[The Minnesota State Parks Series chronicles the ever-expanding Kingston family's quest to complete the State Park Passport Club challenge.] How appropriate that the day we leave for our annual summer lake vacation with TourDad’s family falls on National Get Outdoors Day! It was a nice kick-off to a week spent enjoying what Minnesota’s lakes, pines, [...]

[The Minnesota State Parks Series chronicles the ever-expanding Kingston family's quest to complete the State Park Passport Club challenge.] What more fitting a weekend to visit Upper Sioux Agency State Park than over Memorial Day? There was nothing special going on in the park to commemorate the lives lost 150 years ago during the U.S. – [...]

If you’ll remember, the day Como Conservatory cut the ribbon on the brand new Ordway Gardens addition, people were still crunching through snow to get to it. I’m glad I waited for a balmy afternoon in May to bring the kids for a run-through. Okay, truthfully it was cloudy and sprinkling on and off but [...]

Looking down at my calendar, I realize we haven’t had a wide-open Saturday in front of us for months. Tomorrow marks one week since hockey season has wrapped. Our winter break vacation is in the books. No immediate maintenance needs to be done on the house, the cabin, the cars. Heck, we can do anything [...]

As we continue to plow through winter, the question this Saturday is about snow: ditch it or embrace it? I could go either way, so I’ll leave it up to the kids to choose. On second thought, the outcome of that is not hard to predict: my artsy girls would insist upon Free First Saturday [...]

I have long considered being from Minnesota– and specifically, St. Paul, Minnesota – a big part of my identity. Technically, I was born across the river (shhh) but have since spent half my life in St. Paul, bringing all four of our babies home to the house my husband and I bought when we were first [...]

Balance and moderation are a couple key terms that come to mind when I’m thinking about extra-curricular activities for the kids. However, we’re only a couple years into having multiple school-aged children and I can clearly see the writing on the wall. Even if we limited each of the four kids to two activities in [...]

I’m wondering about the health of our own local trails after this past week’s slushy weather. In our corner of the city we’re hoping to pull off a pond hockey tournament this weekend (fingers crossed). If the whole family wasn’t involved I would love to check out National Winter Trails Day at Fort Snelling State [...]

There aren’t any plans as of press time, but it’s been a tradition of ours for many years to head in the direction of Lake Superior after Christmas. Though the cold can be bone-chilling, there’s something extra cozy about being tucked away in a mom-and-pop motel after dinner at one of the charming eateries on [...]

For years we’ve been bringing home a Christmas tree from Frattallone’s Ace Hardware (still $24.95!), purchased on the Grand Meander in St. Paul. We strap it to top of the van and then head down the street in search of something warm to sip on (spiced apple cider at Penzey’s Spices) and to fill our [...]