While everyone else in Minneapolis closes their street down to traffic on National Night Out, it's a tradition on our block to do so at the end of summer.
Because we are on a higher traffic street with a busline the city doesn't like us to block traffic on NNO.
I knew Theo would love the firetruck.
I love any event with a potluck.
Snack, snack, crunch.
All the kids were enjoying playing along the block.
Sharing is caring.
The boys on the block are so dang cool (or at least they think so).
It's nice to catch up with neighbors we don't see very often.
Theo wanted to play with the big kids. But we had to go to bed.
Meadow really impressed me with her hiking skills this summer. I asked her if she wanted to go on a little backpack trip with me. I always figured she'd be a lot older when we did this, but she was ready.
First we stopped at REI to get some fuel.
Theo and I would go it alone back at home.
We scored one of the last available campsites at Afton State Park. Scott and I camped here way before kids and I hadn't been here since.
I didn't remember much about the hike in except it being mostly uphill.
They seemed to have made a new trail since our last time.
After Theo's nap we decided to bike over to Lake Harriet and try our hand at fishing.
Theo helped me pick out the right lures.
We had to send over a pick to Meadow and mama.
We made it to our site much quicker than anticipated. Even Meadow said, "We're here already?" Either they made the hike in easier or I got better at hiking.
When we got to the lake I realized we didn't have any sinkers.
Theo just wanted to reel, reel, reel.
We didn't have any luck, but wanted to go get some ice cream at the band shelter.
Meadow worked on her environmentalist badge while I made dinner.
Mac and cheese for my girl.
The campground was getting busier as we walked to fill up water.
Right as we got there Bread and Pickle closed.
Turns out that they were closing early at the end of the season. We also noticed that our back bike tire was deflated.
We tried to switch bikes, but that bike also had a flat.
When it got dark, Meadow and I played cards in the tiny tent.
Good morning sleepy bear.
Theo and I had breakfast by our lonesome selves.
We walked over to the water pump to get our water for breakfast.
She's learned so much about wildflowers since our trip to the Boundary Waters.
Rain was coming so we cleaned up camp quickly. Meadow was good a helper.
I recently came across toothpaste tabs. They work great for traveling.
Packed up and ready to bring our stuff back to our car.
We saw the old trail and took that instead.
After dropping off our stuff at the car we went to the ranger station to check out a GPS for geocaching.
It rained on and off which was kind of nice because the park had only a few people.
We found the cache.
Meadow traded out some of her toys for two new items.
On our way home we stopped for lunch at Noodles. Camping in September is great, I don't know why we never go. Next year though Meadow and I will have to try a more challenging hike.
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