Today I had a special treat in store for my crew. I had rented a canoe and 2 kayaks. So for about 2 hours this morning, Deon and my oldest 4 explored the park by water. I took the younger 2 over to the visitors center, which was wonderful, and perfectly set up for children. I love going into places where I don’t feel stressed about my children breaking things! Then I took the littles to a park. It was nice to spend the morning with them. Of course, Jedi couldn’t wait for *his* boat ride, so we kept the boats for another hour in the bay just to play.

   
    
 
There were some downsides worth mentioning. There had been a storm the night before, so it was still windy and the water choppy, making paddling difficult. Second (this is the biggie) there were LEECHES!!! They were on the island, so I didn’t deal with them (much), but Deon said finn had one on him about 2′ long. All 5 of them had them. I got to witness this, as finn had 4 tiny ones on him that I pulled off once they got back to shore. Ewwww! 

We had a quiet afternoon, then we drove to international falls, the coldest city in the USA. We meant to go to Canada, but we forgot the passports. Deon said we could hair swim over, but I thought the ensuing border battle might hinder our trip. 😉