YAY CAMPING!

For the first time since Elise was a baby, we went camping.  I think I'd forgotten how much I missed it.  We went with Mark's parents to Jay Cooke State Park.  The park is beautiful, and we all had fun.  It's nice that the Visitor's Center and pretty much everything there is within easy walking distance.  Some of the other parks we've been to, you have to drive to get to the walking trails, and stuff like that.  They also had several programs for families and kids.  The girls loved that!  They kept calling the Naturalist at the park the "family teacher" because she was teaching our family about things like bats, flowers, and stuff like that.  

During several of our walking excursions, Lily rode in a carrier on my back.  She has a harder time walking over uneven areas, so that seems to work best for now.  Hopefully soon, she'll be able to do it all on her own!  I took this pic by holding the camera over my shoulder and shooting.  I thought it turned out pretty cute!

Elise thought she could slip and slide everywhere because she had her rain stuff on.  I should mention that the day we arrived it had been somewhat rainy.  Everything was muddy, and some of the trails were a bit washed out.  The girls wore their rain boots most of the weekend!

Daddy showing the girls how to tell how old a tree is.

Our family

The swinging bridge.  It's really quite beautiful there.  Hmm....I don't know if I added in any pics of the rootbeer water....I'll have to check on that...

After seeing all the beautiful rootbeer water, we were all craving some rootbeer floats back at Grandma and Grandpa's camper!

Near the water...

Climbing around

Daddy and Elise

Now, I'm no "mushroom" person, but I do believe this is the MN State Mushroom:  the morel. And, no, we didn't pick it or try it out.  I don't do fungus!

Mark and I went off hiking on our own Saturday morning while his parents stayed with the girls.  We wanted to check out some of the hike-in camping sites for backpackers.  It was a beautiful day!

This fern-like plant is called horsestail, and it grows all over there, like grass.  It's really quite soft and feathery.

This was us eating breakfast Saturday morning....pancakes with banana boats (bananas with marshmallows, chocolate chips, and brown sugar, wrapped in foil and cooked on the grill or fire).

Leah wanted to try out daddy's flashlight.  We gave the girls a choice of where they wanted to sleep, in the camper with grandma and grandpa, or in the tent with mommy and daddy.  Leah slept in the tent both nights.  Elise and Lily spent the first night in the camper, then the second night Elise stayed with us in the tent too.  Lily was a camper girl both nights.

Okay, we're back to the hike again....this was a bridge we crossed over on our walk.

The two of us.

Scenic view

This is us in front of the scenic view.

You can't really tell from this picture, but boy, were we getting muddy!  Why did we even bother with showers??!

When we got back from our hike, the girls surprised us with bouquets of dandelions.  I'll never be convinced they're only weeds!  

This is the trail we had to forage through because....

....the main trail was pretty washed out.  Mark was ready to give up and turn around, but I said, "Oh, let's just see where this path through the trees takes us!"

Here's the site.  They even provide you with a nice metal hide-a-meal locker to keep your food safe from bears, a worthwhile perk!  

Mr. Toad that we encountered on our hike.

Another pic from the Dandelion bouquet.

This little mite or whatever is the brightest tomato red bug I've ever seen!  Mark found it as we were walking along.

There was a hill full of ladyslippers (the MN state flower).  We'd planned to go on a hike later in the afternoon to the ladyslipper hill, but Mark and I inadvertently found it first!  We still went again later with his parents and the girls though.  

More pretty flowers...not sure what they are.

I don't know what these are either, but I thought they were pretty.  Apparently the reason many flowers have striped centers is because it tells the bees where to fly to pollinate them.  I guess they see the stripes like infrared lights, honing them in where they need to be.  WOW!  

Leah, taking a load off.

Elise washing her hands in a mud puddle.  Mark thinks maybe I'm a much more relaxed camper these days, because I didn't freak out at this.  Well, how else was I supposed to react?!  It's not like there was a handwashing station in the middle of the woods!  

Leah and Grandpa

This flower is called Jack in the Pulpit.  It's in the lily family.  I thought it was kind of cool looking.

Lily was O-U-T!

Sunday before we left, we decided to explore the camping area a bit.  They had lots of rocks great for climbing, so here are a few pics of that.

View from the ground.

Elise LOVES the walkie talkies!

Reading a book during a quiet moment.

Sometimes I'm amazed at how big she's getting!

Elise and Lily.

Okay, now these are ant hills.  Yes, ANT HILLS!  I'd never even seen an ant hill this big!!  'Course, after we figured out what it was, they were all over in that country.  

Lily didn't want to walk by herself, but I told her she needed to.

Not sure, but it looks like this is some sort of baby snapdragon.

More pics on the rocks.

This was taken down by the water again.

Grandpa and Lily

Mark

Elise

The rootbeer water of the St. Louis River

Our tent site.  We had the blue tent for the girls, but we didn't end up using it.  They just stayed in our tent with us.  

Lily on my back again

Driving home....goodbye Jay Cooke!

Elise's big dandelion!

Lily

It was a beautiful weekend.  The mosquitoes were bloodthirsty, and I've never seen (nor picked off) so many ticks in my whole life, but we had a blast!  Can't wait to go again!