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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Ely Travel Guide (a Borealis Family Travel Guide)

Our Ely Travel Guide the first is a new series of family travel-related posts, where we don’t just tell you about a trip we took but give you a game plan for how to plan a trip of your own. First up, Ely, Minnesota, an easy four-hour drive from Minneapolis-St. Paul. Why go to Ely? Ely […]

Winter hike-in cabin camping with children at Tettegouche State Park

Every winter some friends of ours hike into a cabin at Tettegouche State Park, and I’ve always wanted to try it. Their trips sounded so magical — sipping coffee while big snowflakes fall outside, taking long snowshoe or ski outings on the vast network of trails, reading in front of the wood stove. Our seven […]

Taking young kids on a BWCA canoe trip

Previous post: Planning and prepping for taking young kids on a BWCA canoe trip On the days leading up to our BWCA trip with the girls, it seemed like an awful lot of work. Our trip was going to be two days (one night), which is the most gear and effort for the least amount of days.  And […]

Winter backpacking and cabin camping with a baby and toddler

There is a moment every year on our annual backpack-into-a-cabin-in-the-woods trip where I am utterly miserable. Typically the moment involves a wailing baby and an overtired me. But then the moment passes, and the memory fades, and I vow to do it again next year — but for more nights. This year had the moments […]

Farmers Markets without Fear — Reviewing Beth Dooley’s Minnesota’s Bounty: The Farmers Market Cookbook

Naptime beckoned, and I had just one more email to write before I could answer its call. A few more words, then done — my email to author Beth Dooley sent, and I closed my laptop, rolled over, and closed my eyes as Blythe snoozed nearby. My email echoed in my ears as I nodded […]