She Is..... Women in the Outdoors Weekend at Eagle Bluff

I believe I have talked about going to the She Is..... Women in the Outdoors Weekend at Eagle Bluff in Lanesboro, MN on this blog before. What maybe I haven't told you before is that this is an event that is open to any women that want to sign up and go to it. I have gone four years in a row now and plan to continue going. This weekend isn't advertised and only spread through word-of-mouth. I had found out about it from another friend who moved away before I could go with her for the first time but I went with the friend that had initially invited her and had been going since this weekend started almost 15 years ago. Over the last 4 years I have had a variety of friends who have joined us and have met a number of new people. Every year when you go there you see a lot of the same familiar faces. There is also a fall weekend, this is the spring one.

I have only ever gone to this spring event. It is held at Eagle Bluff in Lanesboro Minnesota and it is a wonderful facility. 

This year I took classes and beekeeping, rock climbing, Forest Fascination which is taught by a Native American Woman who is the plant lady for their tribe and teaches all of us about how the use all kinds of plants in nature whether it be for food or medicine and how they respect and give back to the Earth. Finally comma the fourth class I took was shotgun. This one was way out of my comfort zone but I wanted to experience it and ask lots of questions because my daughter will be going there for camp this summer for their firearm safety certification camp and we'll be firing both shotguns and rifles while she is there.

We do have a variety of other add-on classes that are optional to take in the evening or an optional Saturday morning yoga which that one I did take. Even though I would much rather sleep in, it feels really good to get up on Saturday morning and stretch everything out before we begin the day.

I can't begin to fully explain to you how empowering it feels to be at these classes. They instruct them in a way that everyone feels comfortable and explain how to do everything safely and correctly even if you have done it a hundred times. 

There is a variety of classes to sign up for this is what I got this year. So if you are reading this and this is something you are interested in then go to the Facebook page and request information so that you get on the email list. The date has been set for the fall weekend. I don't know that I can make it to that one as swim team short course meet season has started. And if you know me personally, let me know that you are interested and I will try to remember to send you the registration when we get it, usually the first week in February. I don't want to bother people about if they want to go or not. I know what kind of fun you are missing out on, but until you get there you don't know what you're missing. Plus it is probably the most reasonably cost women's weekend you will ever have. This year it was $195 for early registration and that includes all of my classes, all of the food, and lodging.

Water Balloon Baseball

This is a super fun way to get wet and run around without having to feel like someone is giving up on you in a water balloon fight. Our rules were that if you hit the water balloon and broke it you were able to run the bases and score a point for yourself. Parents did the pitching and the kids competed against each other. We used an old stump as a Podium for winter pictures. It was a fun variation on playing with water balloons that allowed the kids to get wet and allow for the parents to play with their kids but not have to get wet.

Glow In the Dark Bowling

This was certainly fun to play and I wish you could really see how cool this bowling set looks at night, but it's hard to really capture that in photos but you can kind of tell from the top picture.

All you need are used water bottles that you refill with tap water and place activated glow sticks in the inside of each one. The water will offer refractive properties so the whole bottle glows, not just the stick as it appears in the picture.

This works pretty well as an outdoor bowling game, but you can also play it inside. Just be sure you have the caps screwed on tight.

Have fun!

Other fun ideas to use glow sticks include:

• Star Wars Valentine Card
• Ring Toss (Version #1)
• Ring Toss (Version #2)
• Dance Party Fan Light

Glow-in-the-Dark Basket Ring Toss

Another idea on how you can use those laundry baskets. Idea #2 Make Glow in the Dark Ring Toss. We assigned them points (1, 2, & 3 with the closest being one point). Initially we had taped the glow sticks (3 of them put together) on paper plates because I thought they might need more weight when we used then outside, but that was not the case. The ended up coming loose from the tape and we just used the glow stick rings. We played this both inside and outside. I think this might become a fun game we play at the cabin in the winter.

