Forestville State Park: Camping with Cousins

Squeezed in our van for a five hour drive to southern Minnesota:  six people, their clothes packed in six backpacks,, blankets, pillows, sleeping bags and mats, a tent, a cooler, a basket of food, four camping chairs, two totes of camping supplies,  a water jug, extra blankets because it was chilly at night, reading material, and I’m not even sure what else.  Every inch of the van was filled.  Stuff was jammed in under seats, between seats, in the aisle, underneath people’s feet.  In between kids were piles of pillows and blankets that reached to the ceiling.  At least they couldn’t pester each other; they couldn’t see or touch any of their siblings.

More than once I may have wondered, “What are we thinking?  Camping right after school has started?  This is insane!”  It didn’t help that I had acquired a nasty virus and was in the midst of all sorts of cold symptoms.

But spending time with cousins?  That makes everything worth it.  It is wonderful and joyous.  I love my nieces and nephews so much.  I am especially blessed that I get to see these kids as often as I do, and I wish I saw the others more.

He’s still not a fan of my camera.  It doesn’t stop me.  I packed several books to read to these small, wonderful people, but unfortunately my voice was nearly gone and I couldn’t do a lot of reading aloud.  Next time.  There were plenty of wonderful things to do together instead of reading on this trip.
Cousin power!  This is the face of a grumpy boy who stomped off the hiking trail and headed back to the campsite to tell the other grown ups that YaYa was “being such a bossy, bossy big girl. She won’t even let me jump off any cliffs at all.”  Go figure.  I love that boy. He truly turns every moment into an adventure.