Franklin

The kids and I went to the farm yesterday afternoon for a few hours.  Craig had said he was going to be out there and asked if we'd like to come....the kids said yes.  The boys were excited to do a little shooting...

Then we took a bobcat ride to the river....it's running high after all the rain we've had recently...

You've got to rest a little while dinner is cooking....Craig had brought some venison dogs for the fire...

And then you start shooting again (the kids were shooting small...I shot my grandfather's rifle that he qualified on during WWII, that was cool)....

Then you take another ride...

And then its time to eat...

But the last to shoot was the smallest too...

Mystery Cave

One of Luke's goals this summer was to visit a cave.  He and Kieran had never been in a cave, while Lex had never been underground.  We finally got around to that goal by driving SE of Rochester to visit Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park yesterday.  I had been inside the cave, but on a much more rustic, 'flashlight' tour.  We took the scenic tour -- easy walking paths, with parts of the cave illuminated by dim lights and it lasts about an hour underground.  Lex isn't old enough yet for the other tours (flashlight, geology or wild caving).

All of the kids were excited....

We spent about 30 minutes or so before our tour learning about the cave itself.  All the kids listened to various stories about the cave that told it's history...

We learned how the cave formed and saw/touched fossils that are found in the rock that makes up the cave.  All the fossils are creatures who lived in an ocean...

We had planned on taking the 12:00 tour, so we decided to get some donuts as a little snack before the tour (we'd eat lunch afterwards), but the staff asked if we'd like to go on the 11:30 tour and we said yes.  That meant the kids had about 15 minutes to eat a donut or two...

The cave stays 48 degrees F, year-round, so we had to pull out the long-sleeves...the first stop was there for the naturalist to describe the rocks that make up the tour.  The kids are just to her right in the picture below....

We saw lots of cave structures like flowstone, stalagmites, stalactites, underground pools, etc.

Here's a fossilized cephalopod in the cave's ceiling....it's a relative of a squid or octopus...

Here's where the 'wild caving' tour takes off from, Luke was the only one willing to keep going on, but he didn't have a flashlight....

And the one decent picture of all three of them underground...

And the two selfies...

They don't exactly look like they don't want to hang out with me, huh?  There was a selfie with Kieran too, but we struggled to get it to turn out....

All the kids had fun and hope to take some of the other tours too in the future.  After the cave, we went hiking, but that'll be another post as this got long...

Alexander Ramsey Park

A week ago, the kids and I went to Alexander Ramsey Park in Redwood Falls.  The boys and I, waited for Lex to get off the bus from summer school and we left as soon as she got home....

I like to be outside....and I don't like sitting around....I might have passed that onto the kids (especially the boys....Lex would sit in front of a tv all day long, though she really enjoys being out and about).  We tend to be busy, whether it's the summer or during the school year, it doesn't matter....

Well, this day we ended up at another waterfall...we do like waterfalls...

That picture is no good...how about the kids looking at Ramsey Falls?

Still not impressed?  The creek goes over a 3.5 billion year old metamorphic rock (seen on the left of the falls), the Morton Gneiss.  The brown material to the right of the falls is the weathered remains of the gneiss resulting of intense chemical weathering during the Cretaceous Period (~80 million years ago, before T-Rex, Triceratops, etc.) when Minnesota was located near the equator....

Still not impressed?  Here's another picture of the kids....

Lex and I needed to take a picture together (according to Lex)...

We did a little bit of walking while in the park, the bridge was a little wobbly for Lex...

But they all enjoyed the zoo....Luke was able to feed the ducks (one of his 'to dos' for the summer) and they all liked the peacock...

The prairie dogs were cool too....lots of questions why Papa and Gary would shoot them....

And even the elk put on a show....

The bison though...they just hung out in their shelter across the field (which was okay, because we saw them so up close just days later in Minneopa!)....

The original plan wasn't to go to the park, we were going to the cemetery in Franklin.  The kids had never seen the headstone and it was time (even though moms not there yet)...it had been almost exactly one year...

After walking around the cemetery and some talks with the kids, we left Franklin.  I wanted something cold to eat, so I figured we'd cruise into Redwood to go to the Dari King, but they were closed for the season (August 1).  That's when we ended up at Ramsey Falls....

MN Viking Training Camp

Yesterday, after leaving Minneopa, we caught some lunch and then went to the MN Viking's Training camp practice at the campus of Minnesota State University, Mankato.  Kieran (especially) and Luke wanted to go watch camp, but for different reasons....

Kieran wants to watch practice, while Luke wants to watch practice a little bit, but then play the games they have for kids....either way, they got their wish...

Kieran liked watching Teddy Bridgewater (starting QB) practice with Adrian Peterson (RB)...

Here's Peterson doing some drills...

We watched practice for a little over an hour, then it was time to play the games....like the obstacle course...Lex is taking off, while Luke is just past the girl wearing yellow...

Here's Lukie finishing the course with an 'unbelievable' catch....his words...

We played a few more games and took a couple pictures with the stars of the Vikings....

Well...of course they weren't real....the real guys were at practice...

Minneopa Falls

The kids and I went to the Mankato area again yesterday, our first stop was at Minneopa Falls.  We go there 4-5 times a year I bet, but with the waterfall always changing and the new bison herd, there's plenty to do...

Speaking of the bison herd...we've seen them right up against the fence before, we've seen them from a distance across the prairie before, but we've never seen them like we did yesterday...

Bison & Seppman Mill in the background

This time they were right on the road...up close...

Real close...we parked the car and had all the windows down.  You could hear them breathing and chewing....I told the kids to not talk (don't want to spook them) --- you know how hard that is for Lex & Kieran?

I bet we watched them feed for 10-15 minutes before they passed us by....I mean this was like being in Yellowstone....even the calves born this spring are getting big....

After the bison, we stopped by the Nature Center.  Luke liked the animal bones, Lex liked the butterflies and Kieran liked reading all the signs....

From there it was off to the falls....apparently we've been there enough when all three kids noticed how different the upper falls looked compared to last time (I have no idea if they were right or wrong)...

And they really hate me taking this picture, again and again....

We don't always walk to the base of the lower falls, but the kids really enjoy it (Kieran really doesn't feel comfortable underneath the rock overhangs...which is good, because they obviously fall occasionally)....but Kieran always looks after Lex when were walking....

Luke will race as far ahead as I will let him and look for anything....this time he found a little 'cave' or place underneath the rock and wanted a picture...

The obligatory group picture...

And one without me...

And one without the kids...

I like and I think the kids like, that there are places nearby that look so unlike the Minnesota where we live....most of the close places can be attributed to Glacial River Warren creating nickpoints that formed gorges exposing the bedrock (Minneopa, the MN river valley, Minnehaha Falls, the Mississippi River gorge downstream from St. Anthony Falls, etc.)....

This was the last picture taken, Lex and I were taking our time on the way back when I saw Kieran and Luke watching us from between rails on the bridge (they were also watching the fish).  I had Lex hustle up to them and took one last picture...

When we left the park, we were off to MN Viking Training camp, a request from Kieran and Luke...that post will be later...