How's it going, Shelbyville?

      We decided to make Hampshire new again.  Rather than go to North Conway or the Kanc campgrounds, as per usual, we went to the Lafayette Place campground, which is closer to Lincoln.  North Conway has a cog railway; so does Lincoln.  Lafayette Place is a few miles from Echo Lake; North Conway is a few miles from an entirely different Echo Lake.  And so on and so forth.  The two towns must hate each other.  Incidentally, Lincoln is closer to Springfield NH than North Conway is.

       We were invited down to Lafayette to go hiking with our next-door neighbours.  There's something hilarious about driving 300 KM to sleep next to the same people who were there when you started, but what the heck, it was certainly better than some of the campsite neighbours I've had in the past (those who listen to fleetwood mac, those with shrew-like girlfriends, those who recommended micro-doses of acid).

      In this case, the neighbours had a feat of endurance in mind.  They (ok, let's be honest: it was only Genevieve) wanted to hike three peaks in a 15 KM loop.  I had enough time on the way up to realize that I was probably supposed to have done my homework on this whole venture.  Genevieve had mentioned a 10 hour hike enough times that I did pack enough food and water, but in no way had I prepared my spawn psychologically to deal with such an adventure.

        No matter.  As good luck would have it, JF was feeling like death warmed over.  We "only" hiked as far as the Greenleaf hut.  3 miles, 2400 ft of elevation.  There we fragmented for the first time.  Jean-Pierre LaRoche (AKA Guillaume) hiked back down with us, while JF, Xav, and Gen continued.  JF and Xav went as far as the peak of Lafayette then turned back, while Gen soldiered on.  She may find out the meaning of DOMS in a couple of days, but until then, hers is the glory.

Hmmm, I wonder I'll have to climb over these rocks on the way back down...

The rare Colour-capped Monkey

Smart kids, seeking shade in the 25C temperatures.

Darn!  the rocks are still here.

This guy's got the right idea.

Schmetterling

Later:  Panning for gold

And chilling out playing cards.

Ahh, camping with school

Oscar's class went on a TWO night camping trip this week.  Initially Oscar didn't want to go, but I told him he'd be missing out on a really fun activity, and I guess I convinced him.  Actually, I may or may not have convinced him.  This was one of those instances where I behaved as benign dictator and informed him of his new opinion.

He isn't opposed to camping or class activities; he just didn't want to be away from Emma and me.  In the morning before leaving he gave Emma not one but two hugs.  This is anathema to him under normal circumstances.  It was as though he was shipping out to war.

At school he was in much better spirits surrounded by his gang of buddies.

Over the next two days Emma spent most of her free time wondering aloud about what Oscar might be up to.  She wondered about every meal.  She wondered about when he was going to sleep.  She wondered if he was having fun.

When he got back, I have to admit that I wondered if he had had fun, too.  This morning I got a text from his mother saying she had given permission for him to receive benadryl for a mosquito bite.  When I got him, he looked stoned.  

I didn't have to carry him home, but almost.  He went straight to bed, not to sleep, but to "chill."  He slept for an hour before I woke him, which was a struggle.

I strongly suspect that he got twice the recommended dose of Benadryl.  He says they gave him 4 tsp, though I don't know for sure what concentration it was.  By bedtime he seemed to be pretty normal (well, by Oscar standards.)