“A walk in nature walks the soul back home.” - Mary Davis

 I got to do one of my favorite things this past weekend. Amy had mentioned to me that she was going to go hiking on Saturday. I immediately invited myself along and she let me come 😊 Rick was not able to join us because he had Covid. 

 It started with we would go to Upper Sioux State Park because it would be closing soon and ended with us going to three state parks! 

Amy, Carey, Liam, Eli, and I started our adventure at Big Stone Lake State Park. We got there around noon so we ate a quick lunch and then found the hiking club trail. 

It is hard to believe we could go hiking in sweatshirts and no gloves or mittens in January in MN. We had a little snow but not enough to make it hard to hike. 

Next, we moved to Lac qui Parle State Park. This was our shortest hike of the day at only 2 miles. 

Amy, Carey, and I have joined the Hiking and Passport Clubs that the DNR has. You hike on a certain trail in the park and you have to find the password. After so many miles you get a free night of camping. For the passport club, you get a stamp when you visit the park. Again after so many you get a free night of camping. It is a great way to get outside and see parts of the state. We are so lucky to have so many great state parks in Minnesota. Since 2021 when I joined the clubs I have been to 33 parks. 

Next, we went to Upper Sioux Agency State Park which was the reason for our day's adventures. Upper Sioux Agency is transferring the land back to the Upper Sioux Community and closing the park to the public. 

Below is a little information on why it is being returned to its rightful owners. 

2023 legislation directs the Department of Natural Resources to transfer Upper Sioux Agency State Park (USASP) lands to the Upper Sioux Community. The Upper Sioux Community has had a longstanding request to the State of Minnesota to return the land at Upper Sioux Agency State Park, given the extraordinary significance of the land to the Community. This land is the site of starvation and death of Dakota people during the summer of 1862, when the U.S. Government failed to provide food promised to the Dakota by treaty.

DNR is moving forward with the process of transferring the land at Upper Sioux Agency State Park to the Upper Sioux Community, which requires closing the park. The park will be open to the public through Feb. 15, 2024 and close on Feb. 16, 2024. Beginning on Feb. 16, there will be no public access to the park. Closure of the park at this time is necessary to allow the DNR to remove park infrastructure prior to the land transfer, which is expected to occur in mid-March.

We pulled into the park right at sunset and hiked most of the trail in the dark. We were greeted by coyotes howling all around us as soon as we started to hike. I am not a big fan of coyotes they always scare me a little. But I had to admit it was pretty cool hearing them as we moved through their territory. We were the only people in the park as we moved along on the trail. 

The sunset was just so beautiful. Mother Nature was so very kind to us all day. 

As you can see it got very dark out as we hiked along. 

But what a show Mother Nature gave us in the dark. The stars were out in all their glory. 

I cannot even describe the joy and peace I felt looking up and seeing all the stars. It was just so beautiful. 

It was just amazing. 

It was a perfect day. I got to spend time with people that I love. I got to spend a day in nature and I found peace and joy. 

Get out and find some nature....

Sharon 

"Elephants and grandchildren never forget." -Andy Rooney

 Since moving into the new house, we had our first overnight with the grandkids. It was fun to have a house full of kids for a night. Larina and Nash were supposed to come over last weekend but the snowstorm hit so it was delayed a week. Larina was so excited to come over to play in the snow because she had hardly any snow at her house. I sent a photo of the drift we had in our backyard to all the grandkids and once Oliver saw it he also wanted to come over to build snow tunnels in them. And with Oliver comes Eli. It was so fun to see how well the boys played and interacted with Larina and Nash. Such good kids. 

On Friday afternoon I took Oliver home with me after school. But first, we had to make a stop at Walmart to pick out A LOT of fun, junk food for the the night. Nash and Larina arrived next around 4:00. Eli had play practice so he was not able to come until 5:00 when Rick picked him up.  

Of course, the weather turned bitterly cold this week but as soon as Larina and Nash arrived they along with Oliver headed out. It was a chilly 4-degree out with 15 mph winds. 

Nash had enough of the cold after about 10 minutes and came in to warm up by the fake fireplace. Oliver and Larina made it about 30 minutes. 

Side note: we love our little electric fireplace and we are sad that our new carpet has not been installed yet. Also since we don't have a date for the carpet installation we have not painted the living room either.

Nash and I had some snuggle time. 

 After Eli's arrival and supper was done Grandpa made everyone some popcorn and we had a Star Wars marathon. 

The kids woke up to even colder temperatures on Saturday morning! So as they waited for it to warm up they did a lot of playing. Larina loves to color so out came the coffee can of color crayons that my kids made me take from my Mom's house. They said they had so many memories of that can of crayons and the Grandkids should have memories of it too. 

You are never too old to play with Fisher-Price toys! They spent at least 3 hours playing with them. 

It finally warmed up to a balmy 3 degrees so we all bundled up and headed outside. It was not windy so it was really not too bad out as long as you kept moving. 

I think in every picture I took with Oliver in it while outside he had his eyes closed. Maybe they were frozen shut 😂

It was a successful weekend at Nana and Grandpa's house. I had fun playing with the kids in the house and outside. 

