An outdoorsy kind of weekend

Last weekend, while Andrew was enjoying his golf weekend in northern Wisconsin, the girls and I enjoyed the great outdoors. We traveled to Lindstrom, MN to my Aunt Diane's house for a BBQ and a relaxing day next to South Center Lake. The girls had a great time playing with cousin Emilee, making friends with my cousins' dogs, riding on the pontoon boat around the lake and fishing off the end of the dock. Ella caught a couple fish. Luckily cousin Shawn was around to take the fish off the hook for her, since I think I've stated before, I don't do fish. ;-)

And even more lucky for me that we had such a great time and stayed so long that by the time I got home, it was bath and bedtime! Gotta love that!

Then on Sunday we had a very pleasant day and decided to venture over to the Arboretum again. They unveiled their scarecrows in anticipation of fall and Halloween. We walked though the path looking at each scarecrow made by private individuals and community groups. I think it was a great experience for the girls to see something made up of materials they are used to seeing in a different context. For example, one had a skirt made out of pop cans. Ella thought that was the silliest thing she had ever seen. They also liked a mermaid scarecrow and a sparkly fall fairy. Little kids are so literal in their view of the world sometimes, I think it was really good for especially Ella to see that you can use your imagination to make something out of something else. And for her to visualize the whole scarecrow made of up these individual found things.

We also discovered part of the Arboretum we hadn't seen before. There were waterfalls and a little creek, rocks, and bridges. The girls liked putting their hands in the water and then putting their hand prints on the rocks. We, of course, stopped by the little houses to play. There was another family playing too. They had a 2 year old little boy who tried really hard to play with Lily, saying hi to her. She turned and ran the other direction crying. And then he started crying. Nice, huh? Hmm....maybe I need to get her out socializing more. :-)

We were excited to finally see Andrew home on Sunday night and have been enjoying his company all week. He is around for another week before heading off to Arizona for his big Super Bowl meeting.