So this year's journey to Itasca State Park, the home of the Mississippi River, was a welcome break from the normal...especially for how cool it's been for July here in MN.
This year's trip was not an all-male one like 2008, this year was the "year of the Dierdorfs". (Grandma) Nancy, (Papa) Harold, Uncle Nate and his girlfriend Martina all joined us for a long weekend of tent camping.
It was a great time --- from the pics you can see the boys did some boat 'driving', their first fishing attempt (nope, no fish caught by anyone), and a LOT of bike riding (further than last year and wow those hills!). The newest and most exciting of it all seemed to be something done in the last 2 days: the FIRE TOWER. The old fire tower was conquered by Danny and Tyler even with its 100ft tall towering presence. All I can say is "wow".
We are nearing our limits on space for camping equipment with the 3 kids and both of us along, even with a newly-acquired cartop carrier for our van from a relative. Maybe 2010's trip will see us with a pop up trailer camper...
The harvest has begun. Our garden was planted in late April and early May. Our first success was our wild patch of strawberries. The birds wreaked havok until I rigged a mesh screen to cover the patch. We were picking and eating fresh strawberries throughout June. We also had several heads of broccoli. Now we are seeing peas, zucchini, and carrots. Our corn and tomatoes are coming along nicely. We have a few raspberries though the majority of our tasting goes on at our neighbor Andy's house. I think he plants raspberries just to keep the neighbors visiting!
