Stiftungsfest 5K

Kieran has been in Cross Country Camp for the last few years and this year he wanted to do a 5K (3.1 miles) run.  Today was the day...the Stiftungsfest 5K in Norwood.  Sarah ran the race with him...she would be better at prodding him along than I would...

She led him through all the paces, getting him ready, putting his number on...

He was a little cranky at the start...he was cold and wanted to wear his long sleeve, hooded sweatshirt...we convinced him otherwise...

And they were off....just down from the start...

After a mile, things were still looking good (this picture was taken by our friend Missy)...

Things apparently got a little more difficult towards the finish line though...

Here they are almost to the finish line...

They finished in 29 minutes and 34 seconds...and then Sarah took off and did the course again (this time in 22 minutes and 18 seconds)....

SandVenture Aquatic Park - Goldfish Hunt

Yesterday was the last day that SandVenture Aquatic Park was open, the day of the annual goldfish hunt.  Chlorine is turned off in the pool sometime in the afternoon and then at 5:00, 500-600 goldfish are released to the pool for kids to catch.

Here's the sign that greeted us at the door....though it warmed to a balmy 67 degrees by the time of the goldfish hunt...it was the first time this summer that we went to the pool and I did not get in the water.

Picture is tough to see by the kids are off looking for fish...

We set up four buckets to put the fish in after they caught them, each kid needed their own bucket...here's Luke placing one into the bucket after catching it...

Lex sometimes needs help finding them...so Sarah helped.

Overall, Lex caught two.  Kieran and Luke both caught 10-12 each.

All the fish came home with us and were placed in the tank with the turtle.  Several were eaten quickly, some will become turtle food this week and some might survive a long time (we still have two fish living with the turtle from goldfish hunts the past few years).

With that, the outdoor pool season is finished.  Kieran became much more comfortable with going off the diving board and drop slides (if he could only figure out the front crawl).  Luke - who cannot swim well and is just barely tall enough - got brave enough to try the big slide.  He can barely touch at the bottom and has to put his feet down immediately, but loves it...

Luke's last time going down the slide this summer...

Next year he'll really be ready for the slide...

Nerstrand Big Woods State Park

After three days of uncharacteristically cold August weather, the kids and I wanted to get outside and do something.  We ended up at Nerstrand Big Woods State Park on Thursday morning where we spent the morning and early afternoon hiking and exploring.  It is one of the largest areas of the pre-European settlement 'Big Woods' remaining, plus has a waterfall to explore.

There is a deep valley that cuts through the park that has a glacial origin.  The park exists just east of the lateral margin of the Des Moines Lobe's last glacial advance 10-20,000 years ago.  Meltwater (remember, even during ice ages, glaciers melt some during the summer months) from the glacier created channels that flowed to the east towards the ancestral Mississippi River.  The Cannon River occupies one just to the north flowing through Northfields.  At the park here, Prairie Creek occupies a meltwater channel.  The creek has cut down through 150+ feet of glacial till down to bedrock, the Platteville Limestone (the water forming rock of the Minneapolis/St. Paul area).  As it flows over the limestone, the creek erodes softer shale underneath forming Hidden Falls.

Hidden Falls is a little more than a mile (round trip) from the parking area, pretty easy walk for everyone...

Just upstream from the falls, the trail continues on and there are miles of hiking trails through the woods...

The boys really enjoyed exploring downstream from Hidden Falls...

What they did not like was me staging multiple pictures in front of the waterfall...

You can access above and below the waterfall...

Luke has an interest in taking pictures (he wants an iPhone for his birthday so he can take pictures and play games) so this week we took Sarah's old digital camera and put batteries so Luke could use it.  He loves it!

And...

And...

Of course we remembered to bring our passport to get a stamp too!

Fort Snelling State Park

We've been meaning to get down to Fort Snelling State Park this summer to swim at the beach, fish or just hike around Pike Island.  Missy was flying in this past Monday and that gave us the perfect excuse to stop quick at the park after picking her up at the airport.  

We walked onto Pike Island and down by the Mississippi River.  What do you do when you see rocks and snail shells?  Of course you pick them up...

And if you see a tree with a cavity big enough for someone to fit in?  Of course, you go inside...

That cavity was big enough to fit Kieran and Luke (they both were inside of it), but we found another tree with a bigger cavity...

We went onto Pike Island looking for a pole that has some historic flood heights, turns out it wasn't on the island, but we found it anyway.  The river at the time was a long ways down behind the kids and that line at the top is 1965...

Of course we stopped on the way out for a picture with the parks welcome sign...

And we got our passport stamped...though we're not very far along with it (it would help if we had it with all the time)...

Firehouse Drive-In

The Drive-In was Friday & Saturday of this past weekend.  Lots of things to do for kids before the movies start.  (Only Luke and Lex are in the pictures, they're the only ones who stuck with me)
There are fire truck rides...

Sarah was helping with the rides...

There are pony rides...

A large pony and a small pony...which they need to ride both...

There is the smokehouse, where they can learn some fire safety...

There are bounce houses, where they spent a lot of time bouncing (even though the heat index was around 95 for one of those nights).  This picture is with Pam who was supervising one of the houses...

The movies start at dusk.  The first movie is geared towards kids (this year it was Planes - Fire & Rescue and Big Hero 6) and the second movie is geared towards the adults (Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Back to the Future).

Between the two movies are fireworks...

Viking Training Camp - Minneopa Falls

The kids and I got in the car this morning and took off.  They didn't really know where we were going, but we ended up on the Minnesota State University, Mankato campus, the summer home of the MN Vikings.  This trip was pretty much all Kieran's, everyone else was just along for the ride...

They usually have two practices, a morning walk through and an afternoon full practice - the morning session is enough for us.  The Vikings Village (what they call it) has lots of things to do for kids - bounce houses, skills competitions, games, etc.

The kids got tattoos while at the village...with all the running around and sweat, the tattoos camp off within the hour...

Once we got into the stadium...Kieran found a quiet spot where he could read the copy of Vikings Gameday that he was given...

Honestly, once the practice started, Kieran was the one who paid the most attention...

Though he said he knew where we were going because "dad, you gave us two clues...the shirt that I'm wearing and the hat you're wearing.  It's not the hat you always wear."

The picture Kieran really wanted was one with the 2014 Pepsi Rookie of the Year trophy that was given to Teddy Bridgewater...

Since we were in Mankato, afterwards we stopped by Minneopa Falls State Park to see the waterfall...

I was convinced to take a longer hike to the bottom of the falls, even though I only had flip-flops with - not the best shoes to wear on the uneven trail...

Kieran got a little nervous at the bottom, as we all probably should have been, because we're standing under a sandstone ledge that obviously collapses periodically...

Luke and Lex didn't care though...they just kept looking at all the names that people have carved into the sandstone...

Sometime in the next few years, the DNR will be putting bison at the park (just like they have bison at Blue Mounds State Park) and they're advertising that in the falls area...