I created a list of items for the boys to scavenge around for and told them to take pictures of each thing with their camera. It kept them busy for about an hour! As an added challenge, I wrote words on the long list WITHOUT drawings so that they had to read everything! Items included each of our names, and then things like mat, bat, and cat. They could not find a bee, so they drew a picture of one and then took a picture of it, LOL. When they were finished, I gave them a little prize from the dollar store.
We went on a big camping adventure in Albert Lea to a very private site at Myre-Big Island State Park. Jeremy planned the whole thing, and it was really fun. You have to hike or ride your bike into the camp, so we rode our bikes. Also, we stayed for two nights instead of just one, which was a big deal for us!!
To warm up for the ride, Dallin got a piggy back on me! Then he rode in the bike trailor with Jeremy pulling him.
We rode about a mile through all types of trails… Tanner needed lots of encouragement. It was a tricky mile.
Jeremy took several trips back and forth from the car to get all our camping gear to our site. the boys liked chasing him each time he came up the path to our camp.
We got everything there in time for the fireflies to come out! There were lots and lots of them. Watching the fireflies made the whole camping trip worth it.
Oh yeah, we played with sparklers, too. I almost forgot about that!
We liked being away from other campers and having lots of forest around us!
In the afternoon we picked up a canoe from one end of the park and rowed across teh lake right up to our campsite. We ate lunch, did some fishing with no luck and then rowed the canoe back.
Tanner and Jeremy made a ramp for his bike out of fire wood. Dallin and I took a nap.
View of the lake from camp.
The view was mostly covered with foliage, but it was still pretty.
Dallin loved roasting things over the fire. We also cooked food in our cast iron skillet right over the open flame!
The boys were sad to pack everything up on the third day.
I wore my special fabric piece from Thailand to help keep the bugs out of my hair! (It’s actually from a Karen village in Thailand, which is cool because we have a growing population of Karen people in our town).
The ride out was a lot harder than the ride in! Jeremy and I were really tired at the end of the adventure. We might not be cut out for another 2-night family trip anytime soon, but it was definitely family time well spent!
