Minnesota and WW camping weekend

End of summer....we need some fun and distraction. So off to Mpls we go!

A little shopping at MOA.  Nothing better than a Lakers/Dolphins cup to remind you of your trip to Minnesota!

Then off to a nature center that we never went to. The boys did not seem all too thrilled to go hiking...I guess i wore them out on vacation, but this frog made out of recycled materials looked pretty cool.

And they had this climbing wall that was fun also, so it wasnt complete torture.

Next stop for torture...WhiteBear Lake. There use to be a beach here....sadly not the case anymore. There were tears, but what can I do.

So what to do...go to the only place I know for sure there was a little water to cool off, the park by our old house.

I guess if you throw money into anywhere kids will jump in to find it.

For dinner the boys wanted Lola's, featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Wine and beer for everyone! Cheerwine and Rootbeer.

At Lola's you can get your picture taking in the photo booth, Jamison was practicing his funny face.

Peter gave his funny face a little too late!

We hit downtown St Paul for a little food truck action. We never ate from a food truck! We also needed a cupcake from a winner of Cupcake Wars. (can you tell we watch too much FoodNetwork)

Last time we were here we said we need to check out the capital. The boys were not pleased with this idea. You cant see their grumpy faces here...

but you can here. I was going to use all of my 45 minutes that I paid for in the meter! I am the worst mom ever! Then off to Lake Phalen, a beach that was open! We had fun until the rain came. Rats!

Later that night we met up with Lily and Lucy for dinner. The restaurant even had another Lucy there! Thanks MaryAnn for letting us stay, it was a great break before school starts!

The following weekend we had our annual WW Family Camping Extravaganza! 15 kids (8boys and 7 girls), how can you not have fun!!

Everyone did have fun, until Peter's near fatal bike crash. Boy was that nasty! Nothing broken, but he needs to regrow a bunch of skin! Ouchy-mamma! Thanks ladies and families for a great weekend.

Now one more week til school starts! Yippee! (the boys say boooo)

New family members

So, when the boys were 4 they wanted a pet, not accepting that the dog and cat that we have were their pets. I fooolishly said that when they are 8 they can have a pet. The day has come. The boys have done their research. Jamison selected the mountain horned lizard. Meet "Buddy"

We emailed Uncle Matt for more information (since he was a Petsmart employee and experience with many lizards) and he sent us a surprise. We learned that Buddy wants a 4ft tall enclosure so he can climb and a source of moving water. YIKES. We can not provide that.

 So after some discussion with Petworld, Buddy was returned to the store and a new lizard was picked out. Jamison was sad, but understood that we can not give him a happy home.

Meet "Speedy" the curly-tailed lizard. Something more our style. Although Jamison learned that he likes to dig under the sand....in a panic Jamison could not find him. While removing all the stuff from his home, and thinking the worst, we fingered through the bedding. Sure enough we found him, happy as a clam hiding in the sand. All is good.

There was a lot less drama around Peter's new friend, "Wacky" or "wack-a-mole" or "wack-a-doodle" the Robo dwarf hamster. He is a cutie! Peter loves putting him in his ball, even if he pooped on his bed. Let's hope Indy the cat doesnt find him!

Vacation in Canada EH

Vacation! This year we did the north route of Lake Superior's Circle Tour. With a whole week in Canada we are sure to come home with an accent.

First stop, pretty much to eat lunch and stretch out legs, was Split Rock. Pat and I visited this area when I was pregnant with the boys...do you think they remember?

 I even think we have a picture of us in this very spot...but that was in the days of film cameras so I can not post it for a "good ole days" reference.

We did a lot of hiking and the boys fought about who got to lead. This hike was wide enough that they could both lead. One of my favorite Jamison quotes of the trip -"The best part of vacation is that you dont have to listen to your mom and dad." Sorry buddy, I dont think so.

Ah Lake Superior...rocks and water. What is the difference between these two photos?

Yup, you guessed it, Jamison is in his undies. I dont know how many times I said "careful on wet rocks, they are slippery" Pretty much every hike we came back with out an article of clothing and usually bleeding somewhere.

And yes, that went for Peter too!

