Pumpkins and Power Tools - Canceled

A few weeks ago we planned a Pumpkins and Power Tools party... unfortunately we had to cancel it. Kaitlyn woke up Saturday morning with a horrible sore throat and a high temp... this could only mean one thing... STREP THROAT!  We headed to the Target minute clinic for a quick throat swab to confirm and hopefully gets some antibiotics.  Kaitlyn is the only one in our household that seems to get Strep throat. That's good and bad... Good that we don't have more sick days on the books and Bad because this is Kaitlyn's 5th time getting Strep in the past year!

Since we had already picked out our pumpkins we needed to find an evening to carve.  Tonight was the night!  Here are few pictures of our carvings....

Gavin was not about to put his hand inside the pumpkin.  He was more interested in the tool that helped scrap the inside.  Mommy had to do all the dirty work.

Kaitlyn on the other hand loved getting her hands dirty.  After we were done carving pumpkins I think she spent a good 30 minutes just making pumpkin/seed pies with the insides!

Gavin wanted his pumpkin to say BOO!

The beautiful sharpie drawings were Gavin's contribution to his pumpkin! 

The finished pumpkins!  The kids loved carving... we are hoping next years event won't be canceled due to illness!

Fall Camping - A New Tradition

We went on our last camping trip of the season this past weekend.  Most private campgrounds close October 1st, so we headed to Whitewater state park for the long MEA weekend.  Three other families joined our fall camping adventure.

Whitewater State park is located in-between Rochester and Winona in beautiful bluff country.  The camping area is located down in a valley, so Verizon carriers had no phone service.  (It was actually a nice vacation from facebook, emails, phone calls, and text messages.)

The weather was pretty chilly, but since we all have homes on wheels and have the luxury of furnaces (or space heaters if you choose to forgo your furnace.. wink wink Dann).  I packed all our winter gear so we could spend the majority of our time exploring the park.

Friday was the nicest day so several of us headed out for a long hike.  There were 6 adults, 6 kids (oldest 3rd grade, the youngest 2 1/2 (Gavin)), and one Dog.  It was right after lunch that we headed out on our big adventure.

Heading out on our hike!

The beginning of our big hike on the bluffs.  First obstacle is hundreds of steps.   

Waiting for everyone to catch up.

Here the steps are getting steeper!

We made it to the top!  Or at least near the top.

All the kiddo's who joined us on our hike!

Going up higher!

Everyone found a walking stick!

Another beautiful view!

Trying to walk cross fallen trees.  At first Kaitlyn was scared, but than with a little help she made it across!  Way to go Kaitlyn!

Gavin's turn!

Gavin spent a lot of time on Daddy's shoulders!

Making our way down!

Nap Time!  Gavin slept for about 45 minutes of our 3+ hour hike!

We found an awesome walking stone bridge!

Emily, Kaitlyn, and Nate

We also found a tree that a beaver was working on cutting down!

Posing!

Kaitlyn pretending to be a beaver!

Sonia helped carry Gavin during his nap!  Thank you Sonia!

I love this picture of these two!

We made it full circle!  Gavin woke up and had to brush off his shoes!

While we did our hike, Nate had the Map my Run App going to track our steps.  We went 4.8 miles in about 3.5 hours.  All the kids did awesome and there was hardly any whining during the whole hike!  All of the adults were impressed with the kids!

One of my favorites of Emily and Kaitlyn.

The rest of the weekend we spent doing little hikes, sitting by the campfire, and learning about walking sticks at the park learning center.  Saturday we did make a trip to Winona for lunch because it was raining!

We had a great fall camping experience and can't wait for next year!  Which State Park should we go to?