The St Louis Trip

We took a quick day day trip to St Louis this past Christmas week.  The reason to go was for the purchase of a beautiful canoe through a Craigslist transaction.  We turned it into a mini-vacation that included a few museums.

Our first day was the Science Center.  It was amazing,

and just perfect for our crew of kids.  

  Number 2 Kiddo really liked the hydraulic excavator assembly.  He caught on real quick.  It must be all those heavy equipment videos we've watched in the past.

Chillin' out while watching a space video.

The next day, we visited the City Museum near the downtown of St Louis.  This is certainly a parent's worst nightmare, with little tunnels, caves, and tight spaces to navigate through.  But it was also a ton of fun for the kids.

There area a few museum-ish things, but they aren't as much fun for the kids.  Was this building a bank in its former glory?  I don't know.

More and more climbing.  We arrived at this museum early in the morning, and left right at closing time of 5pm.  We were all pretty bushed.  Our knees and backs ached.

On our last morning, we went to the zoo.  It was a cool and breezy day, and we took multiple rides in the carousel.  Kids had their favorite animals.  Kiddo #3 is on his river otter.

And here is Kiddo #1 on her favorite wart hog.

After the zoo, I met a new friend as we worked our canoe transaction.  He helped us tie the canoe to the top of the Honda van, and made sure we were safe to travel.  I wish we could have spent more time to talk and learn from him.

After a very breezy and gusty trip home through the flat plains of Illinois, we made it home safely.  And here is the beautiful blue canoe.  It is made by Swift (out of Canada).  

The model is called the Winisk.  I reckon it's named 

after the river in northern Canada, eh?

It is very well constructed, and has been meticulously maintained for the last 17 years.  It is in immaculate condition as these pictures show.

 This kevlar canoe is 17.5 feet long weighs in the 53 to 55 pound arena.  It looks very comfortable and I can't wait to try it out in the spring.

What beautiful crafsmanship.  Just look at this scalloped portaging yoke.  It looks like a piece of art!

Overall, I'm very pleased.  It was the perfect ending 

to a fun St Louis trip!

First Present of Christmas

Major excitement - just one present allowed on Christmas Eve.  

The excitement was just too much for Kiddo #3 

as you can tell by his expression.

Family Picture - Thanksgiving 2016

All 15 of us together for fun at my little sister's house

the day after Thanksgiving.  That was a good time.

Hot Air Balloon Landing

We had some major unexpected happenings this evening.  A hot air balloon dropped in our front yard for a visit.

We saw the balloon off to the west, and they were travelling slowly our way.  We thought they were going to land in the neighbor's open field, but the balloon went back up and made a little jump over some trees and my barn.  We watched them land right in our front yard - right between my willow tree stump and the flowering crab apple tree.

Kids were totally excited to see all this happen.

Since the balloon was between a couple of obstructions, the pilot wanted to scooch over closer to the creek.  He had the 3 kids climb inside the basket, he shot some hot air back in the balloon, and we floated them over about 30 feet.  Here's a picture of the 3 kids floating over - their first balloon ride ever:

 They landed 15 seconds later without incident.  

They tore the balloon down pretty quickly, and kids helped cram the balloon in a big bag.  

It was a super exciting evening for everybody!

Hiking and Camping at Shades State Park

A week ago, during Fall Break, we spent 3 days and camped out 2 nights at Shades State Park.  What a gem of a park.  Kids, and us too, thoroughly enjoyed it.  We enjoyed...

Rock hopping and slipping off slimy logs:

Secret waterfalls:

Scenic overlooks:

And beautiful weather:

We all enjoyed hiking the deep ravines:

#3 Kiddo made a boat out of a piece of bark, and floated

it down every little waterfall to be had.  

Break time at the big boulder.

The ladders were exciting to go up and down.

And a funny tree just fit for 3 kids:

Kiddo #3 didn't mind getting his feet wet, and kept them wet for about 8 hours each of the 3 days.  He was quite the adventurer.

The New Canoe

This past weekend, I bought and picked up a canoe on Craigslist.  I drove a few hours west to pick this up, and we're pretty happy with it so far.

It is the Expedition 186 (for 18 feet 6 inches long) Kevlar canoe made by Mad River - one of the better manufacturers of lightweight canoes.  With the wood gunwales, it tips the scales at 59 pounds.  The wife and I both portaged it around the yard the other evening, and we thought it was pretty manageable on our shoulders. 

It is narrow, but it is very stable.  There are a few imperfections, but I reckon that's why we got it so cheap.

Our goal is to use it as a tripping canoe next summer in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota.  Backpacking is tough with kids, but canoe tripping is easier if you have the right canoe.  So, this is the beginning of a few purchases to start gearing up for next summer's trip.

We took it out on the Wabash River on this windy day.  We were quite surprised at the swift current.  I thought this big river would be slow and easy, but we worked hard to paddle upriver to the Wild Cat Creek.  We paddled a total of 1.3 miles upriver.  It was a rather windy day today, so that was enough for our maiden voyage.

We stopped at a sand bar.  The boys love playing and finding rocks.  That's all they wanted to do, so we let them go crazy for awhile. 

I'm not sure why we can't get a decent smile out of these kids.

The trip up to this point took about an hour.  I think we sailed back to our landing (with the current) in about 20 minutes.  We're looking forward to many more fun excursions.

An Exciting Weekend

We hit another milestone over the weekend.  

Kiddo #3 lost his first tooth.

While we're kind of sad about it (just that he's growing up so fast), 

this is how he felt about it...

The Adventure Walk

We haven't had an evening Adventure Walk for quite awhile.  

We were way overdue, so tonight was the night.

Pajamas - check!

Blankie capes - check!

We're ready to go.

We start in the backyard.

Kiddo #3 has "The Stick of Adventure!".

I think this is his kung fu pose.

Next stop, the "Sand Box of Adventure!"

Then off to "The Firewood of Adventure!"

 We ran to "The Crooked Stump of Adventure!"

And then to "The Normal Stump of Adventure!"

Here is "The Triple Rocks of Adventure!"

 And finally, "The Big Rock of Adventure!"

A Few Turkey Run Pictures

A rock that must be climbed upon:

A gorge that must be traveled through:

A crevice that must be explored:

A canoe that must be paddled:

And my view for that afternoon: