Winter tent camping at Tettegouche State Park

I didn’t realize the depth of my unmet need for outdoor adventure until I hastily concocted a winter tent camping trip over lunch one day with a co-worker. While I love exploring with my family, I read Pacific Crest Trail and Appalachian Trail thru-hiking memoirs all winter, and I am consumed by a longing to hike to […]

How to survive winter (with a heavy dose of summer dreaming)

Forget filling your car with hand warmers and signal flares, true winter survival is about keeping your spirits up and your eyes on the prize (i.e. spring). Here’s a foolproof recipe to help you survive winter a.k.a. enjoy our fourth season. First, get comfortable. Head to your favorite pharmacy/co-op/Amazon and fill your cart with Vitamin D, a […]

Borealis Blog Gift Guides 2015

Happy December! We’re enjoying unseasonably warm weather in MN this year which has us a little behind on holiday spirit and our gift guides. (But a little ahead on winter running and hydrated skin!) If you’re feeling that too, don’t despair, we have tons of great holiday ideas to help get you in the mood […]

Our favorite bedtime books

In honor of National Young Readers Day, we’re talking about bedtime books today on Borealis! At bedtime I don’t just want to listen to myself read, I want to interact and talk with the girls. So my favorite subset of children’s books are the kind where there isn’t a straightforward story to read, but different things […]

Cottage life, life lists, and new adventures

After we’d lived in our house for awhile I found a list I’d made where I said my dream house was a cottage. I laughed, because I had accidentally made that come true. Our house, with its cedar shakes, half picket fence, and gardens IS very cottage like. It has a cozy fireplace, amazing gardens, and a […]

Canoe tripping in the BWCA with young kids (2.5 and 4 years old, 2015)

Guys, we did it! Three days in the BWCA with young kids, and it was truly, honestly, FUN, and we wanted to stay longer! Last year (when the girls were 1.5 and 3) we definitely had “fun,” but it was more of a 60/40 fun/effort, with the none of us sleeping well and Adam being […]

Whitetail Woods camper cabins – a quick, refreshing getaway

I forgot to write about our little overnight at the Whitetail Woods camper cabins on Mother’s Day weekend! If you haven’t heard of it, Whitetail Woods is a new park with camper cabins that opened up in Dakota County last year. They have THE MOST BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED little cabins, I pretty much wanted to hire […]

Borealis Blog Family Travel Guides

We love traveling, we have kids, and we usually love traveling with kids. So we decided to pull together our trip reports for you to help inspire your trip planning. From Breanne’s first disastrous camping trip with a baby to her first family Boundary Waters trip with a 1.5 and 3 year old, and from Jen’s shore adventures […]