Elf Sternberg

There's no water at this campsite, so I've been running water through the PUR pump filter into our five-gallon jug, and I now know what it takes to fill five gallons teaspoon by teaspoon: it takes about an hour. Even with the river, water is pretty dear out here. I did that this morning, as I was the first to wake up and I wanted my coffee.

Kouryou-chan wanted to spend all of her time in my lap, more for her own obnoxious entertainment than for comfort, but she was very helpful making the toast over the fire. As learning experiences, Omaha and I have bought both of the girls pen knives and let them work with the fire because, quite frankly, I have no interest in raising my kids in Pierson's Puppeteer-like soft-room captivity. The world has sharp corners.

Note to self: the camp axe needs sharpening, and the cheap rubber blade cover is dead, so I should by a decent leather one.

I did the dishes while Omaha had the girls make lunches of chicken salad sandwiches. I taught the ladies how to use a camper's can key. Yamaraashi-chan mastered it right away.

We drove to Murhut Falls, pictured above. I've learned a lot about panos, including less is more when it comes to frame count. You can never have too many frames in the beginning, but picking the right ones out of the collection is just as important as having them in the first place.

We walked up the ridge, passing a herd of YMCA kids coming back the other way. When we got to the top of the ridge, we climbed down a treacherous rockway to the bottom of the falls, where I took the upper left photo. We ate lunch.

Kouryou-chan's ankle was bugging her on the way back. We worried that she had strained it in ballet, so when we got back Omaha wrapped it in an ACE bandage.

Omaha confessed to enjoying the peaceful afternoon, but was a little frustrated that with all this nature the kids and I were engaged in reading our books. She likes the outdoors more than I do, I think; I find the solitude relaxing and the exercise an extra benefit, but she's more the other way around.

Omaha decided to take a walk and disappeared for a while up the road attached to the campsite. This make Kouryou-chan freak out a bit, and we chose to do an orbit of the campsite. Soon, her ankle hurt enough that I was carrying her, but finally we all found ourselves back at the campsite, Omaha included.

One thing Omaha and I have learned is that Kouryou-chan has a very definite hunger clock and resetting it with even a little food will result in "I'm not hungry" at mealtimes. So we declined her begging for Gorp or string cheese while we made dinner.

Dinner was Omaha's Mac & Cheese; hers is made on a stovetop, while I bake mine, and the kids like both much more than Kraft, blessed be. After that we did fire-baked apples dipped in brown sugar and cinnamon, a game of Gimme The Brain, and bedtime.