Letterboxing

We went letterboxing for the first time recently. It was awesome! We recently purchased a GPS device for geocaching, but had yet to figure out how to use it. It was a beautiful day, so we decided to try letterboxing instead. Letterboxing is similar to geocaching in that there is a hidden box at the end of the journey. A journal and stamp (typically custom or homemade) are in the box. You bring your own journal, stamp and stamp pad along. When you arrive there, you stamp yours into the letterbox journal, and write the date and your team name. Then you use its stamp in your own journal. We got our clues on how to find the letterbox from www.letterboxing.org.

We chose one in the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge.

The clues led us on an adventure where we found markers along the trail, such as a stairway, a trail number and a bench dedicated to a certain person.

From the bench, we had to walk 75 paces and then look for a lone pine tree in a group of oaks and elms. From there, we went west into the forest uphill 25 paces until we found an oak tree wrapped in vines.

There it was!

The letterbox was placed in 2006 and the last entry in the journal was from about a year ago.

We decided we were team "Treasure Trackers." We used Jia's chop from China as our stamp. We had it made for her there.




Stamping our journal.



We continued hiking and visited the Nature Center.


Jia's first shot of us!

We'll take some time to figure out our GPS device soon, but we'll definitely do this again as well!

Willa's First Day of School! Again.

Part II, The Sequel, Ditto, etc. Yes, Willa started a new school today. The same thing occurred at this time last year (due to a bad teacher who was fired the day we left). Poor kiddo. We're SO thankful that she is an extremely adaptable kid.


We had signed her up for a certain program at her old school. Right before school started, the director decided to switch it to another program that the school offered (one that we deliberately did not choose or want). We decided to give it a try to see whether Willa would like it.

Last year, she raced out of class every day saying, "Mama, I had the best day ever! Can I go back again tomorrow?" This time, she said, "Well, it's good." (She's such a sweet, positive kid.) She loved her friends in her class, but the program was very academic and she wasn't allowed to play with them, or at all really, except for recess. The majority of the class signed a petition asking for changes, but in the end, it wasn't enough. Thus far, a quarter of the class has left, including us.

Which brings us to her new school. She had a great time! I'm so happy and relieved for her. She cheerfully told me, "It's better!"

We ended her school experience with some drama. She normally eats lunch at school, but I picked her up early and we went out to lunch. When we were finishing eating, I looked at the gas station across the street and saw that it was in flames! I grabbed her and we quickly got in our car and sped away. As Willa said, "Hope no one gets hurt!" Nothing like some excitement to top off the day!

Apple Junction

Last weekend, our financial planner hosted a day at a local apple orchard. It was gorgeous out. We decorated pumpkins, went on a wagon ride, launched apples from a sling shot, did a corn maze, had rubber duck races, climbed hay bales and more!







Joe launched an apple into that small target - a seemingly impossible feat - twice! (And won free apples!)

Rubber duck races!

A corn maze adventure!




We love fall in Minnesota!

Forest Week

A much delayed post about our Forest Week this summer. We were up north - the perfect spot to learn all about the forest. Our study included both flora and fauna.

Our intrepid naturalists started by collecting some specimens for study. Mainly insects and amphibians.





We visited the Cable Natural History Museum. The theme topic there was birds.



Taunting me with their bird legs.

We also journeyed along the Forest Lodge Nature Trail.

We saw an amazing variety of colorful mushrooms along the way.


A fun week!

Harvest Hoedown

We visited our favorite farm last night for a Harvest Hoedown. We ran atop the hay bale maze, took a wagon ride, ate veggies from the garden, fed the chickens, toasted marshmallows and square danced. The girls loved the dancing, especially Jia. It was a terrific night.


















We are now looking for more places to take the girls square dancing, of all things. Who knew they'd love it so?