Camping with Cousins

  This weekend Mouse was able to spend some quality time with her Great Aunt and Uncle and her cousins from Arizona. This past winter they were up and these three hit it off. So when she heard they were coming up to visit for a few weeks, she invited herself along on their camping trip.

It amazes me how close these three are. They rarely see each other and yet they act like siblings. The oldest being 16 and the youngest 11, with Mouse in the middle at 12. They never fought all weekend.

It was also great that the three of them were up for anything. We went shopping at the Amish farms in southern Minnesota. I thought they would get bored very quickly with this, but it was the adults that said we were done.

We also went tubing down the Root River. That is always an amusing time of dodge fallen trees. The kids went tubing twice and kayaking once. Then our last day we went for a long hike through the woods along Camper Creek.

We took these Arizona boys geocaching too. They loved it, though they didn't love the mosquitoes or wood ticks. We love camping but it was made even better with family. 

~ Cassi

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Family Camping Trip ~ Trego, WI

This month was my side of the family camping trip. This year we decided to head into Wisconsin for some tubing. Now to start with tubing is recommended for little ones or pregnant people so my brother and his family took a canoe. Second, it is also very slow, so Steve and my Dad took kayaks. Third, if you have kids you should pick a quieter river and go early in the morning to miss the drunk afternoon crowds. OK, disclaimers out of the way.

We had a great time. The weather was perfect and the river though slow was a good start for our daughter to get use to it.  

The place we stayed at Log Cabin Resort, had canoe and kayak rentals for the whole day for a great price so that was fun. Also with the rentals they drove us up to their drop off site and in three and half hours we floated our way back.  

Another disclaimer: reapply sunscreen! I always forget this and ended up with some nice red legs. I don't have any decent pictures of my brother and his family because in the canoes and kayaks you go much fast then the tubes so they were always way ahead of us.  

My parents ended up loving the kayak so much that they are now looking into to buying some. Which would be OK with us because we know they would let us borrow them whenever we want. Mouse definitely loved tubing. She wanted to go again and is already talking about when she can bring a friend. 

After tubing, we headed back for lunch and ice cream. Then one little one went down for a nap while the rest of us went into town to check out the fair. Which by the way was a bit pointless but still something to do.  

For dinner we tried out our new cast iron Dutch oven. Thank you Mom and Dad for the gift. We made Dutch oven lasagna. I will brag it turned out really good. Makes me want to camp in the fall more where hot filling food works better.  

We ended the night with some lamplight cribbage. Cribbage is a tradition in our family. It is so much fun to watch my Dad teach Mouse as his Dad taught me.

~ Cassi 

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Jay Cooke State Park

This past weekend we went camping with some friends up to Jay Cooke State Park. This is one of our favorite state parks in Minnesota. It was such fun sharing it with friends. Though a few of our favorite spots where difficult or non-accessible since the huge flood two years ago, it was still fun. 

Since Steve and I were meeting two friends up there we let Mouse bring a friend this time too. The six of us had a blast. The girls kept themselves busy exploring the grounds.

They even spotted a mama porcupine and a her baby (only the mama is pictured here). The girls and I also attend a Ranger class on Wild Cats, which was really interesting. The rest of the weekend the girls looked for signs of the cats but we didn't see any.  

Here is part of our group (minus Steve and I) on one of the main sites at Jay Cooke, the swing bridge. Though this new one put in after the flood, doesn't swing as much as the last one. It still keeps to it's original look. I love this bridge and it is fun to people watch as so many are scared of crossing it.  

It is great when you go camping with people who love to do the same things you like. We did some hiking and then some hill scaling as some of the trails still haven't been rebuilt. But we had to get down to the rocks for all of us to climb around on. The girls (and us adults) I think liked the danger of crossing the trail closed sign. Don't worry the Ranger told us we could. 

We spent the nights cooking up fajitas on the fire and a s'mores bar brought by my friend that rivaled a 5 star restaurant. Camping with foodies is so much fun. 

~ Cassi

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Oh a camping we will go

Two weeks ago we spend the weekend out on our first camping trip of the summer. I love our decision that we made three years ago to buy a camper and spend more quality time together as a family. For that past two years we have gone around every other weekend camping through out Minnesota's short summer. It has been amazing.

It is such a time for us to unplug and get away. It's a time for us to listen. To truly hear what is on this little ones mind. As the days move forward and the year progress (whether I want them to or not) she will move from attached child to independent women.  

It is my hope through these trips that we establish a baseline of memories that will reminder we are here for her. That we took the time to invest in her childhood. That we want to know her, not just the superficial "School was fine" but the deep. To find out where her heart is.  

To be able to say I am here and I love you in more than words. That is why we camp.

 

~ Cassi

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Gull Lake Dam Recreation Center ~ Review

Monday I talked about why we camp today I wanted to chat about where we camped. This is mostly for those Minnesotans that read the blog or those looking to camp here.

The campground itself was pretty good, the sites were wooded enough that you didn't feel like you were right on top of one another. The grounds are simple but there is a park and river area that is within walking distance. The main bathrooms are very clean and have hot showers which is always nice. The park rangers put on a talk and activity for the kids each night, Mouse thought it was fun to learn about beaver dams. There is also a beach within a short bike ride from the camp grounds.  

