Lewis & Clark Camping Trip

I have some major vacation pictures to post on here, but keeping with my scrapbooks, I'm going to try to keep them in chronological order.  (I'm a tad bit too organized sometimes!)  We had a wonderful 4-day camping trip at Lewis & Clark State Park near Yankton, SD in early June.  We stayed in a cabin on the Nebraska side and Jack thought it was pretty cool that we were in 3 states all in one day!  We arrived on my Dad's birthday, so it was great to get to celebrate with him.  We visited Gavins Point Dam on the Missouri River and saw some large paddlefish.  We also got to see the fish hatchery where they primarily raise paddlefish as well (pics below).  The cousins had a great time together (bottom pic is my niece being silly!)

Having a campfire and smores is always an exciting part of camping.  I am getting an itch to have a fire ring/bowl in our yard.  It would be so fun to get to do this on a regular basis during the summer!  Some strategies of eating smores from the Redemske children:  Jack - When your top front tooth is about to fall out, eat on the side of your mouth and worry about the mess later!   Maddy - When a smore gets too hard to eat, just ask Papa to help you!

Fishing was a fun part of the trip for the kids.  Neither Bryan or I like to fish, so all the skills have to come from their aunts & uncles!  Maddy cried and cried the first day because she was the only one who didn't have a fishing pole.  So on a grocery trip to Yankton, a pole was purchased.  She liked being able to "fish" with her rubber fish.  I think she may have liked playing with the worms more!  As you can see, dirt all over your legs is a good sign of camping! -- The middle few pictures are from the Gavins Point fish hatchery. -- The last day of our trip was really cool and windy, which required snuggling together to stay warm.  Jack really liked helping find more fire wood from the edge of the river.  Anytime he can help with adult jobs, he feels like a winner!  It was such a fun, relaxing trip and we look forward to doing it again next year!