The Beauty of Backpacking

Here are some pictures from our backpacking adventure a couple of weekends ago...we had a marvelous time! We decided, that for our first "real" backpacking experience with Jonas we would not go far...so we chose Afton State Park (only about 45 mins or so from home) I love living in an area where such beauty is only just around the corner. The St Croix River flows just to the east of this park and our backpacking campsite was only a couple-mile hike in from the parking lot...it was a challenge getting everything that we would need into one big backpack and one small one---keep in mind that one of us had Jonas on our back, so we lost some space for packing:) We enjoyed some time at the beach along the St Croix before making the trek to our campsite...The water was still warm and the sun was shining brightly that day, so we just basked in its warmth for a couple of glorious hours knowing that these days are nearly over until next year. Our campsite was perfect...lots of sunlight, a fire ring, and a somewhat comfy tent pad---at least with grass instead of gravel:) Jason went to cut firewood at this firewood cutting station--so cool:) Below: Jason after cutting a bunch of wood and Jonas helping to carry it:) You pay $4 and then can cut as much wood as you want/need...they have it all laid out for you and provide the saw and the saw horse:) We felt like true woods people---just without the cutting down the tree part:) The weather was perfect the whole time---the night was clear and starry--and while we didn't get much sleep...as evidenced in the picture of me below..., (when Jason and I got in the tent after Jonas had gone to bed, we discovered that he had squirmed out of his bed and had fallen asleep on Jason's sleeping bag:) The whole experience was a definite success...the only challenge is now that Jonas is walking, we have opened a whole new can of worms with fire safety...we felt like Jonas hawks...watching his every move and making sure he didn't even come close enough to the fire so that if he fell he could get hurt... (here he is saying "up up" wanting Jason to spin him around one more time---we had to come up with distractions to redirect his attention away from the fire:)Fire safety was much easier when we just plopped him down and he stayed put! Camping with kids is definitely a new adventure every time as they continue to grow:)