Basket Balloon Toss

For a few Thursdays now I am going to show you how you can use some cheap laundry baskets from the Dollar Tree for a variety of things. I bought them in red white and blue so that we could use them over our summer holidays and be patriotic.

So this first idea is to make a basket balloon toss. Balloons are cheap and can be bought at the dollar store as well or you could use lightweight play ball for this activity as well.

The object of the game is to score 10 points first. The first row, which is red, is worth one point. The second row of white is worth 2 points and the third row of blue is worth 3 points. Each child was given a pool noodle to use as a bat to hit their balloon in from the starting basket. They each we're given two balloons to hit and would take turns and keep working through turns until someone scored 10 points.

A couple of tips if you are playing outside is that potentially the balloons made up when they hit the grass but this works well inside as well. It might be a fun game to play in the winter and using balloons keeps it safer from potentially wrecking anything in your house that is breakable. The other two is that you may need to adjust how you play if it is windy. They started out using pool noodles as bad but then it was windy enough they could just stand there and let it go and see what happens. If he comes more of a game of chance in that case instead of skill.

Wordless Wedneday: Rice Lake State Park in Owatonna, MN

Rice Lake State Park is in Owatonna, MN

You can read more about this visit here on Save Green Travel.

Or you can read about the Mushrooms 101 class I took there with my son once.

Fun DIY Glow-in-the-Dark Ring Toss

This was a fun project to let my daughter do. I handed her an empty Pringles can, some duct tape and a handful of glow sticks. I gave her these basic instructions: Decorate the can however you wish, then fill the can half full with some rocks from the driveway (to provide) weight, then make up glow stick rings and bring it to the yard and we will play ring toss that evening.

This was really inexpensive, as the only thing I had to purchase was 2 8-packs of glow stick bracelets from the Dollar Store. You need two bracelet lengths for each ring you intend to make.

It is a fun and easy project to give your family something to do in the evening.

Chalk Art Fun!

Here are some more ideas for having fun with Chalk. We have tried a variety of shocks and I find that the Crayola brand has the brightest chalk. It also helps if your asphalt surface is darker, hours will be resurfaced this year as it has worn

If you would like some more chalk art ideas please check out my post on Northern Cheapskate called 5 Fun Ways to Play with Sidewalk Chalk. Also try out this idea on How to Make Your Own (Sidewalk) Chalk Paint.

These are all designs I drew out last year for my daughter's birthday party which was an art themed birthday party. Then I took pictures of all the kids in any of them that they wanted pictures of. They thought this was pretty fun.

Paper Plate Sun Dial

Teaching your kids about the sun and the way the Earth moves around it can be coupled up in this fun paper plate art project.

All you need is a paper plate, an unsharpened pencil and your favorite medium to make designs on a paper plate. Have your child decorate the plate how they wish you can see we chose a circular pattern. We used paint to get our colors on here this way.

When it is dry, draw in Lines to indicate times on a clock.

Make a hole in the center of the plate and insert an unsharpened pencil into the hole.

If you indicate where North is on your plate make sure that is facing north when you put it out in the sun. If you can tell from my clock markings I have 12 o'clock facing north and was able to show my children that it was approximately 1 o'clock according to our sundial, which was accurate.

Wordless Wednesday: Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary in Green Bay, Wisconsin

Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary in Green Bay, Wisconsin

Wordless Wednesday: Copper Culture State Park in Oconto, Wisconsin

Copper Culture State Park in Oconto, Wisconsin

Wordless Wednesday: Savanna Portage State Park in McGregor, Minnesota

Savanna Portage State Park in McGregor, Minnesota

4th Graders Get in Free at National Parks!!

Starting this Fall, every 4th grader can get in free (their families INCLUDED) to national parks in our great nation. This is a new initiative by the National Parks Service and they are just offering this to 4th graders and their families right now. Learn more about the program in this link.

But the awesome thing is that MANY national parks already have free admission, so just check out the Park Locator and look at what the admission fees are, there just might not be any.

