Lukie's Happy Place...Again...

So we've been to a lot of Cologne Hollanders (the town team) baseball games over the years...and continue to go...we know a lot of people and frankly, Lukie likes fetching foul balls...

Tonight Lukie had a game of his own but was granted permission to go to the Hollanders playoff game afterwards with me (this was Game 2 of a Best of 3 series, Cologne had won Game 1) in the hopes that Cologne would move onto Regions...

After his game, he was cold, hungry and thirsty.  He was apparently dropped off at his game without long sleeves (it is a rare cool July night, I had pants and long sleeves), no water, no hat and had a drive-thru burger...

Well, when we get to the game we were able to fix all of that...we rolled the sleeves up on my shirt (it was still a little long for him), while I went in short sleeves...we got him a gatorade and a cheeseburger (which he devoured both, that's rare for him to finish a gatorade like that, it usually ends up in the refrigerator)...

But when he was ready, he was off fetching foul balls...except in Watertown, they give candy, not money for each ball.  So I think he ended up with two pieces of gum, one ring pop, two blow pops and one dollar bill (a new guy gave him a bill instead of candy)...

Lukie had a good night, once we got everything figured out for him...

Lex's Birthday...

Yesterday was Lex's 8th birthday and she had been telling us for weeks that it was coming...

She had the whole day planned - breakfast had to be waffles...lunch was going to be Mac & Cheese, cake and presents after lunch...

But it takes Lex a long time to eat, so Lukie had a long time to wait too...

Then it was time for cake and presents...

She did a good job with the candles, Lukie didn't help much either...

Then it was time for presents...

And finally we could eat the cake...

After cake, there was time for a little bouncing...

But she had to go swimming on her birthday...

For dinner she wanting the Unhinged Pizza Buffet...Lukie had a free buffet card, it being Lex's birthday it cost her $.01, so it was a cheap night...

After dinner, Lukie took off to a friends house and Lex watched a movie that she wanted...according to Lex, it was a great day.  Now she's already looking forward to next years birthday...

Split Rock Creek State Park...

When we were at Blue Mounds State Park last week, Lukie was looking on a map and realized there was another park nearby and thought we should go visit, Lex thought it was a good idea since completing that parks hiking club trail would give her over 50 miles hiked.  So that's how we ended up at Split Rock Creek State Park just a short 20-30 minute drive from where we were camped...

It was a hot and sweltering day, but we started the trail...

Most of the trail was through the prairie...

It takes you up to an old water tower built during the depression, we used it's shade as a place to rest...

And then kept walking...when you are down by the lake, there are a lot of trees (and on that day...bugs.)...

The lake formed when a damn was built to hold back Split Rock Creek also during the depression.  It was/is one of the few lakes in that part of the state and locals urged the legislature to create a park.  The damn was washed out in the '90's but has been replaced...the trail took us right over the damn...

And of course we found the password...

You can see our hike here...

After we finished the hike, Lex tried to commemorate her finishing 50 miles of the hiking club, she's now eligible to get a patch too (we just have to call the DNR office in St. Paul)...

Updated Hiking Club mileage:

Lukie/Me - 59.0 miles
Lex - 51.3 miles
Kieran - 24.6 miles

And we got our stamp!  #24...

One more state park stamp (still need to get William O'Brien state park too) and we're eligible for a free night of camping and a pin...Lukie's already been looking at the map for the next park...

Prairie and Bison tour...

New to Blue Mounds State Park this summer is a prairie and bison tour...a truck has been converted to seat 12 people in the back and they take you for 1 1/2 hours into the bison enclosure to talk about bison and prairie ecology...

Lukie selected the 10 am tour on Sunday, a day and time when many in the park are getting ready to leave...so only three seats were filled out of the twelve...we had a private tour...

As we started, the bison were right near the entrance, with many wallowing in the dirt...

You have to wear sunglasses or safety goggles (in case of flying rock and the park with provide you with some) and they also provide you with a pair of binoculars (which Lex loved)...they make 4-5 stops to discuss different things...here Lex is comparing a bison vertebrate to the size of her face...

It takes you right past some outcrops of quartzite, where you find cacti growing sense there tends to not be as much water...

Another stop lets you see and hold the bison's horn (actually its the sheath around it)...

It can get pretty bumpy along the way and both Lukie/Lex kept asking for more bumps (one lifted me off my seat, even with the seatbelts that are required to be worn while moving)...

But just like at Minneopa, sometimes the bison will be right on the trail and other times they won't...they weren't that far away that morning...