First provincial park, Sleeping Giant, right outside of Thunder Bay. Can you see the sleeping giant? From left to right, feet/legs, chest, adams apple and head. Our first night camping a few crazy storms came through. Thunder around Thunder Bay was amazing...long rumbling, echo-y. We managed just fine in the storm, not very wet. Our neighbors did not make it as well. We were told there were a lot of skunks in the park. Our neighbors camped with two husky-like dogs. heavy storms. I dont know if the dogs were inside the tent or not. I woke up to the smell of skunk and the sound of a puking dog. By morning the neighbors were already gone. We suspect that one of the dogs got sprayed by the skunk and they abandoned the rest of their weekend because they had to deal with wet, skunk-smelling dogs. Yikes.

Our camp, home for three days.

Jamison's best cuddle friend (at this moment) is Knaw Logerson, a beaver. On our trip we visited Fort William Historical Park, the "worlds largest fur trading post". Jamison had to report back the horrors to Knaw....this was made from the belly fur of  beaver!

The entrance, the boys were not all that thrilled to get their pictures.

The room of horrors, Jamison described this terrible site to his cuddle friend. Good thing he wasnt here.

We learned that our boys would not have survived in the fur trading days. Peter thought churning butter was way too hard to do, and why wouldnt you just go to KwikTrip to get some.

We watched this woman give this guy a haircut. We told Peter that he should be next!

We caught the reenactment of a voyagers arrival, with cannon shots an all!.

Pat's favorite part was this "RV", the wheel is almost taller than Peter. He thinks next time we should travel this way.

Next on our day trip, Kakabeka Falls.

And a hike to Little Falls. Pretty Hike, quiet part of some woods, definitely little falls.

I forgot to pack the marshmallow roasters in our camping gear, what was I thinking!, so the men fashioned one old style, Jamison was excited to use his pocket knife.

I think smores taste better from a handcrafted roasting stick rather than ones from Target.

Finally Amethyst mining. We visited the largest depost of amethyst in Ontario (maybe the world) and went mining ourselves.

Peter worked really hard on this one but we determined that it was a little too big to bring home so we took a picture of it.

The boys could have stayed here all day and our car would have been hundreds of pounds heavier.

We passed an awesome beaver lodge, Jamison had to hold on super tight so Knaw wouldnt run away.

Some of their treasure. This will look nice in their collections.

Next stop, Ouimet Canyon (pronounced We-met)

Jamison was having a rough day listening. When, as a punishment, he had to hold my hand he declared "you are more nicer to my brother because he is younger!" Sorry buddy, 1 minute is not all that "older".
Off to the next spot!

Neys Provincial Park

Next stop, Neys Provincial Park. Our campsite was on the beach and the boys spent many hours building driftwood forts and jumping waves. The past couple days were really windy, making for some really fun wave jumping.

Action shots!

We lost one! I am sure he will show in in WI somewhere.

Nope, we found him. A Peter-sicle. He was having loads of fun! Then intstantly cold. Too cold.

Studly men on the beach! They still are tickled pink to know that boys can run around with no shirt on but girls cant.

For dinner, steak. When a man eats steak he can use his pocket knife.

The next morning the beach was a whole lot calmer and the boys could not wait to get out there, so off in their PJs they went.

Peter's "unhappy camper" shirt is very fitting for today. Continue on to learn why.

Happy little hike along the "Under the volcano " hike. Wet rocks. Parcour inspired boys who think they are invincable....

And now, you have Peter wearing Pat's shirt, my jacket and dripping went. He is his now "the king of the world" but 15 minutes before he met his fate, chest deep in water, with no skin on his knees.

The jump he missed.

This area of Lake Superior is so beautiful! (even with a wet-bleeding kid)

Neys was also a POW camp in WWII. Not many things remain from that time, but I would have to say, if I was a POW I would like to hang out around here, even with this giant fish.

Yes, the classic "name in the sand" photo.

On our way to Pukaskwa National Park we stopped at Pebble Beach. Pebble Beach also had a lot of fun drift wood to climb on.

Pebbles....I would call them more like polished rocks

Another beautiful hike, but this one a bear was spotted along the trail...so it was a little more exciting. Unfortunately (or fortunately) we did not see it.

Soooo pretty!

but Jamison had it, he was done, did not want any more of these "stupid hikes." "Why cant we go on vacations with planes and a hotel!"

So we had to see the wawa (goose) sculpture in the town of Wawa. Not to be confused by the wewe, a snow goose. The town of Wawa is where we found Ontario's version of Wall Drug, but really small. They did however have good icecream and some fun treasures. (to be featured in the next post)