camping adventures

We went on three camping trips over the summer.

In June, we went camping with Grandma and Grandpa at Lake Shetek State Park.  On our way there, we stopped at one of our favorite stops: Minnesota's Largest Candy Store.  We also had lunch and explored Minneopa State Park.  Minneopa State Park is special because it is where Bryan and I had our wedding reception!  The kids had only been there when they were very little, so they didn't remember it.   

It was our first time visiting Lake Shetek, located in southwest Minnesota.  I picked it out because it had camper cabins, a beach, and a bike trail. It was also a great location, located midway between us and my parents.  So they met us there.  We had great weather and the park was not too big or too busy, a really nice trip.

The bike trail was a just-right 6-mile loop into "town", where we discovered a railroad museum.  It was closed, but we enjoyed looking around at the outdoor elements.  The town did not have much to offer.  The beach was very small, but the lake was a good size and fishing was fun. Overall, I would go back, considering the location.

In July, we squeezed a quick overnight in at Bunker Regional Park, which is less than an hour from us, but the kids had never been there.  I wanted to go there because it had a waterpark and a disc golf - two activities we sought out plenty over the summer!  It was the only time we tent camped, although I believe the park has cabins if you plan far enough ahead.

Over Labor Day, we made our way to southeast Minnesota for one last summer adventure.  Our first stop was the National Eagle Center in Wabasha.  This was our first visit. It was nice, but a bit crowded for Covid times.  The town was also hosting "Septoberfest" and had lots of oversized yard games in a public area along the river.  From there, we went over to Whitewater State Park, which also had camper cabins and a beach but no bike trails.  They should definitely add one between the campground and beach, as we ended up driving back and forth. The beach was a very powdery sand rarely experienced in Minnesota.  It also had a nice hike in the bluffs and a small gift shop.

About an hour south was Mystery Cave State Park.  I loved the tour.  The kids were less impressed and anxious it get back to swimming and beach volleyball.  We ended our trip with a stop for lunch at Casey Lake State Park.  This park is small and mostly rustic, but had a large open area for picnicing and throwing the football around.

If you want to see some really cute footage of uncensored Lydia, be sure to watch the highlight video.

Brett and Lydia's track highlights

I'm on a mission to get the blog through the summer months before we are into full-blown winter sports season. So here we go with track!

Initially, it looked like the Special Olympics would be holding a modified track season, but plans fell through when our delegation was unable to fulfill all of the covid protocols.  By this point, I was really looking for ANYTHING for Lydia in particular to do with some peers - since she had done online school the full year. So I signed her up for recreational track in a neighboring city.  They were in need of a coach for Lydia's age group, so Bryan inquired about volunteering.  During the conversation, he told the director about Brett and asked if he could also be a part of the team (it was supposed to be through 6th grade).  The director allowed Brett to join as a "team captain".

While the Special Olympics has lots of events for athletes to participate in, unified partners (non-disabled peers such as Lydia) only compete in the relay.  This year Lydia had the opportunity to try out and compete in many different track and field events.  Since she had just trained for and run the Frozen 5K, she did not shy away from the longer-distance runs like many kids her age do.  She enjoyed pushing herself in the 400m and 800m. 

By the 3rd of four meets, she was ready to give the 1500m a go, and she competed in that one at the last two meets.  Lydia does a great job of keeping some gas in the tank for the second half of the race, and that is where she would sometimes pass up her competition!

Brett loved trying all the different field events.  He was a consistent 100m and 200m dash runner.  I think his favorite was the relays.  He tried the 4x400m relay, but since he did very little 400m training, the distance was a little too much.  At the end of his leg of the race, he fell to the ground, exclaiming, "Long race! Long race!"  After that, he stuck with the 4x100m relay!

Lydia's personal bests:

400m - 1min 19.67sec

800m- 3min 20.5sec

1500m - 6min 44.22sec

Brett's personal best:

100m - 16.23sec

Reggie's Baseball Highlights

This was Reggie's last year of Little League!  

There were a lot of lowlights to his season, but we won't talk about those.  

The highlights were:

It was basically a "normal" season despite Covid-19.

He got to play with one of his friends he has played with since 1st grade.

He has pretty much settled into the position of centerfield, but also got to pitch way more than he has done in the past.

He hit 5 out-of-the-park homeruns during regular season games!  The league has a tradition of signing the dugout when you hit one over the fence.

I love watching him play baseball!  

last day of school, etc.

I'm back to being a month behind on posting to the blog.  Life must be picking up pace after a 16 month slumber. It is certainly evident in our calendar app, which was nearly bare in June 2020.  June 2021 had sports scheduled every day except for two. 

The weekend before Memorial Day weekend, there were many gatherings and events to mark the anniversary of George Floyd's death.  We went to a park that had murals displayed.  The murals were preserved from the plywood that had covered windowfronts during the riots. The park was near the sight of his murder, so we walked over there again.  The intersection was still closed as a memorial, though the city has since reopened it.

We also attended a Saints game.  At the time, the stadium was at 50% capacity; now it is fully open.  The Saints are now a AAA team for the Twins, so some of the players are familiar names, and they play other AAA teams.  Still the same fun atmosphere!

We didn't have any big plans over Memorial Day weekend.  We went bowling with some friends and went to a disc golf course. We grilled steaks and had fresh salad from our garden.  The salad was what we started in a plastic bin on the patio in March and transplanted into the garden for about a month, so that experiment was a success. 

Our refrigerator quit working.  We had the frig 1 year and 3 weeks - no warrantee.  Bryan did some research and tried a few things, then decided it was a lost cause.  Appliances should last way longer than a year! 

We had a very late last frost over Memorial Day - about three weeks later than normal.  Then it became very hot and dry.   My tomatoes and peppers were already in the ground but no harm done thanks to a little protection from the elements.  My beans got planted late.  Reggie wanted to grow watermelon.  I don't really have the space or the sun for watermelon.  We're attempting to grow them in pots on the south side of the house.  I'll let you know if it works. 

June 3rd marked the last day of school for all the kids.  

Reggie spent the most time in in-person learning at 71 days.  During the whole time, there was only one reported case of Covid at his school and he didn't have to quarantine because it was a 3rd grader.  Reggie was involved in a new club called EmPowered that learns about and promotes energy conservation.  He participated in Young Scholars again and took advanced math online.  Because Reggie wants to play percussion in middle school, he is also taking piano lessons.  Due to Covid, the 5th grade didn't get to go on their 3-day nature camp this year either (so Brett was the only one who participated).  It's hard to believe we are all out of elementary kids!

Lydia and online school were a pretty good fit.  She's a homebody by nature and easily works independently.  I have a feeling this past year has prepared her for independent learning opportunities in the future.  Lydia went inside the school building four times: once for her school picture, two days of state testing, and one day she was supposed to have state testing but there were technology problems (so it was study hall).  She played the mallets the first half of the year and the trumpet the last half of the year.  I think she will stick with trumpet. She was on the A honor roll for the full year and received a student of the month award from her band teacher.

Brett spent a total of 51 days in in-person learning.  He was on the honor roll every quarter.  He was also on the yearbook committee.  He favorite class is gym. Usually the secondary kids go to the local theme park on a field trip on the last day of school.  Due to Covid, Brett hasn't gotten to go yet.  This year, they walked to a park and a candy store.  Maybe 8th grade will be the year he finally gets to go to Valley Fair!  Also, note that Brett is 5.5 feet tall and I had to buy him size 11.5 shoes!