Kancamagus

On the same weekend of the letterboxing we also went to hang out on the Swift River which runs parallel to the Kancamagus Highway. The Kanc, as we New Hampshirites like to call it, traverses northern NH from Albany, NH in the east to Lincoln, NH in the west. It is a scenic byway that runs through the White Mountains. There are many hikes located off this road and also many rock climbing spots. A lot of cyclists use this road for training. The kids had a great time playing on the rocks which are nice and smooth from years of wear from the water running over them.

Letterboxing

Letterboxing is a new fun thing for kids to do. There are websites that list where these letterboxes are hidden and you can go out and hunt for them. A lot of them are on hikes or scenic trails. Once you find the box it has a stamp, ink pad and a little record book. Each person who letterboxes has their own book, stamp and ink pad. You take their stamp and stamp it in your book and record the date and name of the letterbox and then you put your stamp in their book with a message about yourself. My sister started doing it with her kids and she gave Julian an early birthday present a couple of weekends ago. We did two hikes up north last weekend. Jullian and I did another one today down the street from my parent's house on a trail that goes out in the woods and eventually winds through Phillips Exeter Academy. We took the trail to the letterboxing site which is at a gravestone for a woman buried in 1812. She died in childbirth at the age of 27 and was buried out there on her families farm land. I am not sure why she and her infant baby are the only ones buried out there. It is kind of creepy out there but we found the box and got out of there before the ghost of Susannah Holmann got us.

What we've been up to...

Well summer has come and is almost gone! We have been busy. Jaime is still studying and is now in Houma Louisiana studying at the home of Chris Hartwell. Chris is in clinicals right now and is helping Jaime study on his off time. Julian and I will be heading down there for Labor Day weekend where we will check out the city and visit my sister Jen and niece Jacquelyn. My sister's husband Jim and son Jacin will be away on a baseball trip.

So Julian and I have been doing a lot of stuff on our own or with friends. We toured the U.S.S. Albacore which is an old submarine on display in Portsmouth, NH. The Albacore was a test vessel commissioned in 1953. It was fun to go through and imagine living underwater like that.

Another weekend we went up to my sister-in-law Heather's camp. They have a seasonal rental up on Danforth Bay which is part of Lake Ossipee. They have a nice boat that we took out on the water and pulled Julian on the tube. There is a sand bar in the middle of the lake that people anchor at and play volleyball and other stuff. It's a pretty fun place to go. I used to go to summer camp on that lake so it was fun to go back. The site they have their trailer on is really big and sits on top of a hill near the playground. They have a shed and their trailer complete with two sets of granite steps and a nice paver patio. Not what you would picture for "camping", haha. The other pictures are of my nephew Lucas who is almost 14 and my other nephew Seth who was five months at the time of the picture.