About mid-August I started to get that crazy nostalgic feeling that summer was going by too fast. I have a son starting first grade and one in preschool...

I had just returned from a 4 day excursion to the North Shore with my friend Emily who was traveling as a part of an Explore Minnesota campaign. That was a wonderful trip and it inspired me to "kidnap" my boys.

So, two days after returning, I surprised my two sons and we set out on a final summer hurrah. Just me and the boys. Dad stayed home to work but met us for the weekend about halfway through our adventure. We ended up being gone for about 14 days. We are a family on a budget so I planned our adventure with that in mind. We ate picnic lunches each day and stayed at friends' homes and camped when we could. Most of the second week was spent at the family cabin.

It was great fun because we didn't have any concrete plans. I knew I wanted to show them Minnesota's North Shore and then end up at the family cabin over in northeastern Wisconsin..

I can't possibly share everything in one post so here are some shots from the day we visited the Split Rock Lighthouse and Gooseberry Falls. The boys love to collect rocks so it was a rock-themed day. We even stopped at a rock shop! We also splurged on huge slices of pie at Betty's Pies. Yum!

Thanks for taking a look!