Afton State Park- Call of the Wildflower

We are a strange little family.  Saturday was a beautiful day out and we didn't have any set plans so we ended up at a state park, completing the Call of the Wildflower geocache.  We were over at the Wisconsin boarder and ended up at Afton State Park.  This is an amazing park- it has the St. Croix River Valley and the top of the hill is basically prairie so you get bit of variety at the park.  We drove  into the park and I was surprised by the incredible number of cars.  This park was busy.  It may be because it was one of of the first almost perfect days of the year but I like to pretend it was because people have decided this is the year to get out there and hike.

The geocache ran really close to where it was in the last series and it was any easy hike.  We started our right at the parking lot.  It didn't take us long to find the first few stages.   These were fun.  They included puzzles as part of the geocache.

Stage # 2- Another puzzle (but the next set
of coordinates is at the bottom)

Stage # 1- had to solve the puzzle



We kept hiking.  These pictures don't give justice to how beautiful of  day it was.

Marcus and Daddy on the trail

It didn't take long and we found our way to the final cache.  Marcus is so good at finding the caches these days.  He can see it from afar and gets really excited.

Luke is getting the log completed, also a key part of the geocache experience.

We got our card.  Did you do the puzzle above (stage 2)?  This is the answer.

Check out the dolphin in Luke's backpack

After we finished the hike to the geocache we decided to do a bit more hiking and set off across the park.

 At one point Marcus said "NO" and was done walking.  He proved it by sitting down.  We hadn't even gone that far yet!

So Daddy was the hero went back for the car.  Marcus and Mommy pressed ahead to get the nearest road (it was only about .3 miles) and patiently sat and waited.

While we waited Marcus and I built a pine cone mini forest.  It was a lot of fun. Can you see our pine cone trees?

After Luke picked us up we drove around the park and looked at the cabins and the yurts (really neat).  We ended the day with a trip to one of the best ice cream stops in the twin cities area, Selma's in Afton.  What a great way to end a wonderful day!

Marcus the Crafter

 

My little boy loves crafts, making bracelets, taking care of his stuffed animals and playing in his kitchen.  He also loves playing outside, building tents, tractors and playing in the mud.  In my mind, these are all equal activities, I love that he loves so many different things and he doesn’t seem to be limited by what he should like or what he is expected to like.  The world is still very open to him and in so many ways it is limitless.  I believe that one of my jobs as his mom is to keep these doors open as long as possible. 



Pink Crafting Aisle

Society is not always as good about helping to keep these doors open.  When we go to the store to pick out supplies we are confronted by the packaging and the colors surrounding these activities.  If you go into Michaels to by crafting supplies like bracelets, the packaging is full of pictures of little girls and “girly” colors like pink and reds and occasionally a yellow.  But clearly from these images this project is meant for a little girl.  Fortunately Marcus hasn’t caught onto this yet.  He doesn’t notice the packaging or understand that “pink” is the girls color.  He just sees fun and joy.  I hope this lasts forever but I am realist and know that at some point someone it going to point out to him that making bracelets isn’t for boys and then he may stop, but I hope not and I hope that is a long time for now.
 

Marcus learning to cross stitch

We have tried really hard to let him grow and develop his own interests but I don’t think society has done right by little boys in allowing them to reach for what interests them.   I think that Mom’s  (and dad’s too) have done an amazing job in making sure that their daughters can do and be anything.  We see a push for girls to succeed in STEM and we tell them they can do and whatever they dream. Heck, Barbie has done pretty much every job possible and in heels.  I applaud these efforts and dream of the days that females truly achieve equity and break the glass ceiling.  I am a feminist and proud of it.  But I am not sure that we have done justice for our sons.  While we dream of little girls driving tractors the thought of a little boy playing with babies still makes some people uncomfortable.   Although this disdain is not overt, because of the packaging and the coloring the message is still clear- Some things are really still just meant for girls.



Marcus loves stickers

This is my fight, as Marcus’s Momma, I want to let him grow up to do and be anything.  That message is good enough for a girl and is also good enough for him.  Regardless of color or packaging or history, Marcus can do anything and be anything.  If his interests lead him to cooking, so be it, or farming, or where ever his heart leads.  I am going to be there to support it.  My job is not to close doors but instead to open them and create options and opportunities.   When people say “boys will be boys” I want to let them know that yes “boys will be boys” but they shouldn’t be limited because they are boys.

