Tales of a Shoebox Princess

Christian has learned to sail a boat and offered to take us out on the lake to experience his new skill. He brought Jackson along as well, who was very excited. When we got to the dock, he immediately got down on his hands and knees to fiddle around with the water. He wanted to play with the lake weeds. Also, notice the strap in the back. This will be important later on. Here's the boat being brought to us by a guy in a dinghy. We are ready to relax and let Christian sail us around Bde Maka Ska Jackson fit nicely in the covered storage area. It was a lovely day Christian handled the tiller and all the ropes with ease. Enjoyment on our various faces Jackson is contemplating getting off the boat into the water. That strap that I mentioned earlier? It's good for holding onto a boy who wants to lean over the edge of a boat and scoop water. He did that several times. And again. He loved playing with the water. Very picturesque Picturesque AND Jackson playing in the water. Finally, D...

On our way home from House on the Rock, we stopped at 2 more state parks, Beaver Creek Valley and Great Bluffs. We have now visited every state park on the eastern border of MN (and there are dozens). Our tally is up to 43 (out of 71 necessary for finishing the passport).  Pictures (which loaded in reverse order and I don't want to spend time moving them around):  Our knees were trash just a little over a mile into the hike so we found a spur trail that led us back to the main road, which PASSED THROUGH A STREAM. Luckily there were cement blocks to walk on. The path went right over the edge by the tree trunk in the middle. It looks like you go right off the edge. We didn't but IT LOOKS LIKE IT. I almost turned around at this point and went back the way we came because I was just about to NOPE going over the edge. I love flowers It was a gorgeous day and a lovely view The park is straight down from that jutting rock. There's a road down there.  lots of green We found the h...