The Great Minnesota Get-Together

A busy end of August / early September meant this year's annual State Fair trip was more of an in-and-out, hitting up the classics (e.g. Curds, Kidway, Pronto Pups, animal barns, etc.) before scooting off.

This said, we did make time for one new stop, the Butterfly House, where E and her "Kitty" quickly made friends.

Free everyone

On a recent trip to St. Anthony Main, I snapped a handful of photos of the girls and their buddy Maddie checking out the Falls... only to discover several days later this little, completely unstaged* photo of our little your-rules-humor-me free spirit, Sawyer Rose.

*As in, I didn't notice chalk graffiti, the perfectly placed shoe or the "jail bar" irony when snapping the photo in real time.

National Night Out

Sawyer's favorite part(s)... DIY face painting and scavenging for Piñata spillover.

My fair ladies

What's a cabin weekend without a little day trip "to town"?  And, what's more fun than a couple hours on the Douglas County Fair midway?

Pictured above is Evie comforting a concerned Sawyer on the Airplane-Go-'Round, and Evie hugging her ($25) Bust-A-Balloon prize.

Sunny

E's caught her first fish on Brophy Lake, and just had to run in and show it off to her sis' and grandpa.

Brophy Lake

The extended Backer clan shacked up at Brophy Lake Resort in Alexandria, MN for the annual cabin weekend.

Plenty of standard lake fun (swimming, fishing, yard games), but the scene of the weekend was definitely the Backer girls' mid-day dance party... to "Call Me Maybe"... on repeat.

Willow Falls

Willow River State Park

Willow River State Park in Hudson, WI was the site of this year's annual McNerney/Furber/Backer camping escape.

Highlights include: Friday night's fireside Canadian fish fry, hiking the Willow River and Saturday's day trip to Hudson for beach time along the St. Croix (and ice cream).