Inga

August: I am cleaning Inga's room, she runs up and bites the back of my knee. I reacted instinctively-- which is to say that I did something that knocked her over. Afterwards, I picked up my sobbing child from the floor and asked her why she bit me (she hadn't bit anyone since she stopped teething). Inga replies "I just want to be your little helper." And then starts picking clothing off the floor. Apparently I was seriously repressing her by not inviting her to clean her room with me.

Inga in the car on Tuesday. "I'm a grown-up, right?" Me: (wanting to encourage this because she had been insisting that she was a baby last week) "yes you are!" Inga: "That means I get to drive the car!" Me: awkwardly trying to wiggle out of this by creating new categories, "big-driving grown-ups' and "grown-up kids who can't drive yet."

Happy Birthday Justin

Justin's layer cake that I hiked into the woods (lemon with marmalade-ginger filling). In retrospect, I could have made a smaller cake for the three of us. We ate it for several meals running.

Note that Inga acquired herself a headlight.

Wild River state park

For Justin's Birthday we went camping at a backpacking site at Wild River State Park. It was a couple of miles back in a meadow-- with no one around. Inga wasn't feeling well-- so she insisted on riding on top of Justin's pack....

Playing in the Upper S. Croix River

We went paddling and found the perfect spot for a late September swim.

BWCA -- Rainy Weather

It rained Thursday night through Saturday. We got caught in the rain on Caribou Lake--with no campsites. We pushed on through little caribou and into Pine. We found a campsite about a third of the way into the lake -- it was hidden up a trail on a cliff/hill overlooking the lake. I had not encountered a campsite like it before. In any case, we spent a lot of time in the tent and Inga insisted that we take these pictures. Digital cameras are to her generation what Polaroids were to mine (if my family actually had one of those fancy cameras-- which we did not). Inga loves to pose for the camera and see the immediate result. She takes pictures of us with the compass (she also uses it as a cell phone).

BWCA Trip -- Good Weather

From Sunday to Thursday afternoon, we had great weather-- lots of swimming, paddling, and portaging. For the BWCA nerds, we entered at North Fowl, the very east edge, through little John. We went up and through Mountain and Moose Lakes, Over the first section of the baby grand portage (virtue got lost and did the whole portage plus the southern jag with a pack on -- not bad for an old dog), to Daniels, West Bearskin, Dunkan, to Rose Lake and Rose falls (pictured). We then went south, back through bearskin and Hungery Jack, down and road and through a national fcorest campground to Flour Lake, Moon Lake, Deer Lake, and Caribou Lake. Then it started raining.

Inga Portages

Inga carried her own backpack (containing a sunhat, a water bottle, and her bear) across all of the portages. Some of the portages were muddy, steep, and rocky-- one was well over 600 rods--- Inga did it all. She also helped mommy figure out where we were when we got "lost." And yes, Justin bought her a paddle. Yes, it was a nuisance and no, she didn't use it effectively. I did however, develop lighting-quick reflexes in order to catch the paddle when it went flying out of the canoe. The bear also had a mid-lake swimming "lesson." After that he stayed in the pack unless he was in the tent.

Note that Inga can zip the tent door shut all by herself.