Here are the kids on the way to the bus stop on the first day of the 2012-2013 school year at Seward Montessori! Ama is 6 years old and going into 1st grade (or E1 in Montessori terms), and Cook is 11 and starting middle school - grade 6. I hope they both have a great year!
Here is a video of Cook playing in the water at Gooseberry Falls on our north shore Lake Superior trip. This part was at the lower falls, so we didn't have to worry about anybody heading over a waterfall...
Duluth! We explored downtown waterfront Duluth and ate lunch at a cool restaurant - a rainstorm hit while we were waiting for our food so we had to go inside. Ama ordered her first ever corn dog and LOVED IT! Cook got chicken wings and they weren't very good.
We camped at a KOA outside of Duluth and got rained on some more, but it wasn't too bad. Chris and the kids swam in the pool and sat in the hot tub. There was also a playground and a game room. We missed the hayride because they were still swimming - they swam until it got dark!
We also camped at Gooseberry Falls State Park, and explored the falls the next day. I think we could have spent all day there, but we just spent a couple of hours. There are three layers of falls, but we only went to the middle and lower falls. The kids had fun sliding and climbing and swimming. It is a beautiful place, and the weather was absolutely perfect!
We got to try out the new baby-tote backpack that Chris's dad sent to us just a day or two before we left for the trip - Rowan loved it and it was a great place for her to nap while we were busy putting up the tent or hanging out by the lake. Thank you Curt!!
We also went to Split Rock lighthouse and spent an afternoon exploring. We mainly went because Cook needed it for his blog, but it ended up being another spot to enjoy the rocky Superior coast and the views were just amazing from up there.
This is the spiral staircase inside of the lighthouse - we all went up to the top. It took Cook a couple of tries because he is a little scared of heights, but he did it!!
We took the giant air bed and Chris and Rowan and I slept on it. It wasn't the warmest, but it sure was more comfortable than the ground, and it was nice to have a place for Rowan to stretch out!
Here is Ama with JuJu, the baby owl that she got at the lighthouse gift store. Cook got a bat that he named Split Rock. We ate burgers and smores and hot dogs and tiny boxes of cereal - all the things you need to eat when you're camping! We had a fire and looked at the beautiful starry night at Gooseberry campground, but everyone was too tired to stay up for very long.
Here are Cook and Ama all settled into their sleeping bags with their DS's - what a fun, cuddly sight!
Here is a video of Rowan getting dressed on a picnic table at the campground at Gooseberry:
