Events of the past four months: birthdays, vacations, family reunion at Topsail Island, kids started school...and about a hundred other things I'm forgetting and may or may not ever be documented on this here blog. But today is a good day to start catching up. It's the first snow! It's lovely and watching from the windows in our cozy little house, (oh yeah, and we bought a house a few months ago), The snow is still drifting down and is sticking to every twig and branch so that even while the ground is not yet frozen, the trees look like a winter wonderland. It is the most marvelous first snow you could ask for. And while Henry naps (hallelujah. Boy did he/I need it) I am going to get busy recording some recent good old-fashioned family fun:
Camping at Jay Cooke State Park
When the leaves started to turn, we decided to get up north to see the fall colors and squeeze one more camping trip in before it snowed (how well did that work out??). Minnesotans love to camp in the fall, apparently - there was nary a site available on a weekend until October 13th. Works out - since we got married on Friday the 13th, whenever one comes along we try to do something special.
I had an idea that while we were up there, we'd take a day trip to see some
lighthouses and explore Lake Superior's southwest shore. Turns out that Jay Cooke is enough of an attraction on it's own - we didn't leave the park once.
It was chilly but beautiful our first day - we watched the sun set on
the swinging bridge and clambered over giant, glacier-churned rock
formations.
"Ok, put your arms around each other, I'm going to take your picture." Ha.
That night we had a ceremonial last s'more and wienie roast and tucked the kids into the sleeping bags dressed in their thermals and hats and socks. The stars were so clear and bright - you forget about that when your usual city lights keep the sky fairly dark. It was gorgeous and so nice to just sit by the camp fire and talk to my other half. He's a good one. He's a good one to have on a camping trip too. A tent-setting up/taking down, fire-building, baby-wrangling wizard.
We cut our trip short to avoid a night-long freezing rain our last night (nobody wants to pack a co1d, wet tent). But we had our fill. We had our adventure, and then we went home and thoroughly enjoyed sleeping in our own snug beds while the rain drummed on the roof. As much as I love camping with my family out in nature, I might like that feeling of coming home even more.
*How about that camp bathroom selfie.
If you zoom in, you'll see...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
This cutie:
* #munionpartyofsix
* February 2018
