So, Where Was I?

You know, there’s nothing quite like blogging about a vacation that ended a month ago.  But here I go again…back to the Twin Cities…

On Thursday, July 7, we decided to get back outside for a bit before returning the magnificent (said with more than a little irony) Mall of America.  So, after breakfast, we headed to Minnehaha Park, a beautiful place right in Minneapolis, not far off the interstate.

Minnehaha Park is the home to Minnehaha Falls (wouldn’t you know it), so that was our first stop.  A kind passerby offered to take our picture, one of the few family shots we got this trip.

While the falls were not particularly large, they were scenic, and there was a nice walking path that took us to this shallow wading area.  Jeremy hollered every time his toes touched the water, but the older kids and I splashed about for a bit.

After we walked back, we came to the real reason for our stop here, at least according to Charlotte and Elijah.  We could rent specialty bikes and cruise around the park.  Jeff and I rented a surrey, in which we could park Jeremy in the front basket.  The other two kids selected choppers.  We put on our helmets and were off.

While there were just enough to gentle hills to make this challenging and in spite of the fact we actually took a wrong turn and ended up on a road, this ended up being a lot of fun.  We even took a second loop around the park, except we took the correct path that time!  Here we all are with our fancy vehicles.

Having had enough of the great outdoors, the kids were more than ready to head back to the MOA.  So, that’s what we did.

What followed lunch was every kid’s dream shopping trip.  Well, at least, it was my kids’ dream shopping trip!  We started with a 90-minute stop at the Lego store.  Charlotte and Elijah had been saving their allowances for months in order to purchase whatever they wanted in this particular store, and it took lots and lots of time to figure out exactly what that was. 

Each ended up with a set of three Build-a-Mini-Figures, which in itself was a lengthy process.  (The heads!  The bodies!  The accessories!  What amazing combinations to be discovered!)  Both also spent time filling a container from the Pick-a-Block wall, pictured below.  They actually needed adult assistance with this, as many of the bins were well out of reach.  Elijah also left with some Star Wars sets, and Charlotte found a Lego City set.

When we finally dragged the kids away from here, we took a quick wander through the mall, as Jeff had not seen any of it, save the theme park.  We found a store called Old Vine Wine and were able to purchase a couple bottles of Minnesota wine.  Then, we headed back to the theme park, where the kids had scoped out an attraction called the Ghostly Gangplank, which was a four-story ropes course.  Check it out.

As Jeff had done the theme park the day before, the kids begged me to do the ropes course with them.  I thought, “Why not?”

Why not, indeed.  This alternated between being absolutely terrifying and absolutely exhilarating.  Of course, we were harnessed in, so we weren’t in any real danger of plummeting to our deaths.  But those harnesses seemed awfully flimsy and those rope and board crossings awfully shaky.  But all three of us made it all the way to the top before we came down.  There were about two crossings that I refused to do, but I think that the kids did every single one.

Here is the pictorial proof that we each made it to the top.  It’s a bit backlit, but Elijah’s at the top, Charlotte’s in the middle, and I’m at the bottom.  Yes, I was the last one to brave it out there on the plank.  There was a rope to pull that blew a foghorn.  Yikes!

At this point, it was nearly supper time, and we had dinner plans in downtown Minneapolis with some old Peoria friends who had recently relocated here from their last relocation to Wyoming.  However, we had not yet hit the Build-a-Bear Workshop, the place for which Charlotte had reserved beaucoup bucks.  So, with the warning that we had maybe 30 minutes to build a bear, we hoofed it over to that gargantuan store.

As Elijah had spent all of his money at the Lego store (and really didn’t have as much Charlotte did to start), we thought that just Charlotte would be building a bear.  However, she decided that sharing the experience with her brother would be a lot more fun than just getting a bear herself.  So, she funded everything at this store:  a stuffed bear for herself and Elijah, two outfits for her (one for her new bear and one for an older animal), and a darling Darth Vader outfit for Elijah’s new bear.  There was some brief talk about his paying her back for at least part of her expenditures, but that’s kind of died out.

Charlotte is not really a naturally generous person, so it was truly delightful to watch her share her resources so that Elijah could have as much fun as she did.

By the time the bears got stuffed, clothed, named, and purchased, we’d been there a bit longer than 30 minutes.  So, I called the Sandbergs and let them know that we were running a bit behind, and then we motored over to the Old Spaghetti Factory downtown.

Once there, we had a wonderful time catching with Todd and Christy Sandberg and their kids, Brennen and Kindrid.  As it has been over three years since we’d seen the Sandbergs, all of the kids were a little shy at first, but that didn’t last long.  Elijah and Brennen found they had much in common, and we found ourselves hushing them for most of the meal.  Kindrid is as crazy about American Girl dolls as Charlotte is about Build-a-Bear stuffed animals, so they chattered away, as well.

Before we went our separate ways, we took a couple pictures of the kids.  One of the outfits that Charlotte had bought for her new bear was a Minnesota Vikings football uniform.  Coincidentally, we could see the Vikings stadium behind where we were parked.  This isn’t a great picture, but this is Charlotte, her Vikings bear, and Kindrid posing with the stadium in the background.

And here is one final picture of all the kids.  Technically, Jeremy is in it, but he wasn’t very interested in posing for a picture.

Then, it was back to the hotel for some swimming and shut-eye.  Whew!  What a day!