A Birthday Weekend to Remember

After six years of working to inspire a love of the outdoors, all Maya wanted to do this birthday is go camping. Hooray! She loves bug hunting, long hikes, and sleeping in a tent; mission accomplished.

Of course, this year that means fulfilling her birthday wish while sporting the curvy, less-than-ergonomically-designed figure of a woman in her 36th week of pregnancy!

Hiking boots are tough to tie when you don't bend in the middle anymore!

 Off we went to the scenic (but conveniently located near metro physicians) Interstate State Park. The views were spectacular, the hikes were relatively brief (we kept to two 1.5 mile trails), though the elevation changes are a little more challenging than most Minnesota parks.

A much needed rest.

 Elle kept finding caterpillars around the trails. Each time she would let it roam around her arms while exclaiming, "He really, really loves me. I will keep him for ever." Inevitably, it would drop into the foliage after a bit.

Maya lead the way, marveling at the river, at the geological marvel of the potholes (an uninspiring name for some amazingly carved rocks), and took every unexpected moment of the day with grace and sweetness beyond her six years.

What, mom isn't up to a 1.5 mile hike back to the campsite? Let's eat at this convenient Taylor's Falls malt shop! What, mom isn't exactly overjoyed to sleep in a tent crammed in with a bunch of other campers when she'll need to, um, answer natures call every hour or so? No problem, let's set up the tent in the back yard!

In between our two hikes, we rested. Maya spent her time writing a book about how the Cat in the Hat got started.

 We didn't even get pictures of our impromptu paddle on Lake Johanna today or the morning spent snagging minnows with Maya's new bug net and swimming with friends. Let birthday week begin! With three days of "last week of school" festivities and a Saturday morning finale with a group of her friends, this should be one to remember.

Back at home we fulfilled the wish for S'mores.

And Elle fed Snowflake some chips.

She shared some with dad too.

Mom brought presents out to the tent this morning.

Maya donned her fancy new sunhat and set about reading her new Spiderman Comic book. The girl is infatuated with Spiderman!