We also found a horseshoe area. Mouse hasn't played before so that was fun teaching her the game. There is also a very long paved trail that leaves right from the campground. But if outdoors stuff isn't what you want to do all weekend, the town of Nisswa is just a few minutes away.  

Nisswa is one of our favorite towns to walk around, get ice cream. This town is also fun for us because of the Gull Fish chain of lakes. It helps we have friends that have a cabin there so we can get out on the water for a bit.

All in all I would recommend this location to others looking to camp in the Brainerd Lakes area.

 

~ Cassi

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Last camping trip of the season

This weekend marked the end of our camping season for 2013. It's always bittersweet to pack up for the last time. We have learned to love our time camping so much, but the every other weekend that do makes it little time to get home projects done.

But being the last trip we made sure to make it a good one. This time we went with some friends of ours and their kids. We picked a very rustic campground which made for an interesting set up, which included Steve jack-knifing the trailer into our spot, while our friends held back trees and I guided Steve. Not sure the campground should include that in their camper sites.

Once settled we had a great time, relaxing and hiking.  

We managed to get in four caches the next day at a local park. The trail left much to be desired, thankfully our friends like to hike as much as we do.  

The girls loved the river, they take after their Moms. Lisa and I discussed how we both could live next to the river and never want to leave

We also got to sneak in some historical sites, which is Mouse's favorite thing to do. She loves seeing how people lived in the 1800's. Her dream job is to work at a site in costume.

I hope you ended your season out as well as we did.

~ Cassi

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Japanese Lantern

One of the great things we were able to do while camping this summer is let off Japanese lanterns. I have been wanting to let one go forever. We had so much fun designing ours, watching them fill with the hot air and letting them go.  The night was perfect for the lantern launch.  The lanterns slowly drifted off into the night sky, some of them wobbling so much we thought they might catch on fire!  No lanterns caught on fire, the fire just slowly went out and they drifted back down to earth.

~ Cassi

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Final Trip

In Minnesota Labor Day announces the end of summer. The kids are back in school the next week and fall starts to set in. It means last Friday was one of the busiest travel dates in Minnesota. We joined the band wagon and headed out for the weekend too.
We had a little bit of a rough start. I had written down the park we were going to on the calendar so off we drove to the State Park. Two hours in traffic we finally arrived and waited in line to find out that I had written down the wrong state park. The one we were suppose to be at was 20 minutes from our house. So back we drove.
But without that detour we would have never seen this sunset over the freeway.

The next day we didn't waste time and headed out to the trails for some hiking and Geocaching.

We also did some classes at the nature center in butterfly tagging and edible mushrooms. After stopping for a quick lunch we headed back out to hike some more. This time we went off to the prairie instead of the river.

And ended the day with another beautiful sunset.

This last picture was taken and edited on my phone by Mouse.

I hope you had a relaxing weekend.

~ Cassi




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Insta Friday

This past weekend we went camping with my whole family. Mouse always has such a good time with Grandpa. They won an hour on these banana bikes. They were so funny flying around the campground together.

I like the quieter aspects of camping, like game time.

Then the weekend was over and it was time to head home, but not without picking up a few geocaches along the way. This picture is what I love about geocaching, it takes us place we'd never have seen otherwise.

But we couldn't stop with just the weekend so Steve and I did a bit of geocaching while out to lunch.

This week we also took Mouse to the State Fair. We tried some new food and returned to some old favorites. Steve and Mouse went on the Giant Slide together.

Now it's off for another weekend of camping.

See what picture did you take this week? Link up with Life Rearranged.

~ Cassi

Family Camping Trip

**First off a huge thank you goes out to my Brother for giving me advice on how to retrieve deleted pictures or this post wouldn't be possible. **

This weekend we went camping with my whole family. My parents, brother, sister-in-law and nephew. We stayed in the camper and they is some cabins at the KOA. I was a little nervous at first but the campgrounds turned out ok despite very close railroad tracks.

Saturday we headed out to hike. Our goal when we planned the trip was to hit Jay Cooke State Park, but with the flood this summer the park is closed indefinitely. (So sad) Thankfully my Sister-in-Law came to the rescue and suggested a great park just across the Minnesota border.

There was plenty of hiking and a few waterfalls. There was also beach were Mouse got to spend some alone time with her favorite Aunt.

I love getting away for the weekend. And I am so glad that my family does too. Mouse loves the outdoors and our camping trips.

We took some new family photos along the trip. Here is the new one of us three.

I hope your weekend was just as relaxing.

~ Cassi


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Off the Grid

We are enjoying a vacation in redwoods. Come back next week Or check us out on twitter (bright_forest) and instagram.

Critter Encounter

During our camping trip this weekend we got up close and personal with the wild.
No not this kind of wild...

More like this kind of wild.

Yes, one of those fuzzy little suburban wild animals made quite an impression on our Mouse this weekend. And no it wasn't the skunk. Though that would be funny, I mean not funny.
So how did we encounter such a fearsome creature. Well, around bedtime we made our final decent to the bathrooms (over two rows and up a small hill, really we were roughing it).  Everything was OK, until we went to leave. Mouse was about to leave the bathroom when she rounded the corner to find this blocking her way.

Though the way she screamed and started to cry you would have thought it was a bear. I am not sure which one was more scare the chipmunk or her. The poor frightened thing ran around confused for a bit until he found his hole and scurried back in. Our Mouse then referred to the place as the chipmunk bathroom the rest of the trip.
~Cassi