A couple of weeks ago, I told you about my husband’s cousins who are hiking the Appalachian Trail with their two children. The children were reciting from Moby Dick and Frost’s “The Road Less Traveled.” NPR caught wind of the family’s adventure and interviewed them on the trail.
While there was no recitation during the interview, everyone got a chance to have their say, including Cartwheel who told about the time they ran into some bears…
http://www.npr.org/2014/06/15/322242815/more-than-a-vacation-family-hikes-the-appalachian-trail
Jilanne Hoffmann 
Oh this was so lovely to hear, thanks Jilanne. What an amazing and inspiring family. Not to mention the fact that Nathan and Maddy’s teachers could think outside the box and realise this could also be an extraordinary education and potential for the children. I can certainly think there would have been very rule bound systems and rule bound individuals who might have nixed this from happening.
I hope the tumbling bear didn’t hurt itself! (I bet IT didn’t think the tumble was cool at the time)
Yes, I’m very happy that their teachers were so supportive of this extraordinary opportunity.
As for bears, I hear they bounce. Oh, how I love alliteration!
Seriously though, I’m thinking it’s akin to children and the “blessings of a scraped knee.” It hurts a little, but the child learns quite a bit about how to change their approach in the future.
Yes, Ii think I might have had a little meltdown too if I’d had to don socks that were frozen solid! Sounds like they’re all having great fun and storing up plenty of experiences to treasure. 🙂
Twelve miles in snow and hail and then frozen socks. Talk about adding insult to injury! But I think Mama Bear and All In handled it well. Frozen socks feel better when they’ve been warmed by a parent’s heart. 😀
Especially male parents’… 😉
😀
Bouncing bears, haha! What a charming family – I love that they brought their dog too.
I still found this whole six-month hiking idea a tad weird — there I said it. But, hey. It works for them.
Yeah, I don’t think I could picture you warming up frozen socks in the morning. But I could picture you arranging the pine cones at the camp site in some sort of orderly array.
If you every did try this, though, I’m thinking that you’d end up with plenty more stories to tell at the end of the trip. Something from the bear’s POV. 😀
Perhaps your right. But, alas, we shall never know…
What terrific family memory they created. So inspiring.
Yes! And if it gets any more inspiring, I may not be able to stay put. My husband and I traveled quite a bit before we had our son. Now that he’s ten, maybe it’s time to “get out there” again.
Ten seems like a good turning point. My wife and I are thinking about the same thing with our boys. If you decide to light out into the territories, Jil, just make sure there’s wi-fi so you can chronicle your adventures for all of us!
I’ll be sure to give you a 📢 when we do. 😃 I was just experimenting with Chrome’s inserts. Apparently, they don’t work in WordPress. Anyway, I’ll let you know. Cheers! 😀