Some Pics and Stuff

Big Sprout and I have joined the MN State Parks Passport Club. I am pretty excited. To join, you purchase a kit including a MN state highway map, a traveller's log, and your passport. Every time you visit a state park, you get your passport stamped. You can earn patches after you have visited a certain number of parks. It's actually really cool. Big Sprout and I have decided to highlight our routes on the map every time we travel somewhere. I suppose it is educational, but mostly I just think it would be cool to be able to see our travel patterns on paper. I would actually like to do the hiking club, too. Maybe next year. It will be fun to attempt to visit every state park in MN. I know Big Sprout likes the idea, and DH actually seems to be ok with it, too.

Big Sprout also got a birding journal while we were up north. She is very interested in birds and butterflies both. It is fun to watch her bouncing around out in the woods, yelling for me to look at this and that. The rule is that she always has to be the leader (her rule, not mine). She seems to really enjoy being the "tour guide" and telling all of us what to look at and where to walk. Bossy? Yes. Kinda cute? Definitely.

I just realised I will have to re-do Big Sprout's walking kit. A few years ago, I gave my dad a kit with bug spray, sunblock, first aid supplies, and miscellaneous goodies that you always seem to forget while getting ready to walk in the woods. Now I will have to make it bigger, providing room for Big Sprout's binoculars, birding journal, bird book, butterfly book, and wildflower book. Hmmm.... I think a total overhaul is in order. Maybe one for dad and one for Big Sprout. She is old enough to carry her own now. And it would be handy when she goes out with other people, too.