The plants are almost all in the ground and weeds are for the moment under control. Now the next worry is the plants getting big enough for our first CSA boxes and when will it rain next. Even though there is always tons that can be done on the farm this long weekend we took a break to our favorite camping spot in the Northwoods. It will be a long time before this opportunity comes again so we felt it was important for a little R and R. Imagine my surprise at the wealth of discoveries we made on this camping trip!

The first was this deer skull. Avril took one look at it and said, “heh that’s a boy deer.” Two took a second look at it and said, “and it’s a young one.” I had no idea that they were processing this type of information from the nature stories and conversations at home.

Some of our discoveries were live. Everyone was so excited about the tadpoles. Last year we brought some home to watch them grow but when little frogs escaped in our house we decided it would be strictly catch and release from then on. Two even grabbed a water spider. We were thankful it didn’t appear poisonous.

Avril got friendly with her wild side. This is her first time actually holding a frog and once she did she didn’t want to let go. Luckily the frog escaped from her bucket when she wasn’t looking and she was glad it “went back to its family.”

Before he went back he had a ride though. Here is Hiro wondering where that frog went.

Here’s an old bird’s nest we found.

We had time to take a walk through the woods. We saw neon blue dragonflies (too fast and small for my camera), fiddle head ferns and all sorts of plants. I really want to familiarize myself with gathering wild food and this is the perfect place for it!

Here’s a tree stand Proeun’s brothers built.

My little adventurer. Never one to be left out.

This white stuff was all over the trees. I remember hearing somewhere it has something to do with caterpillars but I wasn’t sure if I heard right. If you know what this is please share.

It appears there may be moose in the area, or a really big deer.

We even had time for a trip to Duluth and the “sea” as Two puts it. It was almost 20 degrees different temperature wise and we were not prepared so unfortunately we couldn’t stay long.

All weekend long the children played well together and romped and explored the outdoors. I couldn’t help but feel that this is the way children are supposed to be and wishing we could have this all the time.