Gardening with Grandma Jackie

I don't have much of a green thumb.  I think that everyone who knows me already knows this fact. For our yard, I just try to keep everything looking relatively decent but at times I can't really tell the difference between the plants and the weeds. 

My mother-in-law is a completely a different story.  She has a beautiful yard and knows her way around the garden.  Since Marcus was really little she has introduced him to gardening and he loves it.

On Presidents day, our daycare was closed for a teacher in-service and Grandma Jackie and Grandpa Don came down to spend the day with Marcus.  One of the things she did with him was to start a small garden (she did the same thing last year too).  I have told a few friends about this and they requested details- so here it is.

1. Use empty and clean used plastic contains- 1/2 gallon milk jugs work great.
2. Cut them in half- leave a small corner attached so it is easier to keep it together.
3. Put in your dirt and plant some seeds.  This year they planted lettuce, marigolds, cilantro, and garlic.  Make sure you mark your containers so you remember what is in them.
4.  Tape the containers back together again.
5. Put them outside and watch them grow.  We actually have had them outside since February and once it got a bit warmer we quickly saw some growth. 

- when it starts to get warm, if it is dry outside and no rain, you need to make sure to add some water occasionally. 

Lake Shetek State Park- Call of the Wildflower

When we left Pipestone National Monument it was still pretty early in the day so we decided, since it wasn't terribly out of the way that we would hit Lake Shetek State Park on the way home.  This is a part that we didn't get to spend a lot of time at when we did the Avian Adventure because it was on our way back to LeSueur to join my family for the Giant days parade.  However, this was on the list of places that we wanted to go back and see again.                      When we got to the park it was around  3 pm and pretty quiet.  The ranger station was closed and one funny thing was that they were all out of stamps for the State Park Passport program and instead they had an envelope full of pre-stamped pieces of paper (never saw that before).  We decided that since we were there and we had time to complete the Call of the Wildflower Geocache.

   

The first set of coordinates brought us pretty deep into the park.  I have to tell you the sky was amazing.  It was such a beautiful contrast in colors from the prairie, which is just starting to get a little green. 

We quickly found the first location and started our hike to the second set of coordinates across a trail on the prairie.

The was nice and because it was so early in the season we didn't see many bugs or people.  As far as geocaches rank, the difficulty on this one was pretty low.  For an experience geocacher, such as the member of the FiedlerFamily team, it was kind of a cake walk (except for one tricky part) and we could see them as we walked down the trail.   When we saw the overlook- we knew it was there.

It just took us a little bit of time to find it under the stairs-  Marcus LOVED the overlook.  He ran up and down the stair stairs and was so excited.

The view from the overlook was amazing.

We finished this stage and started hiking to the next one.

This is when we had a problem.  Traveling with a 3 year adds some very different challenges and this was one of them.  Marcus needed to go back to the car for a bit.  So Luke went on ahead while we ran back to change clothes. I love all of the pictures that he got of Sandy when Marcus and I were off on our little side adventure.

Remember what I said about this geocache series..... when we saw this birdhouse, near the coordinates the first thought was, it has to be there.

But when we looked we couldn't see it.  The bird house was nailed shut, and there was no way to open it.  When I looked in the window however we found the next clue.

By this time Marcus and I were back with Luke and he was really starting to show the signs of a long day and no nap. His hiking now consisted of a lot more sitting, crawling, and being carried by Mommy or Daddy.

On the positive we didn't have to go far.  Once again the final find was pretty obvious to us.  We saw the bench and said, "it has to be there" and it was.

We got our new card, for Sneezeweed and headed back to the car- although we had to stop and climb the tower a few more times on the way back.

 

I still feel like we have not touched this park and we need to go back again.  There is also a train museum right near the entrance to visit.  I think the next time we head down we should take the time to camp and spend the night.

 

It was pretty amazing that even after this long day, including two hikes, Marcus had so much energy left.  He colored the entire way home.