Camping

So Levi and I decided to go camping the weekend after the 4th of July. We invited Logan and Amanda and on Friday morning we headed out to Ely, MN where the Boundary Waters are. (If you don't know what the Boundary Waters are you should look them up, they're beautiful.) On our drive there it poured rain the whole way! I was pretty sure we were just gonna have to get a hotel room and then drive back the next day! When we arrived in ELY we had to buy sweatshirts because non of us besides the smart and all knowing Levi brought one, but can you blame us!? It was like 100 degrees in Fargo when we left! We decided not to venture into the beautiful boundary water this trip since it was an extra fee per person and no motors allowed. So we rented a four person canoe and strapped it onto the top of our Jeep and went in search of a different camping area. We decided to camp along Birch lake.

The first day we found this great really secluded space and we made our camp. The mosquitos were so bad our night was almost miserable! We put on like a gallon of bug spray each and put on our sweaters and tied them tight around our faces. The chill only lasted a few hours, then it was hot and humid :) That evening we went out onto the lake on the canoe and it was so peaceful and nice. It was such a beautiful experience. While we were paddling around out there we found this little Island and decided we would rather camp there.

So the next morning while I cooked breakfast our camp was packed up and we loaded the canoe up with all our stuff and the two boys, Levi and Logan, paddled and unloaded all of it while Amanda and I waited back on the shore with Jade.

That camping spot was so awesome. It was right on the lake and like our own private little beach. We did a lot more canoeing, we saw two bald eagles and their nest, we saw a loon diving for food in the lake, I fed a little chip monk part of a roll, we saw a bunch of geese, Amanda found this alien looking water bug that changed colors, from bright green to black, and then when we were canoeing one evening we saw an animal cross a shallow part of the water and we weren't sure if it was a baby moose or a deer. A little bit later we came across that same animal which turned out to be a VERY pregnant doe and we drifted to about 10ft way from her. She was eating lily pads out of the water. It was so neat! My camera died right after taking pictures of the eagles or else we'd have pictures of the doe too :(

There were also a lot of ticks out there and luckily i didn't get bit by one but Levi did and a couple days after we were home he had a red mark on his arm that kept changing in appearance. At first it was this little pink blotch like a mosquito bite then the next day it was bright red and purple looking then the next day it was three times its size, red, and had a red ring going around the border of it- which is a classic sign of Lymes disease, so we made a trip to the ER and he was put on some antibiotics and he is all better now :)