the season. We had beets, carrots, and lots of snap peas! The twins loved pulling a surprise out of the ground and the boys ate enough peas to get a stomach ache. We had a great time harvesting what they helped to plant.
For our 8th anniversary, I asked my wife what she wanted to do for the special day. And without hesitation, she said "I want to float the river"...
...And I fell in love all over again...
With two year old twins and a one year old, we have floated the river together once in the past 3 years. So with Grandma babysitting, we felt like we were back out in Montana again.
It was an odd morning, with a mysterious layer off dense fog that hovered about 10 feet above the river. This created pretty challenging conditions as lines were impossible to run in the rapids and big rocks had a tendency to sneak up real fast. We did pretty well on one specific fly that the fish couldn't resist.
We took our time and had a really nice stream side lunch as the fog lifted and the day was really starting to shape up...until the skies started to darken. This particular valley is notorious for summer storms to sweep in out of nowhere and I have paddled through a bad storm before. It really sucked. Trying to avoid this, I picked up the pace, but it was of no use. With still another 1-2 miles left the first thunderclap roared over our heads. After a few more, I made my way to the bank to wait it out. The problem with waiting it out was daylight was quickly falling and the only thing worse then paddling the last rapid sets in a lightning storm, was paddling the last set of rapids, in a lightning storm, in the dark. So as the last two fishing guides drifted by on the river, I figured we had to go for it. Being last guy out is not always fun.
My wife, God bless her, was a great sport. I think I definitely was more nervous than her as the lighting lit up all around us floating liking ducklings down the river. And just when I thought it couldn't get much worse, that damn fog settled in again for the last 3/4 mile. I didn't even think fog could exist in the rain, during a storm, but I'll be damned if it didn't just pile onto the current situation. Stupid. Needles to say, things weren't going well.
As we paddled the last 500 yards into the take out, the rain conveniently stopped and the storm began to lift. It felt like a mockery. But somehow once we made it to shore, it was an easy thing to almost laugh off. With no rain jackets, we were completely soaked to the bone and the boat had about 4" of water in the bottom. Spencer just shook her head and laughed. I've seen that exact same expression a few times before..and it probably wont be the last.
So Happy Anniversary, sweetie. I'm just glad this wasn't "my" idea.
We took the kids on an afternoon hike to look for some morels. We went to a place we'd never found any before, but it was close and needed some fresh air. We were delighted to find some morels and let the twins pick their own (last year, they were in baby bjorns). They were certainly interested and loved how excited we were!
The annual family tradition - cabbage from Somerset County and spending time with the kids stomping kraut for New Year's and 2015. We expanded this year and did a couple hundred pounds of cabbage in a few different crocks. Going to be a healthy 2015!
Jack and I were walking around the yard while digging potatoes and Jack found a chestnut that fell from the trees my Grandfather planted about 20 years ago in our yard. It got me thinking that I should take these chestnuts and try to regrow a tree from one of the seeds. So we picked up the handful of nuts that the deer hadn't found yet and I took them home. I put them in some damp potting soil that I will keep in the fridge for the next 4 months. More to come on this experiment....
It was that time of year to go up to my Mom's in Donegal, PA and dig potatoes. Fresh giant potatoes are the highlight of the harvest season and nothing can top fresh cut french fries! I needed a helper and decided to take Jack for the afternoon. I dug em and Jack put em in the wheelbarrow. Quite the tandem! Here are a few pics from the day.
Picked our second batch and took a couple pics. We had a bumper crop of tomatoes this year on a limited number of plants. We ate, steamed, juiced, froze, pureed, roasted, etc.
Chili and pizza and pasta sauce!
One of my best friends and old teammate from JMU recently moved out to San Francisco and I happened to be out there on business. We were able to get a quick mt bike ride in one evening before I took at red eye flight home. We rented some awesome demo bikes and hit up famous Camp Tamarancho which is a boy scout camp on 480 acres. Simply put, this was the sickest ride I have ever done. It had just about everything you could imagine. We did about a 10 mile loop being chased by day light. Getting lost would mean a missed flight and a night in the hills. Fortunately the trails were marked pretty well and we only made one wrong turn that didn't cost us too much time.
Trail head with a bike scene feel to it
The highlight of the ride was definitely the Flow Trail, which can be seen on this YouTube video I found online
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnlfhhh1PFU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXqu_yAkSvo
If these links are broken, just google Tamarancho flow trail on you tube.
The ride was just a perfect end to the week and a coupled with a few Anchorsteams (was hoping for some Pliney's...), I actually slept the whole way home on my red eye for the first time ever.
We had a family reunion in Ohiopyle, which was a wonderful get together and long weekend retreat in the Laurel Highlands mountains. The last day we made our way down to the river and let the kids get into the Yough. Great memories with a wonderful family.
Jack the wise
Cooper turned 7 today. I cant believe how fast the years have flown. He's an amazing hunting dog and a best friend, but his value has spiked even more now with the kids. We're so lucky to have him.
We decided to keep the first year's garden some what within reason and used the existing small plot in the yard. this is probably a great decision given everything else I am trying to do now. But it was super important to get that first garden in and have my two little helpers right there along with me!
We couldn't have received a better Mothers Day give at 6:18 AM on May 11, 2014 then the birth of our third child, Hunter Joseph. He was 6# 12 oz. What an amazing little blessing.
With the new house and a couple acres of space, we wanted to start planting some apple / pear trees in our first year, so we could enjoy them in a few years when they matured. We bought a Honeycrisp and Gala apple and a Bosc and Bartlett pear for our family Easter gifts. The apples are dwarf and pears are semi-dwarf. There is a lot to learn about fruit trees (if you want to really do it right), so I've been researching a lot. For now, the trees are in the ground and we have a fence to keep the deer out.
The twins had a ball helping throw dirt and playing peek-a-boo! It's amazing how much joy can be found in a dirt hole!
Just add water
A few weeks later
We've been wanting to take the twins camping as babies and finally decided to take them on a whim to one of my favorite places on the planet - Penns Creek.
It was a lot to throw together late Friday night for a one night camping trip, but I'm really glad we pulled it off once before they turned 1 (in less than a week!)
I could write a whole page on the page on how special Penns Creek is to us, so needless to say, it was extremely important to bring Jack and Clara and get them right in the water!
We got there Saturday afternoon, set camp up and a little hike in their new baby backpacks - a major upgrade to those Bjorn chest things. The twins did just great and love everything about camping including romping around in the tent with Mama and chilling outside and trying to eat leaves and play with pine needles that fell into their pack and play.
Baby friendly camp site
Saturday night was not exactly how I drew up in my head. Part of the reason we decided on going was the 0% chance of rain and stellar October weather we had. I should know that in this valley anything goes...so as I was getting the campfire going, a major thunderstorm rolled in. Picture Spencer in the tent with two hysterical babies while I ran around organizing camp in the pitch dark with a head lamp, grilling steaks and potatoes in the downpour while getting soaked to the bone. It was a pretty stressful hour, but the thunderstorm rolled out and the babies finally fell asleep. Mom made her S'Mores and I drank an IPA - we had survived.
Sunday was an amazingly beautiful fall day. At one point on the stream I found myself completely lost in just watching the leaves fall and was filled with so much joy. I've been going to Penns for years now, but this was my first time in the fall and first time with the twins.
Tressel bridge just wide enough for a double stroller
Fly fishing with Jack on my back
Passed out after a long hike and fishing trip
Me and my little girl
