HoodedHawk

I have a lot more pictures from our day on Block Island, RI in August. However this one was just used for his birthday invites and I kinda like it:

Preston finding Treasures on Block Island

First Easter Egg Hunt at the Shrine of St. Anthony in Ellicott City, MD. The Friary had 2000 eggs; Fr. Michael said they didn’t know whether they would end up with 2 kids with 1,000 eggs each, or too many kids and not enough eggs. It was a very large turnout, but I think everyone got some eggs. Preston loved running to get the eggs. Olivia asked me to carry her to them. :)

The Hunt started at 10am, with Father Michael saying “Alleluia” as the start word…by 10:10 I’d say all the eggs were found.

We visited Fr. Joe at his “farm” plot behind the Shrine. He raises chickens as well as veggies, so Preston and Olivia got to see some “real” chicks. Preston got his finger pecked – twice. Guess once wasn’t enough to register. They had a great time, and the weather was wonderful.

Olivia’s first ride. It took some enticing, but she got on Casey. She wasn’t too sure about things, but every time we asked her if she was done and if she wanted to get down, she shook her head “No!”. Preston was great, and encouraged her. He loved to ride with his little sister!

This past weekend Preston and I had a great time “primitive” camping in the Green Ridge State Forest, about 100 miles west of our house. “Primitive” means no facilities other than a fire ring and a picnic table are provided. WOW! This was idyllic. Most sites are 1/2 mile from nearest neighbor. ~44,000 acres and only 100 camping sites. This is definitely my idea of camping. We drove for about 2 miles on a dirt road to get to our site. You could drive for ~50 if you did a full loop of all the sites. You can see the dirt path (off the dirt road) that leads into our site in one of the pix below.

We stopped first at the Ranger HQ, and the ranger there (and staff) were very nice and helpful. I asked him to recommend good sites for a 5 year old. He crossed off the ones near the C&O canal with steep dropoffs. He asked me what kind of vehicle we were driving. He smiled when I said “minivan” (its NOT mine; and it does hold a lot more gear than my car), and crossed off some more sites. The site he suggested was secluded, and huge! Lots of space for Preston to run in, but also lots of shade to setup the tent. The site was about 0.7mi from a creek, and Preston had a great time catching tadpoles and throwing rocks into the water. Beautiful setting. And the best part? NO CROWDS! No screaming kids, barking dogs, loud music, or neighbors’ banging pots in the morning.

I got up early (before Preston!) and made a pot of coffee and the only sounds I heard were the birds. SO much nicer than the State Parks, which pack everyone in like sardines. They have an atmosphere akin to camping in the parking lot of a daycare center. My only regret is that I didn’t find this place sooner.

One of the last-minute, spur-of-the-moment things I picked up was a butterfly net and bubbles at Target. That was the best $6.00 ever spent! Preston wore himself out chasing bugs all over the site, and in the creek. Preston also decided at the last minute to take some of his blocks and a train set. I said, “Sure! we have room in this van! They also kept him occupied in camp while I did other things (like try to rest in the hammock – until he found me).

We are going back in ~ 3 weeks. So looking forward to that!