Still Recovering...

Last weekend I took some of my DOC kiddos up to Caratunk for whitewater rafting, camping and hiking. Not sure what I was thinking when I committed myself to this trip, but at 7 months pregnant, it definitely put a hurting on me. The kids were AWESOME, and the other clubs that were there were too. Dirigo kids bonded with Portland and Bangor Outing Club kids, and it was a pretty cool weekend. They all rafted together on Saturday, then the sun came out at camp and we played a lot of volleyball, ate dinner and enjoyed an excellent bonfire.  Next day we hiked Pleasant Pond Mountain - it was nearly 7 miles long and a pretty good hike.  This LOVELY Colby grad offered to carry my pack and with Ann urging me to allow her, I broke down and did.  It felt so good to hike without a pack - the baby and the extra weight is enough these days.  Back to DHS by 6:45pm or so on Sunday...  It was a long but good weekend.  I spent Mother's Day being a kinda mom to my kiddos.  

Sporting the club's patagucci rain coats.  It was POURING in the morning.

Thank God for chaperones like Ann.  She has/had poison ivy worse than I have ever seen in my life (she got it volunteering with trail work in Bethel the week before) - yet she still put on a wet suit and rafted the Kennebec for me and the kids.  So grateful for badass, tough women like her.

While the club and others rafted, I borrowed a car from one of the organizers and drove down Put-In Road and did a 45 minute hike down into the gorge so I could see the groups go by.  This is Jane; she is one of the other AMAZING organizers of the weekend (the other is whose car I borrowed).  Good people.  She is a San Fran native who attended Bowdoin College - top notch.  Another badass woman.

Just after Magic Hole - in Magic Falls.

Teamwork - some of the kids working on the "gear" tent.

Sunday's hike - Ming and Nicole working on a cairn together -- LOVE LOVE LOVE these kiddos.

The view from the summit - those are my friends the Bigelows - and the Loaf off to the left.

Worked a long long week and ended with my homeroom doing community service all day on Friday.  Phew - masochist much?  They were EXCELLENT in the morning, but some were a whole lot of suck in the afternoon.  It frightens me how lazy people (adults included) can be. 

The crew on the bridge over the Webb River.

Hauling trash out of Back-Kingdom's field - not as much trash as last year!!  Am I finally making progress on this section of woods and trail?

She crawled in there to see if we could get this tire out of the stream, but it was behind the rock, wedged in really tightly.  This girl impressed the heck out of me and definitely was NOT one of the energy suckers.  She rocked.

Nice work kiddos!!

Yesterday, Saturday, I took a nice long walk in the woods down to Varnum Pond with the pups.  We had gotten a bunch of rain in the morning, so the streams were raging.  It was beautiful out there.

31 weeks and 2 days, but who's counting?  Not long now...