MEA Camping - Interstate State Park

Second Annual MEA camping weekend.  We headed to Interstate State Park near Taylors Fall this year.  Nate had to work late on Friday, so I took on the challenge to drive the kids, dog, and camper to Taylors Falls.  I had Nate hook everything up so I could just go.  I am so happy that Nate had me do a few practice driving when he was in the truck to other campgrounds.  The only thing I was not going to attempt to do on my own was: back-up and set up the camper once we got to the campsite. Good thing Dann, TJ, and Gary were going to be convoying with me to the campsite to help if needed.

Our convey to Taylor's Falls.

State Parks are a wonderful place to camp.  It is so fun to go on our hiking adventures on all the trails.

Getting ready for our hike!

First adventure - Climbing the big rock.

Scenic overview!

Logan and I

Holding up the big rock.

Logan, Kaitlyn, Gavin, and Dominic

Hiking!  Gavin did pretty good.  

Cody is a city dog.  These hiking trails confused him.  He whimpered a lot on these rocky trails.

It's hard to get 4 kids to look at the camera at the same time.

TJ and the Dogs.  Cody is there just hard to see.

We made it to Taylor's Falls.  Time for a quick snack and than to head back to the campground.

Trail #2

After dinner we decided to hike another trail. 

After our day of hiking we checked out the river.  What a great day with great friends.

Gavin's Field Trip to Luce Line Orchard

Gavin had his first field trip to Luce Line Orchard.  We were the only ones there so we got to have a lot of hands on fun!  Since we were just here on Sunday - Gavin showed everyone where to go and what to do.

We had all driven separate and I had my mom's car since we switched cars back in September.  She wasn't able to drive a manual transmission car any longer.  So, I loaded Gavin up in my mom's car and threw the keys on the front seat.  What I didn't realize is Gavin had been playing with the locks and when I buckled him in and shut the door he was locked in.  Thank goodness it was a cool morning, but since Gavin was buckled in he couldn't unlock the doors for me.  Remember the keys are on the front seat and my mom has the spare set about 30 minutes away.  Good thing we know people... so I called Zach who's dad owns R&V Service and towing in Mayer.   Zach rushed over and was able to unlock my mom's car.  It took Zach about 2 minutes.  Yeah!  That was the first and hopefully the last time I lock the keys in a car.

Luce Line Orchard

It is our yearly tradition to go to the Luce Line Orchard in Watertown.  The weather was beautiful. We enjoyed the corn pit, nature walk, lunch, hayride, corn maze, and all the animals.  Here are some pictures from our adventure.

King and Queen of the Hay Pile

Gavin ringing the bell.

Hayride

Getting ready to go through the corn maze.

Gavin of the corn

Playing in the corn pit

We had a great time.  We could not have asked for better weather so late in October.

Cousin Timmy and Nicole's Wedding

Nate's cousin Timmy got married to Nicole.  We had a great time at the wedding.  I forgot to take pictures, but here is the one I did take.

Horse Rides

The beginning of October was cold.  Even though the temperatures were cool we still headed out to a local event.  Gavin got to ride on a big horse for the first time.  He had a great time and wasn't even scared.  Kaitlyn had fun, but wanted to ride on her own instead of getting lead around the field.

Gavin getting ready!

So Happy!

Kaitlyn with my friend Karen!