Grandkids are the best...

Sharon 

"All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking" -Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher

I am a little late but here is my 2023 year in review in pictures ...

 It had its ups and downs, but we plowed through it and came out better for all we experienced. 

 

So here is my year in review. January started with a lot of snow! It was so pretty and fun to have snow to walk in and cross-country ski. Rick and I got to go out several times. 

We had our Becker Family Christmas in January. 

Winter Archery season started in January. Rick is teaching JOAD classes again and was so happy that Liam and Josie were both in it. 

In February we saw more snow 

Morgan had enough of snow and winter by February 

The squirrels discovered how to open the bird feeder and spent the rest of the winter cleaning it out. 

More cross-country skiing and spending time playing in the snow

Otis being Otis...

March brought my birthday and when I asked Rick to make me a cake he delivered! It was the best cake he had ever made, a Guinness, chocolate cake. 

In April we did our first-ever winter camping trip. We went to Jay Cooke State Park. We had so much fun!! 

April was a big month for us. Rick was inducted into the Minnesota Archery Hall of Fame. I am so proud of him. He was very humbled and honored to be inducted. 

Also in April, I did something that I had never done before. A friend contacted me and said she had an extra ticket for Hamilton that was being performed at the Orpheum in Minneapolis. I had been to the area many times with other people but I had never driven up by myself. I was a little nervous about it but I managed to find parking, walk to the restaurant to meet my friend and get back home without getting lost. It was such a great show. I was very happy she invited me and I said yes. 

May brought another camping trip with friends. We went to Camden State Park. We had perfect spring weather and a great time was had by all. 

May also brought family time. We celebrated Mom's 84th birthday by taking family pictures and then having a party. 

I look at this picture and it brings me such joy. Mom was so happy that day. It was a perfect day. She kept saying she could not have asked for a better day. 

We celebrated Memorial Day with a cookout with family. 

In June we managed to get two camping trips in. The first was for an archery tournament. We camped out at Crow Wing State Park for the weekend. 

For our second camping trip in June, we went to Pettibone Resort on the Mississippi River in LaCrosse, WI with all the kids and grandkids. 

In July we went to Big Bog State Park and did some fishing on Red Lake. This ended up being our last camping trip of the year. 

Otis tore his ACL in July so he was not supposed to walk on his bad leg. He enjoyed being carried around when we went on our hikes. 

After our camping trip to Red Lake, I spend the rest of July at my parent's house. We had a huge estate sale and I brought the camper van there to help with the massive undertaking. It was heartbreaking, exhausting, and joyful all at the same time. 

In August we put our house on the market and sold it in 4 days! 

I also went to the Orchestra Hall with Cassie, Amy, and Carey to see Dessa. It was great! 

The school district decided that all the Para's had to take a test to show that we were Highly Qualified. It was so stressful for me. It had things on it that I had not done since I was in high school over 40 years ago. I had to study hard. In the end, I managed to pass it. I was proud of myself. 

September Rick got a nice Northern while fishing on Clear Lake. 

We celebrated Labor Day in the 90-degree heat at a local brewery listening to a band and enjoying some pizza, beer, and root beer. 

One last time on the water for me. 

October was filled with grief.  It was so hard to say goodbye to Mom.....

On October 21 Dad turned 88 and Christa turned 37.  Every year we take their picture together. This year it was only two days after Mom had died. It was also one day after we moved Dad into Memory Care. It was so hard for him and all of us. But we got to see his smile when Christa asked to take a picture with him. 

On October 30 we finally moved into our new house. We are so happy here. 

I found that I did not take hardly any pictures in November. We were so busy unpacking and just trying to come to terms with the past few months. 

My huge Christmas Cactus survived the move and was in full bloom at the beginning of November. 

I finally hit my 2023 miles in December. It was the longest it has taken me to do it since I started doing the challenge in 2020. I walked all of my miles this year, no running for me. 

Mom gave me all her Christmas ornaments that she had when she first got married. I had them all on my Christmas tree. I was home with COVID feeling sorry for myself when I noticed one of the ornaments was moving. I thought it was odd because nothing else was moving. This ornament moved back and forth for hours. And then suddenly another of her ornaments started to move. It also kept moving for about an hour. I think Mom was stopping by to let me know everything was going to be okay and to tell me Merry Christmas. 

I have a video of it moving but I can't get it to upload. 

If you made it to the end of this long post congratulations... I tried to concentrate on all the good that we had in 2023.  We had so much joy mixed in with the sadness. Camping, family time, fishing, wearing all of mom's clothes and jewelry, moving into our new house, fishing being with friends, and reconnecting with people and lots and lots of hugs. 

One of the things that really brought me joy this year was the big group text we started with my sisters, kids, spouses, nieces, and nephews. We started it when we had the big estate sale for my parents as a way to communicate with each other while the sale was going on. When it was all done we just kept it going. Now every week or so someone will put a text out there. I love getting a random text from someone in the group. I think we all became so much closer this past year. 

So what I learned this year is that even in great sadness we can find joy. 

Go find some joy...

Sharon