Campfire Cooking

by Megan

Last night the four oldest kids camped out in the backyard yet again, so that Nathan can check off March on his way to his Scouting Year-Round Camper Award.  (We camped out at the very end of February and just left the tent up until March.  Saved us the effort of taking down and putting up again.)  The temperature was just below freezing, but we all stayed warm enough in our layers of clothing and piles of blankets.

We woke to a beautiful morning- the birds were chirping, the air was clear and crisp, and the sun was just peeking over the horizon.  Planning to cook breakfast, we decided to start a campfire.  However, the ground was covered in frost.  Wood hadn't dried out after the recent rain, instead it had frozen.  We tried for almost an hour to light our damp twigs.  We were nearly ready to call it quits when we finally succeeded in maintaining a flame.  An old tin can served to boil water and hot cereal was made.  Aside from a little ash in our food, breakfast turned out well.

Later in the day, I decided to try baking chocolate chip cookies in the fire with the Dutch oven.  Hannah helped me mix up the dough while Nathan built the fire.  We covered the oven with coals and waited.  When I checked it, it was underdone and the coals had lost most of their heat.  We placed the oven back in the firepit and Josh helped me build a new fire around it.  When we checked it again, the cookies had slid together into a burned mass, which looked nasty but actually tasted pretty good- crispy and sweet.  Josh, Ben, and I devoured the entire batch.

We resolved to try again with the remaining dough, hoping that we had learned enough the first time to improve our technique.  This time the cookie bars came out less burned.  Nathan made nasty faces while he ate his and complained that he was gagging on the wretched taste.  The rest of the family didn't seem to mind too much.  Josh and I thought they were yummy, but not as good as the first batch.

We will continue to experiment with campfire and Dutch oven cooking.  Eventually we'll learn how to make food Nathan can eat without gagging.

Hiking in Mud & Ice

by Megan

The whole family went for a short hike this afternoon.  The trail alternated between squishy mud and slippery ice.  Everyone had rubber or waterproof boots- except Mommy.  Daddy had to carry her piggyback over the muddiest sections.  I wish I had brought my camera.

A cold breeze was chilling my unprotected ears, so I asked Hannah, who was riding on my back, to cover my ears with her mittened hands.  This worked so well that Nathan begged to carry her as well so his ears could be protected.

When we reached the end of the trail, we were treated to the sight of the waterfall, swollen frothy white from the melting snow and yesterday's rain.  We had to keep a close eye on Ben and Hannah to make sure they didn't fall in.  Stubborn Hannah insisted she wanted to put her feet in the water.  She couldn't seem to comprehend that it would be over the tops of her boots in an instant, despite my repeated attempts to show her the depth.

Another Hannah Haircut

by Amanda

Hannah kept getting food in her hair, so she was given two choices: 1.  let me put it back or 2. let Megan cut it.  She refused to let me do it so Megan cut it.  However, problems arose.  One side was shorter than the other.  In the process of fixing it, her hair ended up an inch shorter than intended.  It's still very cute.