A quick family visit

Steph, Jordan, and Kelsie showed up Sunday while we were watching the skateboarders from the top of the bluff. We had a nice visit while everyone got ready to head into town, where we went kayaking. Below are additional pictures to the previous post. It was the first time kayak for these three and they all did great.

It's all smiles here, but somehow they disappeared after running into shore!

After we switched into dry clothes we stopped by Galvin Heights for a overlook of the town. We often fail to ask others to take family pictures, but luckily we remembered on this day.

The kids played great together. Jordan and Kelsie had more than enough energy to keep up with Michaela even though she gets into a delirious hyper state of mood when people visit.

I tried to have Michaela and Danielle hang on the branch, but they could only last a second or too. Jordan and Kelsie did much better and got a ride when I jumped on {bringing their feet to the ground} and let go {pulling them back up into the air}.

The kids are great and our girls were very sad when they left. Tonight Danielle hopped on my lap and told me "I remember them, they are really nice and played with us."

Thanks for the visit!

The Stockton Bucket List - Kayaking at Lake Lodge

We have truly enjoyed the kayak and canoe rentals at Lake Lodge and playing at Veterans Park.

This summer we were disappointed however to find out the park system is no longer letting children under 9 on their own watercraft. Both girls were looking forward to paddling themselves, as Michaela enjoyed it last summer and Danielle wanted to show how big she was and do it herself after being too small last summer.

We made a week long trek north spending a couple days in Canada fishing, biking, floating the river, and seeing friends and family.  When we returned to Winona a week ago we made it a priority to get out on the water again and talked our friends into meeting us for a night on the water.

This past weekend Steph, Jordan, and Kelsie spent a day visiting.

We were on top of the bluff when they arrived and after a quick shower we kayaking at Lake Lodge. Cooler than normal July temperatures kept many people away and there were enough kayaks for all of us to get out.

The rest of Jordan, Kelsie, and Steph's visit is on the next blog post.

Elroy-Sparta State Trail

Thursday's expected high was in the 80s (after another week of 90+ temperature), so we loaded the Jeep and headed to the Elroy-Sparta trail.  The bike trail tunnels are one of many items on our summer to-see and to-do list.

We enjoyed nice weather and a crushed limestone trail.  We started in Wilton, riding up to and walking through tunnel #2 and partially through tunnel #3.  Michaela and Danielle brought LED flashlights and LED lanterns. The third tunnel is 3/4 mile long and we only went far enough to get wet from dripping water overhead and where Danielle needed to get flashlights and lanterns to fend off darkness insecurities.

We rode 18 miles, a couple of miles longer than the a bike ride last month on the Great River Ridge Trail.  Neither of these compare in length to Christine's rides with friends however.  She bikes quite frequently, riding almost 30 miles today on the Root River Trail. Luckily for me, Michaela and Danielle still prefer shorter rides on the tag-alongs.

On our way home, dark storm clouds provided a stunning view of the bluffs and the Mississippi River.  We snapped this picture overlooking Lake Winona while looking west into the setting sun.