Minneapolis, MN

My parents have been planning a trip to North Dakota since last summer.  We have been anxiously waiting for them to come this year.  Last week we headed to Minneapolis to meet up with them.  We left Thursday in the early afternoon.  We stopped along the way at a couple of places where the cyclists we have hosted have stayed.  Jason wanted to get a better idea of what is offered for cyclist along the route, that way he could be better informed when people ask questions.  We had a reservation at a hotel in Fergus Falls, MN, which is about 3 hours from our place and 3 hours from Minneapolis.  Along the way we stopped in Fargo to have dinner, visit the new Costco, and stop at a bike shop Jason had read about.  

The Costco in Fargo opened about 9 months ago.  It was the least crowded Costco we have ever been to.  It was awesome.  We got a few things and had dinner there.  We decided that they haven't quite figured out the trick to Costco's amazing pizza yet, because it just wasn't as good there as it normally is.  

After Costco, we headed to Great Northern Bicycles.  Jason had read about this bike shop in Bicycling Magazine, who ranked it one of the top 100 bike shops in America. Since we live relatively close, he wanted to check it out.  It use to be the Fargo train depot, so it has a really cool layout.   We had wanted to pick up a pedal bike for Max there (Jason will only buy them Specialized brand bikes), but it wasn't in stock.  Instead we bought me a basket for my bike, and I LOVE it!

We got to our hotel around 7:30pm.  The rooms at this place all face out to the pool.  Jason took the kids swimming since they had been in the car for a while.  They loved it.  It was shallow enough at the end that they could jump in alone and stand.  They thought it was pretty cool.  They love jumping in but  Max refuses to wear his floaty at the pool.  He is already teaching himself to swim which is nice, but man I wish he would wear his floaty.  I get tired of holding and catching him.  

 I rarely give in to my pregnancy cravings.  I can usually convince myself that I really don't need whatever it it.  That night I was craving KFC coleslaw and mashed potatoes.  I went back and forth and finally decided that I was going to give in this one time.  I drove over (it was really close to our hotel), pulled up to the drive thru and right away an automated message came on telling me the specials.  I waited for like 5 minutes (I was having a hard time deciding exactly what to get) when I realized that the place closed at 9pm, it was 9:06.  It was very disappointing to come back empty handed.  Instead I snacked on hummus and pita chips, so it was probably for the better.  

We got up, ate breakfast at the hotel (Max made some elderly friends) and got on the road.  It was 3 hours to Minneapolis.  We got there around 12:30.  We couldn't check into our hotel yet, but they did give us our parking permit so we could park there and go to Mall of America, it was right across the street.  I had bought the kids unlimited ride wrist passes through a local radio station for 1/2 price (thanks Christina).  It is nice because if the kid is too small to ride alone, the chaperone doesn't have to pay. Jason and I took turns taking the boys on rides.  I couldn't go on a lot of them due to my condition (pregnancy).  Let me tell you, it is not good for the self esteem when you can't close the bar on your tummy, or the canvas seatbelt isn't long enough to go over you.  Granted the rides are for kids, but still! My parents had gone to the temple, and met us about an hour after we got there.  The kids had a blast.  The log ride was definitely Oliver's favorite, as you can see from his expression below.

The park is Nickelodeon themed and we don't have that channel. My kids still recognized a lot of the characters, especially the Backyardagains, because we have one of the DVD's.  Ollie wasn't too sure about them but Max ran right up and gave them a hug.

 This ride was so funny.  It was one where they go up high and then bounce up and down.  Every kid on the ride had huge smiles, except mine.  Neither of mine enjoyed it.  No one cried or anything, but you could just tell. 

The Mall of America is in the place of the old Metropolitan stadium, where the Minnesota Twins and Minnesota Vikings use to play before the new stadium was built.  There is a commemorative home plate where home plate was located.  My dad is a big sports fan, so he was pretty excited.  

We had lunch at the Mall of America, rode a few more rides and then headed over for the 4D ultrasound I had scheduled.  It is impossible to find an OB in the Jamestown area.  I wanted to see one at least once while we were in ND, but it hasn't worked out.  Instead I decided to do an ultrasound.  This way we could see the position of baby, reconfirm gender etc.  I use to think these ultrasounds were creepy, but when it was my baby, I was obsessed.  It was so fun to see her.  We got a pic of her smiling, pouting and looking so much like her brothers.  

Little smile.

Pouty lips. 

Mini Max.

Our hotel had a really cool swimming area and we had to get wristbands.  Here are the boys showing off their M of A, and hotel wristbands.  You know it is going to be a fun weekend when you have double wristbands.  We ate dinner at our hotels Italian restaurant.  The front desk lady assured Jason it was good since we don't usually like restaurants in hotels.  We all got the brick oven pizza and it was delicious (Jason and I even had another one for lunch the next day).   

That evening my dad went to the Twins game and Jason ran some errands (bike shop, new iPhone screen), so my mom and I took the boys swimming.  It was so nice because the kid area was less than two feet deep so they could just run around and play by themselves.  

They both loved this water gun.

I wish Max could smile AND keep his eyes open :)

The boys were pretty wiped out that night.  Our suite had a king bed and a pull out, so we just made the kids a bed on the floor.  

The next morning we headed to the Mall of America to do a little shopping.  We got there right when it opened since it was a Saturday and we were told it gets pretty crazy.  My parents took the boys for a while so Jason and I could shop alone.  We ended up buying a Corda-Roy.  We saw the guy on Shark Tank when we were visiting my sister in HI.  Jason has been looking into them ever since.  They happen to have a store at the Mall of America so we went in and checked it out.  They are pretty cool. They happen to have the one we wanted marked down and they honored an expired 20% off coupon Jason had, so we went for it.  It will be fun to use when we have friends over to watch movies.  

The Lego store was pretty cool. This is an entire wall of legos. 

My mom said Ollie was pretty proud of this tower he built.

We switched off with my parents and took our kids for a while.  My parents then took the kids back to the hotel for lunch while Jason and I picked up our big purchase.  After lunch, I laid down for a nap while everyone else went swimming.  I don't sleep long, so I joined them after I was done. The boys had the best time jumping in and being thrown around by daddy and papa.  

I was holding Max and could tell he was getting sleepy.  Unfortunately, it is hard for him to get comfy on my tummy and Ollie needed me for something, so I handed him over to an already sleeping Jason.  Max went right to sleep on daddy's chest, and slept like that for quite a while.

He was pretty cuddly after he woke up too.

We got all ready and then headed to Costco so I could return something, and then we found a Jason's Deli where we had dinner.  We use to eat a Jason's Deli when we lived in Provo, so we were pretty excited.  After that we dropped my mom and the boys off at the hotel and Jason, my dad and I headed to the Tom Petty concert.  

Jason and I saw Tom Petty on our first date at the end of August 2002, so we were seeing him almost exactly 11 years from our first date.  This was our third time seeing him together (Jason's 5th time).  It was a great show.  They are definitely getting up there in age (Tom is 63), but they were still able to rock out :)  It was really fun. 

The next morning we headed over to get a pic with the Mall of America sign, but there was tons of construction blocking it off.  This was the best we got, haha.

We went to church in Bloomington, and then began our 6 hour drive home to Gackle.  We stopped two hours in at a rest stop for a bathroom break and snack.  We met a really interesting janitor there.  You could just tell he loved his job and meeting new people.  My parents found the audiobook "How to Talk Minnesotan" at the library before they left.  It was hilarious and made talking to Minnesotans so fun.  We stopped in Fargo for lunch and then drove the more scenic route home.  It was a great weekend and my kids have been asking to go back.  It may have to be an annual thing.