Our Fancy Minneapolis Weekend

A few months ago I won a "Teacher appreciation" prize through a drawing at my Credit Union. This weekend we got to experience the Wonderful (and a tad bit weird) W Hotel in Downtown Minneapolis. We arrived and experienced Valet parking which neither of us had ever done at a hotel, we had dinner, and walked around downtown, and to the Stone Arch Bridge to see the sunset, and the bats and one fortunate raccoon. Then back to the hotel for a fantastic sleep.

Saturday morning we had breakfast at Key's and stopped at home to relieve mom & dad. It sounds like all had a good time. They were brave and took them all to Ikea and the farmer's market. Thank you so so so so much Mom & dad!
Later Pat & Donna arrived To take over for night number two.

A stay at the W Foshay, includes admission to the observation deck, and Museum. How cool!
We spied on the ushers before the game.





Seriously, we saw the roof of our house through the telescope!







I can only imagine the view back in the day, when there were no obstructions.


The museum was really interesting, I had no idea Foshay was jailed for mail fraud after the stock market crash. Things awlyas come to light when the market goes south. It was so weird, that when we got back to our room and turned on the TV, "The Lost Twin Cities III" was on, and they were talking about the Foshay.
Then it was off to Target Field!

The view from our seats.





I told FP that I wanted to learn to use a scorecard. It is a little addictive to someone who loves to track stats like me. This may be a habit.



After the White Sox won, we went down to their dugout to see if we could chat with anyone. A player popped his head up and tossed FP a ball! How cool.



We walked back to the hotel and took advantage of our 2 free drinks (about the only way we could afford to drink there), and gawk and the interesting pairs seated all over the bar.


we learned from another couple that the players were staying at the hotel. So we nursed our drinks a little hoping to glimpse a player, or announcer, but no luck.

In the morning we tried to go to one of our favorite Sunday breakfast spots, but apparently it'd been so long, they no longer do that :(

Back to the hotel, where I convinced FP to wait on the autograph hound's line to see if he could get that ball signed. I had a yummy breakfast at Key's -Sadly no autographs. Finally it was time to head home, but we convinced Pat to come with us to take the kids up to see the observation deck before we checked out.
Holy Moly, if Pat wants a Nanny job, she would be hired on the spot. She gushed about our kids, got them to clean up (the house looked way better than we'd left it), and was playing Old Maid with the bigger ones when we arrived. Thanks a million and ten Pat.

Frontenac State Park

Our second camping adventure -the first with little Leo

Well, we learned a lot.

Lesson #1 It seemed like a great idea to stop in Hastings and let the kids play at a playground before lunch. But in their eyes, it made what we'd promised them would be a medium length trip take almost 3 hours.

Lesson #2 Lock the door. Yeah, I'm a genius. I forgot to lock the front door, and just as we were arriving at the park, we got a call that our alarm system was going off. A quick call to Ry and our neighbors, determined that the wind blew the door open, everything was fine, and the cats were enjoying the fresh air.

Lesson #3 It is awesome that the DNR links to Google photos of some of their campsites. We got to see the layout before we reserved,

and I just knew that dark spot behind the picnic table at the back of camp would be a trail the kids would be able to run down -and it was. Once we got the tent set up, FP took the big kids to check out the trail leading from our camp. he also established the boundary point up to which they could go alone.


After they got back from their adventure, having stopped short, so I could get in on the fun, we went a little farther down the trail. It was pretty steep and a little rocky, difficult with a 20 lb wiggle puss on my back.


Lesson #4 $15 play tent was worth every penny. After our yucky night, I may invest in a "real" one for the kids to sleep in next year.

Lesson #5 Pinterest is my BEST camping friend. The lists! Oh the lists! And the smart creative parents who have been camping with little ones before us.
Baby gate/pen around the firepit -I thought it might be overkill. I mean, it is SO BIG, but we did not have to worry at all about kids getting too close. Until they are all big, we'll be continuing to haul this one.
Bells and whistles whistles for the big ones were more trouble than they were worth, but we'll hold on to them for when they are older and want to go off by themselves on longer trips. The bells though, were AWESOME. I bought a little velcro wrist band with jingle bells on it to attach to Leo (right around his crotch, because that was the only place with a loop). We always knew where he was! Speaking of which, while he always wanted to go where the big kids were going, when everyone was at camp, he understood the boundaries and stuck to them.

Writing your campsite number on the kids' hands. If they got lost, people would have a clue how to get them back to us! Fortunately we never needed, but nice to know it was there.

Otherwise, we ate, and explored, and ate some more, and sat byt the campfire, and had a good time.

