The Campers

This summer we decided to finally go ahead with buying a camper. We realized that we are not a family that can rough it in a tent. Nick and I had to compromise some and finally settled on a small travel trailer. We were able to take it out twice this year. Our first trip was to Crow Wing State Park near Brainard. We had a great time despite the mosquitoes, ticks, guns for guard weekend, and heat. If we can survive all that and end the weekend feeling like it was a great success I think we will gets lots of use out of the camper. Our second trip with to Nerstrand Big Woods State Park not too far from Northfield. This trip the weather was perfect and the bugs were not as thick. We are excited to explore some more Minnesota State Parks next year!

 We rented bikes and a bike trailer and rode on the trail by Nisswa. It was the first time when doing anything athletic that I was able to keep up with Nick. It could have had something to do with him having to pull over 50lbs of kids behind him!

 No, it was not cold this day we were hiking. It was actually hot, but the mosquitoes were so bad that we had to bundle up to keep them off us. We were sure that we would come home with either West Nile Virus or Lyme's Disease. Our next hike we were pulling ticks off our pants 10 at a time. I have never seen so many ticks in my life.

 Nick sporting Faith's pink backpack. There were a few things I forgot to pack. Just a hiking backpack, ketchup for the hot dogs. All minor things right???

These next pictures are from Nerstrand Big Woods. This is Faith's new smile for pictures. I'm not a fan of it, but I guess we will have to live with it until she grows out of this phase.

This was a common sight on all of our hikes. Faith (and usually mom) at the back. She always wanders at her own pace with frequent stops to pick up acorns, rocks, dirt, etc. I had to remind myself that someday she will need to walk slow for me when I am old so I need to be patient with her now.