St Croix State Park Camping!

Playing Outside
After the sugar rush from the strawberry milk, we arrived at the campsite. Buttercup was very confused about what we were planning on doing but was taking it in stride. As we started setting up the tent Fred got so excited- he loves going in and out of the tent, and Millie was thinking "finally, I get to sleep outside like the real animals"

As the words of my parents continued to fly out of my mouth as we were setting up camp, we realized that she had no idea how to play outside. Each time we said, "this job is for grown-ups, please go play" she would wanter away and shrug at the campsite itself wondering what "play" meant when there isn't a play area or toys. She eventually figured out that the bush was a pretty good fort/play kitchen, and digging for treasure in the sand pit is pretty fun. She made a pretty delicious pinecone soup.

How do the smallest things take up the most space?

Bugs and Blooms
We attended a ranger program, and it was really great! It was packed with kids, and they played games learning what foods need pollinators, and what kind of animals are pollinators, made a butterfly craft, and went on a bug hunt. There was also a very intricate bee and flower costume that some kids got to wear during the program.



Pinterest Fails
From a quick search on Pinterest, I got a few ideas of activities to do while camping. One of them was Camping bingo- but we used it as a scavenger hunt. Had I looked more carefully I could have come up with a much better list, but I didn't, so we looked for a raccoon, and a hotdog on a stick, and some other things for a long time. We even ended up asking some of our neighbors if they brought their pet raccoon camping with them. Unfortunately, they did not.



Trail of Tears
We brought the bike.  The map said there were bike trails, and there was, the one we wanted to do was not paved, and not training wheel compliant. We did a different trail into the deep swampy woods. Someone couldn't keep it together. Buttercup had a total meltdown about the bike and we ended up just standing in the woods being eaten alive, waiting for Buttercup to make a choice of
 1. Start pedaling
 2. Get off and push the bike
she chose #2, but she took the smallest slowest steps I've ever seen in my life. It was the longest two miles. We all survived, barely.


Almost a Whole Hike
We went on a short hike, the plan was to do a 4ish mile hike. Roman and I started the MN state park hiking club, so we wanted to get the password for St. Croix state park. Buttercup did really well we took turns being the leader. Unfortunately, there was a thunderstorm on the horizon and we had to turn around before we got to the scenic part. We shouldn't have turned around, later I figured out we were .1 mile from the password!


What I Would Do Differently Next Time

• Pick a campground that has a playground, the one here was 5 miles away
• Leave the bike- at home. forever. 
• Bring more snacks