Look at the rates if you are getting this free pass (normally it's $80/family) to make sure it is covered. Special tours are not covered by this and parking fees may not be covered.

Or just pay attention to when the next National Park Week it (it is usually in April) when they also offer FREE admission to everyone.

Wordless Wednesday: North Bay Shore County Park on Lake Michigan in Oconto, Wisconsin

North Bay Shore County Park on Lake Michigan in Oconto, Wisconsin

Outside Foot Painting - Crazy Messy Fun

Remember the Messy Twister we did a while back, well, we had some more messy fun. The outdoors is great for messy projects because you can just wash it away.

I got out 4 different baking sheet pans and put washable tempera paint on them. FYI - even though tempera paint says it is washable I do not recommend letting kids wear their nice clothes because it has been known to set in a bit and leave a stain.

We held down big sheets of paper with some rocks from the landscaping.

Then I let the kids have at it creating sunflowers with their feet. Of course they are kids and these ones don't mind getting messy, so they started using their hands as well. Before I know it my daughter was done with her picture and started getting her hands and feet full of paint to do cartwheels in the driveway so she could see the prints it makes (cartwheels seems to be her preferred mode of transportation these days.)

Messy Outdoor Twister Fun

Do you have a Twister Game sitting around your house? 

Why not get it out and play it outdoors and have some messy fun!

I used a full container of shaving cream and about 10 drops of each color of food coloring to make the shaving cream dots.

We invited the neighbor girl to come over and join my kids (trade off was she had a large kiddie pool out that the kids could rinse off in afterwards, otherwise I had our Octopus Kids sprinkler ball ready for them to use).

The kids couldn't resist getting messy and after they finished playing. Yes, it took longer for me to gather supplies and set everything up than the actually made it through playing but with a 5 year old boy who wanted to get messy I knew that was par for the course.

FREE MN State Park Admission THIS SATURDAY!!!!

This Saturday for National Get Outdoors Day, you can get in free to all of the Minnesota State Parks. No vehicle admission sticker is required (normally it is $5).

PLUS........many of the state parks have events planned to help you enjoy your time there this weekend! Check out the list of events HERE , as well as a list of state parks that loan our equipment for FREE including birding kids, GPS kits, and Kids Discovery kits and find your a state park to go to on this MN State Park Map.

For those that live near me - consider these events at these state parks within an hour drive:

• Minneopa State Park (Mankato) - MN Zoomobile
• Fort Snelling State Park (St. Paul) - Naturalist Led Nature Hike
• Afton State Park (Hastings) - 2 EVENTS!! Archery in the Park AND Cook! (learn to build a fire and cook in cast iron)
• ALSO, check out these FREE Paddle the Minnesota River locations (half have canoes you can use!) This is also on Saturday!

FREE Paddling Events this Weekend on the Minnesota River

Check out the list of sites participating in the MN DNR Paddle the Minnesota River in the Day event. 

This is a FREE event!

Each of the public paddles in the list have different requirements in regards to skill level or if canoes are provided or if you need to bring your own. Lengths of time/distance are provided for each one, as well as contact info to register. There are 6 public paddles and half of them have canoes available to use. So, get registered right away to see if there is one available if you need it.

Hand Made Pottery Rain Wind Chime

This is the final wind chime I made, until I come up with a new idea that is. I made this one for myself to hang outside our home, I enjoy the sound of wind chimes and wanted to have one that reflected nature and made one that looked like raindrops falling from a branch. The branch is taken from one of the birch trees at our cabin. This will hang on our front porch.

Now I need to start working on an idea for one to hang on our back deck which we hope to update this spring/summer.

Wordless Wednesday: No Achen Cross Country Ski Trail

It is EARTH DAY today!!1 So get outdoors and enjoy it. Here are some pictures from a recent hike the kids and I did on the No Achen Cross Country Ski Trail in Aitkin, MN. It is both an XXC and hiking trail.