Fifty Shades Shadier.Unplugged. A Maine Photographer

Volume two of our family camping trip to Mount Blue State Park.  One day was set aside to hike Tumbledown Mountain.  Matt and I had hiked this mountain years ago with friends but had never made it to the top...not for lack of trying...we had just gotten a late start and losing daylight was an issue...so with that in mind we planned our day to hike up in the AM.  We met lots of other hikers on the way, many on their way down with great words of encouragement..."you're almost there", and "the view is so worth it" and "there's a great breeze up there"...no worries...we were all determined to make it.  Although we never doubted that the view would be worth the hike, we were still surprised by the beautiful great big pond on the top of the mountain and the breezy breathtaking view.  Matt and Josh did a bit of fishing...just for fun, and Nick, Chloe and I just rested and relaxed.  You know how the return destination always seems to go quicker than the initial leg?  Not for any of us.  We all couldn't believe how long the hike out seemed compared to the hike in.

We returned to our camp site with plenty of daylight left for a boat ride.  Everyone pitched in to get dinner going in the dutch oven, and the boys gave me a night off of stress by allowing me to stay behind and read my "sex book".  When I say "the night off of stress" I mean that in a way only a mother can understand.  As I explained in volume one, having both my boys (or my eggs...as I call them) following behind us towing a boat is not exactly stress free.  In addition, watching them launch a boat several times a day is not stress free.  (one bummer about the campground, no boat docks to leave your boat at...we had to put it in and take it out every time we wanted to use it...bummer in one way...but great practice for the boys)...and lastly...watching your eggs gripping onto a tube as it flies through the air like a kite...not without maternal stress...

So yes...let me stay here and read my sex book. 
But do I really deserve this reaction? 
"Are you seriously going to the bathrooms to plug in your kindle so you can read that thing?"...(he says...as his mouth forms a hard line...I roll my eyes and bite my lower lip...which brings me to one more thought...maybe he'd be OK with all of this reading if I purchased myself a set of those brass balls Ana likes so much...good thing eBay's not an option today...unplugged...definitely not the book to be reading on a camping trip...in a pop up...with the family...)

one of many water breaks on the way up

That's Matt and Josh in the distance fishing...