Afton State Park...

Last week we went to Afton State Park, it's the last park that Lex hadn't done the hiking club trail that Lukie and I have already done...Lukie was not ready for Lex to catch up to him on the hiking club mileage, but got over it without too much trouble...

Lukie and I didn't remember the trail beginning as a prairie trail, maybe we didn't walk that portion...

This section was short and we could see the whole thing, it was obvious to us that there wasn't any password to be found on this section...

The trail highlighted in yellow was the trail that we were hiking...

A couple of times, you get pretty close to the St. Croix river...

And this is all easy hiking, wide trails on a gravel or paved surface...

Then she found it and was caught up with Lukie and I...

Lukie and I started to remember sections that we hiked 4 years ago, like a little creek with a bridge over it...

We didn't remember the snakes...

But it was the first Monarch Butterfly we saw this year!

This picture of a snake is from when we already past it.  Lex would've literally stepped over it, Lukie almost stepped on it but moved out of the way...

I texted these snake pictures to two friends, one initially thought they were baby bull snakes, but later they agreed they were western fox snakes (they're constrictors and get grow over 5 feet in length).

But whatever about the snakes, Lex is now over the 75 mile mark in the hiking club, worthy of her own patch...

Then they said we should do some geocaching after lunch, so we did...

State parks have been open during the entire Stay at Home Order and now the Stay Safe MN Order, people were originally asked to recreate close to home (in which we wouldn't have gone to Afton), but now it's opened up some.  Even so, there was plenty of signage saying 'keep your distance.'...

Then Lukie led us (with the GPS) right into this snake...it was 2 1/2 - 3 feet long...a monster, we could've died...another western fox snake...

And following the coordinates that Lukie typed into the GPS, he led us here...

'But dad, it says it's like ten feet out there.'  How about we re-check the coordinates buddy?

You had to solve a puzzle to get the coordinates...they solved two questions incorrectly the first time...

But, after fixing the problem, we were on our way to the geocache...the only problem now was that no one wanted to stuff their hands in confined spaces after seeing those snakes...

But we got brave and got the prize...

A good day...

***And yes, we were self contained.  Full tank of gas before leaving town, brought lunch and snacks, kept more than 6 feet of space between us and other people (though we only had two separate groups totaling ~7 people come within 15 feet of us.

Fire...

Been dodging rain drops a bit this weekend, but managed to squeeze in an evening fire Saturday night...

We also had a game of 'monkey in the middle' or 'pickle in the middle' (for the older crowd) with a frisbee going.  We were hoping to catch a sight of the few days old crescent moon and Venus and Mercury, but the clouds came in, just as it was getting dark enough (missed it last night too as the clouds came in at sunset)...

Good times anyways...

Minneopa State Park...

We got away for half a day over the weekend...went back to Minneopa State Park...

We got gas in town...took all the supplies (i.e. snacks, etc.) we needed and headed to Mankato...

We didn't go to the waterfall area, the parking lot was pretty full, so we focused on the other side of the park...we hiked a bit around the old mill (there were just a handful of people that kept their distance)...

But our focus on the prairie side of the park was the bison drive, where you don't leave your vehicle and if the bison don't mind, get pretty close to you...

We knew the bison herd had some 'red dogs,' the baby bison which we learned about while camping at Blue Mounds State Park a few years back...that's what we wanted to see...

If you look closely in the pictures (taken by Luke), you'll see them...called red dogs because of the color of their fur...

We counted 6 red dogs in the herd and watched all of them for around twenty minutes...

It was a good day...

Warm weekends...

What do warm weekends look like when you're staying at home?

You can lounge away in hammocks...picture taking from one hammock to the other...

You play lots of croquet...

You start learning how to golf...

Not pictured is the trampoline, the baseball/softball, the bike rides or walks...we're just trying to stay busy...

Merry Easter?!?!

Today is Easter...and we received 4-5 inches of snow...but compared to recent Aprils, that isn't too bad...

When it slowed down, it was fun to get outside in the snow again (of course, we had to pull out the winter coats, boats and snow pants again)...

The wind had been whipping all day long, drifting the heavy, wet snow...

But it was the perfect type of snow to do face imprints...this was Lukie's, though you could see more features in person...

Then Lex's...

And considering we can't travel across the state, we had to check-in digitally to Canal Park and watch a ship come in...

This is the Michipicoten...in to harbor to pick up taconite...

Now, movie time....

Distance Learning...

Schools in Minnesota have been closed for weeks in order to prepare for distance learning that started yesterday.  The entire state has students taking online school for at least May 4th (if not until the end of the year)...teachers and school districts have had to take what they do on a day-to-day basis and switch to online...it's been busy...

What's it like for the kids?  They miss their budies (which they can't even hangout with 'after school,' even though this is almost like a summer break -- the stay at home order changes that) and even though they might not admit it, they miss school...

So on Day 2 of distance learning, here is Lukie and Lex getting down to business...

We're working on two laptops and a desktop (I still have 150 students that I need to be able to reach, to have students reach me, etc.), so we're busy...

To be honest, it takes a lot to make sure Lukie and Lex are getting everything they need done...it's all about coordinating schedules...after an hour or two of chaos on Monday, Tuesday went a lot smoother...

We have a plan in place between the three of us, we'll work the plan daily so that all of us gets the work we need completed daily...

Be healthy...and stay home...

#StayHomeMN...

The first day of governor's Stay at Home order  is today and it's been a cold, blustery and rainy day (especially after noon)...so what do you do when it's pretty nasty outside?

Lex got busy making bracelets...

Lukie got busy playing PlayStation (connecting with friends)...

Of course that's not all they did...we got outside before lunch, before the rain...they did their daily reading and online math...and even started their school work, which they are supposed to start Monday...now it's movie night...

Minneopa Falls State Park...

Yesterday, with all the craziness in the news, we took off for Minneopa Falls to see the sights and most importantly, take a hike...

When we first got there, the bison were a ways off (the bison drive is closed due to the freeze/thaw that is hard on the road)...

So we went walking, hoping we'd get closer...

Turns out, if we had just sat where we started, the bison we slowly heading that way...and that's where we caught up to them...

One bison was definitely practicing #socialdistancing...but I'm pretty sure COVID-19 doesn't effect bison...

Along the hike, it was good to see red-wing blackbirds back and singing loudly...robins, geese, swans and ducks have been back for a little more than a week...

Yes, we checked out the falls too...

School's closed for two weeks at least...going to be an interesting time...forecast looks like winter is going to return later this week too....great....