As FP said, Frontenac must mean Land of Daddy longlegs, because they were everywhere.
We put Leo down to sleep with a preemptive car trip, and then the kids down as it started to get dark (they usually go to bed around 7). FP and I stayed up to try to catch some stargazing, and hopefully some meteor showers, but sadly, the clouds thwarted us. Once we crept into the tent, Leo woke a little and decided that now that everyone was in the tent, it must be party time. After a long attempt to cuddle him to sleep with us, I gave up and took him to the car where he could scream his head off and not bother anyone else. he nodded off after about 10 minutes strapped in his car seat.

In the morning, after all of us were a tad sleep deprived, there was lots of arguing, so FP and I decided to cut our losses, and head home. All in all, we did it. We took all three of our kids camping! It will take some adjustments of expectations, and possibly leaving Leo out until he is a tiny bit older, but I still feel like this is something we can and will do as a family at least a few times a year.

Camp Van Vac!

My longing for nature and a family vacation has taken us further. We're going back to Camp Van Vac next summer. I used to go there with my xH's family. I went for about 10 years. Every summer. Awesome place. But being an odd extrovert, going by myself wasn't very appealing. Even when FP came with me, it held a lot of memories & connections that, while good, being in that space, wasn't exactly good for me.

But 10 years later, as I watched the kids play on our camping trip, I was reminded of the kids who returned to camp year after year to see the good friends they grew up with. How they ran free at the camp. That is so appealing.

So it was decided. We're going back next year to make our own memories. YAY!

When I mentioned it to mom & dad, dad said we should look and see if they have a cabin for them. OKAY. So we've booked two cabins just up/down the road from each other.

Obsess much? Camping edition

Yes, FP has called me obsessed. I am. I love just about anything that requires me to collect a bunch of things on the cheap. A treasure hunt!


Here was my list when we got back from our first camping adventure, and the same list now.

Just about everything is checked off. I need bowls, cutlery, and a tarp. I think everything else is optional

Here is the tent we got:


Does it look familiar? It is the exact one we used at our DNR class. I figured, if the DNR thinks this tent is good enough to let beginners set it up and take it down every weekend, then it is probably a pretty okay tent. Plus, REI has a good reputation, right?  It  was a craig'slist find and is in pretty good shape. One of the stays in the rain fly was broken, so I also got to learn how to replace a tent pole section. It is so easy!

Today I decided to see if we could actually fit the air mattresses and the pack 'n' play inside the tent.

The answer, is maybe.
I have no idea if he would actually sleep in it, because he hasn't for probably a year, but if we need it, it'll be there.

Then today, when we visited Pat & Pudge, they offered us their old camp stove. Awesome!

Keeping the ball rolling

I had such a good time with our first camping foray, I want more, more, more.

more quiet
more nature
more learning

As soon as we started down the path to our campsite last weekend I felt the comfort and relaxation I get in the woods. How have I let so much time go without it?

So we made another camping date.

But this time, no one will be providing gear. So I'm hunting craigslist, making lists and spending way too much time on Pinterest.

I can Camp! @ Jay Cooke

A few weeks ago I signed us up for this program through the DNR.
You pay $40 and they provide all the gear. You just bring sleeping bags, clothes and food. They also have Conservation Corps people teach you how to do everything. I know how to set up a tent, and make a campfire, but I've never cooked real food, or camped in a campground. I wasn't sure about the etiquette and rules.

Our tent!

After setting up camp we went for a short hike to see the river and the remains of the swinging bridge.



the first time we saw the river Felix screamed, "It's got soap!" because it is so foamy. I told the kids that some people describe the water as "root beer colored" and after that, Felix always referred to it as "the rootbeer float".



Back at camp we set up a bowling game with our neighbors (and Relia's new BFFs)


But the gully behind our tent was THE place to be if you were a kid anywhere near us.



The tent was also a popular place.


We roast hot dogs on the fire at home all the time so that isn't an adventure. Instead we made spaghetti for dinner.
After dinner it was s'more time!





We had a rough night as our air mattress kept deflating, but after a few adjustments FP and I got a little bit of sleep. Felix woke up next to me and in his sweet little voice said "Momma, It's morning time!" (6:00) I led him away from camp since we were clearly the first ones up by a long shot.
After a little while, we came back and I started making breakfast. I actually made pancakes on the camp stove!

We packed out in the morning and then drove up to Duluth to visit Canal park and have a little lunch. As soon as we got there, the lift bridge went up and a huge ship came through.


Then, of course, we alternated between chasing and feeding seagulls.





We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather. It had been a long hot week with temps in the 90s, but a cool front came through to make the daytime temps an awesome 75.

I would recommend the I Can Camp! program to anyone. It was so great. They really accomplished their goal. I do feel like we can camp even with the baby along. In fact I'm already plotting another trip in the next few weeks and stalking Craig's list for equipment.