**** Pictures at the Bottom ****

1. Rain Can Cause Joy

We were picnicking on a deck overlooking the high falls on the pigeon river (that which is the border between Canada and MN) and in the distance I saw mist. I quickly figured out that this wasn’t mist, it was rain. Coming toward us. And we were far from our car.

So we quickly cleaned up and got moving. I expected fear and sadness from our kids, but soon I heard our kids laughing and our youngest daughter saying “This is going to be fun!” as they discovered that they could get out of the rain by getting under a big branch. And then they would run to the next big branch.

I think they were disappointed when the rain stopped two minutes later.

2. Find Safe (But Dangerous Feeling) Adventure For Your Kids.

The town Beaver Bay gets its name from the Beaver River, which flows through it. To get to it you must (A) Make your way down a very steep path/hill, (B) Cross a small creek, (C) Wade through weeds taller than your kids, (D) Cross over (by jumping across) treacherous rock to get to the flat rocks in the middle of the river.

But that only takes 4 minutes.

Once there you can (A) Let your wife relax and read next to your 8 month old who likes to sit and play on a blanket, (B) Get your kids to see how far they can jump from boulder to boulder around the river area. It’s fun to see them challenge themselves, see how far up the river they can get and trust you.

3. You Can Make New Friends.

While we were at Split Rock State Park another large van drove up and I saw 7 fish stickers on the back of it. We talked to them and found that their oldest was two years older than our oldest and their youngest was two days older that ours. And they home school. And they’re thinking about adoption.

So our kids had fun skipping rocks together and we adults had fun swapping stories.

Oh, did you want to see some pictures?