Finally, we went camping! It has been way too long. The kids and I headed to Taylor's Falls, about 1 1/2 hour away from home. Its gorgeous country and I can't believe we haven't gone there sooner. It was the kids' first time to stay in a tent more than one night. I forgot to take pictures of the first half of the trip, but we made a list of our adventures. My favorite thing is that the kids came home raving about how all the things that went wrong were the best adventures. They were so incredibly involved and helpful and competent. We had talked about the fact that they were going to have to be responsible for helping with everything along the way since it was just me (without Jim), and they took that very seriously. They took turns being charge of the fire, delegating jobs to the fire "helpers". They did dishes, cleaned up, cooked french toast one morning almost all by themselves and we all were so glad that we went. I'm a very proud momma.
Our list of memories that we made last night:
Adam got a bee sting and 29 mosquito bites and dealt with them very well
Kids ran from another wasp
We had 4 fires and each one got easier and easier to light
Kids made french toast for breakfast
We claimed the campsite, several islands, and a small swimming hole in the name of Laura, Adam and Jenny
We lost Adam's shoe in the muck, never to be found again
Laura rode her bike once in her swimsuit, just to prove we were glad to have brought our bikes
We took the longest canoe ride ever, 4 hours, and were very proud of ourselves at the end.
We love our swimming hole on the St. Croix river that is very hidden and no one else know about it
It was HOT, in the 90s and I think Laura got a bit of heatstroke, so we skipped a dinner over the fire that night and went swimming first, then came back and ate cold food and she felt better
We hiked a bit and saw one really cool, deep, smooth glacial pothole that some girls were hanging their feet in so I couldn't get a picture.
We stopped at several spots along the canoe ride and this is on of our islands that we claimed.
The kids set about making our version of a inukshuk, using sticks instead of rocks.
Laura had this awesome plan to use sticks held by pressure instead of gravity. I love it when the kids come up with things I hadn't thought of.
Can you see Laura's sculpture between the two trees in the middle?
itchy and scratchy
Franconia Sculpture Garden
