Monthly Archives: May 2014

Minnesota – Week 21

Camping 101 in our family.

#1 – Bring a big tent!
I absolutely cannot stress this enough! Having a big tent allows for a queen sized cot for my husband and I. A twin blow-up air mattress for our daughter and an extra large kennel for the dogs, plus room for our clothing, and to be away from the sides in case it were to rain. Someday I would like to own this one. 

 

#2 – Pack sufficiently
This is really a pro-and con statement. I’ve gotten smarter about what to pack and what to leave at home, but I usually bring WAY TOO MUCH STUFF! And WAY TOO MUCH FOOD!!!!  I re-purposed these pullout drawers to stack our silverware, clicker lighter, and other cooking utensils. etc so I don’t have to go digging around a huge bin looking for a fork when I’ve come off the lake after dark to start cooking dinner.

Not my photo (but I do the same thing) – click the picture for the source

 

#3 – Bring games for the kids!
With most of us being adults its important to bring stuff that the kids will enjoy too! I’ve found going to the dollar store to stock up on glow sticks, and other toys is a fantastic idea – because if anything gets lost or broken ya only spent a buck on it. Plus the dollar store has different kinds of toy type things than regular stores. I’ve also printed off sheets of scavenger hunts which has been a huge hit!

 

#4 – Don’t spread out too much!
We learned this one the hard way this last time we went camping. We had our tent on one end of the camp… dropped some stuff off about 300 feet away from our tent, and our kitchen was another 500 feet away from that. This made everything completely ridiculous in terms of packing up, and took much longer than expected. Next time we will put our kitchen right next to our tent, which will be right next to our truck and so-forth.

 

What are your camping tips?

Minnesota – Week 20

Week 20 of 2014! We are sadly, almost half way through yet another year – and only now at week 20 are things finally underway in the Spring department! Today we hit an astonishing 85 degrees!

K officially started soccer practice, and today at practice it was my task to bring the treats! (each parent brings each week, and I happened to be the first one)Oh what pressure.

I mean – as the first one… I am the person who will set the stage for snacks to come. Will “my snacks” suck? I wanted to bring something healthy, but not 100% overboard in the crunchy department. Truth – I would not be handing my daughters teammates dried edamame or pancetta wrapped asparagus with cream cheese.

K had a blast playing. Meanwhile I was handed her soccer uniform which was just too cute, as well as a car decal (which I am becoming dangerously close to having THIS car…

and a card that I had to sign that I swore not to be a douche bag parent that yells at the kids, coach or referees.

 Screen Shot 2014-05-20 at 9.22.25 PM

Minnesota – Week 18

Pinterest in Action! ~ Prepping the garden!

Today is an absolutely glorious day for Minnesota weather! With temperatures flirting with 60 it was a great day to get out and do some yard work and prep my garden! I grabbed the rake and removed all of the dead plants and debris, and pulled a few weeds. I also turned over some of the soil as to bring up some of the nitrogen from the bottom.

First I hauled an old screen door we found up in our rafters out to my garden. I wanted to give my garden a more homey feeling, and after looking on my favorite website  Pinterest. I have a few ideas.

photo 2 (1)

Next after seeing myriad pallet ideas on Pinterest and after my husband came home with a truck full of pallets, I moved this baby to the garden to use as a green bean and pea trellis.
photo 3 (1)

I then headed to Fleet Farm where I picked up an aluminum mailbox to keep my gardening tools and gloves in! There is nothing worse than heading out to the garden only to realize that your tools and gloves are scattered about. Now I have them all in one convenient place! To make it more rustic feeling – on of our trees snapped this winter due to the brutal winds and heavy snow we endured, so I repurposed the tree as my mailbox stand!

photo 4 (1)

Lastly – here is the whole finished product! Now I just need some consistency in the sun so I can plant my garden!

photo 1 (1)