Camping at Lake Bemidji State Park

Our camping trip this year took us to Lake Bemidji State Park.  We stopped on the way up to picnic and look around a little bit at Crow Wing State Park.

Wednesday night, we got our tent set up and had hot dogs over the fire.  We also checked out the playground and swimming beach area.  It rained ALL night long, but it was a gentle rain that helped everyone sleep well!

On Thursday, we hiked the bog trail and saw lots of pitcher plants and some flowers along the way.

After lunch, we checked out the visitor's center and then hiked to an overlook point.  On the way, we heard thunder.  When we got to the overlook, it started to rain, then hail.  We quickly made it back to the visitor's center where we waited out the rest of the storm.

There were two more overlook points that we hiked to that evening--nice trails at this park!  Unfortunately, it was too chilly to swim while we were there.

On Friday morning, we packed up and stopped in Bemidji to see the Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues.  Then, we headed to LaSalle Lake SRA for a picnic lunch and a hike.  This park has a beautiful newer picnic shelter and natural play area that the kids loved.  Our hike took us through the prairie and up to an overlook view of the Mississippi River.  It was a warm hike, but there were lots of wild raspberries to stop and eat along the way!

We had a great time camping, so hopefully we can extend next year's trip to 3 nights or longer!

Fair time

Every year, it always seems like a scramble to get projects entered into the fair--this year was no exception!  We spent a full day baking (even Norah did some!) and went through photos, art projects, made Lego projects, and picked vegetables from the garden.  All in all, it was a big success for the girls.  Norah earned a reserve champion ribbon for a pot of flowers, and Abby earned two grand champion ribbons for her Legos and her snickerdoodles.  We took an evening to walk around the fair and check everything out.  It stormed on us, but we took shelter in the kiddie barn until the pig races started.  Dave and Norah went back on Sunday afternoon to pick up their flowers and projects.  Norah earned about $75 and Abby earned about $96.  Both were excited to do some shopping with part of their earnings!

Swimming lessons

We had a busy two weeks of swimming lessons this year!  I wanted to time it so that both girls could take lessons on the same days, so Norah took lessons at the new indoor pool in New Prague at 10 each day, and Abby took lessons at the Montgomery pool at 11 each day.  Norah LOVED her swimming lessons and had a great teacher!  She was very confident and had a blast.  Abby did really well this year, too.  She had to repeat level 3 after not passing last year.  I think we were both surprised to find out that she passed this year, and will now move on to level 4.

Dance tryouts

It was a busy week for Abby during the last week of swimming lessons.  After swimming from 11-12, she also had dance tryouts from 1:30-4.  Those were tiring days, but she still made time to practice in the evenings.  The practice paid off, and she moved up a level in dance to the group called Pulse.  She will now dance two nights a week, adding lyrical and production to her tap and ballet.

Watermelon Day

It was a hot one for Watermelon Day this year!  Dave and my dad were in Seattle for Ragnar, so the girls and I headed down on our own.  We watched the parade, then had a little bit of time to play games and for Norah to ride the airplanes.  We had lunch at my aunt Lori's and then had a shift working at the ring toss from 1-3.  From 5-7, we also helped Lori work at the food stand taking money.  Abby wasn't too interested in the rides this year, but she and Norah both rode the swings.  It was a hot but fun day!

Adventureland

We had HOT weather for our annual trip to Adventureland this year!  We were able to head down to Des Moines the night before, so enjoyed some time on the slip 'n slide and doing sparklers at Mara and Bryan's.

Because of the hot weather, we decided to spend most of our day at the water park.  First, we rode the Raging River ride and the big family waterslide.  The water park was a great way to stay cool into the afternoon!  Later on, we changed and headed back into the main park area and enjoyed some rides.  Abby was brave enough to ride on the Falling Star ride while Norah made me go on the teacups with her...ugh...

The train was our last ride of the day, and then we parted ways.  We were going to go out to dinner together, but the restaurant we wanted to go to had a long wait.  Instead, we just headed to our hotel in Ankeny and ordered pizza and everyone else headed home.