Remember
the tent we gave Steve for Father's Day? Well, all of a sudden it was August and we hadn't used it yet! Plus, after we got back from our vacation we looked at the calendar and realized that all the weekends were full until school started. Maybe we wouldn't get that camping trip in this summer after all? Then Steve suggested going to Sibley for a couple days during the week - we know the park, it is not too far away, and we could always bail and go to his parent's house 20 minutes away in Willmar if it was bad weather. He was able to get Wednesday to Friday off, and we emailed his parents to see if they were going to be around and if they would want to come out and have a campfire with us any evening. They surprised us by calling us back and asking if they could join us camping! We didn't think about inviting them since it was very last minute, during the week and we didn't want to make his dad take vacation days, but with him having a new job, it has a lot more flexibility and he was able to move a few things around and free up those days too! Yay! It is always fun camping, but even more fun when you have someone to share it all with. Bonus of having them live so close to the park too is that they drove up there and picked out some good spots for us rather than just having to guess on a map online. =)
We headed out on Wednesday afternoon after finishing packing everything up, and we met Mom and Dad at the park and had a quick supper and started setting up camp. We explored the nature center for a while which is always fun for the kids. We also checked into programs going on at the park over the week while we were at the nature center and there was a fishing program for kids the next morning!
Steve and Papa took the kids down to Andrew Lake where there was a naturalist waiting with fishing gear for all the kids. She talked about fishing and some tips and then let them all go try it out. Our kids love to fish so they were ready to go, but the timing or the spot just wasn't the right one and no fish were caught. Still a fun morning though! And then each of them got a little tackle box to go home with.
Then we all headed back to camp for lunch. We had a cold breakfast since they were going to head out and fish, so we decided to have hot breakfast for lunch! Traditional camping food for us - blueberry pancakes and bacon fried up on our old washing machine lid pan. YUM!
After lunch and a rest, we headed back to Andrew Lake, only this time with our swimsuits on. We were in sweatshirts all morning so we didn't know if it would be warm enough to swim, but the sun was shining brightly and it actually warmed up quite a bit for the afternoon. The kids and Steve and I all had fun splashing around in the lake while Papa and Aahma watched from the beach. Aahma also took some containers along and they had fun building sand castles (or sand Carstens!) too.
Supper after swimming was also a tradition for camping - tonka toasters! And they always taste the best after a big day camping. We had pizza ones with ham and pineapple, regular cheese ones, and then dessert ones with apple pie filling.
After supper we decided to do a short hike to the top of Mt. Tom (driving to a parking lot most of the way up to start) to see the sunset. The kids got a big kick out of Papa having the same name as the mountain. =)
The next day we hiked the prairie trail, making sure we stopped at the bog halfway and found snails. Then after lunch we packed up and got ready to head home. What a fun last minute camping trip! Thanks Papa and Aahma for coming with us!