There was a big discussion about the size of the herd (currently around 140, every fall they sell of ~40 to keep the herd around 100...the excess right now would be the babies)...

They also discussed that bison herds are all female, males apparently live solitary lives after 2-3 years with the herd...there's only one male in this herd...

Herd dynamics were cool to hear about as well...one female is in charge of the herd, where see goes, they all go...there are also cliques, theres a group of 'popular' bison that the rest try to stay near and theres a group of unpopular bison, who are usually hanging on the side of the herd...

Tours are given 4-5 times a day...Friday-Sunday between Memorial Day and Labor Day...we all enjoyed the tour....

365 days...

It was one year ago today that K was taken from me...so many lies were said for him to be taken that a judge laughed as he dismissed things without a hearing...upon trying to contact him after the non-hearing, a CPS worker called and said his mother was uncomfortable with me trying to contact him and I still completely believe what I told that worker "I don't give a shit what she thinks."  CPS dropped their investigation without cause shortly thereafter...

There were two verbal agreements to include Kieran on the parenting schedule, yet those didn't happen...it essentially came down to a money and control issue.  There have been no repercussions to the individuals directly involved or indirectly by helping steal K...

The one who has felt the most repercussions to this point is K himself...many conversations with K's teachers have come down to the point that he's lacking a male influence and it's affecting his early middle school years...Lukie and Lex have felt the repercussions as well...his cousins, aunts/uncles/grandfather and other relatives have also have K taken from them...

This is the last picture I took of Kieran before this time last year was this...

It was July 6 - K and Lukie had been playing flag football in 90 degree heat and we stopped for ice cream in Bongards...

The last picture I took of K by himself (it's not the best picture) was on June 25...

He's in the backseat getting ready to take off...

Here are two more pictures of a happy kid with his brother and sister from that day...

This will come to an end...I'm not stopping until it does...all it hurts is Kieran...see you soon dude...

Blue Mounds State Park...

This past weekend, we took an impromptu camping trip to Blue Mounds State Park in Luverne.  Lukie had wanted to camp and we saw there was an opening in a tipi Saturday night so we booked it and another campsite for Sunday evening...

And this was state park #23 for our passport book...we're getting close to a free night of camping and a pin (Lukie is excited for both)...we just have to get back to William O'Brien to get their stamp...

The tipi site was a cart-in site, we had to cart our gear in 1,000 feet or so, not too bad...what was real cool was that when we stopped, both Lukie and Lex grabbed a cart without being asked and hauled the gear...I only helped on one load going up a slight hill...

Of course we did the hiking club trail, it was supposed to be 6.2 miles, but we did 4.4 miles one day and finished the rest later...

We seem to have been visiting a lot of prairie parks lately, we've seen this look before (albeit, without the tipis usually)...

I told Lukie and Lex to be on the look out for cacti...Lukie immediately started pointing at tall things saying "I see one..." but he was looking for the classic Saguaro cactus native to the SW, not prickly pear cactus...

The prairie views are cool, very different from your classic North Shore views, but still cool...

What Blue Mounds is also known for is their bison herd...we get closer over the next two days...

And when you see a large rock on the prairie, you need to climb it...though Lex was having a hard time with the constant 20-30 mph winds (which were a blessing as the temperatures were in the low 90s)...

Lukie told her, just cut your hair like mine, I don't have a problem...I even had to climb the rock...

And then they just started showing off...

A strange part of the park is this east-west alignment of rocks...what no one agrees on is whether it was Paleo-Indians that lined them up or someone more recent.  They do know that on the spring and fall equinoxes, the sun rises and sets in line with this line of rocks...

The hike takes you past an old quarry...which they liked...

And we finally found the password...

The end of our hike took us right past the tipi...we were ready...

You can see the hike at this video...

Lukie and Lex decided they were going to cook dinner that night...

And trust me, we were ready to sleep that night...

Early the next morning, Lukie was up looking for bison...

We had another long day of hiking and took a tour, those will come in another post...but we also had to move camp to another site and get the tent set up...

After the long day, Lukie wanted to just rest some in the tent, so they decided to read for about 30 minutes...which was good...

They wanted pasta for dinner that night and that's what they got...

Then it was campfire time...

They also had picked up some cheap 'fire color changer' stuff and we watched that for awhile...the colors don't show as well in the picture as what we saw...

Before we left Monday, we had to check out the bison herd again...

They were both trying to count the babies...no one knows for sure how many babies were born this year, the mothers tare that good at hiding them, though they know there are at least 32 babies, but they guess there's a few more...

It was another